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Afro Samurai Director Fuminori Kizaki Reveals Human Lost Film
posted on by Jennifer Sherman
Afro Samurai director Fuminori Kizaki announced at Funimation's panel at Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo (C2E2) on Friday that his "new sci-fi, cyberpunk film project" is an adaptation of Osamu Dazai's No Longer Human novel. The 3D film is titled Human Lost, and Funimation will screen the film in theaters in the United States this fall. Psycho-Pass marketing producer Toshiaki Obata and Polygon Pictures president Shūzō Shiota also appeared at the panel.
Funimation describes the film:
From the chief director of “PSYCHO-PASS,” director of “Afro Samurai,” and the studio that brought you “Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters.”The year is 2036. A revolution in medical treatment has conquered death by means of internal nanomachines and the “Shell System”, yet only the richest can afford to partake.
Yozo Oba isn't the richest. Troubled by strange dreams, he flippantly joins his friend's biker gang on an ill-fated incursion to “The Inside”, where society's elite lives. This instigates a journey of terrifying discovery that will change Yozo's life forever.
Katsuyuki Motohiro (FLCL Alternative, Psycho-Pass) is serving as executive director. Kizaki will direct the film at Polygon Pictures. Tow Ubukata (Fafner, Psycho-Pass 2) is writing the scripts. Yūsuke Kozaki (BBK/BRNK, Intrigue in the Bakumatsu - Irohanihoheto) is designing the characters, and Kenichiro Tomiyasu (Resident Evil: Damnation) is in charge of concept art.
Dazai's original Ningen Shikkaku novel follows a young man's deepening alienation from the rest of the world, despite his attempts to maintain a cheery facade. The story was adapted into a four-episode segment of the Aoi Bungaku television anime in 2009, and an anime film version of this segment was green-lit soon after. The anime version features original character designs by Death Note artist Takeshi Obata.
Shinchosha's Weekly Comic Bunch and Monthly Comic @ Bunch magazines serialized a manga adaptation of the novel by Usamaru Furuya from February 2009 to April 2011. Vertical later published the three-volume manga adaptation in North America. The now-defunct digital manga platform JManga previously offered East Press' manga adaptation. Junji Ito launched a manga adaptation of the novel in Shogakukan's Big Comic Original magazine in May 2017, and ended it on April 20. Shogakukan published the manga's third and final volume on July 30.
A biographical film about Dazai titled after the novel will open in Japan on September 13.
Source: Press release
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