Can an anime to live action work?

[Zantos]

So, recently my gf saw the attack on titan movie trailer and was like "it looks awesome!". I didn't agree too much personally. I am still very skeptical because history has not been kind to anime to live action movies, features, shows or what ever. So, seeing as how there are quite a few anime fans, I was wandering what your thoughts are on the subject. Do you think anime can really ever translate well into live action, or should it just stay as is?

If you think it can be done well, what do you list as an example of it going well?

[Deleted]

There's nothing inherently against one being adapted well. I'm not familiar with specific examples but there's nothing stopping a good adaptation. It's just stories at the end of the day.

[Arcanimus]

It depends on the source material, honestly. Things that require a large amount of CGI will almost always naturally turn out worse, but things with little or none (such as Steins;Gate or Cowboy Bebop) stand a far better chance.

Then it comes down to how many liberties the director takes with the story. Take for example this:

While not anime in the truest sense, it shares some qualities, and the director essentially changed several points in the story for little reason.

[Zantos]

There's nothing inherently against one being adapted well. I'm not familiar with specific examples but there's nothing stopping a good adaptation. It's just stories at the end of the day.

Well, dragon ball evolution was an attempt that didn't go well. More often then not, the director decides to change it in various ways, including the story and how the cast look. There is an upcoming ghost in the shell movie which can attest to the actors being nothing like the anime counterparts. It usually ends up with it being ruined for the fans of the anime.

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While not anime in the truest sense, it shares some qualities, and the director essentially changed several points in the story for little reason.

This is another reason I ask since this is a huge reason it isn't successful all that much.

[Arrashi]

I want life action version of jojo's bizarre adventure. It would probably look like this:


OT: I really don't think than any kind of animation (western or eastern) looks good when going into life action. Alot of character designs look good while drawn/animated but simply cannot be carried into real life. This results in either characters looking untruthfully to original designs or plain stupid if they try to do this too hard.

Not to mention that combat scenes often times look just bad or unimpressive in life action.

[Deleted]

Well, dragon ball evolution was an attempt that didn't go well. More often then not, the director decides to change it in various ways, including the story and how the cast look. There is an upcoming ghost in the shell movie which can attest to the actors being nothing like the anime counterparts. It usually ends up with it being ruined for the fans of the anime.

Well that's got nothing to do with anything inherent to anime, just writers and directors being stupid, perhaps not appreciating animated media. The only obstacle really is - as Arrashi says - the character designs often being hard to translate into real life. But the story can always been adapted into live action, theoretically.

[Cernunnos]

Rurouni Kenshin live action is very very well done mostly because it has absolutely no influence from any Hollywood studios at all. All japanese cast, made by a japanese studio. Only thing hollywood has to do with it is distribution.


The Shingeki no kyojin (attack on titan) also looks good since it's done in the same way.

[Weriik]

If you have seen this and don't think it is one of the most amazing things to come out of the fine arts, then you've missed the entire point of the series.

[Arcanimus]

This is another reason I ask since this is a huge reason it isn't successful all that much.

Just look at video game to live action movies for example. Most are crap, yeah. But every now and again you get a gem.
Just like games, movies, anime, comics, books, etc. The source material and the director's interpretation are what make the difference.

[MestHoop]

Do you think anime can really ever translate well into live action...?

Detroit Metal City. The live action movie is amazing (just as the anime and the manga both were based off of).

It generally depends on who is making the movie, how close they're staying to the source material (which in anime often means a manga) and the feasibility of the project. Obviously DMC is a lot easier of a concept to translate into live action than say Puella Magi Madoka Magica.

[Deleted]

Why wouldn't it? It's not like live-action has limited scope with things it can deal with.

[Chelly]

Rurouni Kenshin live action is very very well done mostly because it has absolutely no influence from any Hollywood studios at all. All japanese cast, made by a japanese studio. Only thing hollywood has to do with it is distribution.


The Shingeki no kyojin (attack on titan) also looks good since it's done in the same way.

To be fair though, Rurouni Kenshin is kinda easier to adapt into live action since it's a historical manga/show. It would be harder to adapt other stuff with more supernatural elements.

[Zantos]

The Rurouni Kenshin trilogy of movies are amazingly well done. I think it helps that Hollywood didn't make them.

They do say hollywood is what wrecks the chance for adaptations to actually work.

[Arrashi]

Why wouldn't it? It's not like live-action has limited scope with things it can deal with.

I would say that not every art-style can be translated into life action. While this is more than case with manga (where you can clearly see the diffrence betwen authors with heavily stylized style and those with more usual/mild drawing style. I mean take example of that:
http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.p...st_id=32674140
No fucking way you will carry her drawing style while remaining truthful to original material. That is the biggest problem life action versions have.

[Osoroshii]

It would be harder to adapt other stuff with more supernatural elements.

I really enjoyed the live-action adaptation of Blood: The Last Vampire. Not perfect, but it was fairly well done.

[Cernunnos]

To be fair though, Rurouni Kenshin is kinda easier to adapt into live action since it's a historical manga/show. It would be harder to adapt other stuff with more supernatural elements.

Doesn't mean it can't be done. Plenty of live action shows/movies adaptations have supernatural stuff that's CGI but that doesnt mean it has to look like it was made in 5 minutes by some college kid in his dorm room with photoshop/mspaint like the DBZ movie did. Plus the acting in that one was complete ass.

[Mechazod]

Not really a big anime fan, but I would like to see the new live action Lupin the Third movie that is coming out (or may already be out in Asian regions).

Also if anyone wants to see some other hilarious attempts at a live action adaption of Dragon Ball then go check out the ones that were made in the 80s for the original series. Goku wrestling a rubber alligator is a moment of cinematic perfection.

[Dhrizzle]

I can talk about ones I've seen adapted from Manga, some of them could have had cartoons made of them too.

Azumi is fantastic and I've heard nothing but good things about Old Boy. I seem to remember enjoying Fist of the North Star and Crying Freeman but I would have been 15 or 16 at the time so my taste was likely terrible. I also really liked City Hunter, but watching it again last year showed how awful it actually is.

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Holy shit they made a live action Kekko Kamen film. I know there's probably far more out-there anime to consume these days but in the 90s that shit was wild (though not a patch on Urutsukidoji).

[Spraxle]

I personally don't think anime or cartons translate to live action very well. Especially in anime they do a lot of little... 'ques' if you will that show emotions and such that would look atrocious in live action or would be left out.

[Skorpionss]

Sure they can be, but they have to be treated right from the start, not as a joke/cash cow... look at rurouni kenshin ... probably the best anime>live action adaption out there...