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They can't all be One Piece. Join Ashley as we count down our picks for the worst live action adaptations
Transcript
00:00 Welcome to WatchMojo and today we're counting down our picks for the Top 20 Live Action
00:09 Anime Remakes – Good and Bad – that no fan really asked to see.
00:20 If you like what you're hearing, be sure to check out the full song at the link below.
00:31 20.
00:35 JoJo's Bizarre Adventure – Diamond is Unbreakable – Chapter 1
00:39 Despite the name, this is most certainly not the first chapter of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.
00:44 See, for some incomprehensible reason, this live-action film decided to skip the first
00:50 three arcs of the series entirely.
01:01 It's not exactly the JoJo movie fans had in mind, that's for sure.
01:05 The producers claim Diamond is Unbreakable was chosen because it's one of the most
01:10 beloved parts of the series, but in reality, they probably just wanted to capitalise on
01:15 the newest season of the anime.
01:20 For what it's worth, this isn't the most offensive adaptation out there.
01:24 And yet, it's hard not to imagine how much better it could have been if they'd actually
01:28 started this story at the beginning.
01:31 19.
01:32 Your Name – Hollywood Just Never Learns – Not even a year after Your Name became
01:38 the must-see film of 2016, American producers got to work commissioning a live-action remake.
01:49 The fact that they tried to push it out so soon after the original just reeks of a cash
01:53 grab.
01:54 Especially since, if history is any indication, it won't be as good anyway.
01:59 Last we heard of the project, they were planning on completely Americanising the story, characters
02:04 and setting.
02:08 Although, it's been through so many writers and directors that, at this point, there's
02:15 no telling if that's even true anymore.
02:17 All fans know for sure is that remaking Your Name is a pretty bad idea.
02:23 18.
02:24 ZOM-100 – Bucket List of the Dead There weren't any anime fans to object to
02:29 this live-action film because, well, the anime hadn't come out yet.
02:37 The ZOM-100 movie was commissioned in 2022, a full year before the anime even began.
02:43 And yet, of all the months to choose from, the feature-length film dropped in August
02:48 of 2023, aka right in between the fourth and fifth episodes of the anime.
02:54 While the movie makes a few changes to the source material, it still doesn't make any
02:58 sense to release competing versions of the same story with the same name at the exact
03:04 same time.
03:09 The real question here is, who was the live-action film even made for?
03:14 17.
03:15 Knights of the Zodiac When Saint Seiya was re-released on Netflix,
03:25 they got rid of this Americanised title.
03:27 For whatever reason, this movie adaptation chose to go back to said name.
03:32 But at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter to fans, as they simply weren't interested
03:36 in seeing more of what the trailer showed.
03:44 They said as much with their wallets, and Knights of the Zodiac went down as an embarrassing
03:49 box office bomb.
03:50 If they had put as much care into the marketing as they did the special effects, this could
03:55 have been something great.
03:57 16.
03:58 Kaguya-sama Love is War – Kaguya-sama Final Love is War
04:03 What's the opposite of "meet cute"?
04:05 The answer is the live-action remake of Kaguya-sama Love is War.
04:13 The movie is supposed to be a romance, but it comes across as a bumbling, cringey mess
04:18 instead.
04:19 On its own, it'd be a disappointing movie, but its flaws are all the more apparent since
04:24 it came out the exact same year as the fantastic anime adaptation.
04:29 The film series tried to course-correct with its sequel, but all it did was further prove
04:34 why the anime is superior.
04:36 After all, there's genuinely no reason to watch the films when the show is better, longer,
04:42 and much more faithful to the manga.
04:47 15.
04:52 Attack on Titan Part 1 – Attack on Titan Part 2
04:56 Most fans approach anime adaptations with caution, and movies like this are exactly
05:02 why.
05:03 As it turns out, this isn't the Attack on Titan you know.
05:05 Instead, it plays more like a bad book report written by someone who only read the blurb.
05:17 Iconic moments are replaced, butchered, and promptly tossed aside in a never-ending cycle
05:22 of disappointment.
05:24 But at least they included those in the movie at all.
05:26 That's more than we can say for Reiner, Bertolt, Irwin, Annie, and Levi.
05:36 Look, it's safe to say no one wanted a live-action Attack on Titan movie to start with.
05:44 But this is more than just a bad adaptation – it's a bad movie, full stop.
05:50 14.
