For as far back as most can remember, audiences have been watching Hollywood remakes of Japanese films, from Star Wars to Disney Pixar movies. The influence of Japanese culture on Western media spans back for decades and permeates the most basic Western franchises. The Seven Samurai, released in Japan in 1954, has remained highly influential in cultures across the globe. It is listed as a major inspiration for not only the cowboy classic The Magnificent Seven, released in the U.S. in 1960, but also the original Star Wars trilogy along with Rogue One and The Clone Wars animated series, with a direct episode tribute honoring the original film. Kon Satoshi's 2006 Paprika is often credited for much of the material that appears in Christopher Nolan's 2010 Inception, from concepts to side-by-side shot comparisons.
In recent years, instead of being an inspiration, anime has been receiving straight live-action adaptations from Hollywood studios such as Ghost in the Shell in 2017. There are also more anime series receiving the same treatment through Netflix adaptations, such as Fullmetal Alchemist in 2018 and Cowboy Bebop in 2021. However, while it may be fun as a fan to receive more content for a favorite series, are live-action adaptations doing harm to the anime industry? Live-action adaptations could begin to undermine the anime industry by placing live-action and animated in direct conflict with each other over the same source material, and it's unknown who would come out on top. Here's the breakdown on whether live-action adaptations are a threat to the anime industry and why.
Loss of Connection with the Source Material -- Cowboy Bebop, Ghost in the Shell
While movies that took inspiration from Japanese works such as The Seven Samurai and Paprika are able to convey similar themes or stories, many straight adaptations have been unable to recreate the feel of the original. A glaring example of this is the recent Netflix Cowboy Bebop adaptation, which managed to include brief homages to the series but largely failed to impress audiences. When the anime aired in 1998, the original story of Spike Spiegel was a mature one of loss and grief with a sharp shock of an ending. The surprise factor might have been lost in the live-action, but the same themes incorporated into the story could have felt genuine. However, it was not enough to slap the same basic premise and character names onto a story about spaceships without understanding why audiences first connected with the show.
Hollywood blockbuster material such as Ghost in the Shell can also suffer from loss of connection, and this can be due to the simple desire to make that Hollywood blockbuster. The original anime was raw in how it delivered its message of autonomy, and a Hollywood unwillingness to go that far could not possibly deliver a faithful adaptation. Nor could live action rating standards match the wiggle room in animation. The irony that is a white woman taking the role of an Asian woman in a Hollywood film when that film featured autonomy so explicitly seemed lost to the studio as well, perhaps a better show of how disconnected from their source material the studio truly was.
Overly Ambitious Undertakings -- Fullmetal Alchemist, Attack on Titan
In comparison to Cowboy Bebop and Ghost in the Shell, the live-action Fullmetal Alchemist holds a clearer idea of why fans love the series -- the relationships between the characters, particularly between Edward and Alphonse Elric are the selling points and emphasized at every possible turn. Fullmetal Alchemist is simply too long a series to attempt to squish into a film adaptation. Though clearly hitting closer to the mark, events are far too compressed for the movie to be considered successful. Could the studio not predict this problem? If not, that in itself shows an actual loss of connection from the source material that is just as egregious. Or was it simply more important to get the first Fullmetal Alchemist film out there? The same question is posed when regarding the Attack on Titan live-action adaptation, which has been criticized from all angles for not caring to even attempt to get the nationalities of the characters right. A movie about man-eating giants was to be made, and the first studio to make it didn't care much for the details.
The CGI Effect
Why take so long to adapt such a beloved franchise as Fullmetal Alchemist? The obvious answer is that CGI was not up to speed with what the original animation was able to achieve, and as CGI has improved over the past few years, so have we seen Death Note (2017), Fullmetal Alchemist, Ghost in the Shell and the recently announced One Piece get the live-action treatment. As CGI continues to get cheaper and higher quality, it stands to reason more series will join the ranks. However, if a successful anime has already been made, why is there the need for a live-action adaptation? Animation can provide more varieties of style and, importantly, these anime already exist. Cowboy Bebop is over 20 so a remake at that age makes sense, but Attack on Titan hadn't even aired it's Season 2 when the live-action came out.
The most obvious conclusion is that, with CGI becoming cheaper, live-action adaptations are an easy way to make money, especially when the fans are already certainly out there. It's not a bad thing for a studio to want to be profitable, of course, but it is not a long-term solution, as demonstrated through adaptations that don't require large advancements in CGI technology.
The Threat to the Anime Industry
The pace at which live-action adaptations have picked up suggests one other thing, and it's that a live-action adaptation is now being used as a mark of excellence. This is in the same way many people won't be interested in a book until it's being made into a movie. A live-action remake signifies relevance and quality, and while that can be the case at times, many quality works get passed over in the same way many of the greatest books in existence could never be made into a movie. An anime does not have to prove itself by earning a live-action remake, and yet an anime without a remake may be more unpopular due to a simple lack of exposure. This could even cause some titles to miss out on things such as renewed seasons.
Are live-action adaptations harming the anime industry? Ultimately, no. Nothing is that simple. There is certainly something wrong in an industry that will be so strapped for content that both an anime and a live-action version of a manga will be made within a year. However, just as The Seven Samurai and Paprika could inspire without churning out straight copies, the same is possible between animation and live-action. The most valuable thing that can be created right now, as ever, are stories, to keep audiences engaged, and studios employed bringing those stories to life.
