Whoring Out Japan, Live-Action Style

[.~Kaede~.]

I'm sure I'm not the only one who's heard of the upcoming live-action manga/animemovie adaptions...or am I? (bum bum bummmm!)

Yes, it seems there are many new live-action films coming out in theatres from 2009-2012. Of course, there are already adaptions of movies out there that have already been released, like Death Note (decent), Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni (haven't watched it yet, but want to), Speed Racer (HORRIBLE), and others (I think there's even a musical adaption of Bleach...I may be wrong, though)...but it seems like movie-makers are going to go over the limit in the years ahead.

One very popular upcoming live-acton movie based on an anime is Dragonball...that's right. They're doing a movie about DRAGONBALL!

Like many Dragon Ball fans, I was excited to know that my very first anime ever watched, and one of my favorites to this day, was going to be adapted into a live-action movie! I mean, seriously...SPLEE-to-the-frickin'-WEE. (don't ask...)

However, after learning the basic plot of this movie...I'm seriously disappointed. And I'll explain why in the upcoming paragraphs...I just want hardcore DB fans to get ready for a horrible letdown...

You ready?

Are you really?

You sure...?

Alright, here it is: the first, and probably most disappointing aspect of this entire movie is that there's no Krillin in it...let me repeat myself. NO FRICKIN' KRILLIN. What the f**k are they thinking, excluding a character like that!? WHAT DO THEY HAVE AGAINST MIDGETS!!? More than anything, Krillin is a major character in Dragon Ball Z...for those that watched DBZ religiously as a child (like myself), you know that Goku, as a result of Freiza killing Krillin by exploding him (...), becomes extremely angry and goes Super Saiyan for the first time. HOW THE HELL IS HE GOING TO GO SUPER SAIYAN NOW!!? HE HAS NO MOTIVE NOW!!!

There's also some disppointments in character outlines...for example, Goku is going...to HIGH SCHOOL. What. The. F**k. This completely destroys Goku's personality! He'll no longer be the naive, happy-go-lucky superhero that DB fans have grown to love (if not tolerate). Instead, he's going to be portrayed as an awkward, skinny teenager with little to no popularity. WHAT THE HELL!!? This is NOT Goku! NOT AT ALL!

A few lesser disappointments are shown throughout the plotline, such as Bulma's hair not being blue (they can have characters being able to fly and aliens from far-off galaxies, but blue hair? that's going WAY too far....-_-"), Piccolo possibly not being green (though that's still in debate), and a few other questionable factors (for example, it's still uncertain if Goku's going to have his tail, or even be told about his monkey-changing capabilities...and Master Roshi's humorous pervertedness may not be shown in this movie at all), but some can easily be worked in the next movie (it's said that Dragon Ball will be a trilogy, as will DBZ and Dragon Ball GT...either that, or all the series are going to be fit in one entire trilogy, which is downright impossible...). I'll probably not watch it, knowing Krillin won't be in it (sorry...that's the one that gets me the most).

Oh, and Dragon Ball's not the only anime that's going to be seriously ruined by Hollywood...there are other titles that are planning to be released as well:

1) Avatar: The Last Airbender (though it's never techinically been anime...M. Night Shyamalan will direct it. this means Ang will see dead people...and Kitara will be the Lady In The Water -_-")
2) Battle Angel (I've never seen/read this series, and have very little details about it)
3) Blood: The Last Vampire (know what it is, have very little details for it, except that it's release date is set in 2009)
4) Cowboy Bebop (Keanu Reeves is going to play Spike...I don't wanna talk about it *cries*)
5) Hellsing (very little is known...oh, please don't let them ruin it!)
6) Neon Genesis Evangelion (little is known, but the director says they're going to stick to the original plotline, which is always good)
7) Shin-Chan (I already know this will be good, because it's merely a live-action remake of an earlier animated movie from the series)

Cowboy Bebop has already been raped at having Spike being played by Keanu Reeves...but Hellsing and Neon Genesis still have hope (the others I could care less about).

Overall...I think Japan is going through a Hollywood frenzy...I can only imagine how the original manga authors must be feeling, after seeing how the series they put their heart and soul in are being retardized and changed in such a way that it doesn't even connect to the original storyline...I can only guess at why anyone, even people in Hollywood, would do this to such great works of art (besides selling-out, of course): they think the average movie-goer won't understand the ideas portrayed in the movies. They know that the people obsessed with manga/anime will go and see the movies because they know that the title alone will be enough to draw us in--as for everyone else, just give them an action-packed film filled with special effects and a simple storyline, and they'll consider it greatness. I suppose they forget that there have been many movie adaptions of graphic novels about complex issues that have been fantastic: V For Vendetta (one of the greatest movies of all time), Batman (the new ones, not the old), and Sin City to name a few...

