In this video, I give my opinion on why so many live actions fail, and why One Piece live action (despite having it's flaws as well) succeeded. What do you think?

@shackledore

Ай бұрын

Perfectly articulated. I wouldn't change a thing about what you said.

@chinmayakumarbarik959

Ай бұрын

Everyone involved in one piece live action is actually a big fan of one piece and understand the characters their motivation. No one is cynical towards the goofiness and tried to change it.

@gin-zn3pf

Ай бұрын

Your thumbnail suggests OPLA also failed

@CrowTRobot

Ай бұрын

I have to admit to myself that almost all of my nitpicks with the One Piece l/a come from being a manga reader first and how it chose to reshuffle events. I also wish Usopp had more screen time in his own arc and didn’t love *all* of the increased focus on Garp but everything else was awesome- the casting, the set pieces, the heart and spirit of One Piece is there.

@MrGalRoz

Ай бұрын

i was fairly dissapointed with the One Piece Live Action, as i could envision a much better end result. they took more than a few liberties at changing the plot and the characters when it hardly make sense, even if we factor in budget and timesave. they were trying too hard to give their own spin to One Piece while still keeping it One Piece. and that half-measure is never a good thing. they had Oda on their side, they should have just went all in and made it a true One Piece adaptation, with only minor changes that might be necessary due to budget and screentime.

The most ironic thing is logically One Piece is the least sensical series and most difficult to be adapted into life action in comparison with other series mentioned here, yet it's the only one that ended up can be considered as a "success"...

@Scarletcroft

Ай бұрын

One Piece being more nonsencial actually makes it more fun. If you've seen movies, like Mary Poppins, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. Just movies like that in general, had so much amazing sillyness.

@katalina256

Ай бұрын

@@Scarletcroft I think it's funny that the chitty chitty bang bang book is so different from the source material, but it works. I'm biased because both of them were major parts of my childhood (I still listen to the sound track every once in awhile), but the movie stays true to the original through the tone, just simply tells a different story, but one that fits better into a movie. Edit: I meant chitty chirty bang bang movie is different from the source material. The book is the original.

@Eddas-2nvm

Ай бұрын

if they could make pirates of the Caribbean and lord of the rings, they could make a proper adaptation of one piece

@michaellane5381

Ай бұрын

Because too often the problem is the LA adaptation try being "original" without "adding additional plot or filler but rather CHANGING the plot.

@suryakumar1424

Ай бұрын

Because One piece live action has its creator held its hand throughout the series.

Honestly though, the wigs/ costumes are a huge problem for me. They either look fake/ cheap or too "new" like they were just bought or made.

@sageofsixpaths8392

Ай бұрын

YES, like Nami for example, in some scenes it's just looks like cheap cosplay, they could have honestly just dyed the actresses hair a bit and it would have been perfect(full orange wouldn't work, just maybe have darker roots)

@moonman8450

Ай бұрын

Thanks 🙏 Zoro looked like he just came from H&M’s

@plesiophrictus2756

Ай бұрын

True, the sets and costumes in general. They feel not lived in. Straight from the factory.

@moonman8450

Ай бұрын

@@plesiophrictus2756 Right? How come the producers don’t notice that?

@kk_romeow

Ай бұрын

likely in real life it's battered. In close ups of the costumes in displays they don't have that straight from factory look. Luffy's costume you can see some tears in ep 1 ​@@moonman8450

Sanji was a simp in the live action too The difference is in the anime it was so aggressive because it's anime, but in the live action it was light because it's real people

@thehannahroboto

Ай бұрын

yea i think they walked a fine line with him, they made him just enough of a ladie's man/flirt to make it charming rather than weird and off putting. if he acted like he did in the anime, i think new/non fans would have hated sanji.

@jonbaxter2254

Ай бұрын

Plus he could cook damn gourmet.

@Maxpain350

Ай бұрын

@@jonbaxter2254 he cooked in the anime too

@josemontoya8027

Ай бұрын

I went from live action to anime and I just started return to sabaody last night. My god, did my view of him change drastically. I went from liking him to thinking he needs to be on a list.

@Maxpain350

Ай бұрын

@@josemontoya8027 yeah thriller bark and return to sabaody did so much damage to his character, it was really a bad choice from Oda, but he still have a long story arc to come He is the most written character with the most rise and falls

There's two main reason why Rurouni Kenshin and One Piece Live Action works. 1. Stay true to the source material and spirit of author's vision. 2. Realistic changes to fit live action.

@3slicessenpai

Ай бұрын

3: Mackenyu

@alexkurtdark

Ай бұрын

Important note: these three things are not necessarily listed in order of relevance.​@@3slicessenpai

@susbedo9258

Ай бұрын

@@3slicessenpai yeah, he acted in both live action 😆🤣

@cypressxsg4815

Ай бұрын

@@3slicessenpai yeah. but he's also part of the Full metal live action movie 1 😂 -I like him in both OPLA and Kenshin. Good writers makes a good actor shine. He was also good in Chihayafuru and Overdrive.

@jonbaxter2254

Ай бұрын

NO! Clearly it needs writers who don't care/respect the sources!

it's wild to me that the Avatar live action is a simplified version that takes away all the complexity when the original aired on Nickelodeon and this is supposed to be the more mature version

@WookieWarriorz

Ай бұрын

Because people don't respect animation as a medium. They think it's for kids, audiences do too unfortunately, even anime fans have been caught up in this idea. We've had leaked tweets and stuff from writters where they were like I'm gonna fix this crappy cartoon and make it actually good and legitimise it with love action. If you're excited for a live action you've already fallen into this there is ZERO need for it to exist the animated show is already great same with ANY video game or anime too. Things don't need adapted from one visual medium to another. It's a cash grab though and they want your money.