05:51 Daily Lives of High School Boys
05:53 A joke is never as funny the second time around, and unfortunately, it took a full-length feature
05:59 film for Daily Lives to learn that.
06:10 The movie tried its very best to recapture the fast-paced charm of the original series.
06:15 In fact, it tried so hard, it lost the easygoing spirit that made Daily Lives of High School
06:22 Boys worth watching in the first place.
06:28 Without the heartfelt storytelling, all you're left with is a lacklustre teen comedy that
06:33 thinks it's much funnier than it really is.
06:36 Ironically, that tonal tightrope is precisely why most fans rejected the idea of a movie
06:42 in the first place.
06:43 13.
06:44 Rikio – The Story of Riki
06:52 On paper, it's easy to see why some viewers thought this series should stay as an anime.
06:57 To set the stage, Rikio is a bit of a weird story, and has plenty of blood-splattering
07:02 violence too.
07:03 The kind that most studios would censor in a heartbeat, and yet, against all odds, this
07:09 feature film did its source material justice.
07:12 Sure, the story is the same and all, but the real star is the absurdly over-the-top violence.
07:23 At a certain point, the fight scenes become so ludicrously awesome, you can't help but
07:28 laugh along.
07:29 Soothed up with a massive side of that classic 90s cheesiness, and it's no surprise Rikio
07:36 is a generational cult hit.
07:38 But honestly, who asked for it?
07:41 12.
07:42 The Giver
07:43 When they say that this movie is loosely based on the anime, they aren't joking.
07:49 Rather than a sci-fi drama about a man learning to control his symbiotic abilities, these
07:55 live-action flicks went full camp, and honestly, they're not half bad.
08:04 Granted, anyone who wanted the dark, existential themes of the original should look elsewhere.
08:13 But on its own merits, "The Giver" and its sequel, "Giver Dark Hero", have just
08:18 enough silly humour to keep you watching to the credits.
08:25 Still, that doesn't make them good adaptations by any stretch of the word.
08:34 As entertaining as they are, we wouldn't mind a more respectful Giver film one of these
08:39 days.
08:40 11.
08:41 Assassination Classroom
08:52 First impressions can be tough, and when fans initially got a look at Koro-sensei in live-action,
08:58 they were right to worry.
09:00 His uncanny 3D render seemingly proved what many said all along – Assassination Classroom
09:06 does not work outside of drawings.
09:09 But then the movie came out, and it was actually pretty good.
09:12 Somehow, it put everything fans loved about the series into a tight, two-hour package.
09:18 Koro-sensei didn't look as bad in motion, either.
09:31 This movie had just about everything going against it, but in the end, Weed Wager fans
09:36 were happy to be proven wrong.
09:38 They supported it enough to get it a sequel, and that's a victory in itself.
09:43 10.
09:44 Cowboy Bebop
09:45 It's hard not to feel like this show was doomed from the start.
09:49 Cowboy Bebop is one of anime's most beloved properties, and nothing a bloated live-action
09:56 series could do would ever live up to that.
09:59 As such, this 2021 remake tried to put some new spins on the formula, only for it to backfire
10:05 spectacularly.
10:13 The nonsensical story changes alienated hardcore fans, and muddled the canon for new ones.
10:19 The end result was a version of Cowboy Bebop that no one wanted.
10:24 To prove it, the series didn't even last three weeks before Netflix cancelled it for
10:29 good.
10:30 Given how much backlash it went through, that might have been a mercy.
10:38 9.
10:39 Ghost in the Shell
10:41 Even if this adaptation of the cyberpunk masterpiece had managed to succeed on every level – which
10:46 it most certainly didn't – it was always going to catch flack for the controversial
10:51 casting of Scarlett Johansson as Major Kusanagi.
10:57 This was the straw that broke the camel's back, as far as the mainstream media's attention
11:01 surrounding Hollywood's whitewashing controversy.
11:07 The original is such a beloved classic, and while we can appreciate the live-action homages,
11:12 the fact they tried to fix up the race issue in the most idiotic way possible didn't
11:17 really help change opinions.
11:23 8.
11:27 Mob Psycho 100
11:29 Their first mistake was thinking they could duplicate the adorableness that is Mob.
11:34 The second was believing that a series with borderline, mind-melting action sequences
11:39 could be translated into a live-action series with equal success.
11:49 To nobody's surprise, the whole thing turned out to be yet another stain on the Netflix
11:53 anime adaptation train.
11:55 Besides, the actors look way too old for their respective roles, and the special effects
12:00 are laughable in comparison.