Hollywood is becoming worse and worse each day...and now they want to ruin one of my greatest passions: comic books (this includes manga). They've stolen normal novels from me (Harry Potter, The Lord Of The Rings, The Lord Of The Flies, To Kill A Mockingbird, Of Mice And Men...I can go on), they've destroyed the gaming industry (Blood Rayne, Silent Hill, Final Fantasy even...), and now they want to ruin graphic novels, most of which are better than normal ones. Who knows? Soon we'll all be going to see Chobits where Chii is a retarded, albino persocom with dating problems, or maybe Hell Girl where Ai will be an insecure sixth grader who's worried about her breast-size...who knows? They may even go as far as ruining Fullmetal Alchemist...or ever...*gulp* Elfen Lied. *dies* How they would completely DESTROY Lucy's character! THEY CAN'T DO THAT!! I WON'T LET THEM!!

And that's why I'm not going to see half of the upcoming live-action movies based on anime/manga coming up in the years ahead. It'd only encourage them to ruin more really good comic books...I mean, just look what they've done already. (they've already gotten Bebop, for Christ's sake...)

Though I strongly encourage everyone else to follow suit...I want to know other people's opinions about the movies, though. What do you think about them? Do you have any other information to add about the movies I made examples of, or have a few more live-action films to add to the list?

[On Hiatus.]

If they do Blood i will probibly go see it; just to save everyone else the trouble of going really; I would probibly dodge most of the rest til I heard people's opinion on how they did but the CANT do Elfin Lied justice!! not with their current skill level there is no way thay could properly do vectors, and who knows what they would do to the charators and plot*shutters* for the love of anime they better not!

but a book they wrecked to add to that list is Eragon.*refuses to give details*

[.~Kaede~.]

...I'd rather not discuss Eragon...*cries in a corner*

[L'tia of Honshu Weyrhold]

Even not being a big fan for DBZ, leaving Krillin out is, like you said Kaede,"What the f**k are they thinking, excluding a character like that!? WHAT DO THEY HAVE AGAINST MIDGETS!!? More than anything, Krillin is a major character in Dragon Ball Z.."
On a side note, I have gone on a date with a midget.

I HATE it when any book or t.v. series is turned into a movie and they leave out a major character like that. Unlike when ALW made is own version of The Phantom of the Opera, it worked out fine but I wished he had still included the Persian somewhere in the story line!!!!

I have only seen the trailers for Speed Racer and I dare say I didn't go see it in theater.Still haven't seen it. I used to watch the show on cartoon network and loved it.

I have watched the last show of Cowboy Bebop and my friends that I watched it with said I only need to watch the 1st one to understand what was going on.

Chobits, they just need to leave it alone. That goes for Sailor Moon as well even though they have done a live t.v. series of it.

[SilverSugar]

I actually responded to this post over on my forum, I thought...but I'll leave one more note here at any rate.


If they seriously go through and make a Chobits live action movie (unless it's actually done in Japan with cute Japanese girls) I will kill people.

[Ikken Isshu]

We-ell, to be fair, Webber's Phantom was never meant to be a totally faithful adaptation of the book; it was more of an extremely liberal take on the story, reworked to be in the form of a musical. But then, I never finished the book, so I can't say much.

One anime that they are making into a movie is Monster, and even though I have severe doubts, I'm still going to watch it, because I have Monster up on a pedestal as the Best Anime In The Universe Ever. Also, I have a perverse urge to watch the Cowboy Bebop movie, even with Keanu Reeves in the lead role. (Admittedly, I like Reeves, but even I can't see him as Spike. Though I do have butterflies in my stomach imagining what Ed is going to be like! )

I liked the Silent Hill movie, but then I hated the games, so almost anything would be an improvement over the games for me. And I never played Final Fantasy VII, so Advent Children was a bunch of beautifully animated gibberish to me; and Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within was quite possibly the Worst Movie In The Universe Ever, let alone being (loosely) based on a video game.

Overall, I have mixed feelings about movies being based off of books/shows/anime/video games, but I try to go into new ones with an open mind.

(By the way, the live-action Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni is okay. It only adapts the first Question Arc, e.g., the first 4-5 episodes (or whatever the first arc was) of the anime. It's neither amazing nor awful, but I didn't like Keiichi's actor. His big teeth made me grimace every time he smiled. Frankly, on the whole, you'd be better off just watching the anime a second time. Though the special effects are rather amusing, especially the scene where Keiichi finds the needle in the cookie (or whatever it was).)