@natalimoina

Ай бұрын

that's normal, much of society has a warped sense of maturity, which leads to shows with higher age demographics that are desperately trying to be mature to be much more immature, whereas series for younger people are much more mature and want to teach genuine morals, touch on important topics and whatnot

@ZhaneDFrost

Ай бұрын

Tbf, even One Piece live action also simplify its complexity as well. But at least the showrunners were self-aware enough to realised that, admits its limitations and simply market it as a way to introduce One Piece to non-fans instead of claiming it as a much more "mature" or "darker" retelling of the story. There's this air of condescending and disrespect to the source material whenever a director/producer made claims like those. Which is something that we see with Avatar. They constantly throwing around claims like the story is more mature/grounded and shitty buzzword like "fixing" the problematic part of the story. Sometimes its all about the attitude.

@jalapenoofjustice4682

Ай бұрын

@@ZhaneDFrost One Piece also has a far shorter runtime than the original so it's inevitable that some nuance would be lost

@123LuffyDMonkey

Ай бұрын

i jumped out of the avatar live action bandwaggon when the creators did. I was skeptical of One Piece but Oda was fully involved and had final say. People dont want a condensed version or some new material for live action. They want the story that made them fall in love with the series. All the emotional highs, lows and nuances

I think we neglect just how good comics, books, and animation are and how much they get our hearts and minds involved in engagement with stories

@nichescenes

Ай бұрын

Rant: Yeah people hate on live action but forget that they focus on the issues that they let go in animation. Live action adaptations have to condense to fill the hate that people have for OMGOSH this is boring dropped 10 min in that we currently have. People are super condensed in the I matter my time matters give me more era...it's like the life span of people decreased, how they are constantly unable to pay attention into anything and need to watch everything in fast forward. Any slow part = bad and boring, too fast = i dont care about what's going on. Then they just say the stuff they watched as kids was peak and complain about the agenda and bad hollywood writing yadda yadda, bunch of scapegoating nonsense. Good stuff is being made and people are too into nitpicking to notice. The reason a "perfect" story doesnt exist is cause it would have to over explain every single point just so people dont go...i liked it but why didnt the main character poop after eating so much, took me out of the story...3/10 overrated actually mid...why is everyone hyping this up as the best it's boring dropped at the 3 minute mark nothing happening mid...if it was good it would keep my attention. :P

Fun fact. The Avatar live action and the cartoon are pretty close in total run time. I think the difference is like ~30 mins so the issue isn't even condensing the material especially cause avatar book 1 had alot of "filler"

@marocat4749

Ай бұрын

yep, they didnt let katara be emotional and wtf they didnt let sokka be an insecure teenager grow out of his machismo. And let katara be that flawed but great angry emotional yet sweet multidimensional character

@D__634

Ай бұрын

The live action has more screentime than the animated series so there really isn't any reason for the showrunners to change the story.

@mori1bund

Ай бұрын

Avatar creators are absolute masters in packing a lot of plot, character development and world building in a short amount of time with very clever and efficient camera work, dialogues, scene composition, etc

@Aaronrules380

Ай бұрын

@@D__634 the biggest reason is just budget, not runtime. They need to condense stories together because they need less unique sets because whether practical or cg each new area they make is going to cost a lot of money.

@roger_towny_jr

Ай бұрын

You still need more time in live action cause it takes more time and more frames for a motion in live action than the same motion in a cartoon.

Film director here. In film school, the teacher encouraged to do everything different from the source material even if it's just out of spite. I even defended to the whole class that we're supposed to respect the fans of the books/mangas first and used Villeneuve's Dune, Lord of The Rings and live-actions Alita and One Piece as examples. Conclusion: f*ck the whole "we should change everything because is a DiFfErEnT MeDia" BS. Faithfulness is the answer of a successful movie/series adaptations. Period.

@marocat4749

Ай бұрын

Its not exactly, it is, but what adapted should be what the work actually wants to say than being as faithful as possible, rather see what needs to change to see it work spiritually. or thematic. of if the work is average do that way better. or in twilight, yeah change whats possible to be less crappy

@skywardsword2804

Ай бұрын

Wow, if this is truly what is being taught in film schools, no wonder Hollywood has been hemorrhaging money the past 4-5+ years. They are literally teaching the people coming in to do nothing but insult fans and do everything wrong. I can literally only think of one. ONE. Film adaptation of a book series that did things completely different from the source material AND was a massive success. That’s How to Train Your Dragon. I can’t think of a single time where “ChAnGe EvErYtHiNg OuT oF sPiTe!” Actually worked.

@RodrickMarsMoon

Ай бұрын

​@@marocat4749 Like, changes like you just said are examples of good ones (mildly different recipe, same result), is what I'm doing on my scriptwriting. I'll even direct an adaptation of a book series I love since my teenage years, and the only three changes I'm doing is writing new lines here and there to improve the build up to the battle that happens in the last book, make a specific character much less creepy and making the protagonist less whiny. Beyond that, everything else will be faithful. I have an issue with when a change doesn't have a point beyond "I hate this in the book, so I'll cut/change just for the sake of it", which happens more frequently than it should.

@Ronin11111111

Ай бұрын

Depressing if true. Treating adaptation as a chance just to hi-jack something... what do I even call it? Toxic and disrespectful doesn't feel strong enough. Despicable perhaps.

