BIGONE Inc., a Japanese company announced the production of a live-action film Getter Robo, based on the original manga series by Go Nagai and Ken Ishikawa. To raise funds for the production of a proof-of-concept trailer, focused on developing advanced visual effects techniques, the company is running a three-week Kickstarter campaign until 1 May 2023.
Getter Robo is the story of giant robots written between 1974 and 1975. It ran as a manga series on Weekly Shonen Sunday and also as a TV series on Fuji Television.
The pinnacle of Japanese giant robot stories, Getter Robo is credited with introducing the “combining forces” element to the genre. While the TV series adopted a simple storyline of goodness prevailing over evil to appeal to a younger demographic, the original manga series by Ishikawa had a more violent and harsh tone, which is celebrated by hardcore fans. The seminal masterpiece, appealing to a wide variety of anime and manga fans for many years, will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2025.
The film will be written, produced, and directed by Junya Okabe, whose previous works include Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy Legends – The Movie, Cat Shit One, Brave Storm, ZvP (Zatoichi vs. Predator) and many others.
The live-action film will be action-packed, and set in a gritty, violent, modern world. Investors in the project, with prospects for participating in the eventual feature-film production, are being accepted at this time.
The team is planning to release the feature film in theatres in 2025, in honour of Getter Robo’s 50th anniversary. Realising the unique look of the original manga will require many technically-challenging visual effects. To develop and test these effects properly, they are planning to produce a short, proof-of-concept film in collaboration with our team of talented artists at home and abroad.
On large-scale Hollywood films, such tests would be covered by a portion of the feature film budget. Japanese films, however, are much more modestly budgeted and require separate funding for such tests. With Getter Robo, the mission is to surpass all existing live-action adaptations of manga and anime produced in Japan, and these tests are a critical part of meeting that goal. The team is launching a Kickstarter campaign, and are humbly asking everyone, their fellow manga and Getter Robo fans, to help them bring this amazing series to the big screen.
The crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter is presently underway and will remain so for about three weeks, until 1 May. Rewards include exclusive online access to the proof-of-concept trailer prior to the general release, as well as access to the Making of Getter Robo documentary, and inclusion of the supporters’ names in the end credits.