Some viewers may not know this – but Attack on Titan actually has two 2015 live action films included in its franchise. The films are quite controversial among fans because they make major changes to the established plot in the manga, making it seem almost like an entirely different story.
There are a few aspects of the hit series that the 2015 movies handle well, but many watchers could not help but focus on the areas in which the films fall flat. Most fans take issue with the substantial adjustments the films made to the series’ lore, deviating from the familiar story that follows a boy named Eren who devotes himself to fighting against the Titans who are terrorizing humanity.
Fans Were Amazed by the Films’ Terrifying Titans but Frustrated by Changes to the Story
The 2015 Movies Completely Reimagined the Established Plot of the Series, Changing Almost Every Detail
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Reddit user ArifYangArif compiled a detailed post breaking down the plot and memorable details of the Attack on Titan live action films that split the story into two parts: Attack on Titan Part 1 and Attack on Titan Part 2: End of the World. One piece of praise that many fans have offered the movies is that the live action format makes the Titans more terrifying than ever before. Watching these films makes it a lot easier to picture the horrifying beasts in a real world environment, towering over actual human beings and not just animated characters on a screen.
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Aside from these occasional compliments on the animation of the Titans though, critique of the Attack on Titan movies seems to be more common among watchers. These films take Ymir Fritz out of the story, imagining a completely new scenario in which the Titans were invented on purpose by humans, not by accident by Ymir. In these movies, the Titans are used as weapons by China, who designed only two types: Wraith Titans and Yeager Titans. This detail not only leaves out the main series’ nine varieties of Titans, but completely changes the overall plot of the story.
Some Live Action Anime Adaptations Work Well, but the Attack on Titan Films Did Not
Ultimately, the Movies Failed To Capture the Emotion and Drama of the Attack on Titan Anime and Manga
Custom image by Yailin Chacon
In the Attack on Titan live action movies, Titans are a man-made biological weapon, not a curse humanity has been fighting to escape from for centuries like they are in the manga and anime. A handful of details are loosely similar to the original, and some iconic manga scenes are depicted in the film, such as Grisha, Eren’s father injecting his son with the Titan serum that transformed him. Overall though, the movies deviated from the canon story too much for fans’ comfort, and they are largely looked upon as dissatisfying projects that do not hold a candle to the anime.
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Sometimes, anime can translate well to live action, proven by well-received series like Netflix’s adaptations of One Piece and Alice in Borderland, to name a few. These recreations are risky for studios to make, because they either delight fans with a creative new twist on a story they already love or disappoint them by not living up to the original source media. In the case of the Attack on Titan live action films, viewers were less than impressed, but since Attack on Titan is such a beloved anime classic, perhaps it is time for another real-life adaptation to take a shot at retelling the popular story.
Source: Reddit