Asakiyumemishi Canceled and Replaced With A New Genji Anime [Updated on Nov 19]

by dtshyk
Nov 10, 2008 5:13 AM | 10 Comments

According to the official website, TV anime "Asakiyumemishi - The Tale of Genji" based on the manga "The Tale of Genji (Asakiyumemishi)" was canceled and replaced with a new original anime "Genji Monogatari Sennenki Genji". The airing schedule was allegedly not changed and the new anime will be aired from January 2009.

Accoring to Mainichi News, the Director Dezaki Osamu made the decision in order to describe Genji Monogatari (a Japanese classic novel written 1000 years ago) carefully.

Source: New Official Website of Genji
Source: Old Official Website of Asakiyumemishi
Source: Mainichi news

The character designer was changed from Tominaga Mari ("Angelique", "Detective Conan") to Sugino Akio ("Ultraviolet: Code 044","Black Jack - The Movie").
According to Tominaga Mari's blog, her character designs were already approved by Dezaki and Yamato Waki (the author of manga "Asakiyumemishi"). Dezaki and other staff tried to dissuade her from quitting but Tominaga refused to stay in the production staff.

MyCom Journal
Tominaga Mari's blog

Edited on Nov 11th=================
The Production Studio In Panic
According to Excite News, the change of the project put the production company of Genji (formerly Asakiyumemishi) into a terrible turmoil. It's an extraordinary situation that an anime project was altered two month before the airing. The draft plot written by Director Dezaki completely disagreed with the story of the manga, so the anime staff and the the manga publishers tried to find a point of compromise but failed in the end.

Source: Excite News

Edited on Nov 19th==========
Cast of Genji Announced
Hikaru Genji: Sakurai, Takahiro
Kokiden no Nyougo: Fujita, Toshiko
Murasaki no Ue: Endo, Aya
Fujitsubo no Nyougo: Tamagawa, Sakiko
Kiritsubo no Mikado: Horiuchi, Kenyuu
Tou no Chuujyou: Sugita, Tomokazu
Aoi no Ue: Hirata Eriko ("Crying Wolf" in PS3 game "Metal Gear Solid 4")
Rokujyou no Miyasundokoro: Tsuru, Hiromi

Source: New Official Website of Genji

10 Comments Recent Comments

News updated. The cast of Genji was announced in the official website.

Nov 18, 2008 7:22 PM by dtshyk

Oh noes. D:

Nov 12, 2008 4:18 AM by Plate

The Production Studio In Panic
According to Excite News, the change of the project put the production company of Genji (formerly Asakiyumemishi) into a terrible turmoil. It's an extraordinary situation that an anime project was altered two month before the airing. The draft plot written by Director Dezaki completely disagreed with the story of the manga, so the anime staff and the the manga publishers tried to find a point of compromise but failed in the end.

Source: Excite News

Nov 12, 2008 4:17 AM by dtshyk

So its a make or break chance. I rather like this because its a possiblity of showing the story in a different light and making it better than by just doing it only by the origional. Of course it can fail eaiser now because it doesn't have a guideline.

Nov 11, 2008 10:18 AM by Turbe

technokid said:

Absolutely_Steve said:
I can't say I find this to be a bad thing really. I would much rather see their own animated creation based on the novel as opposed to just adapting a manga version anyway.

Might not be that bad idea. But that would mean that the manga isn't a very good recreation of the novel... no????

Hmmm actually I haven't read the manga, but having read the "monogatari", there's no doubt a modern work can't compare to the brightest book ever written in Japan (also sometimes called the "first novel", it was written 1000 years ago), with its 400 characters, more than 1200 pages in modern-day books (it was one of the first books written in japanese, the language of the time has evolved so much that a Japanese man of the 21th century can't read it !) amouting to 54 "chapters", and that even Japanese emperors considered the greatest treasure of Japan. Will be interesting to see how Dezaki, as a great director that he is, will adapt it in a TV series. The perfect format should be 54 episodes, one per chapter, but we'll se how he does it ;)

If you want to read a very simple version of the Genji (the one I read in French was more litteral and almost incomprehensible by modern readers as the translator was extremely faithful to the original monogatari), there's a link:

http://books.google.com/books?id=AIUvc9FnZ5AC&printsec=frontcover&dq=royall+tyler+genji&hl=fr

Nov 11, 2008 8:19 AM by Jacut

I guess the only way to know is to wait and watch it when it comes out....

Nov 10, 2008 5:11 PM by wakka9ca

Absolutely_Steve said:
I can't say I find this to be a bad thing really. I would much rather see their own animated creation based on the novel as opposed to just adapting a manga version anyway.

Might not be that bad idea. But that would mean that the manga isn't a very good recreation of the novel... no????

Nov 10, 2008 4:14 PM by technokid

I can't say I find this to be a bad thing really. I would much rather see their own animated creation based on the novel as opposed to just adapting a manga version anyway.

Nov 10, 2008 6:07 AM by Absolutely_Steve

freedoleen said:
Seems more like a title change to me.

No, the new anime is original and not related to the manga anymore. The manga author was pleased with the anime project before, so there must have been a problem.

Mainichi News

...but Director Dezaki's remark implies that he thinks "Asakiyumemishi" manga does not carefully describe Genji Monogatari. I hope this won't cause a dispute.

Nov 10, 2008 5:36 AM by dtshyk

Seems more like a title change to me.

Nov 10, 2008 5:20 AM by freedoleen