Let’s face it. The live-action manga and anime adaptations that the Japanese movie industry has been churning out recently don’t look all that cool. This, however, does.
[GIF via 東宝MOVIEチャンネル]
Ajin debuted as a manga in 2012, telling the story of a new type of human, called “Ajin”, that are unable to die. Even if these demi-humans are “killed”, they immediately regenerate to a healthy state. It was later turned into anime for feature films and TV.
It certainly seems like a live-action version would work well, because it doesn’t have to contend with iconic costumes (or hair!) in the same way other manga movie adaptations do.
What do you think?
Ajin hits Japanese theatres on September 30. No word yet about an international release.
Comments
9 responses to “A Manga Movie Adaptation That Looks Cool”
I quite enjoyed the anime aside from the weird 3D animes are using at the moment but once you get past the visuals the story was decent and every acted in a mostly straight forward manner.
Ok, all the peoples enraged about GitS’ “whitewashing”, time to prove you’re not hypocrites and start bashing this movie for all the “Asianwashing”. (There are two prominent non-Asian characters in the story, whose roles I’ll be very, very surprised if given to non-Asians).
More seriously, Kei’s actor looks waaay too old.
Nah, you’re not even sure about either of the things you’re talking about.
Either the trailer had a solid cut or this film is looking to be a much better adaptation than the recent string of live-action attempts. Could also just be that almost anything would look good next to the poor quality of the original animation.
The first was more of a joke, but the second? How are you going to dispute that the actor doesn’t look at least 10 years older than the character he’s playing? Funnily enough, if the guy with the cap is Sato (who else would it be?) he’s like 20 years too young (and very definitely Asian).
Whitewashing.
Non-Asian characters.
I should have been clearer.
That’s really a red herring though, because while the Ghost in the Shell movie was an adaptation of a Japanese property, it was none the less a product of OUR culture designed for consuming by our culture. And it goes without saying that our cultural and historical context is one in which issues of fair ethnic representation and white washing etc are highly relevant. Additionally in the power relationship that is intrinsic to these issues, it is not caucasians who are ever have been the ones disempowered or disenfranchised. Japan has a very different cultural and historical context by which these issues are far less prominent and therefore attitudes towards them I’m very different. That’s not to say that there aren’t social problems in regard to these in Japan, but the fact remains. While of course from our perspective on the outside, it would be great to see caucasians cast for caucasian roles in Japanese films, but happily that is often is the case (though the quality of acting often varies). The point is, the controversy over the Ghost in the Shell movie’s casting occurred precisely because it was a film produced by our culture in our cultural context in which those matters are gravely important and socially relevant. That’s why all of the rebuttals using random street interviews in Japan were largely irrelevant to rebuttal being made. I lived in Japan for ten years and I was not surprised at all at the answers. That’s why using them as rebuttal (and using the casting of this other movie) usfor the most part, an example of tokenism. In what other area would we defer to the opinion of other outside cultures in regards to whether we are right or wrong?
Yeah, the comment was it was tongue in cheek and more a poke to some of the people outraged over GitS than a real concern about any ‘washing. And it is not that I dismiss concerns over whitewashing normally, as I understand how and why it is problematic. But in GitS’s particular case I thought it was unwarranted and disproportionate, as we were talking about an entirely artificial body.
Don’t forget Gantz, even though it was funny seeing the two main characters
being played by Arashi Team members, I thought that movie adaptation was spot on.
Sato too young and not American enough