While browsing through this entertaining little site yesterday, a thought suddenly occurred to me: are there any Japanese films in which anime characters and live-action characters interact?…
What I mean by a Japanese film that blends live-action and anime is not something like the random live-action scenes in The End of Evangelion. What I mean is something along the lines of films I liked when I was a kid, such as Space Jam, Rock-A-Doodle, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, as well as the more recent Enchanted and Looney Tunes: Back in Action – films that center around the live-action characters and the animated characters interacting with each other, and it’s acknowledged that the two are different from each other in those regards.
After thinking about these movies, I wondered “Why don’t we see any anime equivalents?” I mean, wouldn’t it be hilarious if they made a movie about a hapless otaku (live-action character) who suddenly gets pulled into the “anime world” and unwittingly joins Haruhi’s SOS Brigade, or another live-action character who happens to be a good musician and helps the K-ON! girls sharpen their skills while embarrassingly sipping tea with them? And I’m sure the kids would love a movie where a fellow real-life kid who’s a One Piece fan gets pulled into that world and goes on an adventure with Luffy and co. They could even milk Evangelion and Gundam a little more and bring in a live-action pilot or two among the animated ones and see how they handle the trauma. Or what about the opposite, where the anime characters go into the real “3-D” world? What if Naruto and pals have to pursue a nasty ninja who finds his way into our world, or otaku like Kirino and Konata suddenly appear in the real Akihabara and experience how much otaku in the live-action world adore them? I know there are many anime too grounded in realism or too focused on a linear narrative where such a gimmick for a story just wouldn’t fit in. But there are plenty where it would work as a refreshing and fun side-story.
So why haven’t any established anime series, especially the really popular ones, had a film where their characters interacted with live-action? To me it seems like a more effective means of wish-fulfillment, as children or anime otaku could easily project themselves onto a fellow live-action person as opposed to an animated character. The main reason I can think of for lack of this kind of film in Japan is actually something I touched on a bit in a post from a couple of years ago discussing how Japanese fans and American fans relate to anime in different ways. What I said of Japanese fans:
“It seems that most Japanese anime fans like to think of anime as alternate worlds, worlds that they can imagine as existing parallel to reality….Precisely because anime worlds are given their own history, politics, and/or fantastical attributes, the anime seems very realistic, and thus fans are more able to perceive the anime as an alternate reality instead of fantasy.”
The key is perceiving anime as an “alternate reality.” Fans like to think of anime worlds and characters as real within the boundaries of this alternate reality that’s totally separate from the real world. Merging the two together would break this image, as anime characters would then be seen as “cartoons” when placed directly alongside live-action, ruining many otakus’ vision of their favorite characters as transcending the limits of being cartoon characters. When interacting with live-action, anime would be seen just as it is – anime – rather than this alternate reality that real people shouldn’t physically step into. But I think there are many ways around this, such as something meta like “the great love that fans have for anime has allowed the anime worlds to physically exist for those who truly want to interact with them,” or something simple like “it was all just a dream” XD
There could be more reasons for lack of Japanese films that blend live-action with familiar anime characters, such as the relative lack of success of the Japanese live-action film industry, or the simple lack of desire for films like this in Japan.
Have there been any Japanese movies that blend anime and live-action in a similar fashion as Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and Space Jam? If not, do you think there’s any chance of one being made? Why or why not? I certainly would want to see a movie like that!
Like many have mentioned via Twitter, the mediums are far too diverging in style to work in a cohesive fashion. However, people forget that the history of such an idea goes far back. Observe: http://pinktentacle.com/2007/05/vintage-vampire-video-by-osamu-tezuka/
Even Tezuka tried his hand at it, and while it is far from perfect, it is an interesting way to illustrate the difference. And besides, the iconography of anime is vital to its own universe, and therefore lacks the vitality needed to work in a live action environment. Keep in mind that anime itself was once considered a substitute for live action, barring budgetary and effects constraints. Cost effective, and more expressive.
