live-action versions of anime

[whitesnake]

As far as I know, James Cameron is still planning to make a Battle Angel Alita movie. He's postponed it until after making the Avatar sequels. The live action Gaiking is moving ahead. Live action Akira had its budget cut and the script is being rewritten. The live action Gatchaman gets a Japanese theatrical release in August.

You can watch clips from the live action Lupin III (1974) on Youtube.

Not saying the following live action movies were good, but I enjoyed them. The live action Yatterman movie was fun, but then my dvd didn't have English subs for it. I think it's getting a U.S. dvd release this year. As a yokai fan, I also enjoyed both live action (GeGeGe no) Kitaro movies. The live action Rurouni Kenshin movie was entertaining, a lot better than that recent Japanese remake of Rashomon (Tajomaru: Avenging Blade). They were similar in that both featured young good-looking actors, to appeal to the younger Japanese fans. So did the live action Kamui Gaiden, which was rather bland, considering all the grief the hero goes through in the manga and anime series. The live action Dororo movie had its moments. I also liked the live action Case Closed (Great Detective Conan) movie I have. The live action Taiwanese Dragonball movie I have was a lot more lighthearted and fun than the American one. There's a live action Catseye movie that I haven't watched yet.

Live action Cassharn and Yamato movies were both overlong and dragged (imo). But at least the Yamato movie was a lot closer to the anime series.

[_D_]

Hmmm...good to know there are a few things to look for. Any of this stuff available legit sub/dub or is this Japanese language only? Lots of stuff seems to get translated into languages like Thai, Chinese, Tagalog, etc. but very little into English.

[usamimi]

Cassharn wasn't bad, but I agree it dragged a looooot. They could've cut like 45 mins out of the movie and it probably would've made it better. I haven't seen Dororo or Goemon yet. (I know all of those are available on DVD here...I think Dororo's even on Netflix!)

I keep forgetting about the Kenshin live action! I need to find a fansub of that, I LOVED Kenshin back in high school. (I wish someone would pick up that series again, I missed out on buying the DVDs back when it was new. =__=)

Ugh, I REALLY am hoping that Akira movie just....never gets made. Every time I hear about it, it just sounds terrible. What's the point of making an American version, anyway? :/ There are so many elements that just...don't really translate into an American story very well, imo.

[_D_]

Well, just checked out the clip of the cast for Gatchaman. It could have been worse. We'll just have to see if they release the film internationally on DVD/Blu Ray. Guess they can't do the full Galactor treatment since many of their operatives hailed from outside Japan. This might have worked as an international production or as not. Just have to wait and see...

My problem with Akira is that it's dated. The 80s version of the future is all wrong, even inside Japan. I'm not down on a US version but I'm not up on a Japanese version either. Better properties to look at...

[greg]

I wish that if they found an idea in an anime(or really any previous property for that matter) that they wanted to use, they'd just make a new movie inspired by whats cool about the anime. Most anime doesn't carry enough Western name recognition to make much of a difference, anyways.

The best example I can think of for this is The Matrix. The first movie is the one I want to remember, but the best part about the 2nd one was the fight with Neo against all the Smith clones, and the best part about the 3rd movie was the mecha battle scene. The rest I couldn't care less for, and the first movie stands on its own.

About that Italian Lupin movie, I had made a topic for that sometime last year or so on here. I really would like to see it. Didn't they film each scene twice, once in Italian and one in English?

The Rurouni Kenshin movie was a big summer movie here. Tomorrow starts a 3 day weekend, so maybe I should go rent that for the weekend.

The Yatterman movie looks pretty faithful, at least visually. My wife does not know Yatterman, but her mom does, and she thought the commercial I found on YouTube looked neat. Maybe I can rent that one, too.

The made-for-TV Ranma 1/2 live-action movie was pretty bad, right? I only saw the commercial on YouTube.

A Space Adventure Cobra movie, if competently made, would be fantastic, if made by Westerners. I wouldn't care to see scrawny Japanese guy with bleached hair playing the part of Cobrain a live-action movie at all. I think all the normaltards would want to go see it for the buttfloss factor alone. Depending on how close they stick to the source material, parallels will be made between this and Total Recall, for sure.

A Gunm/Battle Angel movie would be pretty spectacular, especially if done by James Cameron. The chracters may not be one-dimensional enough for his apparent tastes these days, however. My friend was a huge Battle Angel fan and lent me his manga, but I eventually got tired of the grotesque gore filler and how it diverted the plot too much. I guess she eventually makes it back up to Cloud City and recovers her memories, but condensing the story into a single movie may be challenging. I think I'd rather see this than another Avatar movie. I thought Avatar was fun, but I can't see the point in making a sequel to the movie.

