Paramount Pictures recently announced that it is planning on teaming up with J.J. Abrams to adapt the anime film, "Your Name" ("Kimi no na Wa") into a live-action film for Hollywood.
This isn't Paramount's first time attempting to adapt an anime film for the silver screen. Earlier this year, they were responsible for releasing the "Ghost In The Shell," which, if I'm being honest, wasn't good.
So when the news came out that Abrams and Paramount were going to tackle "Your Name," I was hardly thrilled. I have little hope that this movie will be a success. This is not to say the original "Your Name" is a bad film. Let me provide some context.
"Your Name" was released at the end of 2016, quickly rising to be one of the highest-grossing films of all time in Japan. It was critically acclaimed, and was even considered for an Academy-Award nomination in the United States.
Directed by Makoto Shinkai (who directed "Five Centimeters Per Second" and "Garden of Words," among others), "Your Name" tells the story of two teenagers who realize that they randomly swapped bodies. Any further details would give away the rest of the plot, but it's beautifully animated, heartwarming, funny and has an amazing soundtrack featuring the Japanese rock band, RADWIMPS.
Seriously, though. That soundtrack is phenomenal.
Initially, the movie sounds easy enough to adapt, right? This isn't some technographic, sci-fi thriller like "Ghost In The Shell." It's a coming-of-age story about two teens. What's so hard about that?
Maybe not. Maybe this could be fantastic. But probably not.
Just take a look at "Ghost In The Shell," "Dragon Ball Evolution," "Speed Racer," "The Last Airbender," or even Netflix's "Death Note" to understand why I am rather hopeless. Non-anime fans won't understand the issue, but anime faithfuls will feel my pain.
American adaptations of anime films tend to lose sight of what makes the original movie beautiful in the first place. A film like "Your Name" that is rife with Japanese culture is bound to suffer the same fate.
Nerdwriter1 sums all of this up in his video, "How Not To Adapt A Movie."
We can make the argument that Hollywood whitewashes primarily Asian roles, talk about the problem of Asian-erasure in cinema or highlight how the animation itself is vital to appreciate and consume an animated production.
We can quell our fears by recognizing that Abrams will be working hand-in-hand with many of the production staff of the original film and that the director--Shinkai himself--seems optimistic about the future of the project.
And to be fair to the original, part of "Your Name's" success was how well it was able to make Japanese culture and customs accessible to a wider audience. You don't have to be Japanese to appreciate the plot of the film, but a lot of the detail is lost if you're not familiar with Japanese customs.
Hollywood has a terrible track record when it comes to adapting anime films. More often than not, things are lost in the transition, resulting in a finished product that's a mere mockery of the original.
I want to believe that a live-action version of "Your Name" could be amazing. I want to believe that they'll be able to capture the magic, the nostalgia, the love, the heartbreak and everything else that made it such a successful film.
I want to believe that.
But I don't.
