The most popular and iconic anime shows tend to stay within their medium for a good reason. Certain dialogue, storytelling techniques, and even emotional weight can only be achieved through anime. That isn't to say live-action anime adaptations are not good, it just so happens that they're more difficult to pull off successfully.
Hence, for every decent or good live-action anime adaptation, there's bound to be some bad ones that didn't do justice. Both Hollywood and Japanese live-action cinema are guilty of the latter. So to save you the trouble, here are the five must-watch live-action anime adaptations and the five fans ought to avoid and just stick to the source material.
Updated on October 11th, 2021 by Claris Lam: With there being so many live-action adaptations of anime, we felt that we could expand the original list to include three more positive and two more negative examples of how to (and how not to) bring anime into live action.
15 BEST: DETECTIVE PIKACHU
Detective Pikachu is a film based on the Pokémon game and anime of the same name. After Tim finds out that his father Harry mysteriously died in an accident, he meets a talking Pikachu who was Harry's partner. Chaos ensues as Tim and Pikachu work together to try to investigate Harry's supposed death and end up uncovering a much more sinister plot involving Mewtwo and possessing Pokémon with the help of dangerous technology.
Despite how dark the movie was with the latter elements and surprise from fans and critics over Ryan Reynolds being cast as Pikachu, it was extremely popular when it was released.
14 WORST: SCHOOL-LIVE!
Despite its popularity as an anime, the live-action adaptation of School-Live! was largely criticized for being boring and for lacking good pacing throughout the entire film despite covering a zombie apocalypse.
Other criticisms for the film adaptation included an unoriginal screenplay, inconsistent tone, bad special effects, underdeveloped characters, and the overall plot. Even the star power of casting the idol group Last Idol could not save this film from how bad it was, much to the disappointment of viewers and critics alike.
13 BEST: ACE ATTORNEY
Much to the surprise and joy of Ace Attorney fans, a live-action film adaptation was released in 2012. This adaptation covered Phoenix Wright taking on several cases after winning his first case, including a case where Miles Edgeworth was accused of murdering the attorney Roger Hammond.
The film itself received generally favorable reviews from critics with praise for the acting from the cast, being engaging enough for both seasoned fans and new viewers to enjoy and understand. Fans also enjoyed how the film managed to make the storylines of the cases covered in the movie concise.
12 WORST: Fullmetal Alchemist
A live-action film adaptation of Fullmetal Alchemist was released in 2017, but it disappointed both fans and critics alike. Since the film only adapted the first four volumes of the storyline, including covering Tucker making a chimera out of his own dog and daughter, it made for a good entry for new fans.
However, many of the events from the first four volumes covered in the film felt overly compressed to fans, and the characters often came and went with little development at all. It was financially successful, however, enough to warrant a sequel currently being in the works.
11 BEST: RUROUNI KENSHIN
Being set in a realistic time period of human history, it wouldn't be too hard to make a live-action version of Rurouni Kenshin. It was a huge part of most anime fans' childhood and even hinted at them some Meiji period history lessons.
Whether it was easy or not for the filmmakers of the live-action movie doesn't matter much as Rurouni Kenshin was considered a successful adaptation. Both the fans and the critics praise the film for being faithful enough while still having enough nuance to warrant the live-action version. Of course, the action is a good mix between over-the-top anime acrobatics and real-life limitations.
10 WORST: DEATH NOTE (NETFLIX VERSION)
No amount of Willem Dafoe could have saved this utter Netflix adaptation. In fact, he was one of the few redeeming aspects of the movie but it was just so...dead (no pun intended) to begin with, that it had no chance at all.
Not only did it change the storyline and the execution drastically but it also tried to turn the supposed antagonist-protagonist (Light) into an angsty coming-of-age American movie teenager. The whole thing felt more like a bootleg version of Final Destination.
