Tezuka's Buddha Anime Film Project to Be Trilogy

The previously revealed anime film adaptation of the late Osamu Tezuka's Buddha manga will be a trilogy of movies. Warner Brothers will release the first film, Tezuka Osamu no Buddha -Akai Sabaku yo! Utsukushiku-, in Japan on May 28, 2011.

Sayuri Yoshinaga will voice the mother of a slave boy named Chapra and provide the narration for the work. Masato Sakai and Junko Takeuchi will play Chapra himself in different stages of his life, and Hidetaka Yoshioka and Ai Orikasa will also jointly play Siddhartha — the prince who would become Buddha. The first film alone has a production budget of 1 billion yen (about US$11 million).

In the original 1972-1983 manga, Tezuka recounts of the life of the young prince Siddhartha, the founder of Buddhism. Vertical released all eight volumes in North America in hardcover and paperback, and the story won Harvey Awards in 2004 and 2005. Yasuomi Ishifuji is directing the film off a screenplay by Reiko Yoshida. Hideaki Maniwa is designing the characters and Toei Animation producing the project in association with Tezuka Productions.

Source: News 24, animeanime.jp