Japan Disapproves of Live Action Manga Adaptions
In a recent poll it has been unveiled that the majority of Japanese disapprove of Live action adaptions of manga. The majority, 64.8%, complained that in live action movies “The cast felt out of place,” “They often don’t treat the image of the original work properly” and “There’s a limit to what you can express in film.”The 35.2% that did approve, quoted reasons such as “It’s possible to enjoy the casting choices,” and “It can promote a title to a wider audience.”
While I don’t know what series are being released as live action in Japan, there is currently a very long list of American live action adaptions planned, or at least rumored to be in the works~ Even though they have larger budgets than their Japanese counter parts… you always have to worry about what sort of “Americanization” will happen to the plot.
- Akira
- Battle Angel Alita
- Cowboy Bebop
- Death Note
- Full Metal Panic
- Ghost in the Shell (Close Enough)
- Monster
- Neon Genesis Evangelion
- Ninja Scroll
- Paradise Kiss
- Priest
- Robotech
- Voltron
While some of the series on this list do have a lot of potential (I think a live action Monster would be amazing…), some of them leave me feeling unsure. For instance, here is an example of what COULD happen to the Akira live action movie:
Also, the poll also states that only 68.5% of Japanese approve of manga to anime adaptions. They list reasons such as “The voices differed to my image of them” and “A manga worldview is hard to convey through anime.” Besides these reason I would have to argue that my favorite manga are never finished when adapted to an anime.
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I dunno, at least Sailor Moon Live had a cast of pretty cute real 15 year old girls, how can anyone not appreciate that ?
Live adaptations are most of the time really bad so I am with the majority that dont like them.
I don’t think the Akira movie will be Americanized since the dub wasn’t.Unless it for children,I doubt anything would be made more American.Yes Speed Racer used the English names but I think it was since it was already “Americanized” it was easier and less confusing to use the English names.I’m just worried about the quality of the story and how true it will stay to the original.
^ The new akira is taking place in America =P
It may not be “Kidified”~ But its pretty clear the want to remove Japanese elements from it xD
In regards to Japanese live-action adaptations, it is astonishing how bad these things are. Most of what I’ve seen are very short-lived TV series where the character names are the same, but there’s no real feeling that these are the characters I’ve read in the manga nor the anime adaptation.
The first “fail” is in hair coloring and appearance of the characters. The problem with manga and anime becoming a Japanese live-action adaptation is that most of the characters have a western look to them in the manga or anime but that changes in the live-action.
Next is the writing. It seems that the writers of live-action adaptations have no understanding of what made the original manga or even the anime adaptation so popular.
Third is the acting. Some of the acting and directing for live-action adaptations is just awful.
The best live-action adaptations I’ve seen so far from Japan is the “Honey and Clover” movie and then the TV series (which has different actors). The movie’s only problem is compressing so much material into a single movie, but I felt that the writing and actors did what they could. The TV series was better because they had more time and I really got into it despite knowing the story pretty well (and the writers did make some changes but nothing that drove me spare). However in both cases, Hagu-chan is a normal, dark-haired Japanese girl (though short) whereas in the manga and anime, she’s a blonde with blue eyes.
Another good adaptation of a novel is “Shinobi: Blade Under Heart,” which adapts “Kouga Ninja Scrolls” (the anime adaptation is “Basilisk”). As expected, a movie adaptation has to cut a lot of material, but I really got into the live-action version, so much so that when FUNimation released a Blu-ray version, I bought it.
As to American live-action adaptations, it becomes a case of over domestication, poor writing, poor acting, etc. In the hands of a true fan of the original who UNDERSTANDS the original materials, an adaptation could be good. For example, I know that as a writer and executive producer of a live-action Tenchi Muyo! series, at the very least I would have very happy Tenchi fans both in the U.S. and Japan (assuming no outside interventions). I rather doubt that anyone else would have the passion and understanding of the series to make a live-action adaptation that is faithful to the source material and does it justice in a live-action format.