@RodrickMarsMoon

Ай бұрын

@@skywardsword2804 I know about only one adaptation that were 100% better than the book: The Handmaid's Tale. Like, the book clearly shows that the author had a great concept and lore in mind, but couldn't think of a great story to go with it, so she just told a "day by day" thing just to show the universe she created. It's basically a huge first act that ends on the inciting incident and skips to the epilogue, like if Harry Potter ends with Hagrid telling Harry he's a wizard then skipping to the 19 years later. Then the series came and turned the book's "story" into a theocratic version of Andor building up to a future Battle of Scarif for the final season, with more complex and compelling characters, deeper lore... It even served as a warning, because my country's social and political situation are matching with the "what it was before the cult took over the USA" flashbacks of the series very perfectly.

What I love about the One piece live action, is that the directors were só respectful to the original material. They were not ashamed of all of the non sense stuff, but brought it in a way that made sense

The reason One Piece worked for me is b/c the changes they made were only for the adaptation in change of mediums (i know some ppl would toss in a few moderndayism that were in it, but they didn't detract from the story like most others do). from cartoon to live action. Otherwise it was true to the spirit and much of the letter, and i for one enjoyed it more than the anime.

@WookieWarriorz

Ай бұрын

The spirit was there but they still butchered the story and left out many important characters and story elements it's another POINTLESS adaption that doesn't need to exist. There's already an adaptation to a visual medium, the anime... But western viewers and writers want live action because they don't respect animated mediums as legitimate as live action and a lot of them think (the cowboybebop writter said this). That they can 'fix the anime and do it better' basically they think they're better writters than the mangaka and their going to make it 'actually good and legitimate' in live action.

@Beard_Hood

Ай бұрын

@@WookieWarriorz I can agree that live action adaption doesn't need to exist. And that alot of Hollywood types have no respect for anime or Manga, it's very apparent. In this day where moral flag waving is more important than substance I'd rather no book/comic/Manga be adapted. And those same moralistic writers have almost no skill at all and no understanding of what they are changing. For One Piece, I've seen everything that the Netflix show covered in the anime but not much beyond that. And out of the two, yes Netflix left alot out and changed alot that I'm sure will effect things down the road, I still prefer it over the anime. That's mainly b/c I'm not a huge fan of the animeisms. It's not that I don't like anime, I'm just not a fan of the over the top emotions. I can try to bring up an example if you don't get what I referring too. But stuff like Frieren, Bersery: Golden Age arc (tho I don't like the cgi), and more reserved stuff I adore. So to be able to get the One Piece story without the fluff is nice. I actually started to watch a fan edit of One Piece that removes all the filler and I'm really enjoying it.

@jesseowenvillamor6348

Ай бұрын

​@@Beard_HoodHow dare you

@ZhaneDFrost

Ай бұрын

I've said this in another comment, sometimes its all about the attitude. The showrunners doesn't talk down to their audience or throws shade at the source materials or delusionally pretending that they're telling a more "mature"/"complex"/better story than the source material. They respect the fans and the manga. How they frame the changes with Sanji is the perfect example of this. They could've easily frame the changes as an improvement or "fix" to the source material but instead they simply acknowledge the changes as simply a limitation of the medium. Meanwhile, you have people like the Cowboy Bebop, Avatar and Halo teams say stupid shit like "modernizing" the stories or claim they don't even engage with any of the source material.

@justinpatton6996

Ай бұрын

I loved OP live action series. I couldn’t believe they pulled off what they did

As much as people want to say it's because of unadaptable. It's only really because they don't put any effort. This is exactly how it was in the early '90s when people were making superhero movies. It wasn't that it couldn't be done. It was just that there was no real effort. When someone did take the job it was always made by somebody who never really understood the source material or wanted to change everything. I don't think anime adaptations are as difficult as people think they are. They're never given the right opportunity. Look at what marvel did. They gave iron man a budget, A competent director and the man who helped build marvel was helping them build this movie. Same thing with one piece. They had competent directors and the person who helped made it direct them in the right direction. When it comes to the Avatar show it was some dude who clearly had no real love for the show like the ones who made made one piece live action. They also didn't have the original creators helped them out. I think these are the factors that hold them back the most. If you get people who are actually passionate about the project, the worst you're going to get is alita battle angel and not death note live action. When it comes to the Japanese adaptions it's like they got the style right and The atmosphere right, but they don't have a coherent story.

I love Sanji in the source material, he's my favorite Straw Hat, but I do agree that, post-timeskip (and even certain parts of pre-timeskip like Thriller Bark) increased his loverboy traits to exaggerated levels. I much prefer when he's a hopeless romantic and tries to smooth his way into a lady's heart, and I feel like the Live Action nailed that. His "something sweet for someone sweet" speech to Nami in the Baratie reminded me when he was parading around the Merry going "Oh, sweet sea, what angel you've brought me! Here's your treat~" when Robin is being interviewed by Usoop. He's incorrigible, but still the dapper gentleman.

@milesdevine1161

Ай бұрын

Sanji for sure used to be one of my fav strawhats and I really enjoy when hes suave/badass but it's so frickin annoying when anything like that is always cut short by him simping for Nami and Robin to a sometimes gross extent. (I just finished Fish Man Island by the way) Maybe it gets better. 🤷‍♂

@3slicessenpai

Ай бұрын

@@milesdevine1161 Yeah, Fish Man Island is not a good look for Sanji. He gets future showings that redeem him a bunch, yeah, but his time in Okama Island got him tweaking.

