There’s already been a live action adaptation of Death Note. Two of them, in fact, since the story isn’t easily told in one. I might be in the few as far as thinking that they were both fantastic movies and worked wonderfully as adaptations (I swear I’ll get around to reviewing them both), but the fact remains that it’s already been done, not to mention that L spinoff movie, which I’ve yet to see. All three of those movies have been licensed and released Stateside, so why do we need Hollywood to make another one?

Of course, Hollywood re-making Japanese (and other Asian) films is nothing new, and there are many instances where those re-makes are wildly popular and subsequently profitable. The Ring comes to mind, but I’ve seen neither that nor Ringu, from which it was based. Even so, there’s at least one adaptation that I found to be successful (The Departed, based on a Hong Kong film). But Death Note is not a J-horror and Death Note is not an action drama. And from what I can understand, Warner Brothers will not be basing their movie off of the existing movies, so Death Note isn’t even a movie.

Death Note is a superntural, psychological, suspense thriller manga, and I have little faith that a Hollywood adaptation will 1) make any money, 2) treat the source material right, 3) be a decent movie on any kind of level. Well, at least it isn’t Fox, right?

There are just so many potential problems with this that I can’t imagine enough of them being conquered for this to work. I might draw up a full list later if I feel like putting forth the energy to rant about it (if you want though, Gia’s already got at least five ways they can fuck it up), but for now, here is the biggest issues I see:

Audience Appeal

As fans, we have become jaded. It’s hard to ignore and forget this kind of abomination, as much as we’d all like to try. Some people say that fans are too critical and can never be pleased, and that might be true to a certain extent, but I like to think that there are actually a lot of people that are willing to give things a chance if given a reason to be positive. After all, I have hope in the upcoming Cowboy Bebop adaptation, and I’m also cautiously hopeful about that Akira adaptation. And it isn’t just the live action medium since, as I’ve mentioned, I love both already existing live action adaptations for Death Note. I was also kind of fond of the Speed Racer movie, if only because it refused to take itself seriously — that works for Speed Racer. It would never work for Death Note.

This might be a more minor thing, but it might be worth mentioning that some fans, while still fans, have gotten sick of the title’s supreme oversaturation across all markets. I mean, the manga finished in 2006. In the three short years since then, there has already been two live action movies, one spinoff, and an anime. Now there’s going to be yet another movie? Geez.

As far as the general audience goes though, is Death Note even the sort of story that would fly in the States? I think the supernatural element would be a huge turn-off both because straight-up monster-looking things aren’t that popular in [serious] American movies and because CG becomes an issue. Ryuk’s design and translation into CG was already an issue for the Japanese adaptations, but if it’s anything less than amazing this time around, people won’t go for it because they will compare it to stuff like Pirates of the Caribbean and I doubt Death Note will have the budget to compete with that.

I wonder if the whole capital punishment theme would cause a stir at all, and if so, would it be positive or negative as far as ticket sales go? Consider that so many schools took issue when Death Note-like notebooks made rounds in middle schools with kids’ “enemies’” names scrawled in the pages — would they be afraid of more stuff like that happening as a result of a domestic movie’s release? It’s also worth noting that The Boondock Saints was a movie that had a similar theme: it had a limited release and poor reviews, but has garnered a cult following since. Death Note already has a cult following, but the cult is hypercritical. Would WB’s Death Note create a new sublegion of fans? People that knew nothing of Death Note before seeing that version?

Warner Bros. must realize how big of a gamble this is. Speed Racer tanked. Dragonball Evolution tanked phenomenally. If they can’t help but do more manga/anime adaptations for some explicable reason, I have to wonder why someone doesn’t pick up a few shoujo titles and have at some chick flicks — why all these crazy shounen and supernatural stuff? Shoujo is, by nature, much, much more suitable for live action. The Japanese understand this — there are tons of dramas and movies based off shoujo. But none by Hollywood.

We had our first look at the art of the DOGS OAV back in December. It was questionable, particularly for Badou and Haine’s designs, but I decided to be optimistic. This optimism seemed to have paid off, as the short trailer that surfaced last month looked brilliant. There actually aren’t many shots of Haine in the trailer, but Badou, at least, looked terrific. (Camoflague print is still missing from jacket, but I’ll live.)

Now, some character sketches seem to have surfaced, and it looks like we took three steps forward just to take ten steps back?

Now, Mihai still looks great. His facial expressions and angles are great, and his outfit is pretty spot on as well. Naoto’s turnarounds look fine, and her facial studies aren’t half bad either, albeit a little generic-feeling. At first glance, Haine doesn’t look terrible either: I love the boots in his turnarounds, and the top row of faces on his facial studies looks pretty good. What gets me are his eyes on second row — especially on the left-most face. Also, that guy needs more forehead, man. The more I stare at it, the more I want to get into art kid super critique mode.

