LOL and you guys say fox does not take time making their films. This will BOMB.

Oh Goody I get to be confused all over again.....

Good news about the film being made, bad news that its being fastracked. Quality will be extremely questionable now.

Can this be considered WB's tentpole summer movie?

how could the movie even be called Akira if its set in america? I heard all the changes about the film. They could only make it work by saying "based on the popular anime film "Akira"". The anime movie itself is visually good but overated in the same way as Neon Genesis

One day hollywood will realize that they dont have to set everything in america to make a film work. It worked well for Harry Potter whereas at one point Spielberg wanted to change the setting to america

Damn, they should take their time with it.

New Manhattan? Boooo!

Set it in neo Tokyo please!

God, my favorite Manga and animated film will be ruined.

So, since it is set in New York i guess they will cast non asians as the leads?
WTF? So what name are they going to give Tetsuo? Franky?

"vomits"

exactly. I wish for once they will set it in Tokyo. Imagaine how much more awful Potter would be if they were americans

Note to Hollywood:
Leave anime alone!!!! You're not good enough to make it!

I guess there is only 1 guy doing it right. Kevin Munroe's GATCHAMAN which is a CGI animated flick but is set in tokyo.

Set to play Tetsuo Shima...

Yeah but...

They've been working on Akira live action for *years*. Look at this: http://www.geekroar.com/film/archives/000512.php

So it's not like they are starting from scratch... they probably have a really throughouh idea, if not a finalized script.

It's still a bad idea though.

According to Cinematical, Joseph Gordon-Levitt will be playing Tetsuo and Leo DiCaprio will be playing Kaneda.

This project is getting interesting.

http://www.cinematical.com/2008/02/21/a ... on-levitt/

how stupid is that that they are using white actors to play characters with japanese names? It shows the double standards in hollywood where news of a black man playing James Bond gets alot of heat whereas any roles meant for asians played by white actors gets a free pass. Yes I meant you people! Are we going to pretend that asians are invisible in hollywood movies? Its very disrespectful


I heard they are making Samurai Champloo with white actors instead

I think this is jumping to conclusions on your part. If it is now set in NY I wouldn't even imagine that they would keep the same names.

They are playing "the part of Tetsuo and Kaneda" as I read it, meaning the same basic character.

still. They are changing the characters around to cater around white actors. How is that not racism? Afterall, alot of people around here were extremely vocal against the idea of a Black honeymooners here. How are they even going to use the name Akira without all the japanese connitations?

Fox has been working on dragonball live action movie for years too so they have a thorough idea too!!

Atleast most of the leading cast are asian in dragonball movie except Bulma and goku.

Bulma to me always was someone from western society.

Goku was an alien from outer space so his color and look could be of any race.

Dont get me wrong. I for one am glad that animes are getting worked into movies but that hollywood is going to americanize them way too much. How is something like Neon Genesis going to work if they set it in america? The whole character of Asuka being the one popular german white girl gets shuffled out. Shini's angst would have no meaning really and would come off more like a whiny american. IF they were going to make animes into films without changing the culture so much, they could have easily made Hell Sing (european based) or Cowboy Bebop since they are already acknowledged to be americans . I would hate to see a Samurai Champloo staring Brad Pitt/Matt Damon which I wouldnt put it past hollywood to bastardize like that

Cowboy Bebop $150 million gross if done right . Plus its one of the top 5 famous anime in NA. Its everything that Firefly/Serenity wanted to be but failed. Josh Wheldon doesnt know his shit

Cowboy Bebop seems tame in sex and violence compared to animes like Ghost in the Shell, Hell Sing,Blue Gender,Blood Trinity and Samurai Champloo. Its more of a hard PG-13 except for Faye's nudity

Please, please, please, please, don't make Bebop. It's beyond perfect, there's no need to fuck it up (which EVERYONE would). There already is a gorgeous Bebop movie, just re-release wide it or 3D or something.
Jesus, I didn't even really like Akira, yet the thought of it being destroyed by Hollywood makes my heart hurt. The idea of fucking up Bebop is a million times worse. Honestly, a theme in Akira is based around being nuked AGAIN, and to the best of my knowledge, New York hasn't been nuked once, so right there moving it to the States doesn't work.
Ugh. I knew that when I stopped wanting a DBZ movie, one would be announced and that right after it was, a thousand more anime projects would start having rumors about them. Just makes me happier that Nintendo says no one's touching Zelda except Miyazaki and he won't do it.
I have to hope that these movies bomb horribly so they'll stop making them and hurting me.

Also sad is that they will most probably make the film pg-13 when it should be rated R.
Now we wont get to see Tetsuo go all out.

How exactly is it racism?

Is The Departed racist?

Let's lay this down straight for you...

People with money = American studios.
Biggest movie market in terms of gross = America
Americans = strongly white.

And Evangelion would be the EASIEST of the films to go American. Shinji's whining is as lame in Japanese as it would be in English. His character doesn't have "depth" because he is Japanese.

Departed is a remake whereas Akira is adapted to be an american film. A film that changes the ethnicity of the characters IS racist because they dont want to market the leads because they dont think it will sell to audienes. Thats still racist. How would people feel if they change the race of Blade or Luke Cage. Yet the film is being called AKIRA, it didnt say it was being based on AKIRA. I know you see things through your eurocentric mind set if you think like all leads should be white just because you feel that americans are the majority race. Theres always some stupid double standard among white people. They will cry when they hear a rumor about James Bond being black but insistent on character changes to suit their eurocentric view

I fail to see a difference frankly.




You need to back the fuck down roid, wake up, and smell the reality. A business reality.

Personally I think Akira is a bad idea (like I said above). I just don't have a problem coming to grips with the idea that societies take stories and adapt them for the primary target audience. EVERY CULTURE DOES THIS. This is the basis for all fiction that has been passed down throughout history.

And Americans aren't a "race", but it's not racist to assume that science fiction films in America do better from a business perspective if the primary target is white male America. And America is the largest business market in terms of dollars (India or China may be bigger in terms of people/films themselves). If you are going to make a $200 million dollar movie... you need a return on that investment, that you aren't going to get if you stay artistically sound and shoot it with Japanese actors (and keep it Japanese language based).

Where is your outrage for Speed Racer?

I dont see a bollywood version of Superman. Thats not my point. Plus there was a huge outrage anyhow in this forum when Honeymooners were remade as a black version.
And Americans aren't a "race", but it's not racist to assume that science fiction films in America do better from a business perspective if the primary target is white male America.[/quote]
Um you just said that they should cast white actors themselves and you even made an argument earlier on how it should be white actors.

By your logic Harry Potter should be set in america because your argument was that americans needed somebody they can identify with. If they were to keep them japanese, they could still do something like memoirs of a geisha and have it in english. The main reason why they changed the setting around in Akira was that they want to cast white actors and you know it. If the movie was set in england like Hell Sing, I bet you wont see any change


Speed Racer is more ambigious and you dont see the setting tie in japan as much as say Evangelion, Akira, Inyusha etc. I dont remember any scene with Speed Racer in a kimono or drinking green tea with sliding bambooized doors