@JustNotEverybody_

Ай бұрын

One thing about Oda though is he has a way of redeeming his characters. Limerence is a trait adopted by many who go through what Sanji went through as a kid (the abuse stuff, not the science-experiment stuff, but I'm sure that too) and while I can agree it is overplayed I see Sanji maturing and suddenly/possibly using his biggest peevy trait as one of his biggest power sources. I have a soft spot for Sanji though... I didn't change my avatar just to troll... I just think it's a silly photo of a character I love!

@Anna_96

Ай бұрын

To me Sanji’s behaviour just never came across as creepy but funny instead. Maybe also due to the other characters’ reactions, not sure. There have been other anime i watched in which i got annoyed by the trope after a while, but in the case of Sanji it always makes me chuckle. Maybe it’s also because i went from live action to manga and only now to anime - they toned it down in the live action and in the manga it’s not animated, so it was like “getting eased into it” lol.

The big difference I see in most failed live-action series is that showrunners want to establish all of the worldbuilding and character development within the first episode and then rush through a compilation of the "greatest hits", as you say. Whereas in the original shows the audience was allowed to be confused for a while and go on a journey of discovery because we were intrigued by the new world/characters so we stayed around and developed an emotional attachment to the story.

The thing I get from the one piece live action I don’t get from others is the sense of care and love. I feel a lot of the crew on live actions can feel like they see a popular brand and see just dollar signs. Every interview with any of the cast and crew of the one piece live action they all have a genuine love of the series and can tell how much it means to each one of them which comes across to the viewer as well

My main sticking point with live actions is a conceptual one. I just feel like the constant live action remakes feel like Hollywood invalidating animation as a valid storytelling medium. I feel the same way about adaptations of video games too. I have such a hard time telling what audience the studios think these adaptations are for- the majority of watchers will always be fans of the original series, but aside from OPLA I feel like usually the adaptations fail not only the original’s fans but they fail to enchant new fans as well with bland world and character building. Anyway, I just have a hard time wrapping my head around why live actions are ever needed when illustration and animation serve these stories so well in the first place. Great video by the way! I like your point about not being able to sink into the world and being aware of the actors acting it all out.

One Piece l/a making people pick up the manga and start the anime is the truest benchmark of success imo. I had multiple friends ask me where they buy the manga after watching the Netflix series ❤

Some of my favorite live action manga, novel & webtoon adaptations :) 1. Oldboy 2003 2. Battle royale 2000 3. Rurouni Kenshin 1-5 4. Kingdom show 5. All of us are dead show 6. Alice in Borderland show

One of the most important aspects in a live action is to capture the spirit of the characters. If you succeed in that one thing, then you can put them in just about any story and it will be enjoyable because it feels like spending more time with characters you already love.

It may not be entirely due to the wigs, but they’re definitely an indicator. Also, no mention of the Dragonball adaptation 👀. Praying that Merphy doesn’t know it exists because the wigs are DEFINITELY an indicator of the quality there…

@almogdov

Ай бұрын

On the one hand, I want Merphy to watch DBE (sorry, puked in my mouth a bit) because she'll laugh hard. On the other hand, She didn't commit any crimes that we know of to deserve it.

@groofay

Ай бұрын

She's seen The Last Airbender, she does not need to be subjected to that mess too. Also, "praying that Merphy doesn't know it exists" while bringing it up in her comments section 💀

@D__634

Ай бұрын

Oh no. I don't want to remember that Dragon Ball live action

@jonbaxter2254

Ай бұрын

What Dragonball adaption, there wasn't one....

@ManiacallySane

Ай бұрын

I think she knows it exists, I believe it came up when she was talking about dragon ball with GrandLineReview in a livestream

It’s all about keeping the soul of the original story in tact. Keeping the characters true to how they were originally portrayed. Otherwise, they’re either just using the name of the story because they know it will make money no matter how bad it is, or they think they can do better than the person who created the story.

"the main thing is keeping the main thing the main thing" - my new favourite quote

Thank you for acknowledging One Piece was a success of course people will complain and not watch the video!

I have wondered how often the problems of live actions are studios, directors, and producers thinking they have to make the thing they are adapting "more adult" (and then translate that as "more dark more edge more drama more-whatever while ignoring what truly makes something "adult", or not understanding the difference in the first place). Avatar was already very adult a lot of the time because it maturely handled a lot of dark content better than most adult media. Because it didn't go in with the goal of being darker, it went in with the goal of telling a good story. Adaptations often don't start from that same place (just tell a good story) from the get go cos the good story already exists. The ones that do are often the ones that end up being good adaptations regardless of loyalty.

@ZhaneDFrost

Ай бұрын

A lot of these producers are like Zack Snyder whose mentally still stuck in the 14 years old edgy phase. Also I feel like a lot of these showrunners, they put way too much stock on the demographic of a show to judge its maturity. Like Avatar's is technically a kids' show or family friendly and Shounen anime literally translated to young boys. They look at the age ratings of these shows and assume it's childish without realising that most of these shows can still be very mature without having the edge or the 18+ contents. In fact, they're much better off without it. Cause sometimes vulgarity only causes distraction and makes the story come across as significantly immature.

In addition to what you said, I think there are two big other factors: over reliance on cgi to bring fantastical elements to life without the budget to make it work, and show runners who think that because they work in film making they know better than the creator what is best for the overall story.

