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Manga/Anime Creator Leiji Matsumoto Guest-Stars in Live-Action 99.9 Show
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
It's never too late to start your acting career, and that seems to be the case for manga creator giant Leiji Matsumoto, who turned 80 on January 25. Matsumoto had a guest role in the popular television drama 99.9: Keiji Senmon Bengoshi Season II (99.9: Criminal-Expert Lawyers Season II) in its seventh episode on Sunday.
99.9 centers on criminal defense lawyers in Japan, where the conviction rate is 99.9%. The lawyers investigate the 0.1% of the cases that are abandoned. Matsumoto plays a man in a restaurant at the boarding house where protagonist Hiroto Miyama (played by Jun Matsumoto) lives. Fans will notice the woman with long blonde hair and black hat sitting across from Matsumoto looks quite a lot like Maetel from Galaxy Express 999.
Matsumoto said that when he was young, he practiced long-distance swimming and ran around a lot in hills and fields, so he had confidence in his physical strength, and so the stamina needed for a lengthy filming didn't concern him. He added he'd like to do it again someday if the chance arose.
Matsumoto was born in 1938 and he debuted as a manga artist in 1953 with Michibachi no Bōken (Honeybee's Adventure) while he was still in high school. His notable works include Space Pirate Captain Harlock, Galaxy Express 999, and Queen Emeraldas — all of which inspired multiple anime or live-action adaptations — and he contributed designs and created the tie-in manga for Space Battleship Yamato. He also supervised animated music videos for French electronic pop group Daft Punk's Discovery album, and the videos were strung together into the INTERSTELLA 5555 film.
Shogakukan published the Matsumoto Leiji - Mugen Sōzō Kidō book on February 28 to celebrate Matsumoto's 80th birthday, and the book contains a new chapter by Matsumoto of his Galaxy Express 999 manga. The manga is getting a stage play adaptation that will run from June to July to celebrate the franchise's 40th anniversary.
Gainax is producing three films based on Matsumoto's works with Production GoodBook. The first is The Zero Century Emeraldas, which will open in 2020. Film World Studios has acquired the live-action rights to Matsumoto's Space Pirate Captain Harlock manga.
Source: Comic Natalie
