There's been a bunch of new live-action anime movie adaptions in recent years, Death Note, Fullmetal Alchemist, Attack on Titan, ect. And they're garbage. All of them.
Article would explore why its so difficult to make the jump to the third dimension. Some of these IP's print money, why don't they make good Blockbusters? Is is an East to West thing? Is it something intrinsic in jumping medium?
I would say an interesting exception would be the Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable live-action movie. Among Jojo fans it's actually widely considered quite fun and a unique take on the show. It is not a perfect 1:1 adaptation, but rather, that is what makes it more unique and interesting. it has a refreshingly dark/indie film aesthetic approach to the bright and cheery "Jojo" story that gives it a reason to exist as something uniquely artistic, rather than a cash-grab (*cough* AoT, FMA live action...) I believe a balance between being faithful to an original work while also pushing the boundaries and showing the series in a new light is what these live-action adaptations have to do to stand on their own merit. – Dimitri Adoniou6 years ago
I agree with Dimitri's note about fan reception--I think a live action adaptation really hasn't "made it" until it's been recognized by the fans as worth viewing. The live action Bleach film on Netflix had some positive feedback within the fan community, for example. It would be worth looking through forums or social media tags to find fans' reactions to these films and if there are any common misgivings/complaints about the live action films. A common one tends to be miscasting, like in the case of ScarJo and Ghost in the Shell. Lots to unpack here. Would love to read this! – Eden6 years ago
Most live actions always disappoint because the lack what makes the story and the characters in the first place – ummeraj6 years ago
Risk V Gains. Money. This is, generally speaking, the issue that befalls a lot of the adaptations. Risk V Gains usually sorted this kind of way: If the risk out-weighs the gains; it's deemed a failure. If the Gain outweighs the risk, it's deemed a success ( Until the box office )... There are other factors, but those factors usually revolve around *drum roll* money. I working on an article about this very thing and how, if movies do not make "Marvel" money, it's deemed a failure. – Braxton Gaither6 years ago
Live action anime adaptions share the same problems of adaptions in general, in which the filmmakers are taking the source material from a specific medium and transferring it to another. However, live action anime adaptions also come with the baggage of cultural differences. There's also of course the fact that animation can do things live action can't, so adapting it to live action can be extremely challenging, especially for more ambitious or less grounded anime such as Attack on Titan and pretty much any shonen anime. At the end of the day, I feel the key factors for such adaptions are to have the creatives behind it actually be fans of the source material and understand what would work in a cinematic, live action adaption and what wouldn't. These things are why the MCU has been so successful. Kevin Feige and the film mmakers he works with are superhero comic book fans but still know what to filter out or not when bringing the superhero stuff to the big screen. – ImperatorSage6 years ago
Live actions for some reason don't look as realistic as the anime. I suppose it is because of the bright and expressive costumes and make-up of actors, perhaps. At least for me, this feature creates a feeling of the unrealistic fairytale-like story. The same goes with movies that tried to adapt anime stories. – JustinaVonDanzig6 years ago