Live Action Akira Director Says Its Characters Aren't "Interesting"

[Lunar Templar]

Yeah, I mean what's interesting about a person discovering power that no man should possess as they gradually learn to control and abuse it, eventually alienating all those that he called friends since childhood to form a dictatorship as his former best friend works with the people that created him to put a stop to his reign as he gradually loses control over his own body as the metaphor of an all consuming but childish nature personifies itself as a huge, all consuming mess of flesh resembling a fetus?

Would help if there was any one in the movie to actually interesting enough pre super-power abuse to make any of that matter, sadly, there is not. For me, it felt like a chore to sit though, and any movie I'm sitting there going 'is it over yet' isn't gonna get a favorable write up.

I guess I don't fully understand why you wouldn't find them interesting, but then again I've seen all 3 versions of Akira at least a dozen times and written papers on them for school, so I guess I was looking harder.

If that comes across as antagonistic, I swear it's unintentional. Just couldn't think of a better way to word it.

I was really only watching it cause I was told it was 'awesome, you need to see this!' and they brought it over. It's not like it was something I sought out, but the friend that brought it over wasn't really wrong about other anime so I gave it a go.

So there's nothing to figure out, I just didn't enjoy the movie. It's really just that simple.

 

[lacktheknack]

*Draws breath* AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

oh god i wish they would just stop, while it's far from some untouchable text why bother using it if you are just going to hack it to pieces.

Because anime translates to live-action about as well as a fish translates into a steak dinner.

They're two different animals entirely. Whereas anime can get away with more stylized everything and less emphasis on subtlety, live-action has to incorporate a different outlook or it's going to be terrible.

EDIT: And before you go telling me that I'm awful for saying that anime isn't subtle, A. it's not, and B. it's just an example.

Imagine if Disney tried to make "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" based entirely off the text. Yeah, book purists were scandalized, but to hell with that. A direct adaptation would have been painful and awful.

 

[seditary]

I'd like to ask this guy a question.

'Who do you think will come to watch your movie?'

Its bad when the director's answer appears to be 'hopefully nobody', just like everyone else.

 

[Dragonlayer]

Say what you will, but I have to somewhat respect a director who looks at the creative source material and just announces "Yeah, all of this, the stuff you all wanted? SHITE. Now stand back and watch how a professional does it!" It's like the worst kind of fan-fiction writer!

 

[AetherWolf]

And what, is he implying that terrible cash-in licensed films in the west (like this one will inevitably be) do a better job at making deep, complex characters? If this guy thinks the characters of Akira are boring, it's a wonder that he managed to sift through the 600 or so pages of manga and still decide he wanted to direct a fucking movie about them.

In turn, he hopes to recreate the characters to be "strong" and to leave viewers with a capturing mystery that will bring them back for "Akira 2 & 3.

"Akira 2 & 3.

Akira 2 & 3

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

"Japanese culture, they never have strong characters"

O...just...WOW.

Balls on this douche bag.

My thoughts exactly. You cannot be fucking serious. Any Ghibli film. Any.

 

[Ldude893]

Wait, I can understand Cowboy Bebop and Miyzaki, but freaking Pokemon has strong characters?

Okay, maybe not Pokemon. I was listing the only few anime I've watched.

 

[Callate]

"Nobody's interesting. Tetsuo's interesting because weird shit happens to him, and Kaneda is so two-dimensional.

...Okay, that's... arguable, I suppose, but-

That's part of the Japanese culture, they never have strong characters. They're used as a way to move the other philosophy forward,

...That's kind of a grand oversimplification, don't you think? I'm sure there are plenty of-

In turn, he hopes to recreate the characters to be "strong" and to leave viewers with a capturing mystery that will bring them back for "Akira 2 & 3.

...

...Jaume? I'm going to suggest you start running now. I hear the sound of torches being lit and pitchforks being sharpened. I'm going to sit back and watch.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Let's take a groundbreaking animated movie filled with Japanese cultural relevance, and turn it into an American live-action movie. Correction: 3 movies. PG13 rated no doubt.

Everyone can see this trainwreck coming, and we got no choice but to watch it happen.

 

[Zombie_Moogle]

"Japanese culture, they never have strong characters"

O...just...WOW.

Balls on this douche bag.

Now add on top that it's supposedly going to be set in Manhattan

...yeah

 

[Milanezi]

Sadly, thinking back to the Anime, that I do love... It's true, the characters are pretty bland... If you get the manga on the other hand... The manga takes it's time to dwell on the gangs themselves, it shows much more of the characters and all, but you know, it's freaking huge. He can only put that in a trilogy movie of very long films, and I don't think that's the angle. The best he can do in a single movie is go the way the anime did, keep the essence, keep the action and story flowing and, sadly, dissect a lot of stuff

 

[RJ Dalton]

Honestly, I don't see the point. For it's flaws, the anime was about as good an adaptation of Akira's story as you can get, given how bloody dense the story was. If you want to see Akira done better, read the manga. But I doubt this will get off the ground. Even if it does, a film with a history this long and troubled cannot possibly turn out good.

 

[RJ Dalton]

the anime is fair enough, it compresses the whole thing into 90minutes

Hang on a sec, the version I've got is around 120 minutes long. Did you make a mistake, or do I have some kind of director's cut?

 

[Casual Shinji]

I honestly wonder if he bothered with reading any of Akira, the anime is fair enough, it compresses the whole thing into 90minutes and is a bit 'this is Kaneda, he's a badass, this is Colonel Shikishima, he's a principled Badass,' but it's no worse than ninety percent of all films ever.

That was basically Kaneda in the manga too; Nothing more than a boy's adventure protagonist. Literally indestructable, spouting one-liners, racking up body counts. And beyond that, he was a bit of a prick too.

Honestly, I prefer Kaneda from the movie. You get a better feel for his relationship with Tetsuo.

 

[Stabby Joe]

I haven't seen the original Akira anime yet I know of the audience and favor it has within the medium.

That said, whether what he says hold water or not, I'm pretty sure one prime rule is not to aggravate the original fanbase. That's already one portion of the audience gone from the start.

 

[fix-the-spade]

Hang on a sec, the version I've got is around 120 minutes long. Did you make a mistake, or do I have some kind of director's cut?

Prepare for nerdiness.

Looking on the Manga Ultimate collection DVD boxes, one version is 124 minutes and one version has a running time of... 169 minutes(!!!), although I'm sure that's got to be including the little documentary on that disc. I was being a bit glib with the 90min remark.

 

[Mangod]

I'll be nice and agree that the Akira anime has problems, but this douchecannoes statements about Japanese culture are borderlin- no, not borderline, outright racist. Someone remove this schmuck from this movie before it becomes utterly unsalvageable.

 

[MrBaskerville]

I think this sounds rather interesting, i don't neccecarily agree on his broad generalization of characters, but i do get what he means (And he's kinda right that it does work like this in the manga to some degree, though it manages to work because of the way it uses its basic characters to carry the ideas and concepts). The most interesting part of his statement is that he doesn't want to water it down and that there's apparently 3 movies in the works. I'm curious to see what happens with this, he might not have the best track record but maybe this is the first movie where he has some freedom to show us what he can do (if anything). I remain positiv, atleast he's thinking the right thoughts at the moment.

It's probably not gonna top the anime or the manga, but atleast it might be a good foundation for a couple of interesting sci-fi movies. I don't really mind if they take some liberties, i'd rather see them try something new and fresh instead of adapting the things that allready worked in the manga, because i read it allready).