As long as it does the source material more justice than Dragon Ball Evolution, the movie could be just enough to satisfy fans. Maybe.
[toggler title=”TL;DR” ]The latest trailer shows off the Colossal Titan, and it looks amazing! Could be good, though an all-Asian cast has some critics raising eyebrows due a large change in the source material (i.e. Mikasa Ackerman is supposedly the “last Asian”-a major plot point in the anime and manga).[/toggler]
Translation Provide by ANN
Narrator: Over 100 years ago…
Narrator: Most of humanity was consumed by the Titans who suddenly appeared.
Text: Titans who suddenly appeared, consuming humanity
Narrator: Civilization collapsed.
Narrator: The survivors of the war with these Titans erected giant walls three layers deep and kept the peace.
Narrator: But today, our invulnerable security no longer exists.
Text: The colossal live-action film adaptation project
Text: Creator: Hajime Isayama
Voice: The rumors were true.
Voice: They’re immortal.
Text: Director: Shinji Higuchi
Text: Special Effects Director: Katsuro Onoue
Kubal: Why don’t we take back the plundered city? To carry out this honorable operation, we offer our hearts!
All: We offer our hearts!
Mikasa: The world is cruel
Text: Why did the Titans appear…?
Voice: I want to know the truth about this world!
Voice: If we fail, humanity is doomed.
Voice: A Titan attacked Titans
Mikasa: Eren…
Text: Why does humanity fight…?
Voice: Let’s go!
Voice: We’re humanity’s last hope!
Voice: I’ve never experienced anything like this!
Text: Challenge fate!
Mikasa: We promised, right?
Eren: Mikasa!
Voice & Text: Attack on Titan
Text: Is this world cruel?
Mikasa: We were together, always.
Text: Attack begins 8/1!!
Text: Part II 9/19
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Anime is always something that gets a raised eyebrow when the words “live action version” are in the same conversation. Usually the lack of faith or trust in the film is due to various forms of conjecture without really know the source material.
Dragon Ball Evolution (we dare to speak the name) for example, was an utter train-wreck and did poorly to please fans or… anyone, really. But one of the major complaints that Just Chatwin cast in the lead role as a Caucasian was a poor fit because reviewers claimed “Goku is Asian”. Though we have complaints about Chatwin for other reasons, that claim that Goku is Japanese is actually incorrect. The character is from another planet, presumably where “Asian, Black or Caucasian” are terms that are not recognized.
On the subject of Attack on Titan, the live action films (there will be two back-to-back with a tie-in television series) are set to debut later this year in Japan, with English dubs being brought to North America. As shown with the second trailer above, the film looks to have massive potential with impressive CGI and uniquely chaotic fight sequences.
The issue with anime films are usually two things:
1) Studio execs change the source material in order to appeal to large audiences, something that makes sense from a business standpoint but does poor with fans of the series (who are the ones that should be pleased in the first place) and does even worse with people who have never heard of Attack on Titan or simply do not like anime in general. Why should they care about this film if they are not Attack on Titan or anime/manga fans? All this does is make a lousy story from an otherwise great one in manga/anime form that had massive potential that got lost in translation due to an attempt on a “creative” spin that does nothing more than upset the ones who love the source material most.
2) The other is the casting choices/location, etc. North American and Japanese audiences/critics seem to be the largest vocalizers of casting choice, even though the latter of which has more right of a right seeing as manga and anime are both something that have been in Japanese culture for decades. If a North American studio gets the rights to something where all the characters are Japanese but decides to make everyone white and places the film setting in Los Angeles or Miami with no acknowledgement of the manga’s Japanese heritage, people will get pissed. And rightfully so.
So with an entire cast of Asian actors, it will be interesting to see who notices and begins critiquing how the story has changed as Mikasa Ackerman’s origin and personality are related directly to the fact that she is the “last known Asian on earth” which is a MAJOR plot point for her backstory. With that in mind, I am nothing more than curious to see how this was all changes within the live action storyline as it does not seem to have a lot of diverse casting (which is totally okay, I am not complaining). And Armin? He’s a blue-eyed white kid with blonde hair. Or at least he was.
asd.
WRITER’S NOTE: We want this to be known that with the above two bullet points made, we are not upset at Attack on Titan having an all-Asian cast. It makes sense since the film is based on a manga that was created in Japan and the film too will be put together by an Asian studio company. Our only concern is that when a manga/anime series is brought to the silverscreen, it flubs up royally. However, most of the time, that is because North American studios try to change it so much to appeal to the western audience, since that is who their demographic and source of viewer income is.
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Regardless of whether you are an anime fan or not, this film has the potential to be epic, and in fact truly does look that way from the zipping through the streets on the Scout Regiment gear, to the CGI of the Colossal Titan. This is one film on our radar that we can’t wait for. Whether it turns out bad or not, we are already planning on adding this to our “cult favorites” list.
Attack on Titan stars Haruma Miura as Eren Jaeger, Hiroki Hasegawa as Shikishima, Kiko Mizuhara as Mikasa Ackerman, Kanata Hongō as Armin Arlert, Takahiro Miura (ja) as Jean Kirstein, Nanami Sakuraba as Sasha Blouse, Satoru Matsuo (ja) as Sannagi, Shu Watanabe as Fukushi, Ayame Misaki as Hiana, Rina Takeda as Lil, Satomi Ishihara as Zoë Hange, Pierre Taki as Souda, and Jun Kunimura as Kubal.
The first film is set to be released in Japan on August 1, 2015 with a follow-up/sequel titled Attack on Titan: End of the World which is scheduled to be released on September 19, 2015. They are directed by Shinji Higuchi, based on the manga series by Hajime Isayama
