Going Live

In 2016, Kimi no Na wa, or Your Name in English, premiered in theaters across Japan. Written and directed by Makoto Shinkai, this animated film follows Mitsuha, a girl from the Japanese countryside, Taki, a boy from Tokyo, and their unusual case of swapping bodies at random. It won multiple awards, which you can check out on its IMDB page (trust me, there are a lot).

I got to watch this film a year later for its American screening. Saying it blew me away would be a grave understatement. Your Name hit every note I look for in a good story. The animation was gorgeous. Everything was tied together and enhanced by a beautiful music score by Radwimps and compelling sound design. The best part was Shinkai’s brilliant use of tension and release. That movie took me on such a wild ride that I was left in an emotional funk for days. Four years later, I’m finally at a point where I can listen to the soundtrack without dredging up those first-watch feelings. It is, to date, my favorite film of all time.

Now, imagine my initial reaction when I heard that JJ Abrams had purchased the rights to make a live action remake of this masterpiece.

(spoiler alert: it wasn’t positive)

This isn’t the first time Hollywood has attempted to make live action remakes of animated films and franchises. Disney has had a whole slew of live action adaptations of their classic properties recently. This play on nostalgia, while a blatant cash grab, has had some mixed success. On the one hand, you have those who critically compare it to the original. On the other hand, there are those who like the updated classics.

For those who need an example of a bad adaptation, look no further than M. Night Shyamalan’s take on Avatar: The Last Airbender.

The entire movie was littered with poor choices. Character names were mispronounced. Special effects were lacking in quality. They tried to stuff the entire first season into a single movie. Even the characters’ races were terribly off. The original series had a wide range of races, but instead of working with that, they white-washed the lead characters and turned the Fire Nation (which had Japanese nuances) into Indians. White leads against a dark skinned antagonist? Not a good idea, Hollywood…A couple of my friends nearly got casted to play Sokka and Katara. Thankfully, they didn’t get those roles. Much of what went wrong in this adaptation was due to a sheer lack of understanding the source material and cramming too much into too little a time slot.

Granted, there are some live action adaptations that did work. Amongst Disney’s batch of remakes, The Jungle Book actually turned out pretty well. The 2016 remake hit a lot of the same notes as the 1967 original, while enhancing the story further. Baloo was still a laid back bear, but his new version had a bit of mischievous cunning. Mogli’s wolf family had much more presence and importance. We got to see how and why Mogli was abandoned in the jungle. Shere Khan, now voiced by Idris Elba, also became more involved, and, therefore, a more terrifying antagonist.

Another factor that may have benefited The Jungle Book remake was the amount of time between the remake and the original. 49 years is a sizable enough span for those who saw the original as kids and then watched the new one as adults. The Last Airbender did not have as much time to marinate before its live action release, so the die-hard fans of the series had much to say about its changes and shortcomings.

Both of these movies, however, had at least one thing going for them: they followed the general flow of their originals. The Last Airbender, though packed so tightly it lost much of its luster, kept to the timeline of the first season. The Jungle Book had a much more noticeable divergence, but it still kept the main plot points and presented a compelling story. Again, its additions enhanced the original.

Then, there are live action adaptations that are so far off, they look almost nothing like their source material. Case in point: Dragonball Evolution.

The original Dragon Ball series follows Goku, an alien martial artist who wants nothing more than food and fighting strong opponents. Originally published in 1984, this hallmark series influenced millions around the world. Even those unfamiliar with anime would at least recognize the classic stance for powering up the Kamehameha Wave.

Dragonball Evolution, however, captured NONE of the original’s essence. It used characters’ names and the world’s terminology, but encapsulated almost none of their qualities. Goku went from being a happy-go-lucky fighter to an edgy high schooler, and not even a Super Saiyan high schooler. The world’s lore was changed, too, in so many ways I can’t even list them all without getting convoluted. Krillin, Goku’s best friend and major source of comedic relief, wasn’t even in the movie. It felt like the creators just borrowed the names for the notoriety and made up the rest. Coupled with bad acting and subpar special effects, and many fans were left enraged.

