The Old School Otaku Lounge

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aj8mN_7Apcw

Trailer is out. Social media is all over those eyes.

My interest sort of dissipated when I heard Cameron wasn't going to direct. RR is a good director but I'd had the idea that Cameron was going to direct since the 1990s, so this is all shaping up to be an anti-climax to those who have been keeping tabs on this for about 20 years.

If I'm not mistaken, for a long time this was considered the closest anime/manga property to actually getting a Hollywood adaptation (of course several others have actually happened since the rumors circulated in the 90s). It must be kinda weird for some people that it's finally happening.

I think Dave said something to this effect on Twitter that resonated with me but I don't want to misrepresent him so the following is purely my own opinion. I have honestly never cared ever about Hollywood adaptations of manga and anime properties. I don't really see what it would add that would interest me enough to care about those things more than just reading the original manga or original anime. Perhaps I'm just a woeful anime/manga otaku but eh, I'm satisfied with just viewing these things as Japanese comics or Japanese cartoons. This isn't to say I think a decent adaptation can't be done, but there's reasons tied to the medium for why I personally consume a lot more anime and manga than live action stuff I guess (The only live action movies I'll have watched this year in the theater are Blade Runner 2049 which was amazing, and Star Wars: The Last Jedi this upcoming Friday).

That being said, I don't really care that much about the eyes thing. It is actually consistent with the source manga character (Alita/Gally does indeed have eyes much larger than everyone else including other cyborg/robot characters). My main takeaway is that I thought it was a bold move on their part to go into the uncanny valley territory since it seems pretty obvious it would be a turn off for a lot of people.

I'm not really interested in manga/anime Hollywood adaptations either, except if it encourages a re-release of a long-dormant anime title.

But it's interesting to have followed the journey of this thing from my school days to now. I remember it was a big deal when Cameron announced his interest--remember, this was right after Titanic when he was "The King of the World." So the idea of good director like Cameron having a 500 million dollar budget for an anime adaptation was really exciting or at least interesting even to many anime fans.

I don't know if it counts really as "Hollywood" but off the top of my head, I guess the last mainstream-appeal film I watched in a theatre was John Wick 2. I could try to be a pretentious twit and claim I only watch foreign movies and indies, but honestly I didn't get out to watch movies much this year. I do get around to them eventually through library DVDs or streaming rental sites though.

(I actually do watch more foreign movies and indies in general nowadays though )

I think RR is going to do a better job than Cameron would have. Cameron might take a 'let's watch the beautiful sunset' Miyazaki approach but I trust RR to go all Rin Taro and be nuts action WHILE watching that sunset.

I am 100% fine with Gally's look. I just hope there's a decent amount of physical sets and props and it's not too much greenscreen. CGI sets rarely look 'right', there seems to always be some problem with character eyeline or perspective.

I've seen a number of Gally cosplayers over the years (and one STUNNING Ido) and they've all been beautiful girls but this really nails the look of the manga. I think it's really going to work.

Will it 'mainstream' into success and the holy grail of "SUCCESSFUL HOLLYWOOD ADAPTION OF MANGA (ANIME) MAKES GIANT MONEY, FANBOYS ARE VALIDATED AT LONG LAST!!" ? I doubt it.

If Speed Racer, with all the decades of cache the name has, couldn't do it, I don't see a fairly obscure manga and OVA from the '80s tipping the balance. It'll KILL on home video/streaming however.

(for the record again, I thought the live Speed Racer movie was mostly awesome and the cast NAILED it. Just needed better racing.)

I was lured into seeing Ghost in the Shell in the theater, fooled into thinking there was a chance it might be good. It won't happen again

Sadly, the CGI eyes are a huge turn-off for me and I can't say that I'm intrigued by anything I've seen in that first trailer. Though I am surprised this movie's actually happening. I figured Cameron was so preoccupied with his Avatar sequels that Battle Angel Alita would never be made (even with him just onboard as a producer).

I feel like there's a vast selection of anime/manga titles that actually could translate well for Hollywood adaptations, but those are the ones that don't often get chosen. Dragonball Z, for example, is something that can't effectively be carried over to live-action without losing so much of what makes the manga/anime what it is. I feel if they were less a slave to the Ghost in the Shell anime and, instead, borrowed more from the original manga, the film may have worked better (along with different casting, of course). Still...with that said, Death Note and Kite should have been far less complicated to "Americanize" but they botched those up too.

SteveH wrote:I think RR is going to do a better job than Cameron would have. Cameron might take a 'let's watch the beautiful sunset' Miyazaki approach but I trust RR to go all Rin Taro and be nuts action WHILE watching that sunset.