12:09 We wouldn't be surprised if the whole thing was one of Reigen's scams.
12:19 7.
12:21 Ichigo's Adventure Here's the thing, when it was announced
12:31 that the great shonen series would be hitting the big screen, it was met by a resounding
12:36 middle finger from fans who didn't want to see Ichigo get dragged through the mud
12:41 like other anime adaptations.
12:43 But, as it turns out, the adaptation wasn't half bad.
12:51 Alas, for all of its surprising charm, it totally bombed in the Japanese box office,
12:57 further cementing that there wasn't any demand for a live-action version to begin
13:02 with.
13:03 At this point, it's like beating a dead horse with a zanpakutou.
13:14 6.
13:15 Mobile Suit Gundam – G-Savior For those of you that are still worried that
13:18 the upcoming live-action Gundam film is going to be a heaping pile of space you-know-whats,
13:24 have a little faith.
13:32 After all, there's no way they could drop the bar any lower than they did with this
13:36 little abomination.
13:38 This standalone entry somehow manages to get everything wrong about the franchise, the
13:44 most egregious aspect being the mobile suits themselves.
13:51 If you think you've seen terrible special effects before, then just wait till you see
13:55 these bad boys.
13:56 Let's hope Sunrise have learned their lesson.
14:04 5.
14:07 Kite When Samuel L. Jackson can't even make your
14:11 film even somewhat decent, then you know you've goofed up.
14:20 The original Kite wasn't anything special.
14:23 In fact, it contained a whole assortment of erotic and violent scenes way too hardcore
14:28 for the average movie-going public.
14:36 Desperately trying to catch up by throwing as much gore at the screen as they can get
14:40 away with, the live-action adaptation nonetheless feels like a watered-down version that tries
14:46 way too hard to be edgy, all held together by shoddy camera work and an even shoddier
14:52 plot.
14:53 Honestly, you're better off watching the hentai.
14:58 4.
15:01 Death Note We're not sure that there's been a film
15:04 that earned the scorn of the anime community even before it hit screens quite like this
15:10 one.
15:14 Like a swarm of sharks, fans of the original "Occult Detective" gem proceeded to maul
15:19 this adaptation every step of the way.
15:22 From the Americanisation of the cast, the character of Light acting as little as Light
15:26 as possible, plus the numerous plot holes it had dug itself.
15:42 We can sympathise with it due to how much hate it received, but its own poor storytelling
15:48 did little to remedy that matter.
15:50 At least Willem Dafoe as Ryuk was awesome.
15:57 3.
16:00 Dragon Ball Evolution It's amazing how this film has somehow only
16:04 gotten worse over the years.
16:07 With fans still debating whether or not it truly is the most abysmal anime adaptation
16:12 of all time.
16:15 It's as if the filmmakers learned everything about Dragon Ball from watching a WatchMojo
16:23 video.
16:24 Nothing except the names and minor visual references in order to keep up the appearance
16:29 of being faithful to the source material.
16:37 When Dragon Ball fans were asking for a continuation of the series that wasn't GT, this was the
16:42 last thing they had in mind.
16:48 2.
16:51 Speed Racer Some despise it with every fibre of their
16:55 being, others regard it as a modern classic that is grossly misunderstood by the masses.
17:04 Either way, we have no idea what prompted the Wachowskis to take one of anime's golden
17:09 oldies and translate it into a neon fever dream of a flick.
17:19 Unless you're a die-hard fan of the original, the weirdness of the racer family and all
17:24 the little nods to the show will go over your head, while those that were familiar with
17:29 the property were just left asking, "Why?"
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17:50 1.
17:51 Alita – Battle Angel
17:57 James Cameron knows his way around a killer robot.
18:00 Robert Rodriguez is a proven lover of green screens.
18:04 It seemed obvious that they would be drawn to something like Battle Angel Alita, yet
18:09 we still couldn't believe that it was actually being made.
18:13 Despite the star-studded cast, the violence, dystopian themes and mature content, it had
18:18 a hard time performing in the box office.
18:21 And yes, we can't talk about this film without mentioning the eyes.
18:25 Regardless of whether this film was a good idea or not, we're kind of grateful they
18:30 made it, despite the fact that nobody wanted it.
18:43 We know there's a lot to choose from, but what's the worst live-action anime you've
18:48 ever seen?
19:09 Let us know in the comments.
19:19 (upbeat music)