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NEWS: Live-Action Akira Film Green-Lit

Hey, Street Fighter was an AWESOME movie! As a comedic parody of fighting games that the movie clearly was trying to be, Van Damme was the perfect Guile for such a movie.

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Zing! How much you wanna bet things like this would be said about that "Uh, well that's okay because they are still Asian. Its not like they are American or something. Only Americans mess things up!"

Despite your sarcasm, you unintentionally go that part right. Koreans are asian, and assuming characters in that Absolute Boy's manga are asians, having Korean actors do them are perfectly fine. How faithful the movie is in other areas will depend on the director's competence....same goes for setting. We don't know whether the adaptation will take place in Korea or wherever it's supposed to take place....or where the manga is supposed to originally take place.

Now if the characters were white, THEN there'd be a problem. Americans can play any characters that are white just fine, europeans, etc. Just like how black characters can only be done by black people. etc. Imagine a movie about Genghis Khan with Ghengis Khan being played by a pasty white guy. Or imagine in Lord of the Rings, if Legolass was played by Christ Tucker instead of Bloom.

Hey, Street Fighter was an AWESOME movie! As a comedic parody of fighting games that the movie clearly was trying to be, Van Damme was the perfect Guile for such a movie.

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Zing! How much you wanna bet things like this would be said about that "Uh, well that's okay because they are still Asian. Its not like they are American or something. Only Americans mess things up!"

Despite your sarcasm, you unintentionally go that part right. Koreans are asian, and assuming characters in that Absolute Boy's manga are asians, having Korean actors do them are perfectly fine. How faithful the movie is in other areas will depend on the director's competence....same goes for setting. We don't know whether the adaptation will take place in Korea or wherever it's supposed to take place....or where the manga is supposed to originally take place.

Now if the characters were white, THEN there'd be a problem. Americans can play any characters that are white just fine, europeans, etc. Just like how black characters can only be done by black people. etc. Imagine a movie about Genghis Khan with Ghengis Khan being played by a pasty white guy. Or imagine in Lord of the Rings, if Legolass was played by Christ Tucker instead of Bloom.

Gon*Gon wrote:

Hey, Street Fighter was an AWESOME movie! As a comedic parody of fighting games that the movie clearly was trying to be, Van Damme was the perfect Guile for such a movie. Quote: Zing! How much you wanna bet things like this would be said about that "Uh, well that's okay because they are still Asian. Its not like they are American or something. Only Americans mess things up!" Despite your sarcasm, you unintentionally go that part right. Koreans are asian, and assuming characters in that Absolute Boy's manga are asians, having Korean actors do them are perfectly fine. How faithful the movie is in other areas will depend on the director's competence....same goes for setting. We don't know whether the adaptation will take place in Korea or wherever it's supposed to take place....or where the manga is supposed to originally take place. Now if the characters were white, THEN there'd be a problem. Americans can play any characters that are white just fine, europeans, etc. Just like how black characters can only be done by black people. etc. Imagine a movie about Genghis Khan with Ghengis Khan being played by a pasty white guy. Or imagine in Lord of the Rings, if Legolass was played by Christ Tucker instead of Bloom.

Pardon me for saying so, and I'm honestly not trying to start a fight, but... this is starting to sound quite a bit racist. Genghis Khan was an actual living Mongol. So, yeah, anyone playing him in anything would most likely have to be Asian. But in a work of fiction where artistic liberty can be taken at any given moment, who cares if the most awesome elf ever written to page is black or white?

No, look, don't get me wrong. I would much rather see the movie have close ties to its source material, where it takes place in Neo-Tokyo rather than Neo-Manhattan. But if the core of the actual story is essentially the same, then I'm not gonna gripe. If it's taking place in America, does it not make sense for Americans to be playing the roles of the characters? For that matter, what makes an American? Is it race? Aren't we a ton of different races? If they're keeping the names "Kaneda" and "Tetsuo", then yeah, they're going to sound a little odd on white people, sort of how Justin Chatwin doesn't have a face that says "Goku".

As for Absolute Boyfriend, who cares where it takes place? It's about a girl who acquires a robotic boyfriend. Does it really matter if the girl or the robot boy are Asian?

But in a work of fiction where artistic liberty can be taken at any given moment, who cares if the most awesome elf ever written to page is black or white?

Hey, Street Fighter was an AWESOME movie! As a comedic parody of fighting games that the movie clearly was trying to be, Van Damme was the perfect Guile for such a movie.

enurtsol wrote:

Astroboy wasn't that bad

Yes. Yes it was. To the point where Japanese audiences were offended by it.

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Of course, the real-world reason is that it's an American-remake movie, so it makes sense to be set in a place Americans are familiar with.

That and Hollywood thinks American audiences could never accept a non-white protagonist.

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One could say it didn't need to be in Tokyo in the original - there are other places it could be. Heck, late 1980's Tokyo more resembles today's socio-economic Manhattan than today's Tokyo anyways.

