Animated TV show on Anthony Bourdain's comics

It's been a year since celebrated chef, author and TV host Anthony Bourdain's tragic death but fans may now have a chance to see his talents on TV once more in the form of a food-meets-horror animated series, says a report by Channel NewsAsia.

Earlier this week, Sony Pictures Animation announced it was developing a show based on the late chef's graphic novels series "Hungry Ghosts".

The four-part comics done by Bourdain and Joel Rose was published by Dark Horse, and was released last October as a collection, which also included five bonus recipes inspired by the stories.

The two had previously collaborated on another graphic novel, "Get Jiro".

According to Channel NewsAsia, the new series will be an anthology of frightening, hilarious, twisted, and culinary-inspired ghost stories. Each episode will range in tone and will look completely different from the last, taking advantage of various forms of animation to best fit the story.

"Hungry Ghosts" stories are based on a Russian oligarch, who invites chefs to play a Japanese Edo-period game of 100 candles, where people take turns telling horror stories. The co-authors then added culinary twists. In one, a ramen chef who ignores a beggar and ends up being eaten by him.

"I had never heard of Kaiden, the Japanese Edo-period ghost stories, before Tony brought it up," said Rose in an interview last year.

"Never heard of Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai, the samurai game of 100 candles. Tony mentioned it first during a joint interview, and then afterwards over a beer at a nearby tavern, he got into it. He was encyclopedic."

Bourdain committed suicide on June 8, 2018, weeks before his birthday on June 25.

--IANS

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