Can Dragon Ball Work In Live-Action?

[MasenkoHA]

I think it could work, but it would need to be heavily CG based. If I were making an origin Goku movie I'd actually make kid Goku full CG.g

Yeah, that sounds terrible.

[kemuri07]

It can be done, but realistically I don't think western Hollywood is going to be a natural fit for it. The budget and long term commitment required to "do it right" would be pretty huge and I think at this point, only the Asian film industry will treat the brand with the kind of respect it needs. From there it would just be dubbed into English and be consumed as a niche offshoot in the west, nothing with any sort of major marketing push behind it, just a modest release on the level of Shin Godzilla.

I've seen enough live-action anime to know that that is not true at all.

So many of those films fail for almost the exact opposite reasons that western directed adaptations fail: They highight the fact that these shows "work" only because they are anime. The moment you take them into a live-action concept, it almost always falls apart.

[Brogeta]

It can be done, but realistically I don't think western Hollywood is going to be a natural fit for it. The budget and long term commitment required to "do it right" would be pretty huge and I think at this point, only the Asian film industry will treat the brand with the kind of respect it needs. From there it would just be dubbed into English and be consumed as a niche offshoot in the west, nothing with any sort of major marketing push behind it, just a modest release on the level of Shin Godzilla.

I've seen enough live-action anime to know that that is not true at all.

So many of those films fail for almost the exact opposite reasons that western directed adaptations fail: They highight the fact that these shows "work" only because they are anime. The moment you take them into a live-action concept, it almost always falls apart.

DB works as anime because it entirely different medium with it own sets of rules. Bringing that to live action would mean having to change so much of it that it would be DB in name only.

What works in animation doesn't mean it will work in live action. Just go look at some of the fan made DBZ live action youtube videos. Staying 100% true to the source materiel will not make for a good live action movie. You can even see how silly the outfits and hairstyles look on cosplayers.

Goku for example would require a radical redesign in order to not look ridiculous in real life.

[jjgp1112]

After the failure of Evolution, I was wondering whether you think Dragon Ball can work in the medium of live-action or do you think it’s practically impossible because Dragon Ball is simply too fantastical, or out-there to ever work in that format?

I think it could work, but it would need to be heavily CG based. If I were making an origin Goku movie I'd actually make kid Goku full CG and have actors play Bulma, Roshi and Yamcha.

....What? Why? That would be the most hokey, dumb looking route possible. What reason would there to be to make Goku a CG character surrounded by real people? Toiyama's even said in the past that he wanted to make Goku as plain and nondescript looking as possible, and the weird hair was a compromise. Some doofy looking CG character would sure as hell defeat the purpose of that.

"Guess what guys! We're bringing Dragon Ball to life! ....but the main character will be CG." Might as well not even waste their time making it live action if they're doing some shit like that.

[MasenkoHA]

I just find it funny the bulk of Dragon Ball’s inspiration comes from live action films (as well as stories that have been done in live action) but no Dragon Ball can’t be done in live action because it’s an anime! And the best argument people can come up with is...Goku’s hair?


Oh and crappy live action anime movies which can’t possibly be because they were terrible adaptations and not because they were good adaptations that just didn’t translate well into live action

[jjgp1112]

I just find it funny the bulk of Dragon Ball’s inspiration comes from live action films (as well as stories that have been done in live action) but no Dragon Ball can’t be done in live action because it’s an anime! And the best argument people can come up with is...Goku’s hair?


Oh and crappy live action anime movies which can’t possibly be because they were terrible adaptations and not because they were good adaptations that just didn’t translate well into live action

Right - like take The Last Airbender for example...in terms of visual presentation, it actually looks pretty good! Everything wrong with it had not do with the follies of adapting cartoons to live action, but with just shitty ass film-making in general.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

I just find it funny the bulk of Dragon Ball’s inspiration comes from live action films (as well as stories that have been done in live action) but no Dragon Ball can’t be done in live action because it’s an anime! And the best argument people can come up with is...Goku’s hair?


Oh and crappy live action anime movies which can’t possibly be because they were terrible adaptations and not because they were good adaptations that just didn’t translate well into live action

I mean, you look at things like the Wachowski Bros Speed Racer movie or something like Ghost in the Shell with Scarlett Johansson and those didn't do well mostly because of being films that didn't really click with audiences in general but also those who are fans of the original source. They aren't necessarily bad movies in of themselves, it's just that the look of the anime series proper didn't transition very well into a live action format despite how much they had tried to make it appear so, then you look at things like the Space Cruiser Yamato LA movie from a decade ago or the live action Attack on Titan and those came out better because there was much more attention to the source material and the people making them had a better idea of how to capture the original's look in a convincing fashion.