How does that matter? The story is supposed to take place in dystopian neo-Tokyo to begin with.

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BTW, Absolute Boyfriend Manga Has Live-Action Korean Show Planned. Anybody gonna complain how they're gonna change that?

Never even heard of that series nor do I know it's settings(does it take place in Korea, Japan, China, etc.)...although in this case atleast Koreans can easily pass off as japanese people.(assuming the characters are japanese)

The same can be said about the reversed. I'll be pissed if they made a Hercules movie, and made, say...Perseus or the Cyclops a japanese guy.

In the end, if you can't even get the setting and the characters of the original into your movie, don't make an Akira movie. Make a movie with a similar premise and say that it's "Inspired by Akira" or something.

Here's an idea--maybe Hollywood screenwriters can take a hint and realize that Americans will not spontaneously combust if they sit through a film that takes place in Japan or has a non-white protagonist!

Gon*Gon wrote:

Hey, Street Fighter was an AWESOME movie! As a comedic parody of fighting games that the movie clearly was trying to be, Van Damme was the perfect Guile for such a movie.

*snrk* Yeah, I hate to break it to you, but... That movie was in fact a serious attempt at portraying Street Fighter, as was Legend of Chun-Li, scarily enough.

the Tezuka Estate was kept in the loop during development and even put out a short new Astro Boy manga story as a tie-in.

Issue is, would they even sit in the first place?

Many of Shakespeare's plays are supposed to take place during Olde Europe and speak Ye Olde English. Are ya gonna call out all the Shakespeare remakes that do not take place and time of Olde Europe or speak Ye Olde English?

Oh look, Crime and Punishment Manga Gets Screen Adaptation - Naoyuki Ochiai's manga re-imagines Dostoyevsky's novel with Japanese youth. Shouldn't he be Russian taking place in Russia?

Koreans can easily pass off as Japanese people? Don't tell Koreans and Japanese that! When the Hollywood Memoirs of a Geisha cast Chinese actresses as Japanese characters, fans complained. Now who's being racist? So how would ya guys feel if a Korean or Chinese actor is cast as Akira in the movie?

Koihime Musou....Heracles in Fate/Stay Night is played by a Japanese....

I'll be very honest when I say this...I'm not that big a fan of Shakespeare(except Midsummer Night's dream), but I did see quite a few movies...and ALL of them supposedly took place in their supposed settings and had everyone speak in Ye Olde English...in fact, I coulda sworn they got the dialogue down word for word....too bad they didn't bring in an actual donkey for Midsummer Night's dream.

TheSwedishElf wrote:

enurtsol wrote: Astroboy wasn't that bad Yes. Yes it was. To the point where Japanese audiences were offended by it.

Oh really, where? I follow Japanese and animation news in general, and I didn't encounter that. In fact, the Tezuka Estate was kept in the loop during development and even put out a short new Astro Boy manga story as a tie-in.

BTW, here's the ratings for Astroboy:

Metacritic: 53 out of 100
User score: 6.5 - Generally favorable reviews

Rotten Tomatoes: 50%
Average Rating: 5.6/10
Reviews Counted: 127
Fresh: 63 | Rotten: 64
Audience: 53% liked it
Average Rating: 3.2/5
User Ratings: 143,861

But more importantly, here's Mr. Frederik L. Schodt's take on it (if ya guys don't know who he is, then first of all, shame on ya guys, and second, he's much more of an Astro Boy expert --among many other things-- than any of us here):

As the English translator of the manga series, and the author of a book about Astro Boy (The Astro Boy Essays: Osamu Tezuka, Mighty Atom, and the Manga/Anime Revolution), I went to watch the film last night with a certain trepidation. I am a great admirer of the original character and story, but I had also heard some grumbling from other fans about possible liberties taken in this new interpretation. I decided, however, to watch the film as entertainment, and to refrain from trying to intellectually analyze or deconstruct it or even compare it with other animated films. In so far as possible for someone my age, I also to tried to view the film from the perspective of the presumed core target audience, with the mind of a modern nine or ten year old child. In doing so, I found that I was never bored, but often moved. An adult friend from Finland, who knew little about Astro Boy, said she was moved to tears. So my conclusion is as follows: this film may not win an Oscar, but it works, and it is great fun.

There is another enjoyable aspect of this film, and that is the international nature of its production. Almost from the beginning, the plan to produce it faced great obstacles, not the least of which was the pressure to satisfy long-time fans of the character in both Japan and the United States, as well as the interests of the original rights-holders in Japan, for Astro Boy is the equivalent of a national icon there. Testifying to this difficulty, nearly ten years ago Sony Pictures and Columbia attempted to create an Astro Boy feature film for the U.S. market, but after years of work and anticipation by Astro Boy fans around the world the project collapsed. This time, the production is by a Chinese company (Imagi) based in both Hong Kong and Hollywood, the director (David M Bowers) is British, and there has been considerable input from the son (Macoto) of Astro Boy's creator, the late Osamu Tezuka.

