Per The Hollywood Reporter, Netflix will go forward with a live-action film remake of a beloved classic Japanese manga called City Hunter. The film will be directed by Yuichi Sato (Kisaragi, Strawberry Nights), while the executive producer will be Shinichi Takahashi. Starring as the story’s main character Ryo Saeba will be played by award-winning Japanese actor Ryohei Suzuki (Tokyo MER, My Love Story).
City Hunter was originally created by manga artist Tsukasa Hojo and was a mega-popular series in Japan and worldwide throughout the 1980s. It sold over 50 million copies and was adapted into an equally popular anime series and a number of movies outside Japan in France, Hong Kong, and China. The story’s premise revolves around a man named Ryo Saeba, a self-proclaimed private detective “sweeper” who works with his partner Hideyuki in an underground crime prevention operation called the “City Hunters,” whenever he’s not busy tailing beautiful women, among other shenanigans. However, one day he discovers Hideyuki has been murdered, and he must take care of his adopted sister Kaori, who eventually becomes his new partner and love interest in the process.
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The Uncertain Future of Live-Action Remakes
Paramount Pictures; Dune Entertainment; Netflix
As many know by now, Netflix certainly does not shy away from its recent affinity for live-action remakes of various Japanese classic animes and manga. Instead, the company’s production studios have fully embraced such re-imaginings as a genre in itself, and City Hunter is just one of several live-action projects that Netflix has planned for the upcoming year. Some of those projects include live-action episodic remakes of Yuyu Hakusho, One Piece, Avatar the Last Airbender, Sword Art Online, Death Note, Pokemon, and My Hero Academia.
A boatload of mixed criticism over the general success of live-action remakes has cast a heavy cloud over this new sub-genre, judging by some previous projects such as the universally panned Death Note (2017) live-action film, and the Cowboy Bebop (2021) live-action series which was overwhelmingly anticipated by fans everywhere after many years of production setbacks, but wound up lasting just one barely-passable season. Both were based on award-winning source material but were transformed into essentially abject failures on screen.
Other projects, such as the live-action Bleach (2018) movie, weren’t well-received, while at least the first live-action Fullmetal Alchemist (2017) film was deemed relatively well-done. Nonetheless, the track record of Netflix on these types of films leaves a lot to be desired for the pile of projects they have coming up. Whether it’s a blatant creative disconnect between the pages of a manga comic and what can be conveyed through a lens by real actors, only time will tell if a series-producing giant like Netflix can eventually prove itself able to truly recreate that unique magic.
Netflix will co-produce City Hunters in Japan with Tokyo-based companies Horipro and Office Shirous. The anticipated release date is sometime in 2024.