[It_Is_Ayna_You_Flips]

I think it could work, but it would need to be heavily CG based. If I were making an origin Goku movie I'd actually make kid Goku full CG and have actors play Bulma, Roshi and Yamcha.

That'd be a nightmare to actually do and probably wouldn't look too convincing. Just hire a decent kid actor. They're not that expensive and Goku doesn't do a whole lot of complicated martial arts choreography anyway. Part of the joke is that his opponents bust out all this wild shit but Goku just punches them away.

Oh and crappy live action anime movies which can’t possibly be because they were terrible adaptations and not because they were good adaptations that just didn’t translate well into live action

Japan's own adaptations of relatively grounded stories tend to be hit or miss too. We've had like five adaptations of Junji Ito's Tomie and they've all been meh. Even honest effort adaptions done by studios skilled in the relevant genre usually fall flat.

I get people want to blame studios or whatever but if this were easy there'd be many more successful adaptations of great works out there.

[Brogeta]

I just find it funny the bulk of Dragon Ball’s inspiration comes from live action films (as well as stories that have been done in live action) but no Dragon Ball can’t be done in live action because it’s an anime! And the best argument people can come up with is...Goku’s hair?


Oh and crappy live action anime movies which can’t possibly be because they were terrible adaptations and not because they were good adaptations that just didn’t translate well into live action

Not just Goku's hair. Characters in dragon ball z have the freedom to be as exaggerated as possible with their designs because it's 2d which has way more creative freedom. Transitioning into live action would mean changing a lot of things for it to not look silly.

Vegeta, Piccolo, Frieza and a lot of the baddies Goku goes up against look cool how they are now. However bringing them to life and staying 100% faithful to their designs and expecting them to look just a cool is not possible.

That's the thing about fans though, they want the characters to be 100% exactly like the source material in design, dialogue, with a plot that's follows beat for beat exactly like whatever the live movie is adapting.

Not every element of Dragonball will translate well into live action without changing things around to fit a realistic real world setting. That would require a lot of change in how characters looks behave and etc. Not to mention cutting down an entire manga arc to fit a 2 hour runtime which about the average length of a movie which means a lot of the original story would have to be cut up and stitched together. Or create an entirely new story and risk backlash.

[UpFromTheSkies]

After the failure of Evolution, I was wondering whether you think Dragon Ball can work in the medium of live-action or do you think it’s practically impossible because Dragon Ball is simply too fantastical, or out-there to ever work in that format?

I think it could work, but it would need to be heavily CG based. If I were making an origin Goku movie I'd actually make kid Goku full CG and have actors play Bulma, Roshi and Yamcha.

....What? Why? That would be the most hokey, dumb looking route possible. What reason would there to be to make Goku a CG character surrounded by real people? Toiyama's even said in the past that he wanted to make Goku as plain and nondescript looking as possible, and the weird hair was a compromise. Some doofy looking CG character would sure as hell defeat the purpose of that.

"Guess what guys! We're bringing Dragon Ball to life! ....but the main character will be CG." Might as well not even waste their time making it live action if they're doing some shit like that.

I knew people would get triggered by that comment.

Dragon Ball is extremely cartoony, so I would make the world heavily CG but with real people in it. Oolong, the giant fish, dinosaurs, big cats, animal people, ect would be all CG and would look like 3D versions of Toriyamas art. Bulma, Krillin, Yamcha, Ox King and Roshi would be live actors, but Goku and Pilaf would be CG. I'd also make Roshis exaggerated, cartoony nose bleed reactions CG. If you tried to turn it into full live action and make it look realistic it just wouldn't be Dragon Ball anymore.

Picture this Goku with live action Bulma searching for the Dragon Balls

[JulieYBM]

There are some nice live action adaptions coming out of Japan recently. Modern Super Sentai and Kamen Rider also have really wild choreographed fights, so the fights are definitely possible. We can also take a page from the Sailor Moon series and do the animal characters as plushes!

I just find it funny the bulk of Dragon Ball’s inspiration comes from live action films (as well as stories that have been done in live action) but no Dragon Ball can’t be done in live action because it’s an anime! And the best argument people can come up with is...Goku’s hair?


