(Recommendation) Live Action Movie from Manga adaptation Worth Watching Part 2 (Non Romance)

I know that there are a lot of movies adapted from manga these days. They might be in a form of movies or doramas. After I wrote about 10 recommended movies from manga adaptation here, now I want to list down my recommendation of 10 more movies I have watched. I read some of the manga, some others I don’t. 

1.       Rurouni Kenshin a.k.a Samurai X

I watched the movies around 3 years ago. I know it’s kind of late to watch the series since the manga is very popular. The first movie was released in 2012. And I didn’t know Takeru Satoh yet at that time. LOL. Yup, the main reason I watched the movie since I started to idolize the live action character of Kenshin Himura around 3 years ago. And from then on, One OK Rock becomes my one and only Japanese rock band I follow since the original soundtrack was composed by Taka and his band. 

2.       Bakuman

I remember I read the whole tankoubon of the manga. And you know the reason? Yup, exactly. The duo of the mangaka will be portrayed by my two idols, Takeru Satoh and Ryunosuke Kamiki. But, then, I learned a lot about manga, the struggle of the mangaka, the process of finding ideas, the burden to meet deadlines, the competition happens in magazine, and others. Thanks to Bakuman, ups, I mean to the mangaka who created this fantastic manga, Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata. The movie version is not as complete as the manga, though. But, I’m fine with it. No matter what, movie cannot be as thorough as the manga/ books.

 

3.       Death Note

I can say that Death Note might be my first manga I read. Long before, I read some Japanese comics, too, like Doraemon and Crayon Sinchan. But, I didn’t enjoy them as much as I read the recent manga I mostly read. I must think highly of the work of the duo mangaka, Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata. In this series, they focus on which side would you be if you have the power of eliminating people in this world. Would you be the angel taking lives of evil people, or non evil ones when they stand in your way? This manga really has a deep meaning about right or wrong. And, hey, from the movie, I get to know the character of L portrayed by Kenichi Matsuyama. I really love his acting that I don’t want to see the dorama version of Death Note. I just think that Kento Yamazaki is not L. As simple as that. 

4.       Teiichi no Kuni/ Battle of Supreme High

Frankly, I never know about manga entitled Teiichi no Kuni. As soon as I saw the move being uploaded somewhere in website, I saw the casts, oh, wow, so many ikemens! Not second thought that I would download it. The setting of the movie is mostly in a prestigious male private school. The school is to educate prospective politicians and bureaucrats. From the school, you can see the traits of the students what kind of politicians and bureaucrats they would be. The movie might be categorized as comedy but the seriousness of the actors are really amazing, not to mention their weird uniform and hairstyle. 

 

5.       Chihayafuru 

At first, I read the manga scanlation uploaded online. Since the manga has so many chapters that when the live action was released it has no end yet. I followed the anime, too, but then I got tired of so many episodes. LOL. It seems that I don’t have enough patience to follow, and I only prepared myself to watch the live action movie. Even though it only has 3 parts of the movies, I got the feeling of characters’ love of preserving Japanese traditional karuta. To see how they managed to form a group of karuta club is somehow touching. Paling karuta doesn’t only need good health but also high intelligence. There is a little part of romance here, but karuta is still the main focus. Yet, I can’t help putting myself in which team I would be if I had to choose. Taichi team would I be, for sure. 

6.       Toshokan Sensho/ Library Wars

I happened to find the manga paperback somewhere in bookstore discount, but there were only  few volumes. Long before, I watched the live action and fell in love with the story. In my daily life, I spend my free time reading and watching movies, and of course writing some reviews. So, watching the books being eliminated due to tight censorship is really heartbreaking. The goal of tight censorship is for books that might be potentially harmful  to Japanese government. There two sides of the government, one that helps the books elimination, and the one against the elimination. Seeing the two sides opposing each other ,and killing each other is really heart rendering. 

7.       Ajin/ Demi Human

Once I knew that Takeru Satoh would be cast as Kei Nagai, I looked for the manga. But then, I couldn’t stand reading something belling and brutal. So, I stopped reading it. I was expecting that the movie won’t be as bloody as the manga. I watched Tokyo Ghoul in theater, still, I had to cover my eyes to avoid the bloody scenes. Playing as Kei Nagai might be too young for Takeru Satoh as he turned 27 in 2016. But the movie was adjusted here and there, so it is fine. Gou Ayano as the antagonist is perfect here., one more thing, I learned one Japanese vocabulary here to describe the monster living in Ajin, Yurei. Watch out, Yurei. Fight him, Yurei. :D

8.       Prophecy/ Yokokuhan

The title misled me a bit. At first, I thought that the movie is about something related to supernatural or superstition. But I was wrong. Frankly, I've never heard anything about the manga before I found the movie. I watched it for the sake of Ikuta Toma 😊. At first, it looks like that Ikuta Toma as Okuda here is a psycho, spreading terror via a video channel called Yourtube. He performed himself as an anchor of news program telling the public that there would a chaos here and there. He seems to predict what would happen in the town where he spreads the terror. Looking back before Okuda had his terror channel; the viewers know the reason why he did it. He was dismissed from his job unfairly. From then on, together with some buddies, he formed a group called Shinbushi. Spoiler alert, the end of the movie needs some meters of tissue to wipe your tears.🤗😷

 

9.      Inuyashiki. 

There are many reasons why I read or watch movie. First, the book or the manga will be turned into live action, and second is because the movie is from the manga I have read or the movies have my favorite actors 😁. This movie is one of them. Takeru Satoh is my reason why I read the manga and then watched some of the Anime and waited for the movie. This is the first time for me to see Takeru Satoh playing as antagonist. His expression of cold blood has been shown when he played as a samurai in Rurouni Kenshin. And once again, he has to be a senior high student who has a sudden power to save or destroy the world.

10.  Bleach

I was curious of the manga long before the movie was released. I tried to look for the scanlation version, but then I was shocked that this manga has hundreds of chapters. Well, OK, just wait for the live action, then. LOL. I didn't expect much when I watched this movie. I know there must be a lot of parts missing in the original version. But, still, I enjoyed more than I enjoyed Donten Warau or Laughing Under The Cloud and Blade of the Immortals. The last title I mentioned, I even stopped in the middle and not manage to finish it until now. I love Takuya Kimura, though.

Well, speaking about giving recommendation, actually I can go on and on, but I just want to give you my most favorite. I watched some live action that might be your favorite, like Tokyo Ghoul, Gantz, Fullmetal Alchemist, Classroom Assasination, Gintama, and many others, but they are just not my favorite. I had a high expectation on Gantz since the mangaka is similar to Inuyashiki, and the actor is Kenichi Matsuyama, but I just can't stand the bloody scenes. I read Classroom Assasination manga, and enjoy it very much, but looking at the trailer and people's comments, I just don't want to ruin the excitement of the manga.

So, those are my most favorite movies based on manga . What are yours?

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