Now, we return to where we began: the Your Name live action.

It was announced around 2017 that Abrams and Bad Robot had bought the rights to produce a live action remake. I vaguely remember hearing about it and, at the time, dismissed it at some sort of “what if” rumor. Turns out it was an actual thing. According to this article on Japan Today, not only is the live action a go, it’s being written with a “Western take.” Furthermore,Your Name from an American perspective seems to be requested by some of the rights holders.

What about Shinkai, the director of the original? Apparently, he’s completely fine with it. He quickly moved on to his next project, Weathering With You, and implied that while he’s curious about what a live action would look like, he’s not all that interested in it. Not quite a sign of dissatisfaction, but not quite a “go with my blessing,” either.

There hadn’t been much news on the project since then. So little, in fact, it completely slipped my mind. Then, as I was browsing online, this short article on Hypebeast showed up on my feed a few weeks ago. Apparently, the second director they hired for the Your Name live action had left the project and the studios were working to find another one.

Remember how I mentioned that they wanted to give it a Western perspective? The third paragraph in this news blurb, the one that really caught my attention, described just how they planned to Westernize it:

“Previous reports have stated that Your Name will have a ‘Western viewpoint’ and will replace the original plot of a boy and girl living in Tokyo and Gifu to a boy from Chicago and a Native American girl in a rural town.”

Needless to say, my response to that news was vehement, if not downright livid. I understood wanting a “Western perspective” on the story, but changing the nationalities of the characters? We already saw how well that went in The Last Airbender. Don’t get me wrong, more Native American representation in film is a welcome change, but in a clearly Japanese story? That’s just taking one non-white group and replacing it with another one. Now, we could go off on how turning Taki’s character into a “boy from Chicago” means Hollywood is white-washing protagonists again, but because they’ve only said his location and not race, there’s still hope on that front.

One of my anime friends pointed out to me that this would be a way to get non-anime watchers interested in Your Name, make anime more “marketable” in the West. Granted, he said this very tongue-in-cheek, but it is a valid point. Anime was a very niche genre when I was growing up. Very few people were into it, and those who were often got ridiculed. Drawing more people in would create new interests and connections.

Taking into account what I’ve looked up, listening to what my friend said, and giving myself enough time to simmer down, I’ve come to the conclusion that…

Yeah, I’m still not in favor of this.

Your Name left a significant impact on me. When it comes to storytelling dynamics, it’s the kind of narrative I strive to emulate. I want to elicit in my readers the same reactions I felt in that movie.

My personal feelings aside, this “Western” remake, if it’s really what they’re going for, just seems lazy and made for the bandwagon. Abrams felt inspired by the film and raced to procure the filming rights first. Cool. I get that. Just don’t change the setting or the characters. Make Your Name for what it is. Look for ways to enhance the story, the way The Jungle Book did. If you’re dead set on writing a story about a Chicago boy and a Native American girl that swap bodies, then fine. Do it. However, do not use the title Your Name just because of the brand notoriety. Make it your own story. There are plenty of people who felt inspired by certain works and wrote their own versions from different angles, settings, or character perspectives. Doing so paid homage to their inspirations while retaining their own unique identity.

One of my college professors had a unique line about the Hollywood business model that I’ve often repeated: “It’s called show business, not show creativity.” Harsh, yes, but looking at what these reports are saying, the Your Name live action remake is definitely on the business side, not the creative. My hope is that, if they ever do find a third director for the project, they do the original justice. Either make a direct, true-to-source-material live action, or create an original story that was inspired by another work.

For everyone else, please go watch the original Your Name. Even if you can’t watch with subtitles, the English Dub did an excellent job and doesn’t detract from the experience. It would take a miracle for me to get behind the live action remake, but it wouldn’t be the first time life’s thrown a plot twist in my direction.