But, but... His name is JAAAAAAAAAAAMES CAAAAAAAMRON, THE BRAVEST PIONEER!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67MRiMT9cnE

I am 100% fine with Gally's look. I just hope there's a decent amount of physical sets and props and it's not too much greenscreen. CGI sets rarely look 'right', there seems to always be some problem with character eyeline or perspective.

I've seen a number of Gally cosplayers over the years (and one STUNNING Ido) and they've all been beautiful girls but this really nails the look of the manga. I think it's really going to work.

Will it 'mainstream' into success and the holy grail of "SUCCESSFUL HOLLYWOOD ADAPTION OF MANGA (ANIME) MAKES GIANT MONEY, FANBOYS ARE VALIDATED AT LONG LAST!!" ? I doubt it.

If Speed Racer, with all the decades of cache the name has, couldn't do it, I don't see a fairly obscure manga and OVA from the '80s tipping the balance. It'll KILL on home video/streaming however.

(for the record again, I thought the live Speed Racer movie was mostly awesome and the cast NAILED it. Just needed better racing.)

Based on the trailer, here is my basic expecations: It looks like RR is adapting from the first manga, and if he sticks close to the source material with the story and portrays the characters that is a mixture the audience and fans can like, I'll consider it a great film. I don't have expected low expectations like I did with GitS (which is why it didn't disapoint me, because I knew it wasn't going to be that great), so I think it's going to be a good film. It doesn't have to try and be super serious or try too hard, since I think RR best films are those that are fun to watch without trying to be some over dramatized Oscar nominated film (which is why I thought Planet Terror and Machete films were amazing). It's a summer blockbuster popcorn flick, and i'm totally content with that. I think the actress they got for Gally is spot on in terms of physique and facial looks the same way I thought Johansson role for the Major worked well, so I don't have an issue on the person they picked.

I had fun with Speed Racer, even though not many people appreciated the film. I can't think of any bad parts of Speed Racer off the top of my head, and I think the only negative feedback the film has is that people wanted the film to portain to their interest instead of trying to understand what the director vision in what they are trying to go for. If the Wachowsky brothers didn't do Speed Racer the way they wanted, I think the film might have been worse for me to enjoy.

IMO, if someone were to mention what is the best live action adaptaton from an anime or manga, I gotta go with the Mark Dacoscas Crying Freeman movie. I really enjoyed that film, and I think it was in its right to not 100 percent adapt the first manga from star to finish and have fun making the changes in the film to make it slightly different than the manga, so it makes the movie its own unique property to the Crying Freeman series. Others can disagree with me on that, but eh were nerds, we'll never FULLY agree on anything we all like.

I'm a fan for live action adaptations, and I'm not in that pool of people that anime/live action should never mix. It inspires directors to try and push the limits of cinema that haven't been reached that only animation can do well, which some really great creative visuals and asthetics can come from that. At the same time, it works as a double edge sword, which is why things like Dragonball: Evolution was how it was. I'll go on record that im also excited for Ready Player One, since its the 3rd film to feature a Gundam in a live action film, and I WILL count RPO as a live action adaptation of Gundam because I gotta take what I can get, even though im not sure how long the Gundam will be in the film based on the trailer ( I count G Savior as a real property even though Bandai has "claimed" to disown that movie, even though I got the physical damn dvd on my freaking shelf. The other film is One Hour Photo when Robin Williams was building a Master Grade Char Zaku for a brief moment. Again, I take what I can get to back up my argument for Gundam being presented in cinema). With how well Transformers films are doing in cinemas, surely a live action Macross or Gundam film is possible to be made and made well, because I gotta keep the faith that out of these crap piles of live action adaptations at least ONE movie will get it right. Maybe Alita is that film, well see when it gets released.

DKop wrote:But, but... His name is JAAAAAAAAAAAMES CAAAAAAAMRON, THE BRAVEST PIONEER!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67MRiMT9cnE

I really think that this should be the selling point. Because you know he'll raise that bar.

Weirdly you get used to the eyes. I saw the trailer a few times and after the first viewing it just clicked. So I'm not put off by it

The clip available also showed some very cool key scenes form the first book, these were rendered pretty faithfully I thought So again that makes me hopeful.

One of my mutuals criticised the emphasised love interest between Alita/Hugo in the clip. But that's literally her motivation/story progression in the first two books so I am not buying that comment.

I'm wary, of course, but not put off entirely... just yet!

Same for me, PinkAppleJam. I'm a little weary, but unless it's just totally god-awful, I'd like to see it in the theater. The big eyes are a bit weird, but I agree that a lot of the scenes in the trailer look pretty close to the first arc. Here's hoping they don't show that poor dog getting hurt on screen tho.