@demonseed360

16 күн бұрын

I think that showrunners and producers should definitely work with the original creators. However, it is flawed logic for people to assume that the original creator will always know best when it comes to adapting their work to another medium. Being knowledgeable about characters in animation doesn't necessarily translate to knowing how to best portray them with real actors. Good example of this is the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. The author of the comic was the head honcho when it came to the live action show and essentially ruined it because he structured the plot points of the show as if it was a comic book. Another example is the Death Note movie, which was indeed approved and praised by the author while simultaneously being a complete bastardization of his story. With that being said, it is IMPERATIVE that the people adapting the source material have reverence for it. Lets say Oda was busy and didn't have time to work with the showrunners for the One Piece live action. The producers holding the anime/manga in such high regard will increase the likelihood of them retaining its core values.

The reasons you listed are exactly why people think The Stormlight Archive would work best as an anime and Mistborn as a game. I just wish they're good and stay true to the core of the story(hopefully with deep involvement of B$), whichever form they get adapted in.

I recently got Netflix. Time as good as any to finally watch the OP LA.

@manuelmialdea5127

Ай бұрын

Enjoy! I had a blast with it that´s for sure!

@mikejhock

Ай бұрын

Ep 5 is just glorious

@jonbaxter2254

Ай бұрын

Don't watch it hungry or you'll want to eat.

It would made so much more sense to adapt Korra. -It’s set in one location -the setting has modern elements - not many hybrid animals -the main characters are almost late teen to twenties -it actually benefit from being cut down to 8 episodes.

@ZhaneDFrost

Ай бұрын

But you forgot the biggest factor here. Korra was very much to say the least, not well received. A lot of people have issues with the writing and characterization of Korra. And this even way before the anti "woke" people and homophobes enters the chat. So from a business standpoint, it wouldn't make sense at all. Why would make a live action adaptation of something that people were probably not gonna be bothered with.

@TheNicMMc

Ай бұрын

@@ZhaneDFrost Exactly! This is why not many people will complain if they make changes. Hell maybe, they can eliminate all of the issues plaguing the original.

@ZhaneDFrost

Ай бұрын

@@TheNicMMc I can see where you're coming from but at the same time, it's too much of a risk that I don't think anybody would be willing to take. It would be really nice though if they actually made one.

1) Companies being hyper focused on short seasons 2) Not enough budget 3) Producers/executives/writers etc having a lack of understanding and investment/drive for the project, the og medium and source material which often leads to not respecting the foundation, ideas and wishes from the authors and fans Leading to: Some really bad decision, executions and inconsistencies with castings, action, directing, writing, costumes, uninspired camera work, inconsistent cgi and greenscreen stuff, pacing issues, and a lack of identification and vibe with the characters, world and story of the show

These shows proved the vfx are there for anime adaptations, it's just the writing & direction thats lacking & I disgree with the lack of time to adapt, ATLA had the same run time in both the animated & Netflix versions And anime has so much non cannon filler to cut! The issue is they over explain something that they could have show with a facial expression Poor writing wastes the time, its not that they don't have enough

It’s like a compass chart: budget, episode amount/length, writing, adaptive choice. I think the writers need to care, the studio needs to give a certain budget that facilitates quality and allow a number of episodes or length to enable the translation. For fans the most important part seems to be the changes (as change of medium requires there are some even if it’s what material isn’t included), which while maybe debatable should only be don’t in service for narrative. Adaptations are hard, but if any of these are off the adaptation will suffer somehow, even if other qualities of the show are good.

The Nojiko/Arlong Park scene is my only gripe with the Live Action. They took away the strength about the best arc in the East Blue. I’m glad everything else was done well.

I was rewatching the one piece live action. They put so sooo much money into Morgan's office and base in Shell's Town

@-Teague-

Ай бұрын

They clearly wanted the first episode to hit really hard, which is why it was so long and had Nami in it probably.

I think you nailed it. If studios learn one thing from live action one pieces success is that they need to understand why people like that particular story. Most people these days don’t like certain anime just because that’s their favorite visual aesthetic (I’m sure some do though). It really is the stories and what each brings that capture the audience.

I think you nailed it, Merph. At the risk of opening an enormous can of worms, what you've said here also applies to all the recent Tolkien adaptations. LOTR movies: fantastic adaptations, nobody argues on that. The Hobbit movies: extremely OK. They have their fans but most Tolkien die-hards are lukewarm on them, with more than a few haters. But the Rings of Power TV show? Yikes. I don't know anyone who actually enjoyed it. I think the only thing really separating the Hobbit movies from the Rings of Power was that PJ wanted to keep the spirit of the story alive and Middle Earth is important to him.Yes the story was bloated and the reliance on CGI was way too much and nobody wanted the weird made-up love triangle, but you could tell the people involved cared about what they were making. Amazon just wanted a paycheque.

@Star1412s

Ай бұрын

I think it’s probably the same with Wheel of Time. I haven’t watched it. But I saw ads promoting it. And since then I’ve heard absolutely nothing about the show. I spend time on Tumblr. If it was decent there probably would have been something. Pretty sure they only wanted something that could fill the Game of Thrones niche when the two series are nothing alike.

Alice in borderland also has a manga live adaptation to a Netflix series which is just fire 🔥🔥🔥

@Nastara

Ай бұрын

Funny the live action of AiB while good was way more anime trope than the source material.

I think you are exactly right, and despite any rambling, stated it much more clearly than I could, without lots of practice

Great video! Very much agree. I think you put it perfectly

I think you summed it up pretty well for me as well, I’m not the best with words so I like it when I find someone who was able to word in a way that I agree with

I feel the same - seeing Live Action is harder for me to emotionally attach myself to with that feeling that seeing real people acting a character a lot of our brains recognize its suppose to be real but tries to actively suspend disbelief. Where animation our brains go its not real and is done just shuts off.

