Anime to Live Action - Thought's?

[Avangarde]

Could it work, should it work, will it work? Your thought's?

Personally, the only way I feel an anime could ever get any justice was in the form of a 13 episode mini series or just a full blown TV series that follows an anime or manga closer, it's the only way to capture the complexity of these characters.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

It could work but there hasn't been an honest effort by an American filmmaker.

I'd really like to see James Cameron's Battle Angel. It could define the genre (live action anime adaptation).

 

[Tron Bonne]

It can, sure, but it seems to be something people can't capture all too well. Even some Japanese filmmakers haven't got it quite right (Casshern is a good example, decent film and all, but radically strayed from the source). Not sure why to be honest. I think it's probably a combination of general length, and things used in animation not translating to live action very well.

 

[Legion]

Sure anime can work as live action. But you needed studios, directors, and cast that committed to making a great movie and not just cashing in on a title.

Even our own comic book characters which are much more well known in our country have gotten very poor treatment in the wrong hands.

And there have been American made Anime movies in the past and yea..they have been very poor but not because of the source content but because the scope for the films were so small.

One of my favorite anime The Guyver had 2 live action adaptations in America in the early 90s. The first movie was an attempt to cash in on the popularity of the ninja turtles.

The Guyver anime and manga already had popularity here and so the studio grabbed this title, which was dark and ultra violent and turned into something that was campy and cheesy.

The second movie was like the director's way of apologizing for the first and although it was better it still suffered from an incredibly small budget.

Then the Fist of the North Star movie. This movie should have been like a cross between Mad Max and Scanners. Both of those movies were made in the 80s, the FotNS movie we got a decade later was just rubbish.

Dragon Ball: Evolution- don't even want to get started. Lots of potential, the first anime movie adaption of an anime that transcended a niche market into the mainstream. Hollywood is out of ideas, if they had just I don't know...TRIED to make a good movie, they would have opened up a whole new market for anime movies.

Akira- I'm hoping for the best but expecting the worst.

And I doubt Voltron or Evangelion movies will ever make it out but unless Akira turns out to be great they will probably be crap as well.

 

[Legion]

I also think that Death Note would have a fantastic movie series if done properly. I think that the shinigami would need to modified to appear more horrific. I imagine them looking like Linda Blair's possessed form from the Exorcist or a Cenobyte from the original Hellraiser films. Something that is eerie and frightening.

 

[Ryo Jin]

I think the Japanese Live Action Death Note movies were done just fine.

Also, Detroit Metal City and 20th Century Boys (Though manga and never an anime) were also well done transitions to live action. Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni was also done in live action but that movie just sucked.

Death Note 2: The Last Name Trailer


Detroit Metal City Trailer


20th Century Boys 1 Trailer

 

[MadVillainy]

There is alot of potential but the problem is choosing the right ones. I have no problem with the idea itself though

 

[Avangarde]

There are some anime/manga that have influences from Hollywood, Cowboy Bebop is a good example of this from Star Wars and other Scifi etc. But what about other anime that's somewhat obscure, and crazy epic like Gurren Lagann, One Piece, Fullmetal Alchemist, Code Geass, and Fooly Cooly. When you think about it there is a certain "charm" to these that's not easily achieved in live action, that's why I believe it can only be achieved in a serial format.

 

[Ryo Jin]

20th Century Boys and DMC are obscure. FMA, One Piece, and maybe FLCL could work I'd say.

 

[Avangarde]

I need to check 20th Century Boys and DMC out.

 

[Tron Bonne]

20th Century Boys and DMC are obscure. FMA, One Piece, and maybe FLCL could work I'd say.

That's a pretty huge maybe. That would probably be one of the single hardest to adapt and keep the spirit of it to live action

 

[Ryo Jin]

That's a pretty huge maybe. That would probably be one of the single hardest to adapt and keep the spirit of it to live action

Wouldn't be hard, it just likely would never happen. It's like Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, vs. the World. The world just wouldn't get it. Hard to approve of something so left field as FLCL as a money grubbing movie studio. It would have to be borderline indy. Or just from Japan

 

[Tron Bonne]

All the animation style changes and crazy stuff wouldn't translate very well as a direct adaptation. I mean stuff like this:





Even with CGI and stuff, seems like it'd be really difficult to capture the space. I mean, maybe, but of all the ones mentioned, it's the one I have the most difficultly envisioning in live action

 

[Ryo Jin]

It would be difficult as most movies that portray this style from Japan in live action are usually portrayed terribly. The live action Cutie Honey comes to mind. I'd just chalk FLCL up as something that should and could never be adapted properly in live action, nor would the world ever need it to be.

 

[Avangarde]

It would be difficult as most movies that portray this style from Japan in live action are usually portrayed terribly. The live action Cutie Honey comes to mind. I'd just chalk FLCL up as something that should and could never be adapted properly in live action, nor would the world ever need it to be.

You also have to remember that even if the masses watched the FLCL anime they would probably go huh? So Live action would even be worse.

 

[GekigangerV]

I think most anime/manga have the potential to be translated well to live action. I think the only exceptions being over the top shonen titles such as Naruto and Dragonball.

Many titles have already been translated well (albeit with some modifications) such as GTO, Gokusen, Touch and Nana. Any it looks like the A****a no Joe movie is turning out OK.

http://www.a****ano-joe.com/trailer/

Of course none of the previous mentioned manga adaptions are very special effect heavy productions and are more dramas that are story driven. The real question is whether the Sci-Fi/Fantasy mangas can be adapted well to the big or small screen.

As far as Japan goes, their special effects have always been behind the big hollywood studios and it shows in many of their movies.

Taking a look at the upcoming and highly hyped Space Battleship Yamato you can see how obvious that gap is

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fQoh6AIgNE

The CG for Ryuk in the Death Note movies, although good, was still quite noticeable.

There are many manga I would like to see in live action like Hajime no Ippo, Ruroni Kenshin and Berserk. HnI and Kenshin would probably be doable (although kenshin may need some toning down of some of its Shonen qualities). Berserk would need quite the budget to be made considering the need for CG for the apostles and set pieces. I would imagine a 300 type approach in film making would be the best avenue to adapt Berserk, but it would take someone dedicated to stick with the large amount of source material over time.

 

[Odeode]

I think they made justice with Nodame Cantabile when they made it Live Action. Too bad they had to compress it in a 2 films.

But I still enjoyed it, with this film also showcasing a number, though less now, of classical musical pieces coming complete with explanations of the stories and theories behind the composers and the works themselves, which serves to be educational. I start to realize as well that the choice of the music pieces were deliberately considered to evoke and reflect the mood of the respective characters at the time of their playing, so how's that for that perfect drawing of parallels?

There are some rumors that Evangelion will be the next production project. I hope it won't be another Transformer. nutritional supplements | Ventrilo

 

[Mr. Majestic]

I think it can work just fine. The only problem is i feel which i'm pretty sure a lot of people may feel this way, is that the director and writers don't have a love for the project they are doing. When you don't have a love for something your more than willing to make changes to stuff and by doing that your going to make a bad movie.

If you ask me with all the technology we have today you can pretty much do any anime you want. The question is how good will the script and actor's be?

 

[Spider-Aziz]

Meh, they have some good moments, not good enough
Movie climax is always the hardest to achieve, it's harder when a live action is based on anime

 

[SymbioticToxin]

It could work if done right by the cast and the director. And when I say done right, I mean they make adjustments and changes that are minor and don't completely rape the story and/or the characters. Example of bad adjustments and changes would be Dragonball Evolution.