Japanese Hip Hop Action/Musical Tokyo Tribe Coming to U.S.

Adaptation of controversial ultra-violent rap-battle manga Tokyo Tribes is heading to the U.S.

XYZ Films has announced that it will handle U.S. sales of Tokyo Tribe, the live-action adaptation of a controversial manga that combines American-style hip-hop culture with an ultra-violent gangland setting reminiscent of The Warriors. The film was widely-expected to be a hot property at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival.

The original manga, created by Santa Inoue, takes place in an alternate-universe Tokyo of the mid-1990s where youth gangs fight for control of territories using guns, martial-arts and freestyle rap skills. Though set in Japan, many characters and designs are inspired by American hip-hop styles and reimagined actual rap stars. Japanese hip-hop star Young Dais portrays one of the lead characters.

XYZ Films (which also produced and distributed The Raid movies) also picked up U.S. sales rights to Yakuza Apocalypse from Takashi Miike, director of last year’s Phoenix Wright movie. No official release dates have been announced for either film.

Source: Deadline