Pictures that adorn manga books by Taiyo Matsumoto.

The trend for drawing on popular comic books for movie plots can be seen both in Japan and the United States. Following Spider-Man - which attracted a record opening-weekend crowd - a slew of live-action versions of superhero comic books are lined up for release in the United States. In Japan, meanwhile, two live-action films based on graphic novels by Taiyo Matsumoto, a manga artist with charismatic appeal, are being shown this summer.

Teenage Frustration, Teenage Passion
Aoi Haru (international English title Blue Spring), the first live-action rendition of a work by Matsumoto, is based on a collection of short stories published in 1993 under the same title. Directed by Toshiaki Toyoda and starring Ryuhei Matsuda (who debuted in Nagisa Oshima's Gohatto), it depicts the cooped-up feelings of a group of delinquents at an all-boys high school. Their only relief is what they call the "rooftop game" - a dangerous test of daring in which they climb over the rooftop fence, lean out with hands on the fence, and see who can clap his hands consecutively the highest number of times. The movie has been shown at film festivals in Toronto (Canada), Chicago (United States), Busan (South Korea), Turin (Italy), Hong Kong, Rotterdam (the Netherlands), and Frankfurt (Germany) and has been highly acclaimed.

The second movie, Ping Pong, is based on a five-volume series of the same title published between 1996 and 1997. It tells the story of eccentric teenage boys competing to become the national high school champion in table tennis. Director Fumihiko Sori, who was on the Titanic visual effects team, has created a film full of stylized, whirlwind action using computer graphics. The screenplay is by Kankuro Miyafuji, who won several prizes last year for his script for Go, while the lead role is played by Yosuke Kubozuka, named best actor at numerous movie events, including the Japanese Academy Awards, for his performance in Go.

The Comic Generation
Matsumoto's bold, detailed graphic style is influenced by French comic artists Moebius and Enki Bilal and by Katsuhiro Otomo, the internationally renowned creator of the 1988 animated feature Akira (site is Japanese only). His drawing style and his captivating, offbeat story lines have earned him a growing cult following among young Japanese since the early 1990s. After his 1994 series Tekkonkinkurito was published in English as Black and White and in French as Amer Beton, he has enjoyed acclaim overseas as well. Subsequent to these translations, his No. 5 has been published in the United States, and Aoi Haru and Nihon no Kyodai came out in France as Printemps Bleu and Freres du Japon.

Dai Miyazaki, the producer of the movie Aoi Haru, is a self-proclaimed enthusiast of Taiyo Matsumoto's creations. In regard to why two films based on works by Matsumoto are coming out one after another, Miyazaki points out that a new trend has been emerging in Japanese movies since last year. "The Japanese filmmaking world is in the midst of a generational shift, and producers in their thirties - the first generation to have grown up in the golden age of manga - are coming to the fore. That's why budgets are becoming available for works like Matsumoto's." The rise of the comic generation can be seen among actors and viewers as well. "The viewers of major Japanese movies used to be mostly older people, and young people only saw foreign films," Miyazaki notes. "But now that's changing. The actors in their twenties who appeared in Aoi Haru say they took part in the film because it was based on a Matsumoto work."

Meanwhile Atsuya Ihara, a publicity producer at Asmik Ace, the distributor of Ping Pong, gives less credit to the comic generation. While admitting that works by Taiyo Matsumoto may be the order of the day, "It's only coincidence that these two projects, out of all the projects in the works, were filmed and are being released at around the same time," he says.

Aoi Haru opened to the public on June 29, and Ping Pong will be released on July 20. How will Taiyo Matsumoto fans react to the films, and how much will they appeal to the general public? The movies' creators await the verdict with bated breath.