Warner Bros to Adapt Live Action Bleach

[Liam_H]

Dan Mazeau doesn't inspire much confidence considering Wrath of the Titans is being panned for having such a terrible story and dialogue.

 

[craigdbfan]

Nothing about the line up WB has for this movie is inspiring anything.

NOTE: Just read what he said. Well at least it's going to take place in Japan (for now). WB will probably have more than one guy have at the script though. They usually do that.

 

[Still Wynning]

NOTE: Just read what he said. Well at least it's going to take place in Japan (for now).

Well, I guess that's encouraging. Here's hoping it stays that way. If this does well (big emphasis on "If"), maybe it will make them rethink their strategy with Akira.

I know not a lot of people are crazy about this adaptation, but the writer seems to be really enthusiastic about this project, so, unless I see or hear anything really terrible concerning this project, I'm willing to keep an open mind.

 

[Silvermoth]

It's interesting that they're setting it in Japan. Hopefully it won't end up like the movie "Valkyrie"

 

[Liam_H]

If its set in Japan does that actually imply they're not whitewashing the characters?

 

[craigdbfan]

Seems that way but I have a feeling they'll cast different races for Ichigo, Orihime & Chad (the former two will probably be played by white actors while they find a mestizo Hispanic for Chad) and for some of the characters from Soul Society (Rangiku, Tousen, Aizen). Which I don't see as a bad thing because some characters really don't look Japanese at all, especially Tousen and Rangiku for example yet some look more racially ambiguous.

In a dream world where executives wouldn't be so hesitant against risky moves I'd love for them to take their time and hire some half white/asian actors. This is the best move to try and getting an accurate look to these characters. Ichigo should be played by an actor of both asian and white descent. I think that look certainly lends itself well to adapting anime characters.

I mean these guys have the perfect balance of white and asian features which make them look dead on like anime characters.

 

[Still Wynning]

In a dream world where executives wouldn't be so hesitant against risky moves I'd love for them to take their time and hire some half white/asian actors. This is the best move to try and getting an accurate look to these characters. Ichigo should be played by an actor of both asian and white descent. I think that look certainly lends itself well to adapting anime characters.

Going along with this, I think it would be interesting if they have his mother be a Caucasian redhead who married a Japanese man. It would help explain why he's a natural redhead to begin with and the audience wouldn't question it.

 

[Liam_H]

They could certainly do that even though Ichigo's mother has been depicted as having brown hair. But I hope they keep it as orange.

 

[craigdbfan]

Going along with this, I think it would be interesting if they have his mother be a Caucasian redhead who married a Japanese man. It would help explain why he's a natural redhead to begin with and the audience wouldn't question it.

They could certainly do that even though Ichigo's mother has been depicted as having brown hair. But I hope they keep it as orange.

I was thinking the same thing as well guys.

The reasoning actually works too. They can even incorporate that giant poster Isshin has of Masaki in their living room and elaborate (seeing as the manga/anime never did) that she was a relatively big actress at some point in her life in Japan who eventually fell in love with a Japanese doctor (Isshin).

Spoiler

 

[TheVileOne]

WB and Hollywood will never allow a movie like this to have an all Japanese cast for the budget it will likely cost and be set in Japan.

Look at how just Last Airbender got a whitewashed cast for the leads.

 

[craigdbfan]

That's fine no one is saying otherwise. Bleach shouldn't have an all Japanese cast anyway it should be set in Japan however and that does seems to be the plan as of now.

At least half of the entire main cast are racially ambiguous regardless of their names. Chad for example is explicitly half Mexican (mestizo) and Ichigo as we've already been discussing is a natural red head. So casting mixed & white actors isn't really an issue.

I'm not even taking the Arrancars into consideration which are all Spanish based and the newly introduced Vandenreich which are Dutch and German based.

How they're going to approach the obvious language barriers is the bigger question. Filming the same shot in two different languages (e.g 47 Ronin) should be the route to take when trying to get across that.

 

[TheVileOne]

LOL dude, there is nothing racially ambiguous about the main cast. They are Japanese! Ichigo is Japanese. His parents are Japanese!

Japanese simply present their characters this way because that's the art style. They like big round eyes as that was the style inspired by Walt Disney. And they like the different hair color because they like hair color to be different instead of it all being all black. It's a cultural thing.

You could probably cast Americans for a lot of the Soul Society characters but that's about it really. Ishida, Japanese. Orihime, Japanese. Ichigo, Japanese. Kurosaki family, Japanese. Don Kanoji, Japanese. Tatsuki Arisawa, Japanese.

 

[louiebling$]

Well to me most of the soul society and racially ambiguous..like Tousen,Kenpachi,Aizen,Rangiku,Renji,Kisuke,Yoruichi,Love,Kensei,Shinji, Shunsui Kyōraku ,Izuru Kira,Yumichika.....I mean I could really go on lol

 

[craigdbfan]

LOL dude, there is nothing racially ambiguous about the main cast. They are Japanese! Ichigo is Japanese. His parents are Japanese!

