Kogyo Tsushinsha’s top ten chart for the Japanese box office in the weekend of October 27 to 28 marked three milestones: the first time in a month that there were two anime- or manga-related movies, the first time in eight weeks that Hero was not #1, and the first time in nine weeks that Evangelion: 1.0 You Are [Not] Alone was absent. Crows Zero toppled the former reigning #1 movie Hero by debuting on top with the equivalent of US$3,478,271 (Box Office Mojo). Fan-favorite director Takashi Miike (Ichi the Killer, MPD Psycho) based this live-action prequel on a violent school brawl manga by Hiroshi Takahashi (Worst). The other manga-related movie, Jigyaku no Uta (Song of Masochism), opened at #8. This comedy movie by Yukihiko Tsutsumi (Ikebukuro West Gate Park, Trick) is inspired by a four-panel manga about the rocky relationship between a frustrated salaryman and a meek housewife.

Kamen Rider the Next, the latest movie entry in the Japanese special-effects franchise that was adapted as Masked Rider in North America, entered the chart at #9. The Japanese-novel-based movie Z? no Senaka (Elephant’s Back) debuted at #2. The Brave One and Stardust round out the new movies at #5 and #6, respectively.