Manga adaptation of live-action films has always been one of the genres endemic to Japanese cinema.
And the audience of the neon country does have a deep love for live-action movies, and almost every year countless comics are adapted into live-action film and television dramas, although many of them have become classic works, but most of them have been reduced to bad films with mediocre reputation.
After all, the two-dimensional world in the comic and the three-dimensional product of the live-action movie have a natural dimensional wall obstacle, if the adaptation is slightly careless, it may be unflattering on both sides, which is both criticized by the fans of the original work and makes the movie audience unable to substitute for the plot.
However, when it comes to the most successful Japanese manga adaptation in the past decade, it is the "Ranger Sword Heart" series.
The first film in the 2012 series, although the plot is not completely faithful to the original comic, but due to the god's restored scenes, very successful casting, sophisticated production and lively martial arts action scenes, it has achieved a double harvest at the box office.
Two years later, the original team released two sequels "Kyoto Fire" and "The End of the Legend", which were once again a great success, and so far the trilogy still maintains an average score of 8.0 points on Douban, not only the word of mouth exploded, the live-action trilogy also received a box office of up to 12.5 billion yen, so the series was praised:
Japanese manga adaptation of live-action movie ceiling, there is no one.
Because the trilogy was too successful, the producer was naturally unwilling to give up this blockbuster IP, so he found the original team to create two sequels, and named it "Final Chapter: Ren Jie" and "Final Chapter: Remembrance", and officially met with the audience this year.
These two sequels did not disappoint the audience, in addition to the box office is still a big seller, word of mouth is directly sealed, of which "Ren Jie" currently has a Douban score of 8.5, and "Remembrance" has reached a staggering 9.1 points.
The film was just screened at the Shanghai Film Festival in China, and the ticket price was speculated to 1800 yuan, so it was also reported on the news of the foreign media "Variety", which shows the expectations of domestic audiences for this set of comic live-action films.
Fortunately, these two movies will be launched on Netflix, and as the fourth part of the series, "The Curse of Man" has met with the audience, and I believe many friends have seen it.
Therefore, this issue of the fan film jun to talk about this comic film ceiling is good to see?
Urouni Kenshin Final Chapter the final
The film is based on the manga of the same name by manga artist and Nobuhiro Tsuki, and the original has sold 72 million copies so far.
The manga, also known as "Excalibur Breaks into the Rivers and Lakes", tells the story of Ayamura Kenshin, a swordsman who was once a top executioner during the Meiji Restoration in Japan, who chose to put down the butcher knife because he felt that he had killed too much, and since then he has become a wandering folk, holding a reverse blade knife that symbolizes not killing, and starting a new life from scratch.
The original manga is not only popular in Japan, but also because the anime TV version has been introduced to the domestic broadcast, it has become a classic childhood memory of countless post-80s and post-90s viewers.
The anime version of Zhuyu is in front, so when the live-action movie was filmed that year, the main creators were facing a lot of pressure.
Fortunately, after the release of the film, it did not live up to the expectations of fans and audiences of the original work, director Keishi Otomo once filmed the high-scoring Ōkawa drama "Ryoma Legend" in NHK, and he was very experienced in shooting the samurai theme works at the end of the curtain, which is why the filmmakers chose him to guide.
As for the film's main cast, actors such as Ken Sato, Teruyuki Kagawa, Yu Aoi, and Takashi Aoki are all members of the team in "The Legend of Ryoma", and as an action film with a large number of swordplay scenes, the main actor in the film, Ken Sato, has been conducting special training since the beginning of filming 2 months ago, and almost 90% of the fighting scenes in the film are completed by him personally.
Speaking of this, it must be mentioned that the reason why "Langke Sword Heart" surprised the audience that year was largely due to -
The film's wonderful martial arts scene design not only combines the action design of traditional Japanese sword and sword films, but also integrates the fast-paced action design style of Hong Kong-made martial arts films, creating a whimsical, cool and gorgeous action style.
With the blessing of this gorgeous martial arts scene, various magical swordplay fighting scenes in the original manga can be restored in the movie, so that anime fans can get rid of the anime and see the real-life version of the Flying Sword Stream, The Heavenly Sword, the Tooth Burst and other famous scenes in the movie.
The person who made this success was Kenji Tanigaki, the film's action director.
Known as the "Man Who Changed Japanese Action Movies", he is the only Japanese member of the Hong Kong Action Stunt Performers Guild, who has been making films with Jackie Chan and Jet Li since the 1990s, and has had cameos in "Jingwu Hero" and "Drunken Fist 2".
