Kotaku recently put up the trailer for the Hollywood version of Umetsu's Kite, a 1998 OVA that roams the slimy underbelly of otaku cult fandom for its explicit rape scenes and gory police action. I reviewed Kite and its sequel for Project Otaku a while back; don't watch the sequel, Kite Liberator, if you value your time at all. Anyway, the fanboys at Kotaku were quick to note their apprehension for another Hollywood anime adaptation that would potentially botch up any merits the original material has. Ever seen The Last Airbender? Dragonball Evolution? Don't.
With all the talk of shitty anime remakes by Hollywood studios, I wonder if anime/manga are meant to be adapted at all. Spike Lee's Oldboy wasn't too well received either, though Park Chan-wook's film adaptation is pretty damn famous. Is it just a Hollywood thing? Do I need to watch more Asian adaptations of anime/manga material for some better perspective on the issue? Are they any better?
Judging from the Kite film trailer, and based on what I know of American media, I think that Hollywood sees many Japanese franchises as inherently campy. Anime and manga are great mediums for accomplishing feats unimaginable in live-action, just like comic books and cartoons are in America. Even when making superhero films, Hollywood has to be careful with the material: it's not like Daredevil or Ang Lee's Hulk were financial blockbusters. And last summer's Man of Steel devolved at some point into an absurd CG glorification of destruction when Superman trashed Metropolis with Zod, something even Superman faithfuls couldn't ignore. The more exaggerated the fiction, the easier it is to make the film project a terrible one.
Bottom line? Adaptations of super-fantastical works are always risky ventures. The otaku community is especially defensive of material because they think studios are always off the mark: in the case of The Last Airbender, I'd have to agree. But I'm hoping Kite will at least be okay. Samuel L. Jackson's in the movie, guys, it can't be that bad. Right?
Hi, the video doesn't work, but I've seen the trailer in other site, and it will always be a mixed bag.
ReplyDeleteI agree in that anime/manga is not really meant to be adapted to live-action. It all comes down that studios only care about $$$ and while it's perfectly logical, since it's a business, the same logic doesn't exactly apply with anime/manga.
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