Oh and crappy live action anime movies which can’t possibly be because they were terrible adaptations and not because they were good adaptations that just didn’t translate well into live action

I mean, you look at things like the Wachowski Bros Speed Racer movie or something like Ghost in the Shell with Scarlett Johansson and those didn't do well mostly because of being films that didn't really click with audiences in general but also those who are fans of the original source. They aren't necessarily bad movies in of themselves, it's just that the look of the anime series proper didn't transition very well into a live action format despite how much they had tried to make it appear so, then you look at things like the Space Cruiser Yamato LA movie from a decade ago or the live action Attack on Titan and those came out better because there was much more attention to the source material and the people making them had a better idea of how to capture the original's look in a convincing fashion.

Wachowski Sisters, actually.

[Hellspawn28]

Adapting anime and manga is no different from adapting western comics and cartoons. You have good live action adaptions of anime and manga that exist in Asia. Not to mention, most Western comic book adaptions (usually superhero movies) are not that great in my opinion. I also can't think of a single good adaption of a western cartoon in live action. Bumblebee was alright in my opinion and it's only consider to be good because the other Michael Bay Transformers movies are hot garbage. Bumblebee is Citizen Kane compare to them.

You can adapt something like Dragon Ball just fine in live action format. I believe that most anime & manga fans outside of Asia don't watch many movies which is why they don't seem to know about the Wuxia genre or seen the good adaption of anime & manga such as Oldboy, Lone Wolf & Cub, Riki Oh, City Hunter, 20th Century Boys, Blue Spring, etc.

[jjgp1112]

I think it could work, but it would need to be heavily CG based. If I were making an origin Goku movie I'd actually make kid Goku full CG and have actors play Bulma, Roshi and Yamcha.

....What? Why? That would be the most hokey, dumb looking route possible. What reason would there to be to make Goku a CG character surrounded by real people? Toiyama's even said in the past that he wanted to make Goku as plain and nondescript looking as possible, and the weird hair was a compromise. Some doofy looking CG character would sure as hell defeat the purpose of that.

"Guess what guys! We're bringing Dragon Ball to life! ....but the main character will be CG." Might as well not even waste their time making it live action if they're doing some shit like that.

I knew people would get triggered by that comment.

Dragon Ball is extremely cartoony, so I would make the world heavily CG but with real people in it. Oolong, the giant fish, dinosaurs, big cats, animal people, ect would be all CG and would look like 3D versions of Toriyamas art. Bulma, Krillin, Yamcha, Ox King and Roshi would be live actors, but Goku and Pilaf would be CG. I'd also make Roshis exaggerated, cartoony nose bleed reactions CG. If you tried to turn it into full live action and make it look realistic it just wouldn't be Dragon Ball anymore.

Picture this Goku with live action Bulma searching for the Dragon Balls

That would looks absolutely stupid next to regular human actors.

Goku is supposed to be a regular looking kid with weird hair and a tail. Toriyama's intention was for Goku to look ordinary. A CGI character with cartoony features is NOT that. Like, what is this shit, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

Of course the cartoony elements of Dragon Ball are going to be lost when transporting it to live action - that's true of every fantasy work that's ever been adapted. The challenge is to adapt it to the real world in a reasonable way, and we have THRITY YEARS OF CINEMA that show that it's very much possible.

Your idea would not work in the slightest.

That's the thing about fans though, they want the characters to be 100% exactly like the source material in design, dialogue, with a plot that's follows beat for beat exactly like whatever the live movie is adapting.

Not every element of Dragonball will translate well into live action without changing things around to fit a realistic real world setting. That would require a lot of change in how characters looks behave and etc. Not to mention cutting down an entire manga arc to fit a 2 hour runtime which about the average length of a movie which means a lot of the original story would have to be cut up and stitched together. Or create an entirely new story and risk backlash.

Who cares what those loud, pedantic fans, think? If comic book movie directors were so beholden to the demands of Comic Book Guy we'd get a lot of nonsense. You have to compromise in a reasonable way, and ignore the vocal minority with unrealistic expectations and quite frankly have no clue what they're dealing with.

You think Marvel and every other studio that's pulled off good comic book movies were pressed about getting every single detail correct and worried about every corner of the fanbase? Of course not, and the moves were better for it. Stories are going to be altered, elemnts are going to change, a lot of stuff is going to be cut and clipped - that's why it's an adaptation. The crybabies who think every detail has to make it in have the original series at their disposal.

