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Film adaption of manga

Initial D is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Shuichi Shigeno. It was serialized in Young Magazine from 1995 to 2013, with the chapters collected into 48 volumes by Kodansha. The story focuses on the world of illegal Japanese car racing, where all the action is concentrated in Japan’s real exist mountain area, and with the drift (飄移) racing style emphasized in particular. In Japan, manga dominate the mass culture marketplaces as an entertainment medium read by all ages and classes of people(Craig, 2000). In 1995, manga accounted for 40 percent of all books and magazines sold in Japan. The box-office show the direct effect of film adaption of manga particularly in Japan. Besides, the popularity of the manga enable the film version to reach a much wider audience base other than Hong Kong. The adaption itself is not only a gimmick, but has an actual effect to grab the loyal readers from manga to the movie. It is because manga have great influence in East Asia countries. In early 1990s, Japanese manga have built a huge global following, teenagers in East Asia have grown up watching Japan animation and reading Japanese comics(Craig, 2000).

Initial D was released in several Asian markets including Hong Kong, Japan, Thailand, Singapore, South Korea , Taiwan and mainland China. Initial D made a bright record of box-office in East Asia region. The box office of Initial D in Hong Kong in 2005 is USD$4,885,390; USD$63,000,000 in China; USD$4,766,457 in Japan; USD$888,557 in Taiwan and USD$281,100 in Thailand (Jay Chou Movie Box Office Result, 2010). The huge success and the large acceptance of Initial D in East Asia may largely due to the already built up reputation of its original Japanese manga.

 

 

The Kanjozoku: Osaka's Infamous Street Racers

Other than The manga, Andrew also rented the illegal street racing culture from Japan. According to a documentary about Osaka’s infamous street racers, “Kanjozoku” is a Osaka culture which isn’t only about cars, but to brings people together and helps to form relationships. Andrew’s previous movie The Legend of Speed(烈火戰車2極速傳說, 1999) casted Ekin Chen(鄭伊健) to play “brother sky” and provoked great discussion on street racing activities. The excitement from car racing is the culture shared by different countries in East Asia. Therefore, teenagers can feel related to Initial D.

 

 

In this case, Andrew Lau rented the pop star from Taiwan and the manga from Japan in order to deal with the regionalized movie production and consumption industry. Moreover, he also rented the influence of Japanese wave in early 1990s and late 2000s. He made use of all the above cultural commodity and turned them into a regional marketing strategy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Reference:

 

Bowls Films. (2014, July 15). The Kanjozoku: Osaka's Infamous Street Racers [Video file]. Retrieved from http://youtu.be/ELJW-Bsrnmk

 

Craig, T. J. (Ed.). (2000). Japan pop!: inside the world of Japanese popular culture. ME Sharpe.

 

Jay Chou Movie Box Office Result. (2010, July 10). Retrieved April 2, 2015, from http://www.boxofficemojo.com/people/chart/?view=Actor&id=jaychou.htm

 

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