Live-Action Yamato, Umizaru, Idolm@ster 2 Videos Posted

The official website for the live-action film adaptation of the Space Battleship Yamato anime franchise has begun streaming a 34-second teaser trailer and a 100-second full trailer on Saturday. 37-year-old SMAP band member Takuya Kimura (Howl's Moving Castle's Howl) is headlining this film based on the 1974-1975 space opera anime classic, which was adapted as Star Blazers in English. The other cast members include Meisa Kuroki (Vexille - 2077 Isolation of Japan's Vexille, Crows Zero's Luca), Toshiro Yanagiba, and Tsutomu Yamazaki. Takashi Yamazaki, the director best known for Returner, Always: Sunset on Third Street, and last year's Ballad, is helming the project for a December 1 release. Aerosmith vocalist Steven Tyler wrote and sang the film's theme song, "Love Lives."

As part of the Manga on Web project he launched in April, Black Jack ni Yoroshiku manga creator Shuho Sato has posted the first chapter of his manga Umizaru in video form on YouTube. The video manga is intended to commemorate the September 18 theatrical release of the live-action film The Last Message: Umizaru. The chapter will be available in two videos (posted below) until October 18. The first nine chapters can also be read in Japanese on the Manga on Web website.