5 Live Action Movies Based on Anime That Are Good
Live-action remakes of anything is a tricky job. But that's especially the case for live-action movies from anime.
Anime fans are usually highly critical of these adaptations because they fail to meet certain expectations. Many factors come into play — the accuracy of the story, the action sequences, the cosplay, the visual effects — and they all make up how good a live-action adaptation is.
Very few movies have got these nailed. Here's a list of good anime-based live-action adaptations which have gotten excellent reviews from fans and critics alike.
5. 'Blade of the Immortal'
Blade Of The Immortal wasn't a very well-known anime, but it still managed to inspire a live-action movie.
The movie is about a samurai who is immortal and, unfortunately, so. A little girl asks him to avenge her father's death, killed by a killer group, and thus begins his journey filled with blood, gore, and an unholy amount of action.
It is a bizarrely good movie. The gore, blood, and fights with weapons are borderline overdone. But it makes for a fantastic spectacle.
With an 86% Tomatometer score and 69% audience rating, this movie is a great first experience to get into the world of live-action anime adaptations.
4. 'Ace Attorney'
There will be very few anime lovers who don't know about Ace Attorney. It is a live-action adaptation of a video game by the name of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney.
In case the name didn't give it away, Ace Attorney is a legal comedy-drama. The movie has a mixed heritage because of its origins in a video game and manages to capture its attributes quite well.
The movie explores the second and fourth cases as shown in the video game. Phoenix Wright, a novice lawyer, has to defend two lawsuits against two of the best lawyers with unbeaten records.
Ace Attorney has a 66% Audience score on Rotten Tomatoes with more than 250 ratings and is a good watch, to say the least.
3. 'Ruroni Kenshin'
Ruroni Kenshin is one of the most popular manga and anime series around. And turning it into a live-action movie without butchering the source material would have been a daunting task.
But Ruroni Kenshin, the movie, is almost perfect. The part-romance, part-action movie about a samurai roaming around Japan, trying to move on from the ghosts of his past unsuccessfully, is excellent in virtually all aspects.
The story is meticulously told to fit the two-hour movie format. The direction and casting are good, and the fight scenes are well done.
An 84% Audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes is no small feat to achieve, and you won't be disappointed watching this movie.
2. 'Alita: Battle Angel'
Alita: Battle Angel is a result of Holywood's interest in Japanese anime culture. And by Hollywood, we mean James Cameron.
The esteemed director, who has writing credits for Avatar (2009) and the Terminator franchise, wrote the screenplay for the movie. And he wrote it staying very loyal to the source material — the original manga Battle Angel Alita.
The movie is about a female cyborg with a human brain. She's found inactive and revived by a scientist. But when she wakes up, she has no recollection of her past life and sets out to find the truth.
Visually, the use of 3D animations is a risk that pays off well, and the characters and happenstances stay faithful to the manga.
Rotten Tomatoes looks to be torn with this one — it has a mere 61% Tomatometer ratings but a whopping 92% audience score. But the ratings shouldn't stop you from watching one of the best live-action adaptations of anime to date.
1. 'JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable Chapter 1'
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is a manga that is precisely as its name suggests — bizarre. The series, which has sold over 100 million copies, is a genre-hopping creation, with forays into action, adventure, supernatural, thriller, comedy, tragedy, mystery, and horror.
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable Chapter 1 is a remake of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Jotaro Kujo! Meets Josuke Higashikata from 2016. It follows a teenager named Josuke Higashikata who realizes possession of supernatural abilities and the dark history behind them.
The movie never bores and is an adaptation of one of the most outrageous and influential mangas ever. A 100% Tomatometer rating and 78% audience rating is just the cherry on top for a movie that is a must-watch for anyone wanting to get into the Japanese anime culture.
Happy Watching!