Crying Freeman - Adaptations

Adaptations

• In 1988, the manga was adapted into a six-part anime OVA series by Toei Animation. While the character designs are heavily based on Ikegami's artwork, the anime series uses abridged versions of the manga's storylines. Many of the more violent and graphic scenes of the manga, such as Bugnug's rape by Oshu, are severely truncated and censored in the anime. The Crying Freeman anime was first licensed in the U.S. by Streamline Pictures in 1994 in English-dubbed form, then on Region 1 DVD in 2002 by ADV Films with both English and Japanese dialogues with English subtitles. The series was also licensed in Europe by Manga Entertainment.

• There are two 1990 live-action films Hong Kong that were loosely based on Crying Freeman. The two movies were Dragon from Russia (紅場飛龍) directed by Clarence Fok Yiu-leung and Killer's Romance (浪漫殺手自由人) directed by Phillip Ko.

• In 1995, French director Christophe Gans directed a French and Canadian-produced film adaptation of Crying Freeman starring Mark Dacascos. It had a wide release in Canada, Europe and Asia, but was never shown in the United States.