Miike to direct $30m adaptation of Terasawa’s Takeru

Yoshiya Nagasawa will produce the film through his Tokyo-based Real Products production outfit. Thailand’s Local Colour Films, headed by Saksiri Chantarangsri and Wicha Khokapun, has also boarded the project as associate producer.

Set in a fictitious world which is neither past or future, the manga follows a man with superhuman powers trying to protect the girl he loves.

Nagasawa is aiming to set the project up as a pan-Asian co-production and is currently in talks with a slew of high-profile Asian actors from China, Korea and Japan. He is currently writing the script of the project, which is expected to start shooting in 2010 for release at the end of 2011.

A former apprentice of the “god of manga” Osamu Tezuka, Terasawa sells more than 20 million comic books annually and has been translated into more than ten languages. He is also responsible for the best-selling Cobra series of comic books.

Nagasawa previously produced Naomi Kawase’s 2003 Shara and 2008 Nanayo. He was also associate producer on Hitoshi Matsumoto’s 2008 Directors’ Fortnight title Dai Nipponjin and hit action title Goemon which was released in Japan at the beginning of this month.

Prolific filmmaker Miike has recently expanded his cult credentials to big-budget hits such as Yatterman and Crows: Episode Zero II.