That's too bad. The anime basically used the manga as a storyboard, so I'd have preferred it if del Toro's work is a more liberal interpretation. If the TV version were to stick closely to the manga, the story could probably be told in 2-3 seasons of ~50 min. episodes.

It's Guillermo del Toro so you can be assured that Tenma isn't going to be played by a Caucasian actor. I don't think there's any need for Tenma to be Japanese specifically, but large chunks of the story won't work if he can be mistaken for a German (or a Turk for that matter).

Hollywood has had a decent record of financially successful films with minority leads. The bigger problem has always been that these films need to have recognizable names to draw an audience. Of course the situation could be improved, but one of the reasons why Avatar: the Last Airbender film got so much criticism is that it used a practice that isn't nearly as common as it used to be.

Aside from the similarity to Anna, is Johan really all that hard to cast? Ideally, all of the things that make him unerving will be handled by the direction, cinematography and music. I've never felt that the role would require an actor with great acting chops. It's the rest of the principal cast that needs to have good actors.

4Tran may have just answered my question but for the sake of clarity how closely does the anime follow the manga? Would I be better off reading the manga or would watching the anime suffice?

Also people mention the age of the actor who may play Tenma, but does Tenma's age play a significant role in the manga/anime? Would casting a somewhat older actor really be a problem. Of course in a perfect world you'd want to try and stay as close as possible, but a great slighter older actor may be better then just a good younger actor.

"Somewhat" older, no, and a lot can be done with makeup. At the outset, Tenma is an upcoming resident in neurosurgery and engaged to be married to the hospital director's daughter. That's followed by a time skip of nine years. At the beginning he was probably 29-34, so for most of the story he would be 39-43.

Here are his younger and older character models from the anime; you can decide on what age you think is appropriate:

http://moe.animecharactersdatabase.c...1447141022.jpg http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_0CQtJ2wJla...a_meanface.jpg

He's not only older at the end of the story, he has also experienced a lot of wear and tear, and it shows in his visage.

Hiroyuki Sanada was so perfect to play the role of Temma.

http://i1018.photobucket.com/albums/...e/1be343c5.jpg

http://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-new...nga-adaptation
\o/

I wonder who should be Inspector Runge

From the horse's mouth: http://herocomplex.latimes.com/movie...sawas-monster/

Fingers and toes crossed that the pilot goes respectfully as planned.

Unfortunately, no mention about how the good doctor will be treated in the prospective cable series. :p But, if it's really as respectful as Del Toro says, then there's room for hope.

And oh, trust good ol' Americans to not understand or appreciate the significance of showing respect and hence scuppering a deal before it even took off. :rolleyes:

If this actually goes through I will name my children after Del Toro. First he gives us the closest thing to a live action Evangelion we'll ever have and then he brings one of the best mangas to live action state side TV. This could open the doors for other manga like Death Note or Berserk that would lend well to HBO or Showtime dramas.

I'm really excited about this but there's this little voice inside me that keeps saying "This is too good to be true right? HBO is just gonna refuse the pilot aren't they?"
Hopefully my fears don't come true

I think the Death Note movie is in good hands as long as Shane Black is directing.

I have my doubts he'll get to it any time soon. His next movie will be Doc Savage.

If anyone can do a faithful adaption, it is HBO. Sure, GoT wasn't up to par from he books from what I hear. Still close though.

Monster might be the first to do it.

A lot of the things holding GoT back is the budget for a TV show. Monster shouldn't have as much of a problem with that.

I haven't heard anything about this adaption for a while. The last thing I heard was that Del Toro had handed in the script for the pilot.
I wonder if it got approved.