Rosa Salazar, the star of the upcoming ‘Alita: Battle Angel‘ adaptation, knows all too well what some people think about the anime-styled films and has a few choice words for the critics out there. Now, she doesn’t address the eyes which have been the most commented piece from the trailers, but more the overall idea of how live-action takes on anime and manga have been tackled so far. The actress was at Crunchyroll Expo 2018 all weekend and expressed her views during a panel for the film.
Salazar states:
“Right. We got a question earlier that was something like, ‘What do you do with the fans who are really into it, how do you deal with the negative side of fandom? Why do they feel like they’re the gatekeepers? Well, I’m a fan, and I understand why. The work is so precious.”
Salazar went into detail and shared that Robert Rodriguez, as well as the rest of the cast and crew involved in the creative process, were all fans of the source material. She is hoping that potential fans will give the “visionaries” who are putting this together a chance and stressed:
“It’s in the right hands. I like to think that I did my part. That graphic novel was dog-eared, with lots of colored tabs.”
Deb Aoki of Anime News Network transcribed the panel and also opened up her own thoughts on what she was able to see. Unlike Salazar, Aoki jumped right into the eyes that so many have been looking at.
I’ll admit I felt super creeped out when I first saw photos & the Alita statue at the Weta booth at #sdcc – but after seeing a few scenes, I think that discomfort will fade as the story progresses. Kinda like how I felt when I watched Kaiji & its odd character designs pic.twitter.com/8Ca8oceRRg
— Deb Aoki (@debaoki) September 2, 2018
i’ve been thinking alot about the “Alita eyes” thing — one reason western comics fans cite for not reading manga is that the “big eyes” style looks weird to them. But if you’ve been reading manga for a while, you forget about it and just get into the story/characters https://t.co/Hujpb9q0Oy
— Deb Aoki (@debaoki) September 3, 2018
we’ve all been there — when a manga or anime has “weird” or badly drawn art, but we find ourselves sucked into it because the story and characters are so compelling.
— Deb Aoki (@debaoki) September 3, 2018
on one hand, one could wonder if they’re doing it in this movie just for the sake of having a big wow CGI effect that hasn’t been pulled off before. It’s essential that Alita’s emotions come through seamlessly and believeably since her emotions are the big driver of the story
— Deb Aoki (@debaoki) September 3, 2018
I do feel that something like the eyes if the story is done right, is a change which will fade into the background and just be part of the storytelling. Even as an anime and manga fan, the first visuals were a little offputting but I don’t think it is something that will keep audiences away.
Do you feel that Rosa Salazar’s praise of the creators of this live-action take on the source material will be done by “visionaries” and worth checking out? Is Deb Aoki correct and we’ll lose sight of the eyes and get lost in this action-filled story? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
‘Alita: Battle Angel’ will be fighting her way onto the big screen on December 21st, 2018!