This was a good way of putting it

We are sooo on the same wavelength here. I loved your statement about live actions "feeling like a highlight reel of favorite moments for those who already know but don't stand on their own". Like 💯💯

As you said Merphy, major point in Oda being on set. As for ATLA, the original creator's left the project quite early. The formula must be partly tied to working with the writer's of the original story. You have ideas for changes, the creator has the view to make it work in his world.

animation in general is its own art If creatives want to do live action so bad they should adapt original stories within its own world. Example if you do a one piece live action do an ace or law live action. If you do a FMA live action do ishval war live action. If you do avatar do another avatar within another cycle Kyoshi or wan etc. That way the creatives are not limited to the original material and fans don't compare but rather enjoy new content within the same universe.

OMG yes. I 100% agree that them cutting out it Nami’s village knowing about her deal with arlong to buy the village cheapened the whole thing. And I can’t for the life of me understand why they made that decision. I enjoyed the OPLA for the most part but that change in particular was really bad.

I think a big part of live action remakes failing is that quite often animation is simply the best medium to tell that story in. Before you even look at the questionable changes and writing of the Netflix show, in the Nickelodeon Last Airbender, there's no need to make the fantastical elements look realistic. They can just draw and animate those things in the same style as they would everything else. Even if the live action show was just a shot for shot remake of the original, the CGI is never going to look as good or as convincing as the fantastical elements did in the animated series. The exact same thing is true of every live action Disney remake.

Please watch Alita Battle Angel. It's the best western anime live action adaptation. The biggest problem usualy people have with that movie is the romance betwin the 2 character but that doesn't make it a bad adaptation. That romance is as bad in the anime and in the manga. So sad that will never be a continuation to the movie.

Rurouni Kenshin was another stand out that went well

@darknesswithin0

Ай бұрын

I agree with that. Push this comment so the Merphy would watch those adaptations. It's not Shogun level but awesome nonetheless

@okiewendiawan

Ай бұрын

And bleach, I think.

"...yay, girlboss" 😂😂

Hit the nail on the head!

Tbh Avatar LA actually had a longer run time then the original book 1 so i dont really give them any excuse for pacing issues.

I think Good Omens is another great example! It was made with Neil Gaiman on the team and it keeps the core of love and humanity. You should both read and watch it.

For ATLA, in particular, I genuinely think the lack of humor was a major factor. In the states kid’s cartoons always have humor so it’s easy to overlook the benefits/ distinctions that humor might add to a show, but when you strip away the humor from ATLA for the live-action it becomes a generic/ standard fantasy adventure. Not that that automatically makes it a bad experience, but a less memorable one. For example, the original Pirates of the Caribbean would’ve been a perfectly adequate movie with a Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, or Matt Damon- like actor in the role of Jack Sparrow. But it wouldn’t have been iconic.

I haven't gotten into the anime or manga for One Piece, but just finished the live action this weekend and liked it, so it got me interested enough to maybe go down the rabbit hole. Can't say the same for most of the others.

The use of practical effects and sets over CGI is a major contributor to what makes one good

I think you nail a very key point when you say: live actions miss the point and what makes the series special ... The main issue here is a lot of the times the fact that it's animated is a core part of that "spark".

I wish show-runners bring you in as a consult in some capacity to show them the changes that work and ones that don’t. Of many critics/reactors you explain so well what most fans are feeling….devoid of personal bias or somewhat sacrilegious hate

Amen to all of your points. You hit the nail on the head. There are a number of issues throughout production that could be the issue since the film and television industry is full of people that work on things they aren’t interested in, people that want their work to stand out in a production/gain notoriety versus keeping the same style as it is in the source material, and people that refuse to change their format or way of doing things because it has worked in the past. The thing is, viewership isn’t what it was even 10 years ago. With streaming everyone watches or has the ability to watch everything nowadays. I personally believe one of the biggest issues of the industry is imagination in that novels, manga, and animation isn’t held back by rules. It can be as surreal or absurdist as it wants, it can push expression, it can push atmosphere, and it can take its time building a story. In live action everything needs to be measured, especially in western production. We’re obsessed with everything being scaled proportionately, and making it “grounded.” Because we care about making this story accessible and sellable versus making the story work. In the East, specifically in Japan, there is a broad history and culture surrounding artwork and design. Because of that history there is a deeper respect for the feeling of a story. Most of the animation in Japan, when looking at a frame, the animators are focused on “how does this feel.” Sometimes it can be by making something bigger or small than it actually is to exaggerate power or lack of power, sometimes there will be a fisheye over someone’s face to show inner termoil, Sometimes that can be represented through little chibi figures making a joke. My favorite aspect of this is when a character go way off model to represent an idea versus a character. In the anime you see this a lot with Orochimaru in Naruto, where he’s in his normal form, but he’s more of a shadow or snake. It has strong visual qualities that allow the viewer to read more into the intentionality. How does someone take these abstract or surreal concepts and fit them into real life? The way to do that is by not limiting ourselves with self-imposed rules or rules we’ve learned from industry professionals that have yet to understand modern story. Consider the feeling of the tone of the story and the moment that these characters are taking in. Then use exaggeration to push those limitations. Somewhere along the line “movie magic” started to become “movie machine” and I miss going into a story without feeling like I break out of the world due to some thoughtless decision-making on the part of the production.

19:02 The element of knowing they're actors that are acting is odd, but also intriguing. Maybe explore people's love for Deadpool and how Ryan Reynolds personifies the character, in many people's opinions, perfectly.

