Top 20 Live Action Anime Adaptations No One Asked For

Despite the name, this is most certainly not the first chapter of “JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure.” See, for some incomprehensible reason, this live-action film decided to skip the first three arcs of the series entirely. It’s not exactly the “JoJo’s” movie fans had in mind, that’s for sure. The producers claim “Diamond is Unbreakable” was chosen because it’s one of the most beloved parts of the series. But, in reality, they probably just wanted to capitalize on the newest season of the anime. For what it’s worth, this isn’t the most offensive adaptation out there. And yet, it’s hard not to imagine how much better it could’ve been if they’d actually started this story at the beginning.

Hollywood just never learns. Not even a year after “Your Name” became the must-see film of 2016, American producers got to work commissioning a live-action remake. The fact that they tried to push it out so soon after the original just reeks of a cash-grab. Especially since, if history is any indication, it won’t be as good, anyways. Last we heard of the project, they were planning on completely americanizing the story, characters, and setting. Although, it’s been through so many writers and directors that, at this point, there’s no telling if that’s even true anymore. All fans know for sure is that remaking “Your Name” is a pretty bad idea.

There weren’t any anime fans to object to this live-action film because, well, the anime hadn’t come out yet. The “Zom 100” movie was commissioned in 2022, a full year before the anime even began. And yet, of all the months to choose from, the feature-length film dropped in August of 2023. AKA, right inbetween the fourth and fifth episodes of the anime. While the movie makes a few changes to the source material, it still doesn’t make any sense to release competing versions of the same story, with the same name, at the exact same time. The real question here is, who was the live-action film even made for?

When Saint Seiya was rereleased on Netflix, the got rid of this Americanized title. For whatever reason, this movie adaptation chose to go back to said name. But at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter to fans as they simply weren’t interested in seeing more of what the trailer showed.
They said as much with their wallets, and “Knights of the Zodiac” went down as an embarrassing box-office bomb. If they’d put as much care into the marketing as they did the special effects, this could’ve been something great.

What’s the opposite of meet-cute? The answer is the live-action remake of “Kaguya-sama: Love is War.” The movie is supposed to be a romance, but it comes across as a bumbling, cringey mess instead. On its own, it’d be a disappointing movie. But, its flaws are all the more apparent since it came out the exact same year as the fantastic anime adaptation. The film series tried to course-correct with its sequel, but all it did was further prove why the anime is superior. After all, there’s genuinely no reason to watch the films when the show is better, longer, and much more faithful to the manga.

Most fans approach anime adaptations with caution, and movies like this are exactly why. As it turns out, this isn’t the “Attack on Titan” you know. Instead, it plays more like a bad book report written by someone who only read the blurb. Iconic moments are replicated, butchered, and promptly tossed aside in a never-ending cycle of disappointment. But, at least they included those in the movie at all. That’s more than we can say for Reiner, Bertholdt, Erwin, Annie, and Levi. Look, it’s safe to say no one wanted a live-action “Attack on Titan” movie to start with. But, this is more than just a bad adaptation. It’s just a bad movie, full stop.

A joke is never as funny the second time around, and unfortunately, it took a full-length feature-film for “Daily Lives” to learn that. The movie tried its very best to recapture the fast-paced charm of the original series. In fact, it tried so hard, it lost the easy-going spirit that made “Daily Lives of High School Boys” worth a watch in the first place. Without the heartfelt storytelling, all you’re left with is a lackluster teen comedy that thinks it’s much funnier than it really is. Ironically, that tonal tightrope is precisely why most fans rejected the idea of a movie in the first place.

On paper, it’s easy to see why some viewers thought this series should stay an anime. To set the stage, “Riki-Oh” is a bit of a weird story, and has plenty of blood-splattering violence, too. The kind that most studios would censor in a heartbeat. And yet, against all odds, this feature-film did its source material justice. Sure, the story is the same and all, but the real star is the absurdly over-the-top violence. At a certain point, the fight scenes become so ludicrously awesome, you can’t help but laugh along. Served up with a massive side of that classic 90s cheesiness, and it’s no surprise “Riki-Oh” is a generational cult hit.

When they say this movie is “loosely based” on the anime, they aren’t joking. Rather than a sci-fi drama about a man learning to control his symbiotic abilities, these live-action flicks went full-camp. And, honestly, they’re not half-bad. Granted, anyone who wanted the dark, existential themes of the original should look elsewhere. But, on its own merits, “The Guyver” and its sequel, “Guyver: Dark Hero,” have just enough silly humor to keep you watching to the credits. Still, that doesn’t make them good adaptations by any stretch of the word. As entertaining as they are, we wouldn’t mind a more respectful “Guyver” film one of these days.

