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Umizaru Manga's Live-Action Contracts 'Expire'
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
Manga creator Shuho Sato revealed via his Twitter account on Tuesday that all the contracts for the live-action adaptations of his Umizaru manga have expired as of October. He added that the live-action adaptations will never stream online or air on television ever again.
The manga centers on the lives of divers in the Japan Coast Guard (then called the Maritime Safety Agency when the manga was being published). The manga ran in Shogakukan's Weekly Young Sunday magazine from 1999 to 2001, and had 12 volumes. NHK produced two live-action specials in 2002 and 2003, and Fuji TV produced a live-action film in 2004, a live-action series in 2005, a second film in 2006, a third film in 2010, and a fourth film in 2012.
Sato revealed in 2012 that he cut his ties with Fuji TV, saying as a result there would "absolutely" be no more live-action films based on Umizaru.
Sato's other manga include the medical drama Say Hello to Black Jack (a title he declared free from copyright protection after he cancelled his contract with Kodansha), the New Say Hello to Black Jack sequel, and The Isle of TOKKOU World War II manga about Imperial Japanese soldiers in the Army's manned suicide torpedo units.
Source: Sports Hochi
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