The unAUTHENTIC DC Boards Lounge version 8.9

[The Morningstar]

Why does WB's Akira sound bad? I've never heard any complaints aside from "It's in America and stupid!"

Also, I'm surprised Chronicle has gotten such a warm reception. It just looks like *****ebags and wire stunts based on the previews. Whatever though.

Well there was a leaked plot synopsis a while back that was really, really bad. It was like Akira in name only.

It's a shame, because a well made, live action Akira movie would be ****ing amazing.

But whatever happens, the anime still exists, so I'm not one of those to rage over it.

 

[Tron Bonne]

I would probably be all over this film by the praise it's getting if it weren't a found footage film. Not a fan, and I'm burned out on pretty big time. But, if it is as good as people are saying, I may risk watching it.

 

[chamber-music]

Chronicle is Akira meets Carrie on shakey hand held cameras.

Its well acted and the special effects are good.

 

[The Morningstar]

An extra paycheck to cut, and an extra creative voice to mingle with

Far point. But I mean, if they got Otomo and say, Josh Trank, who is a massive fan of Akira and it obviously influenced Chronicle, together I think things could work out for the best. You'd have the best of both worlds and it'd keep the "fan rage" to a minimum i'd imagine.

 

[chamber-music]

Why does WB's Akira sound bad? I've never heard any complaints aside from "It's in America and stupid!"

Also, I'm surprised Chronicle has gotten such a warm reception. It just looks like *****ebags and wire stunts based on the previews. Whatever though.

People have been complaining about it being set in America with all white cast despite WB keeping everyones names Japanese.

The fact that most attempts at a live action adaptations of Akira never got off the ground because studios claimed it would be too expensive yet the current attempt is rumored to have a rather low budget.

Akira is very Japense-centric anime/manga and you if you change alot of the elements it ceases to be recognisable to the original material.

 

[Tron Bonne]

Oh, I agree. I'd love to see them bring in original creators to advise and such for projects. I don't think it'd do any bad, unless you're dealing with just a super egotistical creator (which is a legit fear), but that's why I think it probably never will happen.

 

[chamber-music]

Having the creator doesn't always guarantee quality or else Green Lantern would of been awesome as Geoff Johns was heavily involved although that flick had other execs adding their own 2 cents which probably didn't help make a coherent vision for the movie.

 

[The Morningstar]

Yea but Green Lantern was pretty accurate to Geoff Johns' GL comics. That's partly why it sucked :P

 

[chamber-music]

I thought people loved Geoff John's Green Lantern?

 

[HighFivingMF]

I thought people loved Geoff John's Green Lantern?

Morningstar ain't one of those people.

 

[The Morningstar]

Well, I loved it up until Sinestro Corps War ended. Then it was downhill, for me anyway

 

[HighFivingMF]

I still love Johns' book. I loved the movie too. Different strokes for different folks (or different blokes, depending on where everyone reading this lives).

Hasn't Akira had a handful of rewrites since any descriptions came out?

 

[The Morningstar]

Yea i think it has. Truth be told I don't think it'd be that hard to adapt to an American setting really. There is always conspiracies about the US military/government doing experiments on soldiers. America obviously has a lot of gangs. The whole big brother/borderline fascist government thing.

I think you could take the basic plot elements and adapt it from a cultural standpoint, Japanese to American.

 

[chamber-music]

Who knows they have changed directors and production was shut down again on the project.

WB have struggled to get it off the ground which isn't exactly a good sign.

 

[HighFivingMF]

Yea i think it has. Truth be told I don't think it'd be that hard to adapt to an American setting really. There is always conspiracies about the US military/government doing experiments on soldiers. America obviously has a lot of gangs. The whole big brother/borderline fascist government thing.

I think you could take the basic plot elements and adapt it from a cultural standpoint, Japanese to American.

The argument that always bugged me is that you can't make it American because it's a Japanese story with Japanese themes that only people familiar with the cultures can connect with. I haven't seen or read it, but there has to be a reason it's caught on so much better with Americans than any other anime.

 

[Mystirious]

I would probably be all over this film by the praise it's getting if it weren't a found footage film. Not a fan, and I'm burned out on pretty big time. But, if it is as good as people are saying, I may risk watching it.

