The Dragon Ball live-action film might be in the process of sinking to Davy Jones locker, but that doesn’t mean all live-action anime adaptations are going to meet the same fate. Latino Review got their hands on the script to the live-action adaptation of Akira, and it doesn’t look too shabby so far. As Dr. Strangefist puts it, “All things considered it is shockingly faithful to the source material, at times reading like a flat-out transcript/description of the animated movie, and even incorporating aspects of the original manga that were left out of the anime version.”

However, it is not without its changes. For one this movie will take place in America, after it is destroyed in an unknown accident. This accident causes the United States’ economy to collapse, and Japan ends up buying the island; thusly you have a New Tokyo. New Tokyo is comprised of both Americans and Japanese, and this comes into play when it comes to our main characters. We the Japanese Kaneda, and the American Travis, who happens to be the live-action equivalent of Tetsuo. Other than that, there aren’t really any other big changes to the story, other than it’s a mashup between the anime and the manga.

This will be two films in total; something which the anime should have been. If they stick with this script, then we at least know the movie will be half good, because the visual aspect, casting, and other aspects of the film could, in theory, suck; though I doubt it. Read the entire review and decide for yourself!

[Via Latino Review]