[usamimi]

The made-for-TV Ranma 1/2 live-action movie was pretty bad, right? I only saw the commercial on YouTube.

Actually, it wasn't too bad! Cheesy, yeah, but given the source material, that wasn't a terrible thing. Some of the costumes were a little funny looking, but most live-action TV shows with odd costumes look weird. XD

[whitesnake]

Cameron plans on putting out two sequels to Avatar before working on Alita.

My copies of both Kitaro movies came from a Japanese video store in Japantown San Francisco. That's where I bought the live action Yamato movie as well. Funimation has released the Kamui Gaiden movie on dvd in the U.S. It's a downer. Not that I'm bloodthirsty or anything, but in the Kamui Gaiden manga, the hero was chased by ninja who killed his hawk, his dog, his horse. After his girlfriend dies, he takes the man responsible and drags the guy behind a boat through a shark-infested bay. In the manga, Kamui cuts the guy so he's bleeding as he's dragged behind the boat. Maybe the idea of cutting him is too much for modern Japanese sensibilities, because the guy isn't cut and bleeding at the end of the movie.

Taiwanese Dragonball movie on videotape came from a Japanese penpal. Case Closed movie came from an online import dvd business, now gone. www.yesasia.com probably has some of the live action Japanese films. Rurouni Kenshin dvd will be released in Australia soon. My copy came from a store in a Chinese shopping center on the south side of Sacramento, where I went shopping last weekend. I couldn't wait, since no release date has been announced for a U.S. release.

Fist of the North Star box sets are available on Amazon.

[usamimi]

As I recall, Jackie Chan's also been in some live-action City Hunter movies, right? I've never seen them, though, since I hear they don't have much to do with the original series & are more slap-sticky. I think at least one or two of them have been released here.

I actually found a live-action Initial D movie in the $2 bin at a local record store...haven't watched it yet, but it looks to be an authentic US Release?

[Animusubi]

I actually enjoyed the Ranma 1/2 J-drama for what it was. Really the only person I didn't like was the person they chose for Ranma male, he just wasn't doing it for me. One of my favorite things about the drama was that Dr. Tofu seemed to have a much larger role. I always thought he wasn't utilized enough in the manga and anime, eventhough he was a pretty important character.

I have yet to see a movie based on an anime I actually like. TBH, I didn't have much of a problem with DBZ movie either, it wasn't good, but I didn't super-hate it. Everyone complained Goku wasn't asian but Goku is an alien...so he wouldn't really be a specific race. I do like most dramas based on anime and manga. GTO was pretty good in my opinion. I've been meaning to watch Here is Greenwood and Maison Ikkoku. I think there was another one that came out recently I wanted to watch also, but I can't remember the name.

[usamimi]

I actually enjoyed the Ranma 1/2 J-drama for what it was. Really the only person I didn't like was the person they chose for Ranma male, he just wasn't doing it for me. One of my favorite things about the drama was that Dr. Tofu seemed to have a much larger role. I always thought he wasn't utilized enough in the manga and anime, eventhough he was a pretty important character.

I have yet to see a movie based on an anime I actually like. TBH, I didn't have much of a problem with DBZ movie either, it wasn't good, but I didn't super-hate it. Everyone complained Goku wasn't asian but Goku is an alien...so he wouldn't really be a specific race. I do like most dramas based on anime and manga. GTO was pretty good in my opinion. I've been meaning to watch Here is Greenwood and Maison Ikkoku. I think there was another one that came out recently I wanted to watch also, but I can't remember the name.

I was kinda disappointed with male Ranma, too, but he was okaaaaaaay I guess. I was a little sad to not see Ryouga, but it's understandable...can't have EVERY character in a single special. Dr. Tofu was pretty awesome, I agree. He kind of...disappeared from the manga after a while, barely popping up from time to time near the end. That was always a bit disappointing.

I've yet to see the live action DB but I'm not really in a hurry to...XD Live action dramas aren't bad if you don't take them too seriously (since they aren't supposed to be taken seriously...like AT ALL). GTO was hilarious, Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon was actually pretty good (esp. if you're a fan of sentai shows), HanaKimi's various incarnations have been alright (though I've only seen the Taiwanese version, but I've heard the Japanese one is popular), and what I've seen of the live action Ouran Host club was ok. I've yet to see Maison Ikkoku because I've heard it was pretty bad, since it's an older special...but one of these days I probably will.

The live action Paradise Kiss was supposedly a HUGE let-down...so I haven't watched it yet. (I heard they really messed up the ending, totally different than how the manga ended.) I liked the Nana movie, though I haven't seen the second one yet. There was also a Lovely Complex movie, right? Anyone know if that was any good?