And Badou. God, look at Badou’s face! He doesn’t even look consistent from face to face on that design sheet! What is this freaky-eyed, long-faced monstrosity?

AHHHH!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

….

All kidding aside though, it’s really weird to see these sheets, honestly. I’ve always known character design sheets for anime to be pretty spot-on with their animated counterparts, and these just throw me for a loop because I just rewatched the footage from the trailer and Badou still looks great! What’s up with this nonsense? I almost feel like we’re being trolled. In the end, I guess it doesn’t really matter how shitty these sheets look as the actual animation remains as awesome as it was in the trailer. I find these character sheets kind of insulting to Miwa Shirow’s art in general, but it isn’t like we haven’t seen huge style shifts from manga to anime before. It usually turns out okay, even if it’s a little different.

I’m just kind of fearful of some random cheap crap showing up in the backgrounds:

That’s what I immediately thought of when I saw that Badou. Do not want.

The animation looks gorgeous and, for me at least, erases many of the doubts that came with the first look at the artwork a few months back. The character designs are very faithful, as are the backgrounds, and the action. The music reminds me a lot of Baccano!, which threw me off a little at first — it’s very energetic, upbeat, and kind of hookey, which clashes with some of DOGS’s darker undertones. But considering that the OAV will only follow the storyline from “Stray dogs howling in the dark” rather than Bullets&Carnage, the humorous energy isn’t all that misplaced.

The trailer itself isn’t a great indication of story, so those unfamiliar with the manga probably won’t be impressed by much, though the action does looks nice. I’m really eager to see a trailer that will show more general background music and that will show speaking parts. I listened to the first drama CD again not long ago; it still sounded great, so I’m excited to see it all match up with their animated images. Gleeeee.

In the meantime, I’ve got “volume 0″ of Viz’s release of the DOGS manga on preorder and can’t wait to get it~.

The final illustration drama is already supposed to address more of what happens after the ending, actually, but the new announcement makes it seem like they have something more up their sleeves. So what’ll it be? Another season? A summary-type movie/OAV? Side-stories or spin-offs? Prequel? SEED Supernova-style crack shorts?

I will accept all of above except the sequel option. I absolutely do not want a third season. Taniguchi, you bastard, you said this was the end of the story, and I’m going to hold you do it. :| I loved the ambiguity of the ending. I want to believe that Lelouch is dead. I don’t want a third season calling it either way, especially since he pretty much has to be alive for a third season because it’s his story. A third season wouldn’t work without him. I do not want to follow the adventures of C.C. and L.L. through the countryside. Seriously, do not want.

The other options seem more reasonable anyway since they all require less work. A summary-type condensed release seems like the most likely path to me. It would probably work like all the summary movies they did for Gundam SEED/Destiny, which I think did pretty okay (not sure though, and I’m too lazy to go look it up right now). Side-stories illustrating what the rest of the characters did after the series would be okay since they’d probably be short and wouldn’t require Lulu’s resurrection. A prequel would probably be the most interesting since there are still tons of holes left in the mythology and mystery of Geass, and we never did find out C.C.’s real name. To make up for her having to live forever, we could explore her past! Sounds good to me. I’d definitely be up for some crack shorts too. It wouldn’t be hard considering the series was some 50% crack anyway.

It’s more wait and see, I guess. I don’t know why I keep hoping that Sunrise doesn’t pull a Sunrise though. It’s like hoping for a Gundam series without giant robots and war.

Spike and friends are blasting off on a new adventure as plans for a live action film adaptation of TOKYOPOP’s Cowboy Bebop have just been announced! Keanu Reeves (The Day the Earth Stood Still, Matrix trilogy) will star as Spike Spiegel with Erwin Stoff (I Am Legend) to produce.

Of course, TP can’t be considered a reliable source as they have nothing to do with the film at all. (I love how they claim Cowboy Bebop as their property.) They’re just using the tidbit to promote the Cowboy Bebop manga they have. The article they link doesn’t explicitly cast Reeves as Spike either (or at least, it cites an interview that’s already been torn apart by the aniblogosphere and the general consensus seems to be that he really wants the role, but it isn’t a sure thing yet).

I think they’re just jumping the gun on that announcement, but I don’t think I really care at this point.

I said in July that I’m willing to give the guy the benefit of the doubt on his potential as Spike. At the very least, I’m comforted by the fact that Reeves is a genuine fan, which should seriously help him adjust to the role should he get it. I don’t know enough actors to be able to suggest a better suitor anyway. But since the rumors of July seem to be holding pretty well for the most part now, I’m wondering if the bit about Bebop’s production being accelerated for a 2010 release is going to end up being true also. If that’s the case, I really want to know who’ll be signing on for the rest of the cast, as well as who’ll be directing it.

