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Ikki Kajiwara's Tiger Mask Wrestling Manga Gets Italian Live-Action Film Adaptation

Media news website Comic Natalie reported on Monday that Ikki Kajiwara and Naoki Tsuji's Tiger Mask manga is getting a live-action film adaptation in Italy. The film is jointly produced by Italian production companies Fabula Pictures and Brandon Box. The manga's publisher Kodansha will also co-produce the film. The live-action film adaptation will have international elements added to the Tiger Mask manga original story.

The original "Tiger Mask" is the alter ego of the character Naoto Date, a pro wrestler who goes against an evil wrestling organization and fights for children in an orphanage. The original manga ran from 1968 to 1971 in Kodansha's Bokura magazine, Weekly Shōnen Magazine, and other magazines. Along with the baseball manga Kyojin no Hoshi, Tiger Mask is considered as Kajiwara's life work. The manga already inspired two anime series in 1969-1971 and 1981-1982. The 1969 television anime series recorded 31.9% as its highest rating.

A Japanese live-action film adaptation of the manga premiered in 2013. Tiger Mask W, the latest anime based on the original manga, premiered in Japan in 2016. Crunchyroll streamed the anime.

A Tiger Mask donation movement started on Christmas morning in 2010 when a person left 10 30,000-yen (about US$202 today) backpacks at a child guidance center in Gunma Prefecture under the name of "Naoto Date," the alter ego of Tiger Mask. After the initial movement in 2010, donations to Japanese children's centers under the names of famous characters and personalities increased in the following years.

A website called the Tiger Mask Foundation opened in 2011, and has been using donations for projects focused on helping children and young people at children's homes, and providing other social care services in Japan.

Source: Comic Natalie