9 BEST: DEATH NOTE (ORIGINAL JAPANESE VERSION)
Luckily, the Japanese have already made their own live-action Death Note that can easily wash off the terrible taste that the Netflix version left on everyone's palate. The Japanese version was not only faithful to the anime and manga storyline but also to the character appearances and behaviors.
More than that, it felt like a true horror movie much like how Death Note was a horror anime half the time on top of being a suspense and crime show. This puts the Japanese live-action Death Note leagues above its American counterpart.
8 WORST: ATTACK ON TITAN
Certain anime or manga ideas are simply too big and ambitious for live-action to successfully recreate. An example of this would be Attack on Titan, the live-action movie. While it was made in Japan and with Japanese actors (instead of German, oddly enough), it was still critically panned.
The CGI was decent but the whole thing felt like a green screen charade. Moreover, the casting choice was a little odd since the source material made it clear that Mikasa Ackerman was the only character of Asian descent, almost everyone else had European names or even appearances.
7 BEST: ALITA - BATTLE ANGEL
Now here's a Hollywood adaptation that actually deserved praise. Alita: Battle Angel might not have been a unanimously good film for critics but the audience and the fans of the source material love it.
One reason why is thanks to how it remained true to the storyline of the anime movie it recreated. Almost everything from the scenery to Alita's character design which somehow worked, 3D anime eyes and all.
6 WORST: DEVILMAN
Apparently, the live-action adaptation of Devilman Crybaby was so bad, it became the worst of the worst when it came to Japanese films in an annual poll. That says much about how it failed despite being made in Japan.
Devilman, the adaptation in question, had subpar acting, cheap production values, and bad CGI at the time where The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars were trading blows. Some even consider Devilman as the worst live-action adaptation of all time, period.
5 BEST: BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL
Surprisingly enough, Netflix does stream a good live-action anime adaptation to balance out how awful Death Note was. That said adaptation is Blade of the Immortal, based on the anime of the same name back.
It's about a samurai named Manji who was supposed to die several decades ago in battle, only to be given immortality by a witch. After wandering for years without purpose, he meets a woman named Rin and helps her exact vengeance against a common enemy. It's a brutal and bloody adaptation that also pays homages to old samurai movies.
4 WORST: GHOST IN THE SHELL
Sadly, Alita would be the only female anime protagonist in Japan that made it big in America. Motoko Kusanagi from Ghost in the Shell, despite being played by Scarlett Johanson in the live-action movie, wasn't given much justice at all.
While it's a decent movie on its own, it simply pales in comparison to the artistry, framing, atmosphere, and philosophical themes permeated by the original Ghost in the Shell movie. Even the music was the standard Hollywood techno-beats instead of something classier.
3 BEST: OLDBOY
Technically, Oldboy had no anime and the source material was only a manga; still, anime is usually just manga in motion, anyway. Oldboy is just too good of an adaptation to not make the cut. It's one of the best and most shocking Korean films to date.
Oldboy follows the story of a man who got kidnapped and imprisoned for several years, coming out only when he's nearly unhinged, though he still seeks revenge. What follows is an outlandish rich man's vengeance scheme that relentlessly and diabolically unfolds.
2 WORST: DRAGON BALL EVOLUTION
Last and certainly the least, Dragon Ball Evolution-- three words that would make any Dragon Ball fan grimace in disgust. It was Hollywood's take on the legendary Dragon Ball saga.
One doesn't even have to watch the movie in order to see what's wrong with the whole damn thing. Just seeing the trailers or posters ought to be enough of a warning sign to stay away from this live-action adaptation.
1 BEST: ASSASSINATION CLASSROOM
A film adaptation of Assassination Classroom entitled Assassination Classroom: Graduation was favorably received by fans. This film covered not just some of the many assassination attempts featured in the series, but also covered Koro-Sensei's backstory and his bond with the students. Though the film ultimately gave major spoilers to new fans of the franchise, they still enjoyed watching it regardless. Unfortunately for North American and international fans, however, this film was only released in Japan in 2016.