Fans Worldwide Heap Scorn on Live Action Dragonball Film
- Categories: Anime, News
- Date: Dec 23, 2008 07:19 JST
- Tags: 20th Century Fox, Adaptations, Dragonball, Hollywood, Live Action
The upcoming Hollywood theatrical film version of Dragonball has seen its promotional campaign ramp up in recent months, with the expected result of sending fans of the series into lurid rages.
One helpful 2channer has collected a number of comments from a a wide range of countries and translated them into Japanese for his fellow’s convenience. They do make for an entertaining read…
A condensed summary of the comments:
Korea:
This is a joke right? There’s no way they ever read Dragonball?Canada:
This is Dragonball? What a farce.U.K.:
This annoying movie will destroy Dragonball’s legend!U.S.:
I watched Dragonball since I was little…the ‘Dragonball’ part in the title is an utter lie.Belgium:
Learn some shame Hollywood!France:
Are they gonna sell it at Comiket 75?Holland:
Is this like the Star Wars version of Dragonball?
Japanese fans’ comments followed suit in decrying the farcical movie:
It looks like a B-Grade Kung Fu movie…
Don’t they feel embarrassed for making this?
I think (movie adaptations) of Japanese anime should be left to Japan.
Bulma looks like Rambo fighting with those guns.
How did the French guy know about Comiket?
Hollywood sure is shameless. Just so that it’ll sell better, they destroy the original story. Why didn’t they just start from the very beginning with a different property?
I’ll spare you the rest, as it all follows in the same vein. Apparently it seems easy to find criticism of the film regardless of the nationality of the posters, but what is hard is finding anyone that is actually pleased with what they’ve been seeing.
Are there any Dragonball fans out there happy about the film, I wonder?
Japanese poster for Dragonball: Evolution
Shown below is the trailer for Dragonball: Evolution. It should give those unfamiliar with the live action project a better idea of what to expect:
Poll unavailable.
| 
Marshmallow Imouto Succubus Hits The Beach
Bishoujo Mangekyou Fan Translation Emerges
Samurai Rising – Square Enix: You Guessed it!
Mangaka Pay Tribute to Kyushu
Street Fighter V Enlists Guile
Chinese Death Simulator “Hopefully Won’t Explode”
Re:Zero “In The Nick Of Time!”
Muma Astacia Sultry Succubus Ero-Figure
Hundred Sloppy Kissing Anime
Greek Woman “Born Without A Vagina!”
Let It Die Trailer Unforgettably Fierce
Shinjuku Station Reveals “All Yu-Gi-Oh Cards Ever!”
KanColle Arcade Scores A Direct Hit
Bakuon!! Relentlessly Cute
Fuwary Gymnastics Girl Onahole Frighteningly Flexible
Star Fox Animated Short Takes Flight
Big Order “Big & Scary!”
Langrisser Re:Incarnation Tensei Really Retro
Monster Hunter Generations Monstrous As Ever
Live Action Naruto Stage-Play Filthier Than Ever
Goddess of 2ch: “What A Cute Hole!”
Alice Margatroid Ero-Cosplay by Hiyo Nishizuku Full of Cheer
Sheryl Nome Bunny Girl Cosplay by Mike Super Scandalous
Marvelous Madoka Mizugi Cosplay by Mashiro Yuki
Marie Rose Cosplay by Mike Undeniably Sexy
Tasha Tracer Cosplay Truly Tantalizing
Witch Craft Works Cosplay by Kagune Intensely Seductive
Kaine Cosplay by Yuricha Flawless
Kasumigaoka Utaha Cosplay Pretty Pure
Goddess of 2ch “Another Bathing Beauty!”
Negative, negative, negative!
Perhaps my vision is blocked by nostalgia goggles, but no incarnation of Dragonball was ever THAT bad.
There is a Taiwanese version of life action DBZ. And man was it awful.
LOL I saw it when I was a kid,
It was like shit, only that it was erotic shit... with Dragon Balls.
that was was bad and funny at the same time
*cries inside*
I didn't even like dragonball...
nothing is sacred, even our shits.
well my balls are.
RAGE! Just reading the plot points was enough for me to reach SSJ in pure anger, but this... this... FFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU....
