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Live-Action Tokyo Tribe and World of Kanako at London Film Festival

The live-action manga adaptation Tokyo Tribe will be screened at the London Film Festival, on October 9 (9 p.m., Curzon Soho) and 11 (6.15 p.m., Rich Mix, Shoreditch High Street). Tickets will be available here from September 18.

(The London Film Festival is also screening the anime period drama Giovanni's Island on October 10 and 11, details here.)

Tokyo Tribe is written-directed by Shion Sono (Suicide Club, Himizu, All Esper Dayo!), and stars Ryōhei Suzuki (HK/Hentai Kamen) as Bukuro Wu-Ronz gang leader Mera and hip-hop artist YOUNG DAIS as Kai in the rival gang Musashino Saru. Japanese-American hip-hop artist and singer AI performs the theme song "HOPE -TOKYO TRIBE ANTHEM" with fellow artists YOUNG DAIS, SIMON, and Y'S.

The original manga takes place in the near future in Tokyo where rival street gangs fight each other for turf. When the rivalry between two of the gangs gets more personal, the fighting turns into an all-out war.

Tokyopop published six of 12 volumes of the Tokyo Tribe 2 manga (under the name Tokyo Tribes) in North America. Madhouse adapted the same manga series into the 13-episode Tokyo Tribe 2 anime series in 2006.

The London Film Festival will also screen World of Kanako, directed by Tetsuya Nakashima (Kamikaze Girls, Memories of Matsuko, Confessions). It is a live-action film of Akio Fukamachi's novel Hateshinaki Kawaki, and features animated sequences by Studio 4°C and the acclaimed animator Shinya Ōhira. The story centers around a former detective named Fujishima (Kōji Yakusho) who searches for his missing daughter, a honors student named Kanako (Nana Komatsu). The film will be shown on October 13 (8.45 p.m., Hackney Picturehouse), October 15 (3.30 p.m., Vue West End) and October 19 (8.45 p.m., Rich Mix, Shoreditch High Street). Tickets will be available here from September 18. The film trailer is below.