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Asian Manga (comics) and Anime have
been adapted to the live action movie
genre for years. In the West, dating
back to the 1940's, Hollywood adaptations
of the iconic Superman comic serial
into live action TV series and movies
were precursors of more to come. These
days, with the availability of more
sophisticated CGI effects, it has become
possible to translate the exaggerated
aspects of manga and anime into credible
looking live action films.
Manga and Anime offer a number of advantages
as the basis for a film. First, the
titles of manga tend to convey the worldview
and overall image of the work, so the
gist of the story can be conveyed readily
to potential readers without large-scale
advertisements. The same holds true
for movies adapted from manga. In addition,
movies and TV series based on popular
manga are guaranteed to attract fans
of the original works.
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| Japan
is the land of manga and anime. Therefore,
a plethora of manga and anime is continually
adapted into live action movies and TV
series. A noteworthy example is is NANA
which became one of the top-grossing Japanese
films of 2005. Also groundbreaking in
the genre is Death
Note, released in June 2006. Death
Note tells the story of a brilliant young
man who picks up a Death God notebook
that kills anyone whose name ends up in
it, and the young genius detective who
tries to track him down. Death Note is
a relatively unique adaptation because
it is one of the first Japanese productions
by Hollywood movie giant Warner Bros. |
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In Hong Kong,
comics tranlated into live action movies
began in the 1960's where the classic
comic character Master
Q was adapted to the big screen. In
the 1990's, manga from Japan such as City
Hunter (played by Jackie
Chan), Slam
Dunk, and Black
Mask was turn into flesh by the Hong
Kong movie industry. Their popularity
ensured that the visceral fantasy worlds
of local Hong Kong comics by popular illustrators
like Jademan Wong and Ma Wing Shing had
their turns on the silver screen. Titles
such as Storm
Riders, A
Man Called Hero and the Young
And Dangerous series gained a large
cult following worldwide - thanks to director
Andrew
Lau (half of the Infernal Affairs
team) who followed that success by making
popular Japanese car racing actioner
Initial D. |
| The success of TV series
Meteor Garden adapted from Japanese manga,
heralded the beginning of many Taiwanese
TV series adaptations of popular Japanese
romance manga (Shojo manga). Titles like
Devil
Beside, Hanazakarino
Kimitachihe and
It Started With A Kiss are examples.
Their success made the Japanese rethink
the concept and they made Japanese versions
of some of these live action series too!!!
Here in From Anime To Live Action, you
can watch them all - the original anime
and their live action movie and TV series
adaptations. |
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