Imagine a movie about Genghis Khan with Ghengis Khan being played by a pasty white guy.

enurtsol wrote:

TheSwedishElf wrote: enurtsol wrote: Astroboy wasn't that bad Yes. Yes it was. To the point where Japanese audiences were offended by it. Oh really, where? I follow Japanese and animation news in general, and I didn't encounter that. In fact, the Tezuka Estate was kept in the loop during development and even put out a short new Astro Boy manga story as a tie-in.

Pointing out that a creator of something or their family or estate approved or supervised really saying much--for example, Akira Toriyama approved of Dragonball Evolution until he personally saw what a shitpile it is, and Joe Barbera supervised the making of the Tom and Jerry movie and look at how that turned out.

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Issue is, would they even sit in the first place?

Yes, I'm sure many would. It's not like American moviegoers are largely Asian-phobic, y'know. There's no need to whitewash every Asian lead in these adaptations.

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Many of Shakespeare's plays are supposed to take place during Olde Europe and speak Ye Olde English. Are ya gonna call out all the Shakespeare remakes that do not take place and time of Olde Europe or speak Ye Olde English?

I'll be very honest when I say this...I'm not that big a fan of Shakespeare(except Midsummer Night's dream), but I did see quite a few movies...and ALL of them supposedly took place in their supposed settings and had everyone speak in Ye Olde English...in fact, I coulda sworn they got the dialogue down word for word....too bad they didn't bring in an actual donkey for Midsummer Night's dream.

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Oh look, Crime and Punishment Manga Gets Screen Adaptation - Naoyuki Ochiai's manga re-imagines Dostoyevsky's novel with Japanese youth. Shouldn't he be Russian taking place in Russia?

Never heard of either series, can't really judge fairly...do they have the same name? The title sounds more like an american cop drama...

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Koreans can easily pass off as Japanese people? Don't tell Koreans and Japanese that! When the Hollywood Memoirs of a Geisha cast Chinese actresses as Japanese characters, fans complained. Now who's being racist? So how would ya guys feel if a Korean or Chinese actor is cast as Akira in the movie?

That has far more to do with history/politics(and Japan's refusal to apologize for her crimes) than the races.

And in this case, it's nearly impossible to tell if people figured out the actresses were chinese by actually watching the movie or by looking it up online.

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Koihime Musou....Heracles in Fate/Stay Night is played by a Japanese....

And they're both animated...and I'm fairly positive Heracles is the right race. No idea what the girls in Koihime Musou are considering they're all green, light blue, and pink haired.

enurtsol wrote:

But more importantly, here's Mr. Frederik L. Schodt's take on it (if ya guys don't know who he is, then first of all, shame on ya guys, and second, he's much more of an Astro Boy expert --among many other things-- than any of us here): As the English translator of the manga series, and the author of a book about Astro Boy (The Astro Boy Essays: Osamu Tezuka, Mighty Atom, and the Manga/Anime Revolution), I went to watch the film last night with a certain trepidation. I am a great admirer of the original character and story, but I had also heard some grumbling from other fans about possible liberties taken in this new interpretation. I decided, however, to watch the film as entertainment, and to refrain from trying to intellectually analyze or deconstruct it or even compare it with other animated films. In so far as possible for someone my age, I also to tried to view the film from the perspective of the presumed core target audience, with the mind of a modern nine or ten year old child. In doing so, I found that I was never bored, but often moved. An adult friend from Finland, who knew little about Astro Boy, said she was moved to tears. So my conclusion is as follows: this film may not win an Oscar, but it works, and it is great fun. There is another enjoyable aspect of this film, and that is the international nature of its production. Almost from the beginning, the plan to produce it faced great obstacles, not the least of which was the pressure to satisfy long-time fans of the character in both Japan and the United States, as well as the interests of the original rights-holders in Japan, for Astro Boy is the equivalent of a national icon there. Testifying to this difficulty, nearly ten years ago Sony Pictures and Columbia attempted to create an Astro Boy feature film for the U.S. market, but after years of work and anticipation by Astro Boy fans around the world the project collapsed. This time, the production is by a Chinese company (Imagi) based in both Hong Kong and Hollywood, the director (David M Bowers) is British, and there has been considerable input from the son (Macoto) of Astro Boy's creator, the late Osamu Tezuka.

Being an "Astro Boy" expert isn't much to brag about considering Tezuka hated "Astro Boy" and the way it was localized and handled in the US. If he was the translator responsible for that then he's the last person who we should listen to since he screwed that series up. Now, if he was a Tetsuwan Atom expert, on the other hand....

The movie was still pretty awful, and only gets some points for not being a terrible live-action adaption, but rather animated (though it's CG, so not very many points) American remakes never turn out well.