Thanks for the link (though the video has since been removed). The fact that anime is in some ways considered a substitute for live action, portraying anime as just anime in a movie would be jarring. Some also pointed out on Twitter that the frame rate of anime compared to Western animation is a factor, and I think it’s probably the biggest one.
I don’t think iconography would be a major hindrance, as iconography in Western cartoons blended with live-action makes amusing contrasts between the two, i.e., cartoon characters can disproportion their bodies when needed or take abuse in a slapstick fashion. Anime characters, at least in comedy series, are known for doing similar things. Unless you mean something else?
Huh, interesting. But, you’re right i haven’t seen any like that but i would love to or better yet to go into an anime myself (in my anime avatar of course). XD Well, bye then.
bye.
–End–
Since one of the things keeping such a film from working is the frame rate and overall style of anime looking awkward against live-action, a way around that could be a story where a live-action character is turned into an anime character or vice versa. That way, the two mediums are still being blended but they don’t have the issues that come with being on screen at the same time.
This is an intriguing idea but I don’t know how badly I want like to see it happen. I would like to see anime employed like it was in Kill Bill. I think there’s a lot of potential for creative live-action filmmakers to use anime (or any animation in general) in feature films. But I’m just not craving another Space Jam experience. Maybe something more psychedelic or abstract, instead. If only Satoshi Kon were still with us.
My friends in high school were into Kill Bill but I never had any desire to see it. I did hear that it had anime sequences in it, which is cool =) Maybe I’ll build up the motivation to check it out one day.
I have very fond memories of Space Jam so that’s probably why I want to see a similar story played out with my favorite anime characters XD Also I want to see a film like this because it would be extremely unique and something anime creators haven’t done before.
Like the idea, but it can get exploited.
While reading, this came into mind: anime + Inception.
Animation + Live Action has its origins in America, with the examples you’ve; Japan has tried imitating American film to some extent, but they’re still completely different.
Doesn’t mean I wouldn’t look forward to seeing Watanabe side by side with…L? =_=
Anime + Inception = Paprika?
When Inception first came out, there was a lot of talk about how it is a live action version of the movie Paprika. Having seen both, however, I can say that they are very distinct movies, with the only similarity being both movies traverse though dreams.
Films that blend live-action and animation go back a very long time, even before the 1950s I think. But I believe those films only had live-action and animation in the same movie separately and not onscreen together. Disney movies like Song of the South and Mary Poppins were probably the first to bring the actual blending of the two to life.
Since anime is practically a completely different medium than Western animation, I agree that Japan shouldn’t try and copy the Western way of doing the blended movies exactly – they can use the technological methods for making such a film, but with different themes and story/character developments more fitting for Japan.
BEST IDEA EVER.
LOL, I don’t know if it’s that great XD
Why do they need to exist? As far as I’m concerned, there’s no reason why such things should exist in Japan, because of differences in culture and such. Art for the Japanese is different than how we conceive of it, but aside from that, it’s important to note that manga precedes anime in pretty much every way. A lot of anime wouldn’t exist without manga, which are their own art form. To take that source material, then twist it into some live action/anime combination is probably seen as something close to sacrilege, nor would the manga artists like that in the first place.
Also consider the Western trends that led to the dabbling of animators in a blend of live action and animation in the first place. I’d argue that it is attributable in large part to the wave of dream analysis pioneered by Freud, though its roots in Western literature go back a ways. There was no real similar obsession in Japan, for obvious reasons.
Basically I’m just saying that the elements were and are in place for this idea in the Western world, while not so much in Japan.
To me, such a film wouldn’t be much different than the anime creators making their own filler stories, or ending a series differently than the manga. Many fans don’t like that of course, but they still do it. I think because such a blended movie has never been done before, it would attract a lot of attention (which I believe the creators want).
That’s a good point about the Freud thing, but considering that the Japanese are fascinated with many aspects of Western culture, it wouldn’t be too surprising if someone decided to make such a movie.
