So what would be your reaction if a favorite anime was made into live action?

[SeijiSensei]

I rather thought the point of this thread concerned live-action adaptations made in Japan. I don't see Hollywood remaking any anime series, with the possible exception of Del Toro's proposed Monster adaptation for HBO. But full-length movies? Not a chance unless you are talking about something that might tie into toy sales like Transformers. Evangelion? Clannad? Not bloody likely. The first would cost so much to produce that it would never recover its costs. The second might not be that expensive to produce, but where would its audience come from? My guess is that both, particularly Evangelion, would end up on this list.

[Ithekro]

We mention Hollywood because there isn't much faith in Japanese actors and film makers. The Space Battleship Yamato live action movie was alright, but they tried to do way too much with it and ditched too much to get their.

[Sackett]

Clannad is a universal story. I don't understand why it wouldn't be successful as a Hollywood film.

In fact there was a movie "Love Story" in 1970 that was a huge hit and dealt with very similar themes. It's the source of the quote: "Love means never having to say you're sorry."

Of course, being a melodrama means there will be haters, but there are plenty of movies that made tons of money despite not being universally popular. Twilight for example.

[4Tran]

Originally Posted by Guernsey

Even so I don't really trust Hollywood with Evangelion and/or any other anime. While the mecha does play a role in Eva, the meat of the story is basically the psychological problems that the characters have as well as the deconstruction of anime tropes in general. I don't if the West ready for a character like Shinji but then agian neither was Japan when it came out.

The main issue is how to market Evangelion. As a blockbuster, it'll lose a lot of what makes the show good, while its budget will be too high for a more thoughtful work. It might function best as a high-budget TV series, but that's not a particularly good fit either.

Aside from that though, why would be the problem with a Hollywood adaptation as long as it was handled by someone who cared about the original work? Hollywood is certainly capable of producing far better output than anime.

Originally Posted by Ithekro

Let us see how Ender's Game and Pacific Rim do before we try to make such things.

I can't see Ender's Game doing well or being a good movie. Pacific Rim has a decent chance of suceeding financially and being pretty good.

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

I rather thought the point of this thread concerned live-action adaptations made in Japan.

Why should it be restricted to Japan though? Korea and Taiwan have arguably produced better adaptations than Japan at this point, and their live action industries are in much better shape. Even Hong Kong used to be in on the act - Jackie Chan starred in the City Hunter film about 20 years ago.

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

I don't see Hollywood remaking any anime series, with the possible exception of Del Toro's proposed Monster adaptation for HBO. But full-length movies? Not a chance unless you are talking about something that might tie into toy sales like Transformers. Evangelion? Clannad? Not bloody likely. The first would cost so much to produce that it would never recover its costs. The second might not be that expensive to produce, but where would its audience come from?

For most anime and manga, Hollywood is an unlikely possibility, but not an entirely impossible one. Akira and Cowboy Bebop are currently in production hell, and Battle Angel is in the waiting blocks. Of these, the only one I have any faith in is Battle Angel, but it might not be given the go ahead for another decade (or more ).

Originally Posted by Sackett

Clannad is a universal story. I don't understand why it wouldn't be successful as a Hollywood film.

In fact there was a movie "Love Story" in 1970 that was a huge hit and dealt with very similar themes. It's the source of the quote: "Love means never having to say you're sorry."

Of course, being a melodrama means there will be haters, but there are plenty of movies that made tons of money despite not being universally popular. Twilight for example.

The bigger problem is that there's no compelling reason for Hollywood to bother adapting something like Clannad. If a director wants to tackle the show's themes, there are lots of other sources closer to hand, and the anime-esque characterizations are a poor fit for the standard Hollywood character concepts. It'd be a pretty hard sell.

Korea wouldn't mind the topic or the characterizations, but their studios seem to be content tackling shoujo manga instead.

[whitecloud]

How about the thriller kind, MPD psycho, or maybe ghost in the shell, horror like another, I bet it will be good in live action

[SPARTAN 119]

Originally Posted by Qikz

I could see Steins;Gate working Live action, but I'd only watch it if they had Mamoru Miyano still playing Okabe. Without his voice, the character is half of what it is.

Agreed, the dub of Stein's Gate isn't necessarily bad, but just doesn't quite capture the character of Okabe/ HOOOOOOUOUIN KYOUMA!!!! like Miyano did.

I'm doubt anyone else speaking in Japanese or any other language could...