I share ur oppinion.... I think the only good thing there was Piccolo's attack on the city >=D
and the capsule could have been good, if they had made a real capsule and not a chibi version of Megatron lol
pissin me off man.if this wasn't dragonball mybe it'd be all right.but what is this bullshit?!
+8000 FAIL!!!
Negative too!
they destroyed dragonball's legend
Oh my God, this looks horrible!!
I'll still watch it, but oh my God!
i think so to
Positive in this case.
But I'm taking a "Transformers" stance on this. I've accepted the fact that this is gonna be an original story. So I'm curious to see how that original story will be.
I'm very similar in my stance, however I have the added bonus of having never been into or even seeing the original series. I think it will be a decent movie in its own right, as long as it can be detached from the original in the minds of those who view it.
Frankly, whether it followed the original closely or not, even Japan wouldn't be able to make a live-action movie that could satisfy fans. They're that adamant about what they love in the original.
Any remake or adaptation will NEVER be good enough for them.
That's right, what most people like at first is to complain like hell unless it is the same frame by frame animated series remastered with 7.1 audio.
Then, when people gets to see the movie most of them get settled with an "ok", a few others hate it even more, while some others like it.
Here most people will hate it since it's a cult anime even though the characters nor story were any deep to start with imo ^^".
it's not just that.it's just that a lot of it is totally non canon
I voted positive, but I can see both of your points. This movie could be interesting as its own story. I just think they should have adapted a new branch since the story seems original, besides the use of DB. New characters would have made more sense. Either that's a guy with a similar name of Goku, or They just couldn't resist to destroy the character's personality. I believe making live actions can be good. In DB's case, they should have created a story around the series. This is probably the hardest live action to make, since the story is so large and the effects are hard. The only live action I have seen worthy in my opinion is the Death Note film.
I would see the best anime to film movie if its counts it Transformer they made it right on that movie. i love it. my thoughts on DB: EVo is same as any other fans. They shouldn't have mess around with Gukus personality. and for the people who complain about his nationality, well any fan can answer that, but what got me the most is that the character is similar only by name. there personality is out of whack, there not in the right place Roshi suppose to be in a tiny island somwhere and i don't know where the hell his he in this movie, but it looks like its not on an island. hes suppose to wear sunglasses got a turtle back, old and skinny, white stash and most of all perverted old man. (the Kill bill master would have fit well or grandpa Gohan on that movie.)they just ruined that personality. I got to admit when roshi is serious his scary just like the first Captain of Bleach. (which i think its ode cameo of Rosh, but its just me)I most disappointed of gukus character, not about his nationality, but the ruined his innocent, happy go lucky personality to an emo. Guku was not annoying like other anime character or "i cant do this" character he was positive when growing up watching Dragon ball you have Guku as a hero he never gives up he keep fighting even it imposible. When i heard the line "I'm not Read for this." i just WTF thats not Guku.
I don't where its set, but the setting of the anime thought its unclear it has Chinese influence you can see by the terrain by the intro of DBZ. This isn't a bad movie by any means if its just another action movie, but the fact that the named it Dragon Ball is the Pandora's box for fans. I just don't understan why adaptation of anime/game/or any other change. I like Max Payne movie, but that's because i never played the game, I love Transformer, and that's because i never fallowed the storyline. Hitman was good with the same reason AppleSeed is another goo example of adaptation change and it was done by japanse though I love cuz i haven't read the manga. But on Dragon Ball i just cant help it, but be disappointed.
Sure, if you can detach yourself and enjoy it, I congratulate you. But nonetheless, I feel its an insult to the original series, which was really awesome. It would be nice to see a faithful and good adaptation, not one that needs to be cut off from its root to seem half-decent.
And I completely agree.
i second that daisuke
well yeah they did that for x men and spiderman movies
made there own version of the story based on the comic
but the bad thing was that they killed off really good chracters and made the jaggernuat a mutant
but goku never went to high school
and the reason he was so stronge was cuz he trained his whole to be stronge he never went to school
i guess there gonna play the saiyan card to explain why hes so natrually stronge in the next movie
i think they fell short on the story they shoulved
put more emphasis on the facts based on the manga so they can clear the path to make an original story out of it that can work.
Now it looks like a farce ill still watch it tho
im gonna BOO so loud when the movie ends
DBZ - bleah. Who cares?