Japanese simply present their characters this way because that's the art style. They like big round eyes as that was the style inspired by Walt Disney. And they like the different hair color because they like hair color to be different instead of it all being all black. It's a cultural thing.

You could probably cast Americans for a lot of the Soul Society characters but that's about it really. Ishida, Japanese. Orihime, Japanese. Ichigo, Japanese. Kurosaki family, Japanese. Don Kanoji, Japanese. Tatsuki Arisawa, Japanese.

For anyone that has actually read Bleach they'd know Tite Kubo has explicitly made a point out of both Orihime and Ichigo's hair color. There's even a part in the manga where they mention how their natural red hair caused both of them to constantly get bullied (Ichigo fighting with thugs who bothered him about it and Orihime enduring the bullying from schoolgirls who would cut her hair because it "ticked them off"). Kubo makes it a point that having natural red hair certainly isn't the norm.

Refer for Ichigo:

Spoiler

Refer for Orihime:

Spoiler

So unlike a lot of anime/manga where having hair colors from the entire spectrum of the color wheel is the norm and is essentially an unmentioned given that certainly isn't the case in Bleach. Tite Kubo dedicated several chapters to touch on this point in regards to Ichigo and Orihime so he very much was trying to get them across as ambiguous and how being naturally different caused them hardships.

So Ichigo & Orihime can easily be played by a Eurasian actor/actress. Tite Kubo has constantly said in interviews how he consciously take elements of both visuals and storytelling from other cultures and applies it to his characters and word usage (Espada, Arrancar, Vandenreich).

 

[TheVileOne]

Yeah they are still Japanese. It's not just about hair color.

Look at Orihime's lesbian friend and Ichigo's youngest sister.

Doesn't matter. Hollywood will white wash the cast anyway. If it actually gets made which I doubt it ever will.

Live action anime adaptations have terrible track record in Hollywood. I can't see many financial risks taken with Bleach.

 

[dark_b]

we will get those movies in 10 years. its all about technology and money.

in the 80's they couldnt make every comicbook character. then the technolgoy advanced. in 10 years they will be able to make those movies under 100. and then we will get them like in the comics and cartoons.

 

[Project862006]

the problem is unlike comic book films where we get directors like nolan,raimi,singer,vaughn

anime adaptions get directors like James Wong(Final Destination)

akira had director of House of Wax before it went to production hell

even tho it is not anime the last airbender cartoon adaption got m night a director who has'nt made a good movie in a decade

now this nutty professor director for bleach lol

 

[TheVileOne]

That's because good directors don't want to direct movies about anime and manga and set them in Japan with all Japanese casts .

 

[craigdbfan]

the problem is unlike comic book films where we get directors like nolan,raimi,singer,vaughn

anime adaptions get directors like James Wong(Final Destination)

akira had director of House of Wax before it went to production hell

even tho it is not anime the last airbender cartoon adaption got m night a director who has'nt made a good movie in a decade

now this nutty professor director for bleach lol

Pretty much.

There's a major lack of understanding at the executive level all the way down to the writers being hired for these gigs. Every person that they hire for these adaptations barely has a grasp of the material.

That's why I've always maintained that the best anime/manga for Americans to adapt should be the ones with clear cut white characters because clearly that's what they want.

Fullmetal Alchemist, Eureka Seven, Code Geass, Berserk, Baccano! These are anime/manga where the writer had European/American/White characters in mind as protagonist. These wouldn't create any conflict in their respective fan base when hiring white actors for the main roles. Hollywood should stick to adapting material like this yet they're going for infinitely harder material which further shows their disconnect and lack of understanding of anime and manga in general.

Adapting something like Bleach on the other hand would take an incredibly nuanced approach from someone who understands Tite Kubo's goal with the manga and casting would prove to be incredibly difficult to achieve what Kubo had in mind. It's just far to complicated and messy of a task.

 

[Project862006]

^ pretty much this also goes with video game adaptions

we get the definition of Hacks working on our beloved properties

 

[Lord]

Seems that way but I have a feeling they'll cast different races for Ichigo, Orihime & Chad (the former two will probably be played by white actors while they find a mestizo Hispanic for Chad) and for some of the characters from Soul Society (Rangiku, Tousen, Aizen). Which I don't see as a bad thing because some characters really don't look Japanese at all, especially Tousen and Rangiku for example yet some look more racially ambiguous.

In a dream world where executives wouldn't be so hesitant against risky moves I'd love for them to take their time and hire some half white/asian actors. This is the best move to try and getting an accurate look to these characters. Ichigo should be played by an actor of both asian and white descent. I think that look certainly lends itself well to adapting anime characters.

