Hollywood star Samuel L. Jackson is to bring the “Afro Samurai” to the big screen. Jackson has already done the voiceover for the 5-episode TV version of the manga, made with Japanese studio Gonzo and Fuji TV, and has teamed up with “Batman Begins” producer Charles Roven to make a live-action version. The sci-fi/action story tells of a black samurai who sets out to avenge the death of his father, blending samurai style with hip-hop, creating a new kind of hybrid anime. The US office of Tokyo-based animation studio GDH came across the manga while searching for new material from Japan. Afro Samurai is the creation of graphic designer Okazaki Takashi (31), who self-published less than 100 copies of the strip in a magazine in 1998. Though virtually unknown in Japan, the Americans considered the manga very innovative and cool, and when Jackson got involved the project took on a whole new momentum. The series is scheduled to debut on SpikeTV in the US in the late autumn.
• Pin-up girl Kumada Yoko (23) has denied that she and comedian Okamura Takashi (35) are sexually involved. She was photographed several weeks ago leaving his apartment by photographers from a weekly magazine. Her explicit denial came on yesterday’s edition of the TBS show “Akko ni Omakase!” Hostess Wada Akiko (55) asked the direct question the gossip media have been speculating about for the last couple of weeks: “Did you have sex with him?” To which Kumada answered, “Honest answer. No I didn’t.” She added, “I couldn’t really hear what he was talking about most of the time. The only subject he really talked passionately about was Jackie Chan!” Showbiz denials are pretty standard, but the truth about this non-relationship may never come out.