Legendary Japanese indie shoot-’em-up game series currently eyed by executive producer Rachel Kondo for a “mostly Japanese and Japanese-American cast” live-action adaptation upon completion of Shōgun.
Executive Producer Rachel Kondo, alongside animation and film production company Toei, has expressed interest in adapting the Touhou Project franchise, with Kondo stating she wants to explore the traditional Japanese cultural and historical influences of the series.
Creator and showrunner of the hit FX series Shōgun, Rachel Kondo, recently stated in an interview with Anime News Network (ANN) that she has been in talks with Toei Company regarding a possible live-action film adaptation of the niche yet popular Japanese shoot-’em-up series Touhou Project.
“Admittedly, I wasn’t familiar with Touhou Project until recently. I’m not much of a gamer—I play casually when I can—but it’s not my thing as I just don’t have the time for it (laughs). However, Toei approached me and said they believed that, due to my work on Shōgun and my understanding of traditional Japanese history and culture, I would be a strong fit.”
Kondo went on to explain that Toei introduced her to how many of Touhou’s characters and its overall lore are heavily influenced by Japanese legends, folklore, and historical narratives. One example discussed was the character Kaguya Houraisan, who is based on the 10th-century Japanese folktale The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter.
“It’s funny, because my grandmother used to read The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter to me when I was a child. As a little girl, I always wanted to be a princess like Kaguya-hime (light laughter). It might honestly be one of the reasons I’ve always had such a fondness for Japanese literature.”
When asked whether Kaguya Houraisan would play a major role in a potential adaptation, Kondo gave a brief but telling response:
In my 20+ years of being an anime fan, the thought of a twisted individual committing mass murder against those within the have anime industry never crossed my mind. Anime studios are known to receive death threats from disgruntled fans for whatever reason. Studios dismiss threats because those who send them never follow through with them. They are treated as people who talk a big action but never follow through. Thus, (and sadly) death threats aren’t taken as seriously as they should within the industry at times.
Until recently.
On July 18th, 2019 around early morning at the Kyoto Animation studio, 33 lives – mostly young people who not only just got their start in the anime industry, but in life in general – were senselessly taken from the world. Their stories, wisdom, ideas, and creativity for the anime industry will never to be brought to life for the world to see – because of one angry disgusting man whom decided to end their lives. Buildings can be recovered and restored, yes. Alas, we can not recover nor restored the talented lives that were lost.
It’s reported that the murderer was angry at Kyoto Animation (KyoAni) because they stolen something from him. It’s rumor that what was stolen from him was a light novel idea that KyoAni allegedly rejected and used said idea for one of their anime production. Out of anger, he broke into the main studio, pour gasoline on not only around the entrance of the building (to prevent people to escape the building) as well as inside it, but on his victims.
Even if KyoAni did steal this man’s novel idea, it is no reason for him to commit murder — let alone mass murder — through such inhumane means of turning a beloved animation studio into a death trap; burning people to death in the process. As a creative person, I understand the rage of having people steal your ideas/works and claiming them as their own. I would be livid if somebody stole my works and gain something from it. I even admit that I would go as far as to cause physical harm against a person if they stole my works. But, to commit (mass) murder over something I could prove was mines or creative a better version of it is maddening and illogical.
What was so valuable about that horrible man’s work that he had to take so many lives over it?
Is the love for one’s own art that extreme that people should be murdered over it?
Yuki The Snowman 