40 Days of Anime - Day 40
Oct. 24th, 2017 03:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jennaria40: Thoughts on live-action adaptations?
That they're like any adaptions: they can be good or bad films, good or bad adaptions, and it's totally possible to be a good film and a bad adaptation (and vice-versa, bad film and good adaptation).
To pick two live-action adaptations I've actually seen:
Death Note (the 2006 Japanese film, not the recent Netflix version): very good! Both as a film and as an adaptation. Does not attempt to cram in the plot of the entire manga (or even the entire first part of the manga) into a single film, which helps. To my eyes, keeps the essential vibe of the characters and the plot, while tweaking details as necessary.
Initial D (2005 Hong Kong film): this one I have a harder time judging, because wow it is super not faithful. Not only is it trying to cram ~35 episodes worth of plot into a single not-even-two-hour movie, it plays merry hobb with the characters it keeps. Only Ryousuke (played by a magnificent Edison Chen) and Itsuki (played by a less magnificent Chapman To) really resemble their anime selves: poor Takumi apparently glitched his update and is now all emo instead of sticking with Eurobeat. ...no seriously, I'm only sorta joking. There's a cut scene where Takumi moodily plays his guitar (!) while angsting over his lost love. (Who is totally a girl, because Takumi totally cares more about a Love Interest than about his car, really he does.) I've never tried showing this to someone who isn't a priori an Initial D fan, to get an objective judgement as to whether it's a decent film or not. Hey, Wife?
That they're like any adaptions: they can be good or bad films, good or bad adaptions, and it's totally possible to be a good film and a bad adaptation (and vice-versa, bad film and good adaptation).
To pick two live-action adaptations I've actually seen:
Death Note (the 2006 Japanese film, not the recent Netflix version): very good! Both as a film and as an adaptation. Does not attempt to cram in the plot of the entire manga (or even the entire first part of the manga) into a single film, which helps. To my eyes, keeps the essential vibe of the characters and the plot, while tweaking details as necessary.
Initial D (2005 Hong Kong film): this one I have a harder time judging, because wow it is super not faithful. Not only is it trying to cram ~35 episodes worth of plot into a single not-even-two-hour movie, it plays merry hobb with the characters it keeps. Only Ryousuke (played by a magnificent Edison Chen) and Itsuki (played by a less magnificent Chapman To) really resemble their anime selves: poor Takumi apparently glitched his update and is now all emo instead of sticking with Eurobeat. ...no seriously, I'm only sorta joking. There's a cut scene where Takumi moodily plays his guitar (!) while angsting over his lost love. (Who is totally a girl, because Takumi totally cares more about a Love Interest than about his car, really he does.) I've never tried showing this to someone who isn't a priori an Initial D fan, to get an objective judgement as to whether it's a decent film or not. Hey, Wife?