Guillermo Del Torro takes “Monster” to HBO!

Japan’s entertainment industry is growing day by day with its countless live-action and anime adaptations. Apart from the Hollywood remakes of famous J-Horror films, a popular Japanese manga is getting the royal treatment by none other than Guillermo del Torro himself. AND THE CROWD GOES WILD!

It has been recently announced that Mr. Del Torro is working with HBO to develop a live-action series adaptation of seinen manga “Monster”, a psychological and detective fiction blended with blood of horror. “Monster” is created by Naoki Urasawa and was first published in 1994 by Shogakukan in Big Comic Original and had over 18 volumes uptil the year 2001. It was even adapted into a 74-episode anime series in 2004 up to 2005 in NTV and was directed by Masayuki Kojima (Card Captor Sakura) and written by Tatsuhiko Urahata. A seperate novel, Another Monster, was illustrated by Urasawa in 2002 and followed the events after the manga and is taken from the reporter’s point of view.

The story centers on Dr. Kenzo Tenma, a brilliant physician who risks his reputation to save a 12 year old child and in doing so, unleashes a Pandora’s Box of conspiracies and horrific serial killings. See, the boy that the good doctor saves ends up to be the most evil sociopath that has ever lived and Kenzo finds himself on a worldwide search to find his patient and battle to stop a plot of mass genocide.

The idea of adapting the manga was actually slated to be released as a featured film by New Line Cinema but because “he material was too massive an undertaking for just one film. Having ‘Monster’as a series instead of a single film seems to be the more practical route to go, but it took Urasawa some time to be convinced. Reportedly, del Toro spent a lot of time wooing the author before he was convinced that his creation would be handled properly and to his satisfaction.”

Guillermo Del Torro will be working alongside writer, Steve Thompson (Doctor Who, Sherlock) with the premise and plot of Urasawa’s seinen manga and while no premiere dates have been announced, Monster will obviously be seen a must-watch and much-awaited HBO series under the directing helm of Del Torro.

Check out the trailer of the anime adaption of Monster below!