Anime News Network is reporting that the Nikkatsu Corporation is readying live action feature films based on the Gatchaman and Yatterman 1970s anime series produced by Tatsunoko Productions. Takashi Miike (Ichi the Killer, MPD Psycho) is heading the production of Yatterman with character and mechanical designs by Katsuya Terada (Blood the Last Vampire). The Yatterman film is slated for release in the spring of 2009.
The Yatterman movie will be followed by a live action adaptation of the Gatchaman (Science Ninja Team Gatchaman) a 1972 anime series that successfully adapted many of the trappings of American superhero comics (colorful costumes, secret identities, superpowers), and also found success here in an Americanized version known as Battle of the Planets. Imagi Animation Studios, which was behind the TMNT CGI movie currently in
