Anime Movies That Could be Made

The Movie:

“Death Note” has already been made into not one, but TWO hit live action movies in Japan, both of which will be released in America by VIZ Media. So it wouldn't be a surprise if Hollywood were to do an Americanized remake, given its recent habit of doing such. There is, of course, too much of the original story to cram into one movie, so perhaps a short series of films would work, chronicling different acts of the story from Light's discovery of the Death Note and L's involvement and so forth. Main characters Light and L would most likely be cast by unknowns, a trick that more than often works, while the shinigami, in particularly Light's guide Ryuk, would be done using motion capture CGI in the same vein as Gollum or the Silver Surfer. As for a director, a Japanese one would work, but perhaps one who is experienced in doing suspenseful, psychological cat-and-mouse thrillers would be best, such as David Finch of “Seven” fame.

GUYVER

The Anime:

While walking through the woods one day, teenager Sho Fukamachi discovers the Guyver unit, an alien bio-booster armor that bonds with him and grants him extraordinary weapons and abilities. Now Sho must use those powers to protect himself and his friends from the Chronos Corporation, who will stop at nothing to get the Guyver back and use it in their plans to take over the world using their genetic creations, the Zoanoids. The original twelve-part OAV series helped launch the anime invasion, and it recently got new life by being made into a new TV series.

The Movie:

“The Guyver” was made into a live-action, direct-to-video film back in the "90s that most anime purists avoid but still has a cult following, enough to get a sequel that sported improved special effects and action. And given Hollywood"s knack for rebooting franchises that desperately needed it, it wouldn't be a stretch to start fresh with “Guyver” and create a film that stayed closer to the original story. Both CGI and old-fashioned prosthetics would help bring both the Guyver and the Zoanoids (which would resemble more their anime counterparts rather than the goofy-looking anime hybrids of the previous films) to life in a way that would both amaze and frighten audiences. Special effects whiz Rick Baker would be the best choice for this, having proved his talents in such films as “The Thing” and “Men in Black”. For the director, who better than Guillermo del Toro, who fought long and hard to make sure “Hellboy” stayed true to the original comic and would do the same for “Guyver”, and has a knack for films that feature freaky and fantastic monsters?

READ OR DIE

The Anime:

Substitute teacher and book fanatic Yomiko Readman is more than she appears. She's also an agent for the Special Operations Division of the British Library, whose job it is to protect literacy and to make sure certain books don't fall into the wrong hands. Codenamed the Paper, Yomiko uses her ability to manipulate paper into any shape she wants to battle terrorists alongside Nancy Makuhari, aka “Miss Deep” for her ability to move through solid objects, and tough-as-nails commando Drake Anderson. The group fought against clones of famous historical figures such as Beethoven and Matta Hari in the original OAV, while a spin-off TV series featured the Paper Sisters, a group of girls with powers similar to Yoriko.

The Movie:

It would be “James Bond meets the X-Men” in a live action version of this popular title. The plot would be rather simple, more or less adapting the OAV in the plot of using a rare book that has plans to conquer/destroy the world, but maybe leaving out the ideas of historical clones. The movies could also adapt the original light novels written by Hideyuki Kurata, perhaps even Yomiko's first mission when she's recruited by the British Library Special Ops Division. Naturally, CGI would be used for Yomiko's paper manipulating abilities, from either simple flocks of birds to paper airplanes the size of an F-18. With such crazy action and effects, this sounds like something the Wachowski Brothers could do following “Speed Racer”. Casting would be tricky (especially for the part of Yomiko, as we'd need an actress who's both cute and kinda mousy), but the part of Drake could be done by Dolph Lundgren, who has more than enough experience playing bad-ass soldier types and could get his career a jumpstart with the role.

BLACK LAGOON

The Anime:

When average joe salaryman Rokuro Okajima heads to the city of Roanapur in Thailand to deliver a disk for his company, he ends up kidnapped by members of the mercenary group known as Lagoon Company, who are after the disk as part of a job. When his boss abandons him to cover up the company's criminal activities, Rokuro (nicknamed “Rock”) joins Lagoon Company, proving himself as a translator and negotiator. Of course, he's still a bit overwhelmed by the fights the group gets into all the time and the methods used by Revy, the sexy but deadly muscle of Lagoon Company. A recent hit from Studio Madhouse (“Hellsing Ultimate”) with plenty of action and gunplay that made it a fan favorite in America.