It's not actually DBZ though. It's the prequel, Dragon Ball. There's a BIG difference between the two (like one actually has entertaining bits in it).
I stand corrected.
iirc, it's all just "Dragonball" in Japan.
I believe the Japanese opening had the Z at the end of the title, but I could be mistaken.
It's all Dragonball in the manga, but the anime adds the Z when the series switches from comedy and action to just action.
the original dragonball was better, cuz they started dragging it out for the money in dragonball z
you heard of fillers? dragonball z gives you a good taste of it
you mean like how long it took goku to get his spirit bomb when he was fighting freeza? lol, that took an eternity.
just another movie to reinforce racial stereotypes in Hollywood. Another white guy gets Asian girl action movie.
LMAO.... Although I can't deny what you said, I feel ashamed for ever thinking someone should create a live action film for this series.
Regardless of how bad it's gonna be, I'm gonna see it anyway.
dito
I bet it will suck bad, but as a fan of the manga and the anime I will go see this movie and laugh the whole time.
I'm not even going to pirate this. I would say we should all pact against seeing it but there's enough 'lol ima see this for the laffs' to still make this film a partial success.
I liked Dragonball as a kid.
I gotta say, I'm going to wait until I actually see it to make my judgments, for several reasons. Also, I think that any sweeping generalizations of Hollywood can be applied to the anime industry to at least some level. Will the Dragonball movie suck? Well, the series itself kind of sucked, but I still enjoyed it. Maybe it'll be a different kind of suck. Maybe not.
And the trailer spews "HOLLYWOOD." Every aspect of that trailer just reminds me of every other action movie Hollywood creates. It's a mix of the karate kid and Independence day to me so far.
This will be the most hilarious movie all year, if not just for the fact that it's done so poorly. It's rare that a movie adaptation of will be done well, except perhaps those from the news, but those that aren't done well are funny because they are so broken. Most people who have seen Dragonball will likely pirate this movie before going to a movie theater or buying it on DVD because it just looks like that bad a movie, no one who is a fan would pay for it, though some people may see high pirating rates as a bonus points, and think they did a good job. Either way it's easy to foresee that this movie is a bad end, perhaps it'll force another Dragonball series to be produced, somehow (unless I'm misinformed and they are making another series).
im saying negative but im still gonna see it just to see how it is
Akira Toriyama is listed as a writer for the movie meaning he has a hand in the project http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1098327/ I LOVE IRONY.
Negative. I'll watch it but I won't pay to see it. :D
All imdb shows is that he is credited as writer of the original novel. That doesn't necessarily mean he had anything at all to do with this movie beyond creation of the source material.
Negative. they don't know what dragonball is.
oh good lord i can't bring myself to even watch the trailer.
I did a similar poll and I can say for sure, almost everyone says DB will suxs...
I wonder what will be the future for other live action anime productions....
IMO... creating a live-action movie is fine but keep to or at least make it fit into the original story. In this case, the martial arts had better be superb or it's not even worth watching.
You know what? I might actually enjoy this movie. Coz I really hardly a fan of dragonball though I watched the whole torturing, dragging, boring anime and complete reading the manga.
I decided to forget about dragonball (original) and keep myself open for what to get from this Movie. I believe I would be able to enjoy it seeing how the action stunts quite like Mortal Combat. Since is from Hollywood, I would be expecting good stuffs.
I think only the fans of dragonball will view this movie negatively. If I see Oh! My Goddess or any of my favorite anime turn into Movie, I believe I would be 80% against it as well unless they really able to make it well which i doubt so.
Positive; anything that holds potential to hurt the maniacal Dragonball fanbase is epic win in my book.
hehe, agreed.
hahahahahahahahahahahahah
"How did the French guy know about Comiket?"
LOL.
ahh, never liked DB to begin with. But if I watch this, it'll only be because of two actors.
To that guy:
Dude, EVERYBODY (you know who I specifically mean in the context of readership this blog) knows about Comiket. lol
I mean, did he not see the occasional Gaijin cosplayer from time to time these days?
The French poster's non seqitur and the Japanese response was one of my favorite lines from the thread, which is why I included it - the idea of Gaijing "otaku" is still somewhat novel to most Japanese.