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Blade Director to Adapt 'Akira' For Western Audiences
dswensen writes: "According to the Sci-Fi Channel web site, Steven Norrington (director of Blade) is going to write and direct an adaptation of the classic anime Akira. Norrington says his story 'preserves the tone, the visual and the epic scope of the original, whilst telling a somewhat more accessible story [to Western audiences]." The article doesn't mention whether the adaptation will be animated or live-action. Given Norrington's track record and the butchery that usually takes place under the guise of making something 'accessible,' it's hard to take this as extraordinarily good news."
If it's already a classic in one form, why try to remake it? Making it more "accessible" is just anther way of saying "dumbing down". If the remainder of the Western audience doesn't understand the film (in either the subbed or dubbed version) then why the hell would you bother? The movie is a classic for so many reasons on it's own (artistic style, notoriety, story base, etc). I'm probably just pulling a bit out of my ass there, but my point is, if it's already good leave it alone.
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THeres a huge culture gap between Japan and America. People here (America) just seem to think that Anime is just a cartoon.. for kids. What i like about Anime is that the author/director person can do whatever they want and achieve impossbile camera angels if they wanted. I guess people here prefer seeing live action, I think Akira is a great anime. Anime is a great medium for storytelling, and cheaper too? ( i dont know how much it costs to produce an anime, but you dont have to pay for location permits and the such, and travel expenses)
So really, is it necessary to have to 'adapt' Akira to the western screen? If you want bring the ture akia experience to western audiences, then you shouldnt have to 'adapt' it. WHen i watched dubbed movies, and then the undubbed version i find that alot is lost in just the way the character says a line, infliction is just as important as the actual dialoge. and alot of times,the dub speech and the expression on the characters face just dont match. just my ¥2
Sun is Warm, Grass is Green
Remember when they did the American version of La Femme Nikita with Bridget Fonda or something? They managed to achieve heir vision by removing all elements of style and character, and replacing them with larger explosions.
Great work America.
1. If you don't want to see the new version, don't watch it. Nobody is saying you have to give up your old version of Akira and trade it in for the new one. You don't like it, don't watch it!
2. There's nothing wrong with trying to make something better. Some people might find this new version better, some will like the old version. Not everybody likes the same things.
3. If anything, this will bring the story of Akira to a larger audience, it will get people to wonder where it came from, and they'll seek out the Japanese version of the moive, and the comic books. Then there will be people that will see it for what it was, and they may like it better, or they'll like the newer version better.
To each his own, and if something brings a story to a wider audience, one that would have NEVER seen it otherwise, I say more power too them.
And to the person that brought up La Femme Nikita and the remake (Point of no Return). I saw Point of no Return, thought it was interesting, found out it was a remake of La Femme Nikita, thought it was MUCH better.. and you know what, if they didn't make Point of no Return, I would have NEVER known about La Femme Nikita.
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Akira is about a theme that has been touched on by many Sci-Fi authors. That the ultimate form of evolution for human beings will be when we achive Pure energy. Humans will become a conciousness of unlimited power. In akira the government is performing expirements on children in attempts to tap into some of this power. Akira went to far fully transforming into an energy being an the power of his transformation destroyed the city. Tetsuo eventually becomes so powerful the same thing happens. meanwhile though as he's transforming he loses control of his body. Akira returns to help Tetsuo Transfrom, and together they use the energy realeased from Tetsuos Rebirth to create a new universe of which they are the gods, hence the whole Galaxies and Stuff at the end.
Of course this is by no means definative, this is just my take on the movie, that's what makes it so good, that it's open to interpretation.
-Mishra
I'll probably get nailed for this - but to me Akira was an awful bore. I watched it like 4 times I really never did get it - this coming from someone who took several anime film classes (seriously!). And then it hit me - this film is gross, confusing and really pretty poorly written. I don't care what the manga (comic) had to say about it - this is the film version. I think people idolize it because it had a much higher cell count then any other film, but big deal.
:)
BTW - one fun thing to do is read reviews of what the film was all about from film critics - every single one of them tells a different tale of what the story is about.
To make it worse all you have to do is just release the - what was the company called? Silverline Studios? Version - I guess it was edited for content - and the voice acting was pretty bad.
Why not take a more beautful film like Mimi o Sumaseba or Tanuki Wars - and release that in north america? Those films were fun
dFuck that, it has nothing to do with being American or not. It's the process of changing any cultural media to fit another culture rather than expecting the audience to learn enough to truly understand it. It happens in every country, and many times isn't intentional. A seemingly benign act of translation can change the flavor of something just by the nature of finding words in a different language to express foreign concepts.
Is it a good thing, no. Is it strictly American, no. Are you a pompous ass, who's comment has no business being marked as insightful. Hell yes.
I'm the big fish in the big pond bitch.