I think Jet would be easy enough to cast for. He’s the most archetypal of the lot. Ed and Faye I’m worried about. I can’t decide who I’m worried about more…. probably Ed since she needs to be very androgynous and very quirky to work right. I’m also wondering if they’ll be able to secure a trained Corgi for Ein? Or would a different breed be easier? I don’t expect them to cover everyone’s origin stories, and Ein would be pretty easy to cut out completely if it came down to it. (So would Ed, for that matter.) Hmm. Honestly, there’s a lot that can be sacrificed with Bebop since the series is so episodic. If they want to incorporate the ending, then it’s more Spike’s story than anything else. I guess we’ll see. I’m cautiously excited about this.

My second thought is that those character designs look pretty generic all of a sudden. From left to right: Badou looks a bit more feminine and flamboyant than I’m used to… I think it’s his face? I don’t know, but I miss the camo pattern on his coat. Haine actually doesn’t look that bad. His proportions are full of lulz, and I really don’t know what’s going on with that left arm of his, but honestly, Shirow has some funky proportions sometimes too. Naoto is pretty unimpressive, but I don’t think that angle’s helping. Her face looks kind of off, and I can’t see the detail that needs to be on the hilt of her katana. Mihai probably looks the best here. His face is spot on, and the rest of him looks passable.

Really though, it isn’t that bad. The characters are far from being bastardized, and the background looks pretty good too. In any case, it’s just promotional art. How the animation ends up remains to be seen, and that’s the important part, right? This might be the first time a manga is adapted into an anime as I’m reading it, so I can’t say how purist I’ll end up being, but as far as first impressions go, I’m reasonably pleased. At least I don’t have to worry about the voice cast.

(Hattip: DOGS LJ Community)

That live action Cowboy Bebop movie got a lot of headlines today because it looks like Keanu Reeves really wants that role as Spike Speigal after all. I’m still skeptical about it, but after all the disastrous news for Dragonball, but was a little cheered knowing that Reeves is a fan and hopes to preserve the original integrity of the anime.

Now, TOKYOPOP just sent me an email exclaiming that it’s got a deal for a live action adaptation of Priest, one of its manhwa properties. Apparently, it’s something that’s been floating around for a while, but now it’s got a shiny new director I’ve never heard of so there’s new life to it. I’m not familiar with Priest, but it’s Western horror and vampires. Not really something I’m particularly interested in, so I can’t decide if it’s better suited for Hollywood than, say Dragonaball. If Twilight’s any indication, I guess vampires have a place. Western horror? I dunno. Crappy remakes of Japanese thrillers seem to be big, so even though this is Korean, maybe that appeal will still be there.

I never liked the idea of TOKYOPOP restructuring and making that New Media division. I still think it’s pretty stupid and pointless of them to try and expand into new areas when their core market is suffering so much. I suppose licensing out a property doesn’t really require much effort on their part, but I’d like to think that they have some hand in production to keep the property from deviating too much and going to hell. So I’m not sure how much I actually want TP to succeed in this endeavor because I just want them to go back to focusing on their manga. They don’t need a New Media division if they keep laying people off. I really can’t see this movie being a huge box office success though, even if it stays pretty low budget and B-list like it feels like it will.

It’s probably too early to be speculating, anyway. I wouldn’t be surprising if this title continues to flounder around the next few years, if it gets finished at all.

When Viz broke the news about streaming Naruto Shippuden, I began counting the days until someone would announce a near-simultaneous release for a new series as opposed to an established series. Now, less than a month later and after a good bit of hype, Bandai announces that its new license is Kurokami, an anime based on a Korean manhwa (licensed by Yen Press) set to start airing next season! Apparently, it will also begin airing on IATV next season, with each episode airing in Japan, South Korea, and the United States within 24 hours…dubbed! That’s definitely a huge surprise. To think that they actually dubbed off of pencil tests and unfinished animation just to be able to get this release together on time. That’s all kinds of wow. The domestic DVD release is supposed to follow the airing, so it’s likely we’ll get the DVDs around the same time as well.

Of course, this doesn’t exactly follow the groundbreaking Naruto announcement in that this title won’t be streaming online. A near-simultaneous dub is certainly a more impressive feat, but on a channel that not a lot of people get? I don’t know if my family gets IATV here, but I know for sure that the cable my college supplies isn’t going to have it, so there will be no way for me to catch this on TV. Kurokami was one of the few series I was actually planning on watching next season, so this is really disappointing. But there’s this to consider too: if the whole point of near-simultaneous releases is to deter pirating, why would Bandai skip an online streaming release?

