Live Action Anime Hollywood Adaption’s

With the releases of live action films like transformers, speed racer and more recently Dragonball Evolution and judging by recent news, it seems that live action adaptions of hit anime series and movies are exploding across Hollywood.

With Dragonball Evolution seemingly failing miserably, shunned by critics and fans alike and Speed Racer being nominated for a Razzie, we need to ask ourselves “can anime be successfully transferred into the live action medium?”
Mamoru Oshii, (director of Ghost in the Shell, Patlabor and SkyCrawlers), notes that when he creates an Anime Movie his main motivation is to create worlds that are different, focusing first on the visuals, then the story and finally the characters, the ‘complete’ opposite of the generic Hollywood formula as described to him by James Cameron (Director of Terminator2 and Aliens):

“My Main motivation in making movies is to create worlds which are different from our own, the first thing I think about is the visuals, then comes the story, and finally the characters.  Ages ago I had a chat with James Cameron [Director of Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Aliens and Titanic].  He told me the most important aspect of the film is the characters, then the story, and finally, the background design.  I personally think that the exact opposite is true.  According to Cameron, this is necessary to succeed in Hollywood.  So, I thought, oh well, my films are not made for Hollywood, so I can choose whatever I want.” (Mamoru Oshii’s notes)

Just to emphasise, “my films are not made for Hollywood”, could these two contrasting approaches to creating movies be the reason why recent attempts to bring Japanese animation to real live action have seemingly failed miserably?
Currently there are a large number Anime series in talks and in production for live action adaption’s, the following will give us a run down and examine their chances of doing their anime counterparts justice.

Cowboy Bebop (2011 by 20th Century fox)
The Sci-fi western CowBoy Bebop anime with ultra cool bounty Hunter Spike Spiegel is currently in the early stages of production and is being produced by Erwin Stoff (‘The Matrix’, ‘A Scanner Darkly’).  Stoff has a good track record so far and both the Matrix and A Scanner Darkly more closely relate to themes and the genres in Anime.  According to more recent news it has been confirmed that Keanu Reeves will be playing the part of Spike Spiegel, I am torn by this news, he certainly looks the part and is going to be great in keeping with the style of the series but I am worried he will not be up to pulling of Spikes charisma and personality.  Reeves has played ‘Johnny Mnemonic’ the wooden, memory lacking data carrier, Neo the cool but wooden, rarely showing emotion character in ‘The Matrix’, more recently a wooden emotionless alien in ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’, do you get my point?  None the less I am very excited about this; with a good team behind them let’s hope they pull it off.

Full Metal Panic (2012 by Mandalay pictures)
The popular giant mecha robot series Full Metal Panic has just been rumoured for a live action remake.  The theatrical rights have been acquired by Mandalay Pictures this April (2009) and the initial release date has been set for 2012.  Rumoured to be starring in the live action adaption is Zac Efron, who has starred in films such as ‘High School Musical’, ‘High School Musical 2’, High School Musical 3’, ‘High Sc EEEERRRRRRR (I wish I could better write the sound of a massive error buzzer, or a record skipping, jumping and smashing into pieces) ZAC EFRON?  Why? WHY?  Even if this horrible casting doesn’t come to light the initial excitement has been well and truly broken for me, this is bound to fail.  I have visions of another Dragonball Evolution.

Akira (2011 by Warner Brothers)
Next up is the Akira live action movie, the classic anime film that is considered responsible for launching the popularity of Japanese animation around the world.  The anime is set to be adapted into 2 live action films by Warner Brothers and Appian Way (Leonardo Dicaprio’s production company) who produced films like The Aviator and The Assassination of Richard Nixon, two very good films, but worlds apart from Anime.  Leonardo Dicaprio is a self-confessed “big fan of Japanese anime” and he has been quoted as saying “I know there a lot of loyal fans out there of the project and die-hard fans, so we’re going to try to do the best job we possibly can and we’re not going to make the movie until the script is in the right shape”.  With some well thought out films under their belt and recognising the need to keep die-hard anime fans happy I have high hopes for this.  With another 2 years before it is set for release let’s hope they learn from the mistakes before them and give one of the greatest anime movies ever a truly splendid live action adaption.

Ninja Scroll (2011 by Warner Brothers)
Ninja Scroll the Anime movie set in Feudal Japan, with the wandering mercenary Ninja Jubei Kibagami is set for its live action debut in 2011 and is also being created by Warner Brothers and Leonardo Dicaprio’s Appian Way.  With 2 live action adaption’s of huge anime movies set for production by Dicaprio let’s hope he knows what he’s doing, as mentioned about Akira, he is a big fan himself and he wants to please die-hard fans.  More recently it has been reported that the Japanese music Group SMAP could possibly be starring in the film, they have starred in a number of films and commercials and could definitely fit the part, Dicaprio could be onto a winner with an action packed period piece.

Neon Genesis Evangelion (None set – ADV, Gainax and Weta Workshop Ltd)
Since 2003 there have been rumours and ideas of a Live action Neon Genesis Evangelion movie, but it seems that at the moment that’s all they are.  ADV films hold the rights to the series outside of Asia and Australia and Universal Studios would be their American Distributer.  Rumours have floated around about the involvement of John Wu, Jerry Bruckheimer and Steven Spielberg and with the recent success of Transformers it does seem more likely, but nothing is confirmed.
Dragonball Evolution 2 (TBA)
There has been recent anime news of a Dragonball Evolution Sequel has surfaced and apparently the script is already written, with the cast keen to return for a second outing.  Noooooooooooo.

A great list of Top Anime series that could have the potential to be awesome Hollywood live action movies, but the same could have been said for Speed Racer and Dragonball before they were actually released.  We could compare this growing trend of anime adaption’s to the recent growth in Live action comic book movies, which has produced some shocking movies such as the original ‘Hulk’ and ‘Batman and Robin’, but more recently the these films have been twisted and moulded into a formula that works, ‘Batman Begins’ and ‘Iron Man’ for example.  If live action Anime movies follow suit and learn from the mistakes before them we could be in for a treat.