I just think a film like this would be fun and different, not necessarily a great idea XD
In my opinion, this wouldn’t exactly been a great idea. We’ve already bordered into this frontier with that Haruhi x Live Action chewing gum commercial,and already we can see the great gaps between the anime characters and the actors. They don’t mesh as well as that of Space Jam. Furthermore, there really wouldn’t be much of a purpose in exploring this. For one, the animation techniques of Space Jam are completely different from that in Japan. There wouldn’t be a point, economic-wise or story-wise in combining the two, and as much as it seems great, it’s nothing more than a pipe dream at the moment. Until we get a movie that requires such an innovation in Japanese animation and movie-making, we won’t see any plans soon.
That chewing gum commercial looked a little crude, but I think if enough budget was put into it, the animation and live action would look good together. The key is budget and motivation of course, and like you said, the movie-making techniques for something Space Jam-like haven’t been developed in Japan. But I don’t think it’s an impossible thing…just gotta keep on waiting =P
Hum… Very curious idea… Indeed… I’m still trying to imagine how that would fit, but I simply cannot.
The movies that have made that mix so far, are movies that incorporate very irrealistic cartoons, so it fits in the frame of what the movie tries to accomplish. But anime tries to reflect reality (up to a certain point), so trying to mix an anime character and a real character kind of doesn’t fit. Might as well make them both anime, or both real.
I guess I’m refering to the anime that incorporate human characters. I guess an anime with mascot-type characters would probably fit well with real time movies.
Hum… confusing. What I’m trying to say is that an anime that already tries to reflect life-like characters would not fit properly with real characters… Gosh, what I’m really trying to say is that for that mix to work, they have to be as different as they can from each other. Anime characters, and real characters already share many similarities (anime is designed that way), so a mix would not mix well.
That’s my personal opinion only, and I guess I never even thought about this because the mix just does not fit in my head :P
I get what you’re saying, but I still say anime characters look different enough from real people to make it work. The anatomy is similar but the eyes, the hair, the clothes – way different, not to mention personalities and superpowers. Anime characters don’t have the comedic, hyperbolic cartoon slapsticks that we see in Space Jam, but many come close, and such a thing wouldn’t be necessary to incorporate in the film. But yeah, until we see it, it is a hard mix to imagine.
Hehe, I guess I wrote a lot and still was not able to express what I wanted to say properly :S
What I mean is that anime tries to come so close to reality, that it can actually be acted out.
You could grab Haruhi for example, and pop real-life actors on it, and film it in a real school, and it would come out pretty close to the short novels or anime. But you cannot grab something like bugs bunny, and slap real-life actors into it, and expect it to come even close.
I guess what I really, really, really, wanted to say (but still failed to), is that anime and real-life acted movies are so close, that you could actually interchange them, and lose very little. You could make an anime version of Matrix for example, and it would be pretty close to the matrix movies. Or make a real life version of Evangelion, and be pretty close as well (as long as the plot is not changed). So they are so close that mixing, or changing them would not make sense… In a sense… Ugh… Ok, I guess I’m having a hard time explaining this one :D
I had never given this any thought, but considering Who Framed Roger Rabbit is one of my favorite movies…well, suffice it to say, now that you’ve mentioned it, I would absolutely LOVE to see something that blended anime with the real world. It would be brilliant.
Glad to find someone else who would love to see such a movie as just about everyone else doesn’t want to. Maybe my yearning to see it has to do with being an overall animation fan as opposed to just an anime fan.
Funny…
I recently rewatched Who Framed Rodger Rabbit the other day for the first time in ages, and was thinking the exact same thing. I’m also surprised the Japanese haven’t really attempted to do such a thing, but like you said its probably the whole alternate reality thing/lack of interest. Kinda sad really, as I would really like to see a Japanese take on the idea.
The TV series Trapeze (/Kuuchuu Buranko) that came out a couple of years ago mixed live action and anime characters. Mind Game might also count.