"So, doing my first live-action anime thing, to me it was important that you have those adult themes. So, it’s got nudity, it’s got swearing, it’s got a ton of violence." -- Adam Wingard, director of the Americanized Death Note movie
Those aren't "adult themes". Those are what edgy kids think adult themes are.
Has this guy even read Death Note?
@Nezchan Reminds me of all the bad early ’90s anime dubs where they had tons of swearing for no reason other than “these are for-adults cartoons”. And I do not recall…uh…any nudity or excessive violence in “Death Note”.
As if the whitewashing of Light was not bad enough.
@Stephen_Stone That's the thing, Light's preferred method of killing is, in his mind, quick and merciful. There's damn little overt violence at all until Mello comes on the scene, and even that's used sparingly.
Most of the story is cerebral, with characters playing mind games and outsmarting each other while Light maintains his "perfect Japanese boy" image and his antagonists maintain their anonymity.
@Nezchan Hell, even after Mello enters the story, the violence is not terribly graphic.
This just goes to show that all these live-action anime adaptations from Hollywood are about the tangible details rather than the underlying themes. (See: GITS aping famous shots from the Oshii film for no reason other than a nostalgia trigger for anime fans.) They want the “cool stuff” without doing the work to earn it.
@Nezchan Well, “Battle Angel” is still kicking around, just with Robert Rodriguez rumored to direct. And “Akira” is still kicking around somewhere, God help us. But the controversy (and box office failure) of “Ghost in the Shell” and the controversy surrounding “Death Note” might put those other two projects back into the Development Hell where they belong.
@Stephen_Stone I'm not holding my breath on Battle Angel or Akira. Last I heard about the latter, they were desperatly casting around for a new director, even courting Jordan Peele who has no experience with that sort of big-scope film. A good director to be sure, and less likely to whitewash, but not a good fit for the project.
@Stephen_Stone At least with Battle Angel nobody is specifically coded as Japanese, although Alita herself comes off that way. The problem is more what we were talking about, just reproducing the visual set pieces and not bothering to get into the philosophical underpinnings of the story, which is basically the point. Not a story I want to see dumbed down.
@Stephen_Stone True, it's mostly intimidation with rare gunplay.
Agree about the superficiality of pretty much every adaption. Which is why I'm glad Cameron's version of Battle Angel Alita failed and it appears Akira took a dirt nap. Hell, even Madonna's version of Parasite Eve is better off remaining locked in a box somewhere.