I don’t have a poll to confirm this, but I suspect that a vast majority of the otaku population that cares enough to watch series as they air in Japan prefers subs over dubs, or these days, even streaming over broadcasting. I’ve always felt that dubs/broadcasts were more suitable for the more casual fan who will turn something on because it’s there and convenient. They aren’t the ones that will sit around in the wee hours of morning Sundays waiting for the next Code Geass. The ones that have been clamouring for near-simultaneous releases are not the causal viewers. Okay, so maybe not many casual viewers would even bother with a channel that isn’t Sci-Fi or [adult swim], but I’m predicting now that Kurokami will still be pirated significantly because 1) there won’t be an official online stream, whether subbed or dubbed, 2) not enough people who want to watch the series have IATV.

Come on, Bandai. Give us an online stream too…?

Regardless of whether they decide to or not though, this is amazing news. We just keep taking more and more steps towards what everyone wants, and that’s exciting. At least the DVD releases will be pretty on top of each other, right? I’m thinking it won’t be long until someone else does a near-simultaneous online stream for a new series though. In the meantime, if subbers decide to sub this, I’ll probably still be getting Kurokami that way. :>

It might be too early to be speculating, but I wonder what this might mean for future DOGS anime? It’s hard to say how long of a project DOGS: Bullets and Carnage will end up being, but considering it’s scheduled to be at volume four by the time the OAV releases, there’s enough material to fill up a normal season now. Does this mean we’ll eventually see a normal-run series based off Bullets and Carnage? I’d like to think that chances are high…

Or is this not a sequel at all? Are we starting over completely?

Some people seem to be speculating that this series will start from the beginning, but this time, it’ll strictly follow the manga. I haven’t seen anything official regarding this yet, so I’ll believe it when I see it, but I don’t think it’s an unlikely possibility. I still haven’t read the manga myself, but I might have to soon if this is the case. I think it’ll be incredibly weird to go through the anime again with this alternate storyline though — especially if character designs, voices, etc, etc, remain unchanged. Has something like this ever happened before? Has a series that veered off from its source material gotten redone so that it’s now true to the original?

Having this new series follow the manga might be the best way to go. Undoubtedly, there are still leftover populations of manga fans that have always hated the original anime because of all the changes and differences. They’ll be happy to finally see the story they loved best adapted into a faithful anime version. The fans of the first anime will probably go along with it… after all, it’s hard to argue against original sources, even if they did like the first series better. The first series ended. What can you do? The ending sucked. Do you really want a direct sequel to that? I’m still very much opposed to the idea of Fullmetal Alchemist: The Diary of the Elric Brothers!

Obviously the catch to a faithful manga adaptation is the fact that Arakawa still isn’t finished with the manga, and from what I hear, it isn’t anywhere near an ending point. If that’s the case, then it doesn’t really matter how faithful to the manga this new series starts off — it’ll have to start making shit up eventually. What’s the point of that? If we’re going to have to start walking the same path as the first anime eventually, why even bother right now? Why not just wait until the damn thing’s finally, actually finished? And there’s also that issue of the repeated material from the first anime that did fit okay with the manga. Are they just going to reanimate it? Or are we going to do an even more severe retcon and pretend a good two thirds of the first anime didn’t exist? It seems like getting that kind of continuity across would just be sloppy and confusing.

So what are our options here?

A) Completely new start. 100% faithful to the manga. Reanimate the beginning, don’t veer off like the original anime did. …Make something up when we reach the current point of the manga? Start making filler episodes while waiting for an ending??

B) Do some kind of weird continuity thing by starting off partway through the first anime. Somehow work in the missing material from the manga. …Make up some new kind of ending??

C) Pick up where the original anime left off. The trailer could just be a “summary” or “reminder” kind of clip that doesn’t immediately give away what had been the ending of the first series. May or may not re-incorporate missing elements from the manga? Still has to make up another ending.

D) Completely new start. Fuck the manga! Fuck the original anime! Make something else up entirely!

Seems like the ending is still the most problematic point. No matter if they pick A, B, C, or even D, they have to make something up at some point because the manga isn’t done. This is why I’ve always hated the idea of adapting series that aren’t finished. Sometimes it works out okay (slice-of-life things like NANA and Nodame Cantabile probably work best), but often, it’s more trouble than it’s worth. I mean, Soul Eater is going along pretty spiffy right now, and I haven’t read the manga for that either, but I know it isn’t finished, I know it’s going slow, and I know we’re just about to catch up to it in the anime — what then? What then?

Wait and see, I guess. Wait and see. For FMA, I don’t really know what I’m hoping for anymore. (D would be kind of hilarious though.)