Matt Schley
February 11, 2016 
If you asked me to create a list of unfilmable manga and anime, Shoujo Tsubaki would probably be pretty high on the list.
But that just means I don’t know everything, because an adaptation of the controversial ero guro nansensu manga is set to hit screens this May.
Shoujo Tsubaki, written by underground manga artist Suehiro Maruo, is the story of a poor girl named Midori who’s sold into a traveling revue theater. Midnight Eye describes the manga as “a full blown girl-in-the-freakshow story freely mixing cuteness, violence, perversity, and a painstaking accuracy in the depiction of 1920s Japan and its outlaw characters to mindblowing impact.”
The manga, which itself was based on a kami shibai performance, was adapted into an anime film in 1992 by independent animator Hiroshi Harada, who refused to show the film in normal movie theaters, instead screening the film at elaborate, deliberately confusing “freak show” live events.
The anime version was supposedly banned in Japan and lost, but a DVD of the film was released in Europe in 2006.
The live-action film, which is set to be released in May of this year, features model Risa Nakamura as Midori, plus actor Shunsuke Kazama (Akihabara@Deep) and visual kei band SuG vocalist Takeru.
The film will be directed by Torico (Ikerushinibana).
Something tells us this isn’t going to be your average manga adaptation. Look for our review when this film hits Japanese theaters in May.
Source: Comic Natalie
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