I just found this article:
http://www.japantoday.com/category/entertainment/view/live-action-attack-on-titan-writer-talks-about-changes-from-anime-with-one-demanded-by-creator and their reason for not having Levi in the live action movie is the stupidest thing I've ever seen. Seriously. Let's put it this way: fans who whatch the movie and are disappointed and confused because one of their favourite characters is gone? tons. Fans who watch the movie and think Levi shouldn't be in it because Japanese language doesn't have a V? Zero.
To "highlight" some of the most remarkable points:
"Given the franchise’s European-inspired setting,
Somewhat debatable, but ok.
[...]many fans in the international community expressed dismay at the idea of Japanese actors portraying ostensibly western characters in the live-action film. It turns out many fans in Japan felt the same way, and let their sentiment be known early in the movie’s development."
This is comprehensible, but what are you gonna do? Find the right actors from other countries, and have them speak Japanese?
Or - even worse - maybe dub the whole thing?
Let's face it, Attack on Titan is not the first manga/anime to have characters and settings that aren't Japanese-related, I don't know why the subsequent live-action adaptations should diverge from that, that's how they do things. Seriously, when has this ever been a problem before? Plus, we know very well how the Japanese are dedicated, it's not just their voices, but their overall acting and dedication to their work. They know this stuff, man, mangas and animes and such, and can really get into it.
I wouldn't mind if they did an adaptation like that, say with German actors (or German-looking), speaking in german and whatnot, but it would lose a lot, I think, if it didn't retain the "original", Japanese language.
ALTHOUGH, I must say, German could be a very nice fit.
Anyone know if there's a German dub, or translated chapters in German?
Taking that into consideration, Machiyama and Higuchi decided the only solution was for their film to take place in an entirely different world than that of the anime and manga.
Lol, that is some good decision making right there.
This is also where most people can stop reading the article.
For a time, Machiyama considered giving everyone in the movie Japanese names, but in the end decided to leave the principal characters’ monikers as they are in the anime,
Sorry, that doesn't make up for creating new characters and giving them other names.
Early on, Machiyama was considering making Levi, by far Attack on Titan’s most popular character, the movie’s central figure. He says the idea was dropped, though, since the letter V, nonexistent in Japanese, and in Machiyama’s opinion rare throughout East Asia, wouldn’t have fit with the Japanese setting, and so Levi was scrubbed from the live-action continuity entirely.
Wow, ain't that *beep*
convenient?
Even Isayama himself expressed trouble empathizing with his series’ lead, and so he said that if Eren was going to be the main character of the live-action film, he’d have to have a different personality than he does in the manga and anime.
Right, so this, I don't understand. Isayama-bro-chan, why do you think Shingeki no Kyojin is successful? It has a lot of good things to show, it cleary is an awesome work, and you shouldn't beat yourself over the stuff that you've already made, and which is somewhat already set in stone. I know you're the author, but come on, all those things are what made SnK what it is today, I believe.
Otherwise, what's the point of this movie? Is it for everyone else that hasn't boarded the Attack on Titan hype train? You might as well call the movie "Another Attack on Titan".
Specifically, Isayama wanted Eren portrayed as a normal person with regular fears, which would no doubt include a 120-meter-tall naked giant trying to eat you. As such, Eren’s shonen manga-like personality was tossed, as was his backstory of someone who, as a boy, killed a man to protect his childhood friend, Mikasa.
That's it, keep it up.
edit note: also, *
beep* whoever wrote the article, the Colossal is about 60m high, not 120m :|. Unless they changed
that too...
Machiyama was initially skeptical of Isayama’s demand to make Eren someone who would be “paralyzed with fear” upon encountering the Titans,
You don't say?
but as production went on, the scriptwriter came around to the idea.
"
HA, got you!"
Tonally, that’s a huge departure from the source material, but Machiyama can still draw some parallels between the live-action and anime “Attack on Titan.”
Like looking at a smashed up animal and say "
Yeah, I think that used to be an animal..."?
Machiyama says the live-action production team, Isayama included, weren’t going to be satisfied taking the safe route of a direct copy of the original story.
Again, this I don't understand. Why change something that's already so good that has millions of followers already?
Is this how Isayama thinks he can shift the blame for making a crappy live-action movie? By making them do something as unrelated as possible to his original work?
I'm sure there was a better way.
Instead, they’re trying to break out of their comfort zone and create something new and compelling,
Yep. Definitely.
just like the anime’s Eren[...]
I'm sorry, why are they still mentioning Attack on Titan? I forgot what this was about.
*
shrug*
In actual fact, I guess we haven't seen this person turn up yet. It certainly isn't the beast titan.
