‘City Hunter’ Becomes a TV Series
KBS TV, a South Korean network has reported that SSD has signed an agreement with Fox TV Studios to co-produce and distribute a live action TV series based on Tsukasa Hojo’s City Hunter manga. ICv2 reports the 13-episode first season of City Hunter will be written in English like a and translated for worldwide distribution.
The series is about Ryo Saeba, known as a “sweeper”, who tries to eliminate crime from Tokyo. He’s aided by Kaori Makimura, a young woman who tries to handle his business affairs. He’s hired by people who scrawl XYZ on Shinjuku Station’s blackboard.
Korean actor Chung Woo-sung has already been signed to play the lead and SSD, a Korean production entity, hopes to populate the series with “many famous Hollywood stars.” The Korean network notes Chung Woo-sung will be the first Asian actor to play the lead in a domestic drama. Many other series have had Asians as supporting layers or part of an ensemble. Production begins in the first half of 2009, shooting in Tokyo and Seoul.
Japan’s Shonen Jump was home to City Hunter from 1985-1991, and spawned four anime series, three TV specials, two OVAs, an anime feature, and a 1992 live action Hong Kong movie starring Jackie Chan. In America, it was serialized in Gutsoon!’s Raijin Comics through volume five only.
I wonder how the Fox series will handle the manga's balance of action and comedy. I found the anime series to be entertaining, but best in small doses.- Andrew Laubcher, Buffalo, NY