It’s been thirty-six years since Marty McFly took off in Doc Brown’s DeLorean to 1955. And Back to the Future remains as beloved a film as it did in 1985 when it ruled the box office. Then, of course, two sequels followed. But Back to the Future has avoided any remakes, reboots, or legacy sequels during all of these subsequent years. That alone is something of a minor miracle these days. When almost everything gets some kind of continuation.
But Marty and Doc’s story is actually now getting retold. Thankfully, without anyone replacing Michael J. Fox or Christopher Lloyd. According to OtakuUSA (via Comic Book), we’ve learned that Robert Zemeckis’ comedy classic is getting reinterpreted as an illustrated children’s novel in Japan. Ready to go back in time and discover the power of love? You can see the amazing manga-influenced cover right here:
Universal Pictures
The text for Back to the Future is being written by Ichiro Omiya, with Zerogo Iwamoto providing illustrations. Elementary and middle-school children are the target demographic. The novelization features “many illustrations and easy-to-understand words.”
Judging from the cover, it doesn’t look like Iwamoto is straying too far from the source material. Marty and Doc look just as they did in the original movie. Marty even has his famous “life preserver jacket” on. And Emmett Brown still sports his infamously wild hairdo.
It will be interesting to see how something like Back to the Future finds a new interpretation for a foreign audience. Most of the jokes in the original movie work based on knowing all the cultural differences between the 1950s and 1980s America. Does all of that go over the head of a young Gen Z kid in Japan? Unless, of course, they change the dates and locations for the story. Although is it still Back to the Future if it’s not in Hill Valley? That sure looks like the clock tower on the cover. We have questions! We’ll still happily take this over any big-screen remake, though.
The Back to the Future children’s book adaptation comes out in Japan on August 18. There’s no word yet on availability in North America or other territories. However, given the film’s iconic status, we imagine many fans will want to get their hands on this one.
