I'm glad someone famous is speaking out about this movie.

Will Kaneda be played by a Japanese (out of respect snd relevance to the material-the story is set in Japan with Japanese characters in it) or a Korean actor (they are more famous and their proficiency in English give them an edge over other Asian actors)?

There seem to be a flood of Korean actors in Hollywood atm, playing every kind of Asians in existence. Surely letting just any Asian actor playing any other Asian characters is as offensive as letting a caucasian play as one.

this is hardly the case to be upset about then why is 99 percent of anime not looking like japanese people like

pokemon
DBZ
Claymore
Queens Blade
Gundamn Seed
Witch Blade
etc etc etc

if anything they been whitewashing thier own race when it comes to anime design

then when you try to do a live adaption it doesnt look right using Japanese people because of thier face features which is nothing like the anime they create yet most of them takes place in japan

p.s im not dissing the japanese who i think are awsome im merely stating my own obvious views on the matter

That's a crying shame.

http://www.cracked.com/arti...

Hollywood is pathetic. Here's an idea: make GOOD movies, and they'll become cult hits and people will keep watching them and buying them for years. Make shitty whitewashed movies with huge ad campaigns and they *might* turn a profit in the first weekend, but after 3 days word will have spread about how shit it is and if you haven't made your money by then you never will. Hmm... which should it be?

I don't like Akira (I know that puts me way outside the mainstream) and I don't think that all whitewashing is bad. Part of the reason anime is still niche in America is because certain cultural elements don't mesh well. So there is a logic to why certain elements of an adaption might need to be changed, to make a story more relatable to Western audiences.

But that said, something that's definitively Japanese in nature will never translate well. Akira is one of those properties. So whitewashing (or Westernizing as the more appropriate term) won't help it become a good adaptation the way The Departed was of Infernal Affairs.

A better candidate for Americanization would be something like Ghost in the Shell, where the team is already made up of a heterogeneous group of characters. So changing names/races or whatever adds to the dynamic instead of cheapening it.

Hollywood can kiss my ass! Just goes to show nothing will ever change! As George said, why buy a famous Japanese anime about Japanese characters in a Japan...and then go ahead and change it all up?! They obviously bought the rights to get all the millions of people interested in Akira to watch it...just for them to change it!

I was disgusted when I watched the frankly horrible The King of Fighters' movie ....and the main character of the series who's the leader of a Japanese fighting team who's name is Kyo Kusanagi they cast as Sean Faris!!!!!

Damn, why not just go the whole hog and change the name of the bloody film to 'Roger'! lol

I heard Hollywood is remaking "Dolemite" with Bruce Willis.

Seriously, as an Akira fan, I want to see the anime brought to life. I don't want to see "An American in post apocalyptic Tokyo who's motorcycle is named Akira".

Whenever I see the accusation of 'Whitewashing' the hypocritical and offensive nature honestly makes me fell sick to my stomach, why? many reasons.

First, how about we look at India's Bollywood, does anyone complain about 'brownwashing' when white characters get replaced by Indians in their adaptations? no, they'd be laughed to their grave, or how about we adapt one of Shakespeare's plays, but instead hire a black cast (protip: there are several), is that racist? no it's apparently progressive!

The upset of having a white cast in a Western adaptation of an Eastern anime baffles me. For one, America is a majority white nation, secondly I challenge you to make your own cast of American 'A-list' south east Asian actors, along the ranks of Leonardo Di Caprio and Kirsten Stuart, remember Ken Watanabe is already stated to be in the film.
No one in their right mind would cast unknown actors in lead rolls in a project this colossal.

Another thing to note is that Akira is literally the modern poster child for colour-blind casting, which means casting characters irregardless of race, oh but there was always controversy when a white actor took a role with a different raced character in the source material, again colour-blind casting was seen as progressive.

I should point out, that I've seen Akira, and I loved every minute, it was honestly the only Anime I've ever enjoyed. I am also fully aware that the new adaptation will blow, /end rant. It's just the the term White-washing has always rubbed me the wrong way, as it implies only white actors are replacing the role of someone of another race, when the opposite goes on and nobody bats an eyelid. Mind you, ideally it would of course be best if all characters were cast to there respective race in regards to the source material, but as I said, that just isn't going to happen for an adaptation of Akira and in turn labelling the producers and casting crew as racist is just irrational.

Political Racism in Hollywood!

have to agree with Takei here, as this would not stay true to its roots. damn hollywood, you think leonardo who loves the movie so much would keep everything intact