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Kirin Motorcycle Racing Manga Gets Live-Action Film
posted on by Egan Loo
A live-action film adaptation of Shōhei Harumoto's Kirin motorcycle racing manga has been green-lit for release this fall. Claude Maki (Psychometrer Eiji, Yakuza: Like a Dragon) will star as the title character, a street racer. Director Gitan Ōtsuru (Wangan Midnight videos) spoke of the pressure in filming what has been called "the motocycle-riding bible" — a work that has defied any form of screen adaptation for nearly two decades. The film will cover the manga's first story arc, "Point of No Return!"
Harumoto launched the original manga in Motor Magazine's Mr. Bike BG magazine in 1987, but later chapters and the Kirin: The Happy Ridder Speedway spinoff have since run in Shonen Gahousha's Young King magazine. The 39th compiled book volume for the original series shipped in Japan last September, and the first volume of The Happy Ridder Speedway is shipping this month. NTT Solmare offered the original manga in English on Nokia's Ovi store for mobile phones last year, although the manga is no longer available. More information about the film will be announced in Young King.
Source: Comic Natalie