The root issue is lack of communication with the creator of the animated series and changing shit to fit real world narratives and adding wat they would think the audience would like instead of wat we know the audience will like

Good video Merph! Sorry my first post back on your avatar vid came off so aggressive, I didnt mean to, Im just passionate lol. This vid almost makes me want to go watch those other live action trainwrecks lol

if you’d have told me a year ago that within a few months of each other, a one piece live action and an avatar: the last airbender live action were being made and asked me which one i thought would flop, it would not have been avatar… but here we are

Loved your thoughts. I watched the One Piece live action never having read the manga or watched the anime, and I LOVED it. I watched ATLA live action, and had many qualms (though there were some things I enjoyed). I love what you said about being able to sink into a story when it's animated, I relate to that (and in the world of so many live action remakes, I've wondered if I'm crazy for that, since it seemed people prized live action over animation...). While not a live-action remake, in line with what you said about flawed characters, I'm watching Vampire Diaries right now for the first time (season 1 rn), and one of the things that has me so incredibly engrossed is the FLAWS in most (all?) of the characters. So many of these side characters have some flaw or another, and I am so invested in seeing these little glimpses of light, of wanting to be better, and I want to SEE these characters get better, and want to watch the next episode to see if they make a better choice, learn a lesson, and how that will impact them, their story and potentially the overall plot. (There's a balance to be struck, of course...I used to love Once Upon a Time, and it had amazing character work, but as the seasons continued I noticed even then that they were backpedaling character development so they could do it again, I suspect because it proved such an effective formula for viewers the first time...but watching the same characters repeat development and even watching different characters go through the same development as others, did start to feel like tired writing. First 2 and a half seasons I still think are really good, but after that it gets a bit hit or miss.)

Thanks for the video, Merphy! Unfortunately, a big issue with this is the directors/ creators not always being able to do what they envision because of the boards behind the scenes.. Making everything about making money and such.. Bleh.

Truer words have not been spoken

I think its A) having the creator involved in gut checking the screenplay and directing choices, B) making sure that the directors have an avid love for accuracy and the original medium, C) selecting passionate actors that want to get it right D) making sure that everyone involved loves manga and anime. I remember back in High School one of my friends despised anime/manga so much he went out of his way to express it those of us who drew it in art class, I feel that directors who have put out bad adaptations are somehow just as bitter and uncaring about getting it right or towards the medium at large. I remember my film studies teacher saying anime/cartoons have no mise en scene or any of the things that make up film, but I know its not even close to being true. I really think people do not like anime/manga as a medium and try to make horrible /bastardize adaptations

Your segment on pacing reminds me of some of the One Piece "Episode" movies. Seriously, watch Episode of Alabasta (or better yet, don't). It hits those emotional high points with zero build up to it, and so it's just empty. You can't abridge a story like that and expect it to be good. Bigger changes have to be made to give SOME kind of emotional investment for that payoff.

One Piece Live Action doesn’t adapt “61 episodes into 8”, technically, yes it does, but you’re completely overlooking the glaring issue. Toei’s godawful anime pacing. the east blue isn’t as bad as later one piece, as it adapts 1.8 chapters per episode, (when after water 7 it’s pretty consistently just one chapter per episode), that’s still lower than the average anime episode. the average episode in anime is 2-4 manga chapters. JJK season 2 is 23 episodes and covers 75 chapters. that’s 3.3 chapters an episode. east blue in one piece is 61 episodes for 100 chapters, and removing filler it’s 1.8 chapters an episode. if one piece had the average pacing of an anime like JJK, the east blue would only be about 33 episodes. the live action also only adapts the first 95 chapters, not 100. so cutting 33 episodes worth of content down to 8, hour long episodes (24 anime episodes in length) is actually not too crazy. i get you’re moreso a manga reader, but yeah you’re pretty far off when it comes to anime to manga pacing, at least from this video.

@royalfun1031

Ай бұрын

They still cut a lot

@cwega2463

Ай бұрын

@@royalfun1031 wasn’t my point.

@audreynothepburn7663

Ай бұрын

She had started to watch the anime now, so she’ll probably get it around later.

@PisserFartShitt

Ай бұрын

Ok

@Lily-sc9ut

Ай бұрын

61 episodes??? But is 45 episodes

I just watched a guy compare a scene from the mexican breaking bad adaptation Metastasis to the original scene. It's wild how different a scene can be with the same characters in the same setting with the same script. One clear example is a part where Walt says "just for the record, i think we should all be wearing masks". In the original, walt delivers it almost like a disappointed parent preparing himself to say "i told you so." It is walt trying to regain control of the situation, trying to downplay how much deep shit he's in, trying to show his authority and expertise. In Metastasis, the line is delivered like Walt actually cares about safety, like he's very concerned about the fumes and wants everyone to have masks. It's VERY different and it feels like the differences come from nobody on set understanding what the purpose of the lines actually are, what aspects of the character they are conveying.

The biggest issue, and where most of its other issues come from is that it wants us to pretend that the characters in the Live Action are the same as in the manga/anime. The whole thing wouldn't even be nearly as bad if it just says that those are new characters and that it is an alternate scenario. Hell, it was halfway there by having an American setting

First of I think they have to focus more on adapting so the story that can stand on it's own merits, while still hitting certain plot point, character traits and emotional beats. Not just be a highlight reel, but with all the magic missing and completely changing the characters to a degree where they barely is reqognizeable.

it's even more insane that they got OP down better than any other live adaptations even though it is harder to make OP's cartoonish characters (personality, character design, everything is weird) be believable than it is to do the same with other shows where character proportions and emotions and habits are more realistic. the only reason they could pull it off is because the show runners actually get what OP is about. the friendship, the journey, the dreams, inherited will etc. Other show runners can also parrot out the right themes, i'm sure, but they don't really "get" it. like i'm sure FMA's show runners said in interviews that FMA is about brotherhood, mystery, family, etc. but they don't really get it. they just want the money

I want to hear your view on the Percy Jackson lightning thief series as well. Along with its book.

