The hit or miss quality of Manga to live-actionThough I am personally unfamiliar with the larger catalog of examples available, there seems to be a hit-or-miss quality to Manga transitioning to live-action shows and movies. It seems on average the live-action shows that are not action based are able to capture the essence of the original work. As an example, Netflix's "The Makanai" is based on a Japanese manga named Maiko-san chi no makanai-san, first published in 2016 by Aiko Koyama and has been praised for its accurate representation. In contrast, Oldboy and Dragonball flopped both with critics and the original fans. Is the ability to transition these works to screen dependent on the source genre, the director/script, or on trying to reshape it to appeal to a western audience? It seems the more gentle, low-risk mangas succeed in adaptations whereas action mangas fall short. Is this a cultural failing or an industry failing? And if they were adapted more accurately, would they succeed to a global audience? |
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