First impressions can be tough, and when fans initially got a look at Korosensei in live-action, they were right to worry. His uncanny 3D render seemingly proved what many had said all along: “Assassination Classroom” doesn’t work outside of drawings. But, then, the movie came out, and it was actually pretty good. Somehow, it put everything fans loved about the series into a tight, two hour package. Korosensei didn’t look as bad in motion, either. This movie had just about everything going against it, but in the end, we’d wager fans were happy to be proven wrong. They supported it enough to get a sequel, and that’s a victory in itself.

It’s hard not to feel like this show was doomed from the start. “Cowboy Bebop” is one of the anime’s most beloved properties, and nothing a bloated, live-action series could do would live up to that. As such, this 2021 remake tried to put some new spins on the formula, only for it to backfire spectacularly. The nonsensical story changes alienated hardcore fans, and muddled the canon for new ones. The end result was a version of “Cowboy Bebop” that no one wanted. To prove it, the series didn’t even last three weeks before Netflix canceled it for good. Given how much backlash it went through, that might’ve been a mercy.

Even if this adaptation of the cyberpunk masterpiece had managed to succeed on every level (which it most certainly didn’t) it was always going to catch flak for the controversial casting of Scarlet Johansson as Major Kusanagi. This was the straw that broke the camel’s back as far the mainstream media’s attention surrounding Hollywood’s whitewashing controversy. The original is such a beloved classic, and while we can appreciate the live-action’s homages, the fact they tried to fix up the race issue in the most idiotic way possible didn’t help change opinions.

Their first mistake was thinking they could duplicate the adorableness that is Mob, the second was believing that a series with borderline mind-melting action sequences could be translated into a live-action series with equal success. To nobody’s surprise, the whole thing turned out to be yet another stain on the Netflix anime adaptation train. Besides, the actors look way too old for their respective roles and the special effects are laughable by comparison. We wouldn’t be surprised if the whole thing was one of Reigen’s scams.

Here’s the thing, when it was first announced that the once great shounen series would be hitting the big screen, it was met by a resounding middle finger from fans who didn’t want to see Ichigo get dragged through the mud like other anime adaptations. As it turns out, the adaption…wasn’t half bad. Alas, for all of it’s surprising charm, it totally bombed at the Japanese box office, further cementing that there wasn’t any demand for a live-action version to begin with. By this point it’s like beating a dead horse with a zanpakuto.

For those of you that are still worried that the upcoming live-action Gundam film is going to be a heaping pile of space-shit, have a little faith. After all, there’s no way that they could drop the bar any lower than they did with this little abomination. This standalone entry somehow manages to get everything wrong about the franchise, the most egregious aspect being the Mobile Suits themselves. If you think you’ve seen terrible special effects before, then just you wait until you see these bad boys. Let’s hope Sunrise have learned their lesson…

When Samuel L. Jackson can’t even make your film even somewhat decent, then you know you done goofed up. The original Kite wasn’t anything special, in fact it contained a whole assortment of sex and death scenes way too hardcore for the average movie going public. Desperately trying to catch up by throwing as much gore at the screen as it can get away with, the live-action adaptation nonetheless feels that a watered-down version that tries way too hard to be edgy, all held together with shoddy camerawork and even shoddier plot. Honestly, you’re better off watching hentai.

We’re not sure there’s been a film that earned the scorn of the anime community even before it hit screens quite like this one. Like a swarm of sharks, fans of the original occult detective gem proceeded to maul this adaptation every step of the way, from the Americanisation of the cast, the character of Light acting as little as Light as possible, plus the numerous plot holes it had dug for itself. We can sympathize with it due to how much hate it received, but its own poor storytelling did little to help remedy matters. At least Willem Dafoe as Ryuk was awesome.

It’s amazing how this film has somehow only gotten worse over the years, with fans still debating whether or not it truly is the most abysmal anime adaptation of all time. It’s as if the filmmakers learned everything about Dragon Ball from a WatchMojo video; nothing except the names and minor visuals references in order to keep up the appearance of being faithful to the source material. When Dragon Ball fans were asking for a continuation of the series that wasn’t GT, this was the last thing they had in mind.

Some despise it with every fibre of their being, others regard it as a modern classic that is grossly misunderstood by the masses. Either way, we have no idea what prompted the Wachowski siblings to take one of anime’s golden oldies and translate it into a neon fever dream of a flick. Unless you’re a die-hard fan of the original, the weirdness of the Racer family and all the little nods to the show will go over your head, while those that were familiar with the property were just left asking…why?

James Cameron knows his way around a killer robot. Robert Rodriguez is a proven lover of green screens. It seemed obvious that they would be drawn to something like Battle Angel Alita, yet we still couldn’t believe that it was actually being made. Despite a star-studded cast; the violence, dystopian themes and mature content it had a hard time performing in the box office - and yes, we can’t talk about this film without mentioning…the eyes. Regardless of whether this film was a good idea or not, we’re kinda grateful they made it despite the fact nobody wanted it!


We know there’s a lot to choose from, but what’s the worst live-action anime you’ve ever seen? Share your pain down in the comments below.