Readers of my blog may know that i’m a total sucker for anything post-apocalyptic, dystopian, steampunk, stuff like that. I adore Ghost in the Shell and Psycho-Pass, Girl’s Last Tour and more. Several years ago, I stumbled across a manga series called Battle Angel Alita, and absolutely fell in love with it. the world was vivid and distinct, having it’s own culture, sports, and more… it felt like a real, living, breathing world.
Beginning in the underbelly of a destroyed planet Earth, the grimy, cluttered streets and vividly battered inhabitants of the city were just beautiful to watch. The manga felt so… unique, so alive. I love stories that have such careful attention to detail, such lovingly crafted characters and settings.
A few days ago, I learned of the production of a live-action adaptation of this manga, titled Alita: Battle Angel, and produced by James Cameron. I’m both excited and nervous for this release. The initial trailer looks interesting, but i’m fearing that the story may lose the emotion, the detail, that was found in the original series. Granted, a trailer can only show so much, and i’d love it to have a lot of the family-oriented scenes that were included in the original Manga; that’s my greatest wish.
Alita: Battle Angel | Official Trailer [HD] | 20th Century FOX – YouTube
It looks to me like they’ve done a lot to get the world right; it seems like it’s got a lot of the down-to-earth, gritty setting as the manga. What i’m not a fan of is what Alita herself looks like. The tiny face and body, huge anime-style eyes… compared to the original Alita, she looks considerably less bad***, honestly. It’s a bit scary when some things look great and some look awful… I just hope they don’t hash up the story like they did with Ghost in the Shell.
It’s with a grain of trepidation that I say, i’m excited for the movie (Should be coming out in Summer 2018). James Cameron, I truly hope you give this series the quality is deserves. Because if you do, you’ll have a fantastic movie on your hands, and if not… lots of very angry nerds. Including myself.
The Zodiac Room 
I was shocked that this series would get the live action treatment. I do want to read the manga and check out the 90s OVA though. However, there haven’t been that many good live action adaptations of anime, so we’ll see…
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Interestingly, I think this is a series that could actually do really well with a live-action adaptation. I’m just not sure that they’re going about it the right way.
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With James Cameron there, they certainly have the budget to make it work. I guess I’m not that concerned about the visual production, but rather the story and execution of it all.
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I’m not sure the problem is James Cameron—he has such a great understanding of sci-fi and is often uncompromising. I was just really disappointed when he passed on directed it a while back, though I think we all realized that was going to happen when he became so involved in the world of Avatar. I’m no Robert Rodriguez fan…so we’ll see. We’ll see.
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Yeah, the Sci-Fi stuff will probably be done really well… My main concern is what might happen with the story. Ghost in the Shell is a great example; it looked perfect, one of the more visually stunning movies i’ve seen in recent years. But, they hashed up the story and took out most of what makes Ghost in the Shell what it is, giving it a bland, generic, westernized plot. THAT is what i’m worried about.
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We just have to hope
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For sure! I’m trying to go into it with as positive an attitude as I can. it’s entirely possible that it’ll be a great movie.
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