Just saw the trailer and . . . it looks more promising than Ghost In The Shell and Death Note.

Alita's uncanny valley eyes are a bit creepy but that kind've makes sense given the setting and the art-style of the original Manga. Her head/eye to body ratio was always off when compared to the other characters, who were drawn a bit more photo realistically.

If James "Titanic and AVATAR made more money than God" Cameron can't make an Anime to live action film work. Then this is probably going to be the last time any major studio tries to adapt a Japanese property. Not for decades at least.

Silver lining? Since the original Manga/anime took place in a western-inspired setting. Maybe (hopefully) just this once we can avoid the whitewashing controversy that we dealt with every other live action anime adaptation in the USA.

Burn. It. With. All. Of. The. Fires.

Can I throw a question out there to anyone who has read the manga or seen the anime as I've never seen it, did Alita's character ever have any romantic interests? Just curious if the whole boy friend thing is Hollywood thinking it won't sell unless it has a teenage romance thrown in or if that story line is part of canon material.

She had. A kid (visually) around her age, was her first crush in first two volumes. Later she develope more permanent bond with a good natured and a bit goofy mercenary/fisherman.

...well, i never thought I'd see the day where they'd try to do a live action anime adaptation and use actual anime-sized eyes on a character, but here we are.

Sizable part of me wants to get hyped about this movie. Rest of me... cowers in fear.

And while we're on subject, I'm really interested/afraid how they're going to handle that romance thing, because in the manga...

I don't believe, that in any run-of-the-mill teen schlock, the girl has to

Just like that I am interested in this movie again.

I know of the original in name only.
The trailer looks like it'll be a competent version of a Hollywood action movie.
Staff is seems talented enough.
Might make for good popcorn entertainment, who knows.

....I am painfully excited for this movie. I grew up on the manga, and I feel that this one may actually get the adaptation right. It's clicking more of the good feel buttons than Ghost in the Shell did.

Recently clicked one of the trailers because the uncanny giant eyes in the thumbnail were done so poorly that I honestly thought it was fully animated. I know nothing about the original series, but I should probably go through it before I force myself to watch this. Oh boy, can't wait for America to ruin anOTHER Japanese PROPERTY FUCK

Stillborn wrote:I don't believe, that in any run-of-the-mill teen schlock, the girl has to

SPOILER: Show

cut off her boyfriends head, to save his brain XD

Not gonna happen, hollywood is too scared to do that. Besides, I KNOW they're shooting for a PG-13 rating, gotta rake in as much cash from as many dumb filmgoers as possible, because fuck artistic integrity!

They'll still be able to: they may not be able to show Makaku eating people's brains, but they can still show that scene (you don't actually see Alita decapitate him in the manga: it's a slow reveal showing that he's non-graphically attached to tubes running into Alita's body. I imagine the her offering him her heart is indicative of the multi-functionality of her body and it's ability to do that).

It's already clear just from the trailer that they've gone deep into the manga: hell, that actual scene is a reference to another one in the story, almost line for line:



Yes, it's not in the same context, but this is where I feel the adaptation may still be a good thing. I'm more optimistic about this than the GiTS movie, and I feel a lot of my skepticism and concerns were justified in that release. I have none of those here.

AdamMalkobitch wrote:Not gonna happen, hollywood is too scared to do that. Besides, I KNOW they're shooting for a PG-13 rating, gotta rake in as much cash from as many dumb filmgoers as possible, because fuck artistic integrity!

Yeah that's the biggest issue I have with this because in the past Hollywood have used teenage romance to sell movies because since Twilight everyones rooting for that one big cash flow with teenagers it's why we got the hunger games and the maze runner series, all these do in my view is shove teenage romance down your throat and miss the point of the original books and the darker nasty themes end up being side lined or toned down because there just to bring in the young teenage masses so they can get extra dollars.

silvermoonlight wrote:Yeah that's the biggest issue I have with this because in the past Hollywood have used teenage romance to sell movies because since Twilight everyones rooting for that one big cash flow with teenagers it's why we got the hunger games and the maze runner series, all these do in my view is shove teenage romance down your throat and miss the point of the original books and the darker nasty themes end up being side lined or toned down because there just to bring in the young teenage masses so they can get extra dollars.

Yes, thank you! Someone gets it!

And yet, even toned down, it's clear that the filmmakers here are MUCH more invested in being loyal to the source material than the ones who tried to adapt GiTS. This is what you want with an adaptation: it can't be the same thing the manga is, but it can carry the themes, look, and concept. Loyalty to the source material doesn't mean everything is exact. Transference to film is transference to a new medium, and concessions have to be made. I mean, frankly, there's nothing here to indicate that this is a 'teen love story' take on Alita. How much of the trailer was actually devoted to her relationship with Hugo? Not as much as the emphasis that Alita is being drawn into a world that she might be much better equipped to deal with than anyone is tracking.

As much as I'm scared of the adaptation, I'm unexpectedly happy to return to the classic version of the series. While I like the new techniques and upgrades in power like in shounen, Alita's personality in Last Order became somewhat... Unpleasant for me. Especially during the ZOTT arc. On the plus side, Last Order gave us Sechs

Still I'm curious how far the story will progress in the movie and will we get Motorball arc. I mean, who wouldn't want motherfucking Jashugan?

I don't think that's happening in this film, but GOD I hope it's good enough to justify a Motorball sequel....

Gob Hobblin wrote:And yet, even toned down, it's clear that the filmmakers here are MUCH more invested in being loyal to the source material than the ones who tried to adapt GiTS. This is what you want with an adaptation: it can't be the same thing the manga is, but it can carry the themes, look, and concept. Loyalty to the source material doesn't mean everything is exact. Transference to film is transference to a new medium, and concessions have to be made. I mean, frankly, there's nothing here to indicate that this is a 'teen love story' take on Alita. How much of the trailer was actually devoted to her relationship with Hugo? Not as much as the emphasis that Alita is being drawn into a world that she might be much better equipped to deal with than anyone is tracking.

This is true but if you look at the scene in the trailer where she gives Hugo her heart its not serious, its framed as soppy its not like the manga page you showed where she's going "If you win you can have my heart!" Its I'm giving you this because I like you, its in her face and body language. Granted I could be wrong about this and the final version might be very different but I'm not getting my hopes up.

I didn't get 'soppy' from that scene. Look at Hugo's expression, and the note of the music shift in that scene. Alita's trying to be cute, and play up her otherness, and the implication in the trailer cut is that it's suddenly reminded Hugo that Alita is VERY different in a way that he is probably not prepared to deal with (remember in the manga, Alita tried to hide her cyborg features for as long as possible). Maybe he could overlook the eyes (she's so damned cute), but you can't overlook a girl physically removing her heart!

The implication I got from that is, as normal as Alita wants to try and be, she's not. She is fundamentally different all the way down, and set apart.