By The Editor
July 20, 2010 - 08:34
The official website for the anime film trilogy based on the late Osamu Tezuka's Buddha manga is now streaming a one-minute teaser trailer. Warner Brothers will release the first film, Tezuka Osamu no Buddha -Akai Sabaku yo! Utsukushiku-, in Japan on May 28, 2011. Director Yasuomi Ishifuji, screenwriter Reiko Yoshida, and Toei Animation are adapting the life of the young prince Siddhartha, the founder of Buddhism. Sayuri Yoshinaga will voice the mother of a slave boy named Chapra and provide the narration for the work. Masato Sakai and Junko Takeuchi will play Chapra himself in different stages of his life, and Hidetaka Yoshioka and Ai Orikasa will also jointly play Siddhartha. The first film alone has a production budget of 1 billion yen (about US$11 million).
The YouTube website's official channel for Takeshi Koike and MADHOUSE's Redline anime film began streaming three 37-second trailers in high definition late last week. The film, which follows the deadliest car race in known space, will open in Japan on October 9 after advance screenings at international film festivals. Koike (The Animatrix's "World Record") is collaborating with writer Katsuhito Ishii (Piroppo, Trava) on this project. Leading the cast are SMAP's Takuya Kimura (Howl's Moving Castle, live-action Space Battleship Yamato), Tadanobu Asano (Ichi the Killer, Tokyo Zombie), and Yuu Aoi (Honey and Clover, Tekkonkinkreet). According the film's oficial blog, Ishii personally edited the trailers.