Great video, I would like to say my hope of what going on right now is that live action adaptation of anime/animation could be going through what I call the starting dark age and things will get better. Example of what I mean by dark age are video games adaptation and superhero adaptation, before Last of Us and the MCU we had tons of god awful movie adaptation of video games and superhero and I like to believe anime live action adaptation is going through the same thing

Like the new manga set!

This same thing happens when authors write books based off of other popular novels. What they choose to replicate tends to be outward aesthetics, or general themes, but they miss the characterization and world building.

Hope your moms doing better❤

Wait you think Light had good intentions in the beginning? Beyond his small "Crime and Punishment" moment in the first episode he goes straight to "Yes I do have the right and I'll be the god of new world".

I heard somewhere that the people who did the live action cowboy bebop had only seen a few episodes right before they started writing and filming. The mangaka said he can't get past the first 5 minutes of the movie snd has never seen it all the way through. Sad

for more wacky anime/manga/book ( like one piece or discworld) i thinks the studios arent bold enough to go for a wacky aesthetic, the suspention of disbeliv which is easy with drawing can be somewhat replicated with strong artistic direction. And yes i agree that the core theme are often not respected enough.

Animation can get wild and layered in every aspect, be it writing, characters and/or background etc. Live action is limited to how grounded the production can make it. These are basically 2 opposing forces that make a normal production of live action much more difficult. On top of that, you don't have the freedom of doing what you want which can be stifling for creative people because they don't like "coloring within the lines". They want to make their own picture.

I feel like the sentiment of just wanting the original creator to just be happy and approve of things even if they arent perfect is a big deal, not just with anime adaptations. Not to beat a thoroughly dead horse, but thats why the beginning of GoT was so much better than the end. They took it on themselves to finish the story, and nobody ended up happy.

14:12 that was the my one of the main complaints. That part and Genzos role in Namis life was so much more important in manga than in live action.

I agree with you that a lot of the magic and stuff is better animated. The best example for me is the wheel of time show I believe it would be better if animated. It work better for my suspension of disbelief

For One Piece specifically, it's not just involvement from Oda. from watching interviews with the showrunner we can tell from the conversations that he truly a huge OP fanboy. he's not writing just from his own personal interpretations, but apparently he also seem to have talked to other OP content creators for second opinions. Owens did not find it too challenging to convince Oda to accept the changes that he proposed. The original script was closer to the source material (Hachi was in the original script) but due to the budget constraints they had to rewrite Arlong Park arc. So I'm guessing that the name drop on the dancing lion and chouchou's brief cameo may have been added after rewriting the script.

The only difference of One Piece is Oda.having veto power and can order reshoots. The other shows don't have that, with the original creators leaving the Netflix Aang for creative differences.

20 episodes of the original Avatar series is actually pretty much the same as 8 hour-long episodes we got in the LA, so that shouldn't have been a problem for them

Really is the wigs

Hollywood loves to do their own spins on stuff and change things. It seems they mess up alot on anything that already has a fandom. Its weird

So many try to figure out what from the story they CAN the do. One Piece seemed to focus on how to do what they thought needed to be done. The "root" seems to be certain people had the heart and love for the story to convince the money guys it was worth it and could be done.

This a good video.

Since we're talking about Full Metal Alchemist,I think a good adaptation must follow also the rule of "equivalent exchange": you have to change something that works well in one form into something else that works well in another without changing the substance. Second rule :be humble; the audience is not there for you and your vision, but for that of someone else probably more famous than you, instead of hijacking other people's vision, try to see if they can teach you something about why the audience loves that.

17:04 yep, that's the only thing I hated about the OP live action, thank you for the catharsis by talking about it :)

Hot take 🔥 if you were to ask me which I would rather watch again, right now, the one piece live action or the east blue saga of the anime, I would say the live action. The anime has some parts which really drag down the experience. I would rather watch a more refined version even if it doesn't reach some of the same highs.

Because girl boss was hilarious LMAO

Most live actions miss the spirit of the story. Butchers the characters. Simplifies the stories. This is why most of them are bad. Then there’s dragon ball evolution, where they basically took the names and made a high school drama which will never not be the worst piece of media I’ve ever seen

i think part of the problem is that it's trying to substitute an experience that already exists. animation isn't limited by practical/budget limitations, and it's cartoon qualities makes exaggerated forms of expression possible that would fall into the uncanny valley when attempted in live action. some possible solutions i could think of is maybe making an original story, like an ova or filler episodes, (not the dragon ball evolution kind of original, something that wouldn't be out of place as a normal episode in the series). or maybe doing some kind of augmented live action in that you have animation playout on top of the setting. (imagine an actor fire bending but the fire is cartoon.)

For the Live Action adaptations I have watched, it always has come down to "the vibe," "the feeling" of it. You can feel that whoever made it, they are there for a paycheck and it is not for the idea or showing this great piece of media on a different medium. There is no passion, no drive, no soul. The spirit of the source material is lost.

I love the LA One Piece. It introduced me to the anime. I wouldn’t have started the anime otherwise.

Netflix has to move away from the 8 episode constraints.