For a time now, it seems that re-interpreting/adapting Japanese fiction stories for movies/T.V. series intended for a North American audience (whether animated or live-action format) has been a controversial issue since the release of "Dragonball Evolution" (2009), which suffered a lot of complaints by purists in terms of how its makers intended to distinct its continuity from the "Dragon Ball" Manga continuity with americanization methods. Furthermore, although “Dragon Ball” has nothing to do with other Japanese media franchises, those who hated “Dragonball Evolution” expected its failures to be proof that it’s never a good or easy idea to make a Japanese fiction-based film/T.V. series for Western viewers, even though some Westernized re-interpretations of Japanese fiction stories (incl. “Power Rangers”) proved to be very successful in terms of winning the hearts of lots of Western viewers.
The things about Anime/Manga-based North American movies are:
1) When a Canada/America-based filmmaker wants to do his/her personal version of a Japanese animated/comic book work, he/she not only looks for ways he/she believes should help the movie itself appeal to Western cultural tastes in terms of entertainment, but also intends to set the clear distinction between that work and the Japanese source material serving as its basis, knowing he/she's not the author of the original material itself.
2) Sometimes a filmmaker in the North America continent wishes to do a movie that's based on the U.S. modified version of an Anime show as opposed to basing his/her work on the original Japanese cut of it (ex: Tobey Maguire is currently working on a U.S. movie intended to re-imagine the war depicted in the “Macross Saga” portion of the classic "Robotech" T.V. series without actually basing it on the 1982 "Macross" series, which that portion of the show was modified from).
3) Since not every animation viewer living in North America watches Anime and that Anime DVDs aren't selling well in North America, there's a chance that those working on Anime/Manga-based movies/T.V. series for the North American markets intended to use those movies in attempt to help Japanese Animated/comic book works being that they’re re-interpreting get into the North American mainstream (ex: should the U.S. live-action "Neon Genesis Evangelion" movie, which is currently in development, be widely accepted by audiences in the west, chances are DVD copies of the "Neon Genesis Evangelion" episodes distributed around in U.S. and Canada can end up like selling like crazy). Problem is North America-based Anime/Manga purists wrongly look at North American filmmakers as terrorists trying to get all North Americans to hate and avoid all Anime and Manga permenantly.
4) It’s important to note that not all Anime and Manga have Japanese individuals as protagonists. Sometimes, an Anime or Manga set an Earth doesn’t bother to mention the national background of each character, unless the name of the nation each character is from is fictional (ex: “Pocket Monsters”, “Dragon Ball”, and “Gurren Lagann”).
After seeing some Anime and reading descriptions on ones I haven’t seen, I present here a list of amazing Anime/Manga titles (count both what I've seen and what I haven't seen) that I feel should get the chance of being re-interpreted for North American T.V./Film Entertainment, although they're not next in line to be licensed for such action. Note that each title I listed should be easy to adapt/re-interpret for North American Entertainment since Japanese settings and their unique cultural traditions/customs have no importance to its premise, whether or not they’re present. Also, note that the Anime/Manga titles I listed should be easy to adapt/re-interpret for North American entertainment (whether animated or live-action) without requiring a large amount of Asian actors to take part (although a few Asians do play roles in some Westernized takes on Japanese fiction stories so far), especially when the Canadian and American film/T.V. industries don’t seem to have a lot of known Asian actors and actresses.
- "Mazinger Z": if given the North American movie treatment, re-interpretation should use character and mecha names from the “Tranzor Z” dub, but remain in PG-13 rated animated form to preserve the retro feel and violent drama of the classic
- “Lupin III”
- “Tetsujin 28-Go”: if given the North American movie treatment, re-interpretation should be based on Americanized dub “Gigantor”, and remain animated as to preserve the retro looks and feel of the classic
- “Gundam”: a Gundam movie for the Western markets could work out, with or without any characters from the several canon continuities. Plus every “Gundam” continuity has a sense of multiculturism.
- “Captain Harlock”
- “Gurren Lagann”: could work out as a North American film/series, but it would need a woman of her twenties to fit the part of Yoko Littner.
- "Initial D"
- “Pocket Monsters”
- “Dirty Pair”: hey, if “Dirty Pair” can work out well in U.S. comic book form, I don’t see why it couldn’t work out well as an animated/live-action film/series for North American audiences.
- “Gunbuster”
- “Getter Robo”: if “Getter Robo Go” can depict a Getter Robo without the original team, I don’t see why a Westernized take on the Manga classic couldn’t show a Getter Robo operated by a team of Westerners.
- “Devilman”: it would be fun to see a new set of characters with one of them holding the
Devilman identity while preserving the violent and horror drama of the Manga classic. - “Cyborg 009”: if given the North American movie treatment, it would be best for the re-interpretation to stay animated to preserve the retro look and feel of the classic
- “Digimon”: if given the North American film treatment, it should be easy to focus on new human protagonists (forming together a multicultural group) while keeping intact, the premise of humans and Digimon working together to save Earth and digital world.
- “Fullmetal Alchemist”
- “.Hack//Sign”
- “Space Carrier Blue Noah”: if given the North American movie treatment, the re-interpretation should be based on the Anime’s Americanized dub “Thundersub”.
- “Slayers”
- “Vision of Escaflowne”
- “Spice and Wolf”: could work out as a North American film as it's set in a Western-like place, but whether live-action or animated, Holo (female protagonist of the novel) would need to take up a "20 year-old" look as opposed to a "16-year old" look in order for a westernized take on "Spice and Wolf" to avoid being wrongly accused of depicting a nonexistent youth in a love affair with an adult male, especially when some viewers and readers forget that Holo in the "Spice and Wolf" novel is centuries old regardless of her physical appearance.
- “Appleseed”
- “Zoids”
- “Yu-Gi-Oh!”: if given the North American movie treatment, the re-interpretation should use character names from the Americanized dub of the “Yu-Gi-Oh!” Anime, but aim for an R-rating in order to preserve the dark drama of the “Yu-Gi-Oh!” manga.
- "Saint Seiya"
- “Battle Vixens”: could work out as an R-rated animated film for North American audiences, but will need to change most of its character set and at least keep Hakufu Sonsaku (protagonist of the “Battle Vixens” Manga) intact while preserving the “Romance of The Three Kingdoms” reincarnation scenario of the Manga. Plus, it would be a good idea to lower down the Manga's ecchi fan service acts.
- “Pretty Cure”: since “Pretty Cure” has several continuities with each having its own heroines, it should be easy to do a “Pretty Cure” film that centers around a duo of female Westerners who happen to resemble the original Pretty Cure duo in terms of hairstyles and costume design.
Please don't hate me for doing this feature, but it's something I've been longing to do since watching 2009's "Astro Boy", which I enjoyed.
2:22 PM Canada EST