I mean these guys have the perfect balance of white and asian features which make them look dead on like anime characters.

Something like that would work perfectly, considering the people behind this movie i'm not convinced either but i think that Bleach has potencial to work as a live-action movie. Interestingly enough, i found an interview where Tite Kubo was asked what he would think of a Bleach live-action movie:

SJ: What aould your dream cast be fore a live-action Bleach movie?
TK: If it were possible to do Bleach as a live movie, then I wouldn’t have drawn the manga. I want to draw something that can only be done as manga.

But in this interview:

Q: How long ago did this process start (from initial pitch/idea to a signed development deal with Warner Brothers)? By any chance did this process start when Kubo-sensei came to San Diego Comic-Con in 2008?
Jason Hoffs:

Yes, we first began our discussions in 2008. We all went back and forth on the key creative elements, and when we were satisfied, began to assemble to team here. Because Bleach is such a large and popular property, it took some time to make the deal with Warner Bros. Now we are all so excited to begin the creative work on the screenplay!

Speaking of Comic-Con 2008, the outpouring of enthusiasm for Kubo-sensei’s visit was amazing. So many fans waited for hours in line to meet him and so many of the costumes, zanpakuto and accessories were beautifully and lovingly made. When we think about the level of passion and commitment, both on the creator’s and the fan’s side, it reminds us how important it is to make the best Bleach film we can.

And a more recent one they mentioned they talked with Kubo, so he must have changed his mind, i think that for the first film they should use the gran fisher as the main storyline, it wouldn't even need to have big battles or a very big budget, then if it was successful then they could make it a film series as follows:

Bleach 2: Uryuu is introduced like he originally was in the manga, some flashbacks of things in soul society are used to introduce some of the characters there, the film can end with Rukia being brought back to Soul Society.

Bleach 3: Sould Society arc

Bleach 4: Vaizard and Arrancar arc

Bleach 5: Invasion to Hueco Mundo and war between the shinigami and Espada, culminating in Aizen's defeat.

Bleach 6: Fullbring arc

And after that i don't know as the manga still needs to end the following story arc, which appears to be the last one, so it would probably take one or two more movies to end the story. I'm not sure about Aizen, i think he's more japanese, but he would need a Japanese actor that could pull off his voice and inteligence.

Soul Society should be mostly Japanese exept for the characters that don't look Japanese, the Espada are mostly hispanic while the vandenreich are mostly German.

 

[Fading]

Well, it's WB making it, so the main character (Ichigo) will most likely be played by whatever handsome young-ish looking actor they can afford. Which I'm actually fine with as long as whoever it is can act, or at the very least pull off the fights. Chad is half Mexican, and it shows very much visually, so they need a Latino to play him IMO. Rukia, especially since they went ahead and set it in Japan as they should, should be an Asian woman. Orihime...I think they could pull off an American actress for her. She has what most animes tribute to an American, big breasts, lighter hair, a bit ditzy.


Given how they'll cast it, my guess is Ichigo ends up as an American exchange student rather than Japanese. He's in a strange land (to him), and now Rukia shows up. Which can still work. If they're doing multiple movies I'd like to see the start of it be Hollow fighting, with the big boss being the Hollow that killed his mom. End the first movie with the Ichigo-Renji-Byakuya fight. Have movie 2 be Soul Society. Movie 3 be a compressed Aizen arc, complete with Arrancar (Grimmjaw has to be in it, heh).

All things considered, as long as they don't do their typical route (see Dragon Ball), of a director doing "his" version...and ruining it, I think this could be good. I'd pay to see some aerial fights with CG creepy looking hollows. Plus, the pre-Soul Society story is pretty straight forward. It's kind of hard to mess up a teen fighting giant monsters without a heavily convoluted story. Post Soul Society things get so twisted story wise, and drag on so much...not sure I'm looking forward to a US director doing his "version" of that, lol.

 

[Lord]

I'm not sure they could do all the pre-soul society stuff in the first film, you can do up to gran Fisher, but then there's also Uryu's introduction which would probably need to be in the 2nd film. The quincies could be cut, if not for them being so important right now in the manga.

If they want to compress more then they could allways delete the quincies parts completelly and replace Juha Bach for Aizen, that would give the movies less material to cover and instead of having to go for some 7 or 8 movies it would only take 3 or 4 movies.

Either way the first film should focus solely on volumes 1-3, you can cut half the content since it's not very important, and since the plot is very straightforward they could focus on the process of adapting solely, like the character interactions and talk, as what worked on a manga may not work so well in a movie.

 

[Nathan]

Someone tell me that Snyder will be attached to this. If not, screw this. Screw this I say!

 

[Lord]

Yeah, that's definitelly the look they should aim for, in least for the sequels, i'm not sure if Zack Snyder would be interested in the series, but i think he would be a perfect pick.