Netflix will adapt legendary manga series City Hunter as a live-action film. A story in the The Hollywood Reporter notes that the streaming giant has greenlit the project. Netflix’s attempt will star Japanese actor Ryohei Suzuki and will be Directed by Yuichi Sato.
City Hunter was created by Tsukasa Hojo and ran in the pages of Weekly Shonen Jump from 1985 to 1991. During that time it became a fixture of Japanese pop. It also achieved global notoriety, selling over 50 million copies outside Japan, and particularly in Europe and Asia. The series stars Ryo Saeba, a private detective who fights crime in Tokyo, when he’s not chasing beautiful ladies. His agency, “City Hunter”, works underground, and can only be contacted by writing certain letters on a special blackboard at Shinjuku Station.
City Hunter received anime adaptations throughout the 1980s, including TV series and theatrical films. Aniplex even produced a new anime film in 2019, City Hunter: Shinjuku Private Eyes. The series was so popular overseas that it spawned its own set of foreign-grown adaptations. These included Hong Kong, Chinese, and French live-action film adaptations, and a Korean live-action TV series.
The Netflix project stars Ryohei Suzuki as Ryo Saeba. Suzuki played Hyugo in the live-action Moribito series, Ryu Nakanishi in the live-action Gatchaman film, and Takeo in a live-action My Love Story!!.
Here’s a shot of Ryohei Suzuki in costume as Ryo.
Its Director, Yuichi Sato, helmed films like Black Gaisha, You, I Love, Kisaragi, and The End of the Tiny World. Tatsuro Mishima, who worked on Netflix’s Yu Yu Hakusho adaptation, wrote the screenplay. The film will be set in and around present-day Shinjuku, and will reportedly aim for a more “grounded” atmosphere in comparison to the more slapstick and silly anime and action-comedy adaptations.
The Netflix City Hunter live-action film is due out in 2024. Other Shonen Jump adaptations by Netflix include a live-action series based on One Piece and My Hero Academia.