Originally Posted by whitecloud

How about the thriller kind, MPD psycho, or maybe ghost in the shell, horror like another, I bet it will be good in live action

Didn't they already do a live action version of Another? Haven't seen it though.

[Guernsey]

Originally Posted by 4Tran

The main issue is how to market Evangelion. As a blockbuster, it'll lose a lot of what makes the show good, while its budget will be too high for a more thoughtful work. It might function best as a high-budget TV series, but that's not a particularly good fit either.

Also, the themes of the story wouldn't translate to well in the West unless you find someone who can interpret series into something that most Westerners can understand. While there are some 'universal' themes, there tropes that needs to be understood from a Japanese perspective with Shinji as the most prominent example.

[domomonster]

Depends if it was done right or not. Dragon Ball Evolution was a perfect example of how not to do a live action movie based on an anime... That being said it was just a shit movie in general lol

[Pink Cow]

My favorite anime has alreadybeen made into live action.

Rurouni Kenshin.

And I LOVED IT.

[Kameruka]

Smash probably may be made into live-action drama series as no plan to make it as anime series. We just need more badminton-based shows as we already have too many baseball and soccer shows.

[Traece]

I had an interesting thought just now: Banner of the Stars live-action.

So basically J.J. Abrams does his best to produce lens flare in planar space and creates the worst space opera film ever. The mere thought makes me shudder, as I suspect anyone would at the thought of a favorite series being thrown into darkness.

[aohige]

Originally Posted by Pink Cow

My favorite anime has alreadybeen made into live action.

Rurouni Kenshin.

And I LOVED IT.

I have brought it up twice in the thread.

Oddly enough, all the people debating and discussing about how shitty adaptations are, have avoided bringing it up completely. So baffling when it's like the prime example of a good adaptation. Sheesh.

[Eragon]

Originally Posted by whitecloud

How about the thriller kind, MPD psycho, or maybe ghost in the shell, horror like another, I bet it will be good in live action

GitS would arguably require actors of quite some caliber to do justice to its characters - obviously they aren't going to come cheap or easily. GitS could work but in my opinion it would need very good actors to pull it off.

[Traece]

Originally Posted by Eragon

GitS would arguably require actors of quite some caliber to do justice to its characters - obviously they aren't going to come cheap or easily. GitS could work but in my opinion it would need very good actors to pull it off.

I can see, with our current technology, a good Ghost in the Shell live action. A big budget production would no doubt be able to match the look and feel of the world, and recreate it so that it looks proper. There's plenty of movies and television shows with very intricate worlds or plots, so I have no doubt they could find a director who can match that need. Actors are always an issue though, regardless of technology.

I hate myself for this, but I would happily watch a live-action Hataraku Maou-sama in the typically bad Japanese soap opera style, and more so if they did it intentionally bad. Somehow I think that a hideously over-dramatized version of that anime would be hilarious.

[RichardFromMarple]

The live-action TV adaptation of With The Light was supposed to be good, I've only seen a few stills from it.

[sangofe]

Over there course of years, there are quite a few series. I know about a few, but probably far from all.

Here's what I can come up with on the top of my head:

Ashita no Joe

City Hunter
Cute Honey

Death Note
Detective Conan
Dragonball Z (really bad US version)

Gokusen
GTO

Golgo 13

Hana Yori Dango

Itazura na Kiss (Mischievous Kiss)

Kimi no Todoke

Maison Ikkoku

Nana

Rurouni Kenshin

Sailor Moon
Saikano

The Prince of Tennis


... and actually many more, this site has a long list! :
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...tionAdaptation

[Akito Kinomoto]

And they usually get the anime fan's ire. Some things just work better fictitiously you know? They can either try too hard before you realize you're watching something fake or the SFX looks so cheap the live-action adaptation feels like nothing more than a cheap attempt to get one more good reaction from the audience. At least they should do a better job of convincing me I'm watching entertainment instead of watching a product, am I right?

[Joyce_Steele]

Kindaichi no Shounen Jikenbo, which probably has no fanbase among English-speaking anime fans, was campy at best Ouran High School Club was disappointing.

By the way I wish I can see the live action adaptation of K-On! besides TMA porn parody. I know it will get ugly(production-wise) but at least it doesn't sound too bad on paper.

[AntonKutovoi]

Rurouni Kenshin and GTO were great, in my opinion. Ace Attorney (not an anime, but still) was pretty good too. The others mostly were... lacking in quality.

[SeijiSensei]

http://forums.animesuki.com/showthread.php?t=119306

in particular

http://forums.animesuki.com/showthre...59#post4670359