Let’s talk One Piece. The live-action adaptation, not the anime.
Netflix has given the project an August 31 release date. I saw the trailer, but I cannot say I liked it. The casting is nearly perfect; somehow, they found actors that capture the spirit of the original characters. But something is missing. I would argue that One Piece is impossible to adapt.
The show is too wacky and absurd to succeed in a live-action format. I would make the same argument for anime in general. Anime adaptations fail because Hollywood strips these projects of everything that makes them unique.
Take Ghost in The Shell from 2017. The film was a perfectly serviceable science fiction drama, but it was not anime. You must lean into all the insanity that sets Anime apart from Western cartoons to make these live-action adaptions work. But part of me believes that anime belongs in the animated world.
The live-action medium is ill-suited to recreate anime’s eccentricities. You may disagree, and I understand why. Most lists of the best live-action anime adaptations are choked with films from Japan, which makes sense; Japan is the home of anime.
Who else would you trust to recreate the likes of Gintama and Tokyo Revengers for the big screen?
And to their credit, Japan’s adaptations are always faithful to the source material. But let’s be honest; most of them suck. Anime enthusiasts will disagree, and again, I get it. This medium gives you so much joy. So naturally, nothing I say will ever lift that particular blind spot for you.
Comic book readers have the same problem. They always praise WB’s animated movies, lauding them as the one area where DC kicks Marvel’s ass. It drives me crazy; those movies are terrible.
There is something magical about seeing your favorite comic book sagas in an animated format. But I don’t think you can objectively call any DC animated film good. Japan’s anime live-action adaptations are in the same boat.
You have a few exceptions, such as Nana-7 and Bunny Drop, but those titles only work because of the slice-of-life aspect. Bunny Drop follows a single man trying to raise his grandfather’s illegitimate child. That concept lends itself to adaptation.
You can’t say the same for Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure with its odd character designs and exaggerated action sequences. My initial objective was to list the ten best live-action anime adaptations, but guess what? I only found three I liked.
Alita: Battle Angel took the top spot with great ease, simply because it looked like an anime without feeling cheap (unlike the Japanese adaptations). Although the story was clunky. Alice in Borderland took the second spot.
I dumped it after the first three episodes because it felt like a generic anime. But I can’t deny that it was well made. The third is obviously Rurouni Kenshin. Logically, that trilogy should take the top spot because it tried and succeeded in making the quirkiness of anime work in live-action.
But I still think Alita: Battle Angel was better, although I can’t tell you why. Maybe the Netflix One Piece live-action show will leapfrog over all three. I’m not optimistic. I don’t want to watch the show because I expect to cringe at everything.
I already cringe while watching most live- action anime adaptation trailers. I doubt One Piece will crack the anime adaptation code. Of all the shows, why this one? The anime is a challenge for many hardcore anime fans.
They can’t stand the peculiar character designs, offbeat settings, outlandish abilities, or convoluted stories. What makes Netflix think casual viewers will embrace One Piece in a live-action format?
Nonetheless, I am rooting for them. If One Piece succeeds, it could usher Hollywood into a new era of high-quality, big-budget anime adaptations.
katmic200@gmail.com
Source: The Observer
Share this content:
