Wednesday, March 28, 2018

T5W#137-Top 5 Favorite Live Action Anime/Manga Films Ive Seen


Don’t think we need much of an intro this week.  Last week we looked at the worst.  This week we’re looking at the best.  These are the films that give me hope that one day we can see a proper Live Action Mobile Suit Gundam film, so long as it’s in the right hands.  These are the Top 5 Favorite Live Action Anime/Manga Films Ive Seen.

#5-Oldboy
You know, for the longest time I never knew this was based on a Manga.  All I knew about Oldboy when it was released was that it was a movie beyond compare and beyond belief.  And man were they right.  This wasn’t just a simple revenge flick, this was something else entirely.  The amount of psychological drama at work was incredible.  That hallway sequence is the kind of movie making magic that’s no doubt inspired every Hallway fight in the MCU Netflix universe.  And the twist ending is the stuff Shamylan wishes he was still capable of.  Seriously, the end of Oldboy will mess you right up and is one of the reasons it’s still held in such high regard today.


#4-Pacific Rim
No this is not based on any preexisting Anime title.  It’s based on multiple ones.  Pacific Rim is Guillermo del Toro’s love letter to the Giant Robot Anime Genre and sees inspiration drawn from Godzilla, Neon Genesis Evangelion, The Big O, Voltron and probably dozens of other titles.  And it shows.  The level of detail put into each Jaegar, how each part moves, how big theyre built, how theyre piloted, there’s so much care put into every visual shot of this film.  Granted the story isn’t the greatest but the Jaeger v Kaiju battles more than make up for it.  Honestly I don’t think the sequel looks like it could live up to the groundbreaking visual brilliance Del Toro brought to the screen.  Really, it’s an underrated classic.


#3-Space Battleship Yamato
I never saw Star Blazers when I was younger and by the time I knew of its existence I was very much a more or less Robotech/Macross fan.  Still, the original pioneer of scifi space battle combat is a title I hope to see someday and this movie helps fuel that dream.  Yes, it bears a heavy visual resemblance to the 2004 Battlestar Galactica series but that doesn’t change the overall feel of the film.  Yamato’s story and characters feel like they were plucked right from the original Anime.  The character drama is well done, the costumes are very flashy and very 70’s scifi, everyone looks like they belong (particularly Captain Okita).  The ending might have a ton of issues but everything up til that point is classic Anime gold brought to life nicely.


#2-Death Note and Death Note 2: The Last Name
For a long, long time, this two part adaptation was my gold standard of Live Action Anime.  I literally spent an entire summer watching one or both films at least once a week.  By then I had seen the Anime all the way through once and can easily say that both Live Action Films do somethings I wish they had done in the Anime, even in regards to that legendary ending.  Tatsuya Fujiwara and Kenichi Matsuyama are perfect as Light Yagami and L and everytime theyre on screen (especially together) the film shines.  Ryuk looks amazing and seeing his visual still made me want to check the movies out in the first place.  While both films equal to a little over a 4 hour feature, the pacing will make you forget all about that, especially with the longer Death Note 2.  While I haven’t had a chance to check out the “forbidden sequel” that is Death Note: Light Up the New World, as much as I want to see it, I doubt it holds a candle to the brilliant masterpeices that are Death Note and Death Note 2: The Last Name.


#1-Rurouni Kenshin
Otakon 2013.  I sat in a viewing hall packed to capacity. I sat alongside a new friend who told me her anticipation for this film was on par with The Avengers…and she was right.  Rurouni Kenshin looks and feels every bit like its Manga and Anime inspirations.  The set design alone deserves props for transporting us to a mid 1800’s Japan and making it look so damn real.  The characters act every bit like the ones we know, especially Kenshin and Sanosuke.  And the action, if you haven’t heard how good it is, then believe me, they hype is real.  The sword battles make Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon look like a fight amongst five year olds and they would continue to be the one shinning constant through the other two films as well.  I remember cheering literally every few minutes with everyone else seeing this legend come to life.  Even though I hadn’t read or watched RuroKen in ages, it was all coming back to me watching a movie that could have been a botched project and it still remains a movie experience I would never forget.

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