Later, Kenji Tanigaki met Zhen Zidan, and since then joined the Zhen family class, participated in films such as "Kill the Wolf" and "Fuse", and won the Golden Horse Award for Best Action Director with Jiang Wen's "Evil Does Not Pressure the Righteous", and has now become the premier action director in Japan.
It is precisely because of the joining of Kenji Tanigaki that he has created a first-class level of the "Ronin Kenshin" series in martial arts scenes. In the list of the best action films in the history of Japanese films selected by the Japanese media, "Langke Sword Heart" was rated as the first, which can be said to be the first martial arts film in the history of Japanese cinema.
In terms of story, considering that several years have passed since the release of the first three films, Fans Simply bring friends who have not seen the trilogy and anime versions to review the plot of the first three parts of the series.
The first part of "The Heart of the Sword" takes place at the end of the Fallen War.
The protagonist, Ayamura Kenshin, is a top assassin of the Restoration Faction, specializing in the assassination of shogunate forces, and is known as the executioner drawing his sword for his sword skills and killing countless people. Later, the Restoration faction won the victory, a new era began, and the sword heart chose to abandon the sword and go into hiding.
Years later, when Kenshin reappears on the streets of Tokyo, he becomes a ronin who vows not to kill anymore, and meets Kaoru Kamiya, a beautiful girl from the Kamiya Dojo, Takahae, a helpless female physician, Sasuke Sasuke, a down-and-out thug who wanders the streets, and Yahiko Myakimi, a teenager who lives on the streets, and starts a new life.
In the first part, Kenshin defeats takeda Kanyanagi, an unscrupulous merchant who sells opium, and at the same time defeats the killer Ubido Blade Guard, who pretends to be a sword drawer.
The plots of the second and third parts are more closely linked, mainly revolving around the real experience of Sword Heart against his descendant executioner Zhi Zhixiong. Zhi Zhixiong was the executor re-elected by the government after Jianxin broke away from the restoration faction, but he was eventually betrayed by the new government, and Zhizhixiong, who luckily survived, began a cruel revenge plan.
In this life-and-death battle, Kenshin was taught the mysteries of the Flying Heaven Imperial Sword Stream by his master Kiyoshiro Higashi, and finally defeated Shishio on the ironclad battleship. The advent of a new era means that these last samurai who wield swords for a living are doomed to be drowned by the torrent of history.
The story of "The Curse of Man" continues the setting of the first three parts, when the sword heart has begun to live a new life, but the past killing experience as an executioner drawing a sword has always made him unable to be alone.
And this time, the enemy he has to face is his brother-in-law, who is also the most powerful enemy that Sword Heart encountered in the original manga, Yukidai Yuan, and thus leads to the origin of the literacy scar on Sword Heart's face (this memory mainly appears in the next "Remembrance", and the fourth part is only slightly mentioned).
At the end of the third part of the story, the Japanese police investigate the source of the arms and weapons held by the previous villain Shishio, follow the clues to the Yokohama Railway Station, and on a train, encounter a mysterious white-haired teenager, it is Yukiyo yuan.
According to the setting in the manga, after the death of his sister, Yukiyoyuan left Japan alone to shanghai, which was still in the Qing Dynasty at the time, to learn Chinese martial arts, and integrated it into the Japanese sword technique, practicing the "Tiger Ambush Sword Style", and was already excellent in swordsmanship at a young age.
Moreover, because he witnessed his sister die at the hands of Jianxin, he was sad and indignant in his heart, and by relying on a high-level swordsmanship to gain a foothold in the Qing Dynasty gang organization in Japan, he made up his mind to put Jianxin and his beloved to death, thus opening the road to revenge.
On the train, Xue Daiyuan single-handedly knocked down a group of policemen, but finally voluntarily surrendered and was arrested. However, soon after, he put pressure on the Japanese police through the relationship between the Qing Dynasty gangsters, and finally walked out of the police station with a big swing.
However, on the same night, Yukidaiyuan planned a series of terrorist attacks.
First, he blew up a hot pot restaurant in the city, and then he went on a killing spree in a nearby police dojo where the police learned swordsmanship, and left a note with the words "Ren Jie" written on it, intending to tell Jianxin that he would kill himself with his own hands.
At the beginning of the first fight in the movie, Sword Heart vs. Yukidai's younger brother is still a very hot and cool martial arts design.
Then, when Jianxin saw Xuedaiyuan again, his heart instantly recalled that painful memory.
The film is only a brief explanation here, and the specific plot line is to be unfolded in detail in "Remembrance", mainly through the memories of Jianxin, telling the love-hate relationship between him and his beloved Shedaiba (that is, the sister of Xuedaiyuan).
