Live Action From Manga or Anime
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.
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.
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.
http://sensasian.com/games/liveactionmain.htm
