Grandparents killed in wrong-way crash on Hwy. 401 identified
A 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 earlier this week have been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.
Hit Japanese manga "One Piece" is coming to Netflix as a live-action series -- a development that's both exciting and worrisome for fans who have seen mixed success in a growing list of Hollywood adaptations.
Chronicling the coming-of-age adventures of Monkey D. Luffy, a young pirate with a heart of gold, the world's bestselling manga series has already been adapted into an anime TV series with over 900 episodes. There are also 13 animated movies, "One Piece" video games and merchandise galore.
Ready to give her verdict is Nina Oiki, a gender and politics researcher at Tokyo's Waseda University who has been a "One Piece" fan since she was in elementary school. She read the manga created by Eiichiro Oda when it first came out in Shonen Jump magazine in 1997, and watched the animated show that followed shortly after.
"I know some people are worried about what might happen with the Hollywood remake," she said, noting how past American attempts at depicting Japanese comics and animated works have at times proved disappointing.
The 2017 Netflix movie adaptation of "Death Note," a manga and anime about a book that can kill people, was widely critiqued as a flop. In December 2021, Netflix canceled "Cowboy Bebop," its live-action adaptation of the space Western manga and anime of the same name, after just one season.
The cross-pollination of Hollywood and Japan goes back for decades. References to Japan, such as the image of a geisha on a screen, are plentiful in the 1982 sci-fi movie "Blade Runner," directed by Ridley Scott.
The film, in turn, influenced anime, including the "Blade Runner: Black Lotus" anime that first aired in 2021.
Japanese pop culture expert Roland Kelts says it's a "stunning moment for anime," in part due to streaming on platforms like Netflix, which has helped make entertainment borderless.
Live-action "One Piece," expected later this year, comes on the heels of the global success of "Demon Slayer," another manga that got its start in Shonen Jump and was adapted into a movie and an anime series that was picked up by Netflix.
In February, The Pokemon Company announced "Pokemon Concierge," a stop-motion anime collaboration with Netflix. Pokemon is the world's most valuable media franchise with estimated all-time sales of $100 billion, according to a 2021 Statista report. Followed by Hello Kitty, the two Japanese products outrank Western offerings like Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Pooh and Star Wars. Hollywood live-action adaptations of other popular Japanese products -- from Makoto Shinkai's 2016 body-swap anime "Your Name" to the "Gundam" franchise of giant robots that started in 1979 -- are also in progress.
Anime has a low production cost compared to live-action films, and computer-generated heroes don't get sick or injured or make offensive remarks offscreen like real-life actors sometimes do, making it a marketable medium, said Kelts, author of "Japanamerica," which documents Japanese pop culture's influence in the United States.
"They are stylized and stateless characters. What I mean by that is that anime characters travel globally very, very well," Kelts said. "The human celebrities don't always travel so well."
Established bestsellers offer the advantage of a built-in fanbase, but they also come with strict scrutiny. Some, like "Ghost in the Shell," have been criticized for "whitewashing" the Asian original. The 1995 animated movie was made into a Hollywood live-action in 2017 amid complaints about casting white American actor Scarlett Johansson as the main character -- though Asia largely stayed out of the debate.
Live-action "One Piece" will star Mexican actor Inaki Godoy ("The Imperfects") as Luffy -- whose nationality is canonically a mystery -- alongside American actor Emily Rudd ("The Romanoffs") as Nami and Japanese-American actor Mackenyu ("Fullmetal Alchemist: Revenge of Scar," "Fullmetal Alchemist: Final Transmutation") as Roronoa Zoro.
The main character's inclusive persona, drawing more and more companions to join his quest throughout the story, highlights the kind of school, office or workplace environment people crave in modern-day society, fan Oiki said.
"Luffy is that leader we all want," she said. "Luffy is a hero but not an extraordinary hero. He is one of us. He wants to be king of the pirates, but not so he can rule, but so everyone can be free."
A 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 earlier this week have been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.
Golf is a sign of spring and summer and a major driver for seasonal tourism, experts say.
The adorable trio of child actors from the 1993 classic comedy 'Mrs. Doubtfire,' which starred the late and great Robin Williams, are all grown up and looking back on their seminal time together.
The erstwhile group of senators and MPs studying the federal government's invocation of the Emergencies Act over the "Freedom Convoy" was supposed to present its findings in December. December of 2022, that is.
A Quebec man who pleaded guilty to threatening Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier François Legault has been sentenced to 20 months in jail.
A source close to singer Britney Spears tells CNN that the pop star is 'home and safe' after she had a 'major fight' with her boyfriend on Wednesday night at the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood.
TD Bank Group could be hit with more severe penalties than previously expected, says a banking analyst after a report that the investigation it faces in the U.S. is tied to laundering illicit fentanyl profits.
Three people have been arrested and charged in the killing of B.C. Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar – as authorities continue investigating potential connections to the Indian government.
As Wegovy becomes available to Canadians starting Monday, a medical expert is cautioning patients wanting to use the drug to lose weight that no medication is a ''magic bullet,' and the new medication is meant particularly for people who meet certain criteria related to obesity and weight.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.