It does look really good Tron Bonne

I'm definitely planning to go see it

WB should give up on their version of Akira because Chronicle already beat them to it.

Also I dont think it would look as good in live action as it did in animation

 

[The Morningstar]

To be honest i don't see much in Akira, the anime anyway, that can't be adapted to a different culture. A lot of it's themes are pretty universal really. Like experimentation on humans, fascist governments, gang problems etc.

 

[chamber-music]

Guillermo del Toro's Pacific Rim sounds like Anime's Rahxephon and Macross. I'm excited to see that.

 

[The Morningstar]

I know nothing about Pacific Rim other than it's directed by Del Toro and Idris Elba is in it. What's it about?

 

[HighFivingMF]

Guillermo del Toro's Pacific Rim sounds like Anime's Rahxephon and Macross. I'm excited to see that.

I don't know what those are. But I want to see Pacific Rim!

 

[chamber-music]

I know nothing about Pacific Rim other than it's directed by Del Toro and Idris Elba is in it. What's it about?

Giant Godzilla like monsters come through a portal in the Pacific ocean and attack costal cities around the world.

Human pilots in giant mecha (Japanese style robot suits) fight them protecting the Earth.

Idris Elaba, Charlie Hunaman and Ron Perlman star

 

[HighFivingMF]

I know nothing about Pacific Rim other than it's directed by Del Toro and Idris Elba is in it. What's it about?

From Wikipedia:

The story takes place at an alternate version of Earth in the near future, decades after a historic date in November 2012 when the first kaiju, a towering Godzilla-like beast, emerged from a hole in the Pacific Ocean and attacked the city of Osaka, Japan. The second is "The Anteverse," another universe on the other side of that gaping portal, 5 miles below our ocean's surface.
Since the first attack, the rim has been "spitting out" a variety of gigantic monsters at an increasing rate, which then stride out of the ocean and begin destroying sea-bordering cities, like Tokyo and Los Angeles. In order to combat these monstrous, otherworldly menaces, the military developed the "Jaeger" program, which trains teams of two pilots to jointly operate massive, building-sized mechanized suits of armor and high-tech weaponry. Within the first act alone, we are given enough detailed background on the god-like Jaeger systems, its shared neural piloting system (called "pons"), and the relentless beasts. But Beacham is an absolute master at immediately establishing characters and their conflicts.
The central character is Raleigh Antrobus, 23, a skilled Jaeger pilot still wrestling emotionally with the loss of his co-pilot and biological brother, Yance, during a mission a year earlier. The ordeal has wreaked havoc on his mind spirit, leaving him with ghostly nightmares of the battle from the shared "pons" experience. After the initial setup, the damaged hero is recruited to re-join the task force in Tokyo, where pilots are in demand, and team with a fellow "leftover," 22-year-old female Japanese pilot Mako Mori. Naturally, the language barrier (among other things) presents an issue for the out-of-sync duo, meaning an even steeper learning curve for the unprecedented pairing.
Meanwhile, Felicity "Flick" Kincaid, a journalist and Yance's former fiancée, circles the globe (ours) to discover answers about this mysterious rift and the origins of its intensifying threat.

With Idris Elba, Charlie Hunnam, Charlie Day, and Ron Perlman.

 

[The Morningstar]

Thanks guys. Seems interesting. Del Toro definitely has the visual flair to make it look spectacular.

 

[The Morningstar]

Thanks guys. Seems interesting. Del Toro definitely has the visual flair to make it look spectacular.

 

[Tron Bonne]

To be honest i don't see much in Akira, the anime anyway, that can't be adapted to a different culture. A lot of it's themes are pretty universal really. Like experimentation on humans, fascist governments, gang problems etc.

On a universal level, I think that's true, but the main issue or theme does also deal with the change in attitude and Japanese culture because of the atomic bomb. I really don't think you can relate that to an American setting, because it's something we've just not dealt with. It's like trying to adapt a story focused on the Isareli-Palestine conflict or the IRA to an America setting. Something about it just isn't going to translate.

Of course, that being said, I don't think it's necessarily as specific as those two examples. You could pull it off, but I do think that, at the very least, something would be lost in translation.