Viz Media is launching a companion Manga (comic book) to Pixar’s hit Disney+ film, Turning Red.
The comic, authored by Dirchansky and drawn by KAlfee, tweaks the focus towards the film’s fictional boyband 4*Town and has the title Disney and Pixar’s Turning Red: 4*Town 4*Real: The Manga. Viz says it: “takes you behind the music of Canada’s greatest nineties boy band, 4*Town.”
Here is the official synopsis for the upcoming Manga:
“4*Townies are hyped to see 4*Town performing their favorite hits live, but how will Canada’s greatest boy band spend the day leading up to their epic Toronto concert? Hang with Robaire, Jesse, Tae Young, Aaron T, and Aaron Z as they enjoy a rare break in their busy schedules! Jesse and Tae Young embrace their artistic side and visit a ceramics museum, Aaron T gets his fashion on at the mall, and Aaron Z and Robaire stay in the dance studio to master their moves before the sold-out show. Only the realest fans deserve to get this up close and personal with Tween Beat Magazine’s Hottest Band of the Year!”
Directed by Domee Shi in her feature directorial debut, Turning Red follows Meilin “Mei” Lee, a 13-year-old Chinese-Canadian student who, due to a hereditary curse, transforms into a giant red panda when she experiences any strong emotion. The film is inspired by Shi’s experiences growing up in Toronto in the early 2000s. t is the first Pixar film solely directed by a woman and the second to feature an Asian lead character (after Up, 2009).
According to Samba TV, Turning Red was streamed in 2.5 million U.S. households over its opening weekend, the most-ever for a Disney+ original title. According to Nielsen, Turning Red was the most-watched program across all streaming services in the U.S. with 1.7 billion minutes viewed for the week of March 7 to 13, 2022. It continued to hold the top position from March 14 to 20, 2022, with 1.675 billion minutes. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 94% of 259 critics’ reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8/10. The website’s consensus reads, “Heartwarming, humorous, beautifully animated, and culturally expansive, Turning Red extends Pixar’s long list of family-friendly triumphs”. Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 83 out of 100 based on 52 critics, indicating “universal acclaim”.
