live-action versions of anime

[greg]

The Guyver! I remember that one. Wow. Mark Hamil had top billing in that movie, so I figured that he was going to be the main protagonist. Other than the rubber monsters and all that, I can't really remember much about the movie, other than that Hamil didn't have that large of a part and his character died in it. He sure loves nerd culture, though. Years ago, back when the San Diego Comic Con was a fun event to attend, and you can just show up on Saturday and pay for a one day admission, my friend had a table selling vintage Japanese toys (giant Mazinger Z toys along with other "Shogun Warriors" type stuff), and he said Mark Hamil came up to him and bought some stuff from him. He was just showing up as a fan, not as a special guest.

[Animusubi]

Mark Hamill is known for being a total nerd. I was listening to a podcast recently with Kevin Smith interviewing him, it was a hoot!

I don't remember the Guyver much, mainly because last time I probably saw it was like 15 years ago or something. My brother really liked it but he didn't know about the original Guyver, of course then when he saw that, the movie didn't matter anymore.

[_D_]

The issues of Anime Janai have a complete translation of the Guyver data sheets, character profiles, story lines, etc. fun reading...

[whitesnake]

With no idea when (or if) live action Rurouni Kenshin will be available on legit dvd in the U.S., I've found a gray area dvd release. I'm not sure the half-price special still applies, since the shipping date of March 12th has passed. So the price may be $30 now.
But Samurai DVD has the movie with subtitles.

http://www.samuraidvd.com/servlet/the-1 ... TED/Detail

I've been getting movies from him for the past 20 year, but mostly samurai films that will never get a legit release here.

The Australian dvd and Blu-ray release of live action Rurouni Kenshin has just happened, if you have an all-region player.

[greg]

Wow! Seeing as how I figured that the Yamato live action movie would never get a US release and yet I was pleasantly surprised, I wouldn't be surprised if somebody releases the Kenshin film sometime soon. Especially since it was released in Australia.

[usamimi]

With Sentai releasing the new Kenshin OAV and Aniplex re-releasing Tsuioku-hen, it wouldn't surprise me if the live-action film was released in America, too...I just wish someone would get the license to the TV series here again. That series could definitely use a nicer re-release stateside!

[whitesnake]

What company released the live action Yamato movie in the U.S.? I hadn't heard about it. My copy came from Japan Video in Japantown San Francisco a couple months ago. My last trip there, the store also had the live action Rurouni Kenshin movie, but it was probably from Malaysia.

[_D_]

There was no release in the US as the actor who plays Kodai stipulated in his contract that his voice could not be over dubbed for release. This effectively killed marketing the film in the US market. Dunno why any outfit would agree to such a thing. Most studios would just seek another actor, even in Japan...

[usamimi]

News from Tokyo Anime Fair: live-action Patlabor coming in 2014!

[greg]

There was no release in the US as the actor who plays Kodai stipulated in his contract that his voice could not be over dubbed for release. This effectively killed marketing the film in the US market. Dunno why any outfit would agree to such a thing. Most studios would just seek another actor, even in Japan...

I hadn't heard about this, but I wouldn't be surprised. He is a guy from SMAP after all, and his voice is his livelihood. I couldn't care less about the movie being dubbed; I'd buy it sub-only, like anything else that's worth my money.

However, apparently I was wrong about this movie being properly released domestically. I had no idea Amazon.com was in the business of selling bootleg knockoffs. I won't link to it, but if you search it out on Amazon, you'll find it. I'm glad I didn't waste my money on it.