Time back to more than ten years ago, when Sword Heart was still an executioner drawing his sword, he once killed Shedaiba's fiancé. After learning of her fiancé's death, Ba threw himself into the plan to assassinate Jianxin, but in the process of getting along with Jianxin, he gradually fell in love with Jianxin, the enemy who killed his husband, and fell into the dilemma of love and hatred.
Later, in order to stop the assassination plan, Ba risked his life to block the fatal sword for the sword heart, but the sword heart that lost the five senses accidentally killed Ba. Eventually, before dying, Ba used a dagger to cut a knife wound in the face of the sword heart, forming a cross wound with the knife that her fiancé had cut earlier.
And this was the source of the cross scar on Jianxin's face, and it was also the pain he didn't want to mention.
After learning that Yukiyo is taking revenge on him, Kenshin tells Kaoru and the rest of the dojo about the past. He wanted to face this revenge alone, but Yukihiro told him that his revenge was not only against Sword Heart alone, but also to make everyone around him feel pain.
As a result, Yukishiro asks his men to carry out a massacre in the city, leading away Kenshin and the others, and then Yukidaiyuan breaks into the Kamiya dojo and kidnaps Kaoru Kamiya to threaten Kenshin and leave a battle book for Kenshin to fight to the death.
Kenshin originally single-handedly broke into Yukiyo's mansion and faced a lot of gangster thugs caught in a bitter battle, but after all, the protagonist's aura was there, and there was foreign aid everywhere he went, at the critical moment, the police Saito Kazu, the opponent Sojiro who was defeated by Kenshin in the previous part, and others killed and took the initiative to help Kenshin to help him complete the breakout.
At this point in the story, Sword Heart ushered in the ultimate duel of the Snow Generation.
Xue Daiyuan held the psychology of hatred and shot fiercely, so that the sword heart fell into a bitter battle, but the scarred sword heart did not give up the fighting spirit, he was not fighting for himself, but fighting to save more people.
After a fight, Kenshin defeats Yukidaiyuan, who is also imprisoned.
In prison, Jianxin gave the notes left by his sister Ba to Xue Daiyuan, from which Xue Daiyuan learned about his sister's heart and completed the confession.
At the end of the movie, Kenshin takes Kaoru with him to worship his wife Shedaiba, and leaves a sentence:
Thank you, sorry, goodbye.
He finally let go of the entanglements of the past and started a new life with Kaoru.
As the final chapter, the story of the "Ranger Sword Heart" series has actually ended completely to this one, and the final ending is basically a perfect ending, and the next fifth part is actually a prequel, the story is completely a memory of the love tragedy between Sword Heart and Shedaiba.
The advantages of this film are the same as the first three parts of the series, but it is still good to see the explosion of the action scenes.
It can be clearly seen that As a martial arts instructor, Kenji Tanigaki has brought his experience in action movies to the extreme, although this film is a Japanese samurai-themed sword film, but the martial arts action design is quite imaginative, both the manga-style exaggerated action style of "drift running", there are also similar to the light gong of the cornice wall, but biased towards realism, some similar to parkour.
In addition, the action scenes in this work have become more grand, the editing is more sharp, and occasionally some slow motion is used to highlight the fierce confrontation of martial arts moves, which is used as a buffer in the continuous rapid attack action, and the character's action moves are flexible and crisp, and the ornamentation and entertainment are done to a very high level.
It is worth mentioning that the actor who plays the villain Yukiyo in this film is the 25-year-old Japanese actor Makoto Nitta, and his father is the famous Japanese action star Shinichi Chiba, that is, the male bully in "The Storm Dominates the World".
As for the story, because the author has seen the last "Remembrance" at the last film festival, so in contrast, this "Ren Jie" is lackluster at the script level, the main problem is that the plot is more cheesy, the rhythm is also relatively loose, it feels like the story is pieced together, far less than the original story of "Remembrance" itself is very moving, perhaps this is also the reason why the creators finally chose the prequel "Remembrance" as the finale.
And the movie is very dull for the character shaping, in this episode, in addition to the protagonist Sword Heart and the villain Yuki Generation, almost all other supporting roles are all tool people, the only role of the heroine Kaoru is to wait for the Sword Heart to save herself, Sojiro's cameo feels like brushing the star's face, and the re-launch of this role is actually not too necessary.
In general, this "Ren Jie" plays a full score, but the literary drama is very chicken, fortunately, as the finale of the series is still worth watching, if it is a series of fans or comic book movie fans, then this film is still not to be missed.