Pardon my Kunzait but some of you guys sound like you don't watch many movies.

[Hellspawn28]

I think it could work, but it would need to be heavily CG based. If I were making an origin Goku movie I'd actually make kid Goku full CG.g

Yeah, that sounds terrible.

It work with Alita because she's a cyborg. I feel like the characters in DB that would in CGI would be Majin Buu.

[jjgp1112]

I think it could work, but it would need to be heavily CG based. If I were making an origin Goku movie I'd actually make kid Goku full CG.g

Yeah, that sounds terrible.

It work with Alita because she's a cyborg. I feel like the characters in DB that would in CGI would be Majin Buu.

Right...Oolong, Majin Buu, etc...I'd expect them to be CG. But Goku not just as a CGI character but looking like he was literally imported from the cartoon? That's absolutely garbage.

[UpFromTheSkies]

Your idea would not work in the slightest.

Well that's your opinion, I think it would work

I think it could work, but it would need to be heavily CG based. If I were making an origin Goku movie I'd actually make kid Goku full CG.g

Yeah, that sounds terrible.

It work with Alita because she's a cyborg. I feel like the characters in DB that would in CGI would be Majin Buu.

Goku is an alien, it could work. I've never seen a Goku cosplay that wouldn't look stupid in a movie, I just don't feel he would translate well to a live actor.

[jjgp1112]

Your idea would not work in the slightest.

Well that's your opinion, I think it would work

Yeah, that sounds terrible.

It work with Alita because she's a cyborg. I feel like the characters in DB that would in CGI would be Majin Buu.

Goku is an alien, it could work. I've never seen a Goku cosplay that wouldn't look stupid in a movie, I just don't feel he would translate well to a live actor.

This is incredibly disingenuous. Goku's an alien that happens to look exactly like a human.

What exactly is the hangup, here? His hair? Then just change it to something reasonable. Problem solved. An obvious solution that would be figured out in step 1. Spiky hairstyles were popular with Japanese kids in the 2000s so have your pick of the litter from that.

Hell, Goku's hair was actually one of the few things Evolution did well.

[UpFromTheSkies]

Look at characters like Monster Carrot, Oolong, Turtle, Puar, Pilaf, Bear Thief ect. Dragon Ball is cartoony, going full realistic, live action would ruin it, it needs to be part CG with live actors like Alita, Detective Pikachu and Sonic.

[jjgp1112]

Look at characters like Rabbit Master, Oolong, Turtle, Puar, Pilaf, Bear Thief ect. Dragon Ball is cartoony, going full realistic, live action would ruin it, it needs to be part CG with live actors like Alita and Sonic.

Where did I say that Oolong, Turtle, etc shouldn't be CG? Obviously those type of characters would be, but in an art style that doesn't clash with the world they're present in. Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a disingenuous example because that's supposed to be an actual cartoon world breaking into the real world. The clash of cartoon and reality is the exact intention.

Look at any action movie since, I dunno, 1993 that's had CGI characters. They look like characters that are actually part of the world. Marvel has a talking Racoon, a big Green roided up guy, and a big Purple roided up guy and they still look "natural."

And again, stop flirting around the issue - why should GOKU have to be CGI, why would he have to look exactly like his animated self, and how would this not be arbitrary and not look stupid? Humor me.

[UpFromTheSkies]

Look at characters like Rabbit Master, Oolong, Turtle, Puar, Pilaf, Bear Thief ect. Dragon Ball is cartoony, going full realistic, live action would ruin it, it needs to be part CG with live actors like Alita and Sonic.

Where did I say that Oolong, Turtle, etc shouldn't be CG? Obviously those type of characters would be, but in an art style that doesn't clash with the world they're present in. Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a disingenuous example because that's supposed to be an actual cartoon world breaking into the real world. The clash of cartoon and reality is the exact intention.

Look at any action movie since, I dunno, 1993 that's had CGI characters. They look like characters that are actually part of the world. Marvel has a talking Racoon, a big Green roided up guy, and a big Purple roided up guy and they still look "natural."

And again, stop flirting around the issue - why should GOKU have to be CGI, why would he have to look exactly like his animated self, and how would this not be arbitrary and not look stupid? Humor me.

Because if they make him look like the manga character with the same hair it looks like anime convention cosplay, and if they go realistic like Evolution it doesn't look like Goku at all. Goku just doesn't translate well to live action.