Coming alive - from anime to film

Written by Ross Locksley on 01 May 2009

With the release this month of 20th Century Boys, a big budget live-action adaptation of Naoki Urasawa's seminal manga, as well as MVM's first foray into live action films, Cutie Honey, I thought it was time to put these live-action adaptations in the spotlight.

The most obvious place to start, owing to the massive popularity of the brand and the recent airings on Film4, is Death Note. Unless you've been hiding under a rock you'll know all about the total worldwide juggernaut that is Tsugumi Ohba's murderous tale of a boy who finds a notebook that can kill simply by writing down a name. It's an incredibly simple premise that takes on extraordinary complexity as brilliant student Light Yagami faces off against his nemesis, the super-detective "L".

The twists and turns over 12 volumes of manga and over 30 animated episodes are well documented, and it's a testament to the confidence of the film that it takes the premise and rewrites the series to suit the format. The move is a bold one, but over the course of 2 films, Death Note and The Last Name, it's this divergence that makes the films work. The ending, character interaction and roles of key supporting characters all change, and it's a mix that works brilliantly. Where the first film has slow periods, the second excels with the proper introduction of L, a breakneck, murderous pace and some remixed scenes from the original manga. It's a fantastic riff on the Death Note mythos, and in my opinion actually beats the original manga with it's incredible ending, which plays on your expectations and then pulls the rug from under you.

The actors, for their part, do a solid job. In some instances it seems a little cheesy, but this is more likely cultural expectation than bad acting. The CGI is also excellent, bringing the Shinigami to life in a believable fashion.

If murder and complex plots don't do it for you, then MVM's Cutey Honey is Death Note's antithesis. Bright, deeply comic and full of energy, Hideaki Anno (of Evangelion fame) has created a loving homage to Honey's anime exploits.

The film follows the titular cyborg warrior as she battles the evil Claw Gang as they attempt to take over the world for their immortal overlord Sister Jill. It's incredibly stupid (in a good way) from start to finish, and couldn't be any more Japanese if it tried - over the top acting, daft costumes, ridiculous special effects and some totally off the wall villains make for an entertaining couple of hours, and although I went in expecting to hate it, I ended up having a great time. Watch out, in particular, for a scene where our heroine takes on a horde of masked and suited villains only to bounce them all en-masse through the air, into walls and onto the ground. Best action set piece I've seen all year!