I saw the anime adaptation of the manga
Akira a year or so back. I was blown away by it and thought it was a fantastically made piece of art and is one of my favorite animes (along with
Cowboy Bebop). When I heard that rumors of a live action adaptation of it with Leonardo DiCaprio producing, I thought it sounded interesting. However, when rumors for the casting came up (e.g. Morgan Freeman, Zac Efron, Andrew Garfield), my reaction was suddenly changed to this:
I found it ridiculously ludicrous that are casting people of different ethnicities
other than Asian as the characters when they are suppose to be
japanese for the love of God. You can't have white people play Japanese characters with Japanese names. That would be more out of place than a wolf in a flock of sheep. It offends Asian people and fans of the original anime and manga. George Takei (known for his famous role as Mr. Sulu on
Star Trek) was asked about the controversy in an article for
The Advocate. He said that he was not surprised, calling it a "tradition" to whitewash adaptations. He cited
The Good Earth (a Pulitzer Prize winning novel about a the family life of a Chinese village before the onslaught of World War II), whose film adaptation had white actors portraying the characters. He also said that the lack of "bankable" Asian American actors as a reason behind Warner Bros casting considerations. If WB decides to go in the direction that they are currently heading, they're going to get their very own version of
The Last Airbender. If you don't remember,
The Last Airbender was an adaptation of the Nickelodeon cartoon
Avatar: The Last Airbender, and was directed by M. Night Shyamalan. With the exception of Dev Patel, he casted non-asian actors in a story influenced by Asian culture. And that film flopped. Hard.
Another thing I found idiotic was changing to a post-apocalyptic Tokyo (dubbed "Neo Tokyo") to something stupid like "Neo-Manhattan" or "Neo-Detroit". If they move it to America, they are taking away the most important element of the manga itself: Japan. The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II is a very important part of Japanese history.
Akira is grounded in Japanese history and culture. If we Americanize it, we take away all those underlying themes that make it important. And that is blasphemy. Even the Daleks agree with me.
And if Warner Bros goes as far as to Americanize it, we may as well get something along the lines of this:
However, if WB pulls their act together, they can improve the adaption by casting Asian actors. But they have the characters speak English. I, for one, suggest Ken Watanabe as Colonel Shikishima.
Anyway, that's my opinion on the
Akira adaptation. I know that this is not much of an editorial, but this is my first and I did my best.