The second animated Attack on Titan movie opens this Saturday, but it’s not the only trip the Survey Corps and their people-eating, pants-shunning adversaries are making to theaters this summer. The first of two live-action Attack on Titan films debuts on August 1, and while it might not have the gusting winds and spraying water of the anime version’s special screening, the newest trailer shows that it will have action and destruction on a grand scale, plus a scene where leading lady Mikasa locks lips with one of her brothers in arms on the battlefield.
While the live-action Attack on Titan has much in common with the manga and anime on which it’s based, it’s clear that the version with real people tales place in its own continuity. The cast of characters is a mix of carryovers from the anime and originals created just for the live-action film, and the movie’s setting looks far more dilapidated than the town where Eren and friends live in the anime, which was already pretty drab by Japanese fantasy standards.
But even with this oppressive atmosphere, the movie’s tone isn’t so heavy that the heroes don’t take to the skies with their 3-D maneuver gear to take down some of the invading giants.
Working in live-action means the film can’t get away with the convenient anime shadow placement that obscures the Titans vaguely defined crotches, so instead, it has to rely on precise camera placement.
▼ Is it possible the Titans aren’t really breaking down the walls to eat the humans, but just to get to their shops so they can by some jeans?
Whatever the Titans reasons for barging in, the Survey Corps aren’t going to stand for it, and it doesn’t look like the live-action version is particularly interested in toning down the original work’s levels of blood and gore.
The trailer doesn’t give a lot of hints at the story, opening with Mikasa’s famous quote that “The world is cruel” before hitting us with a barrage of characters yelling things like, “If you don’t succeed, humanity is finished!” There are some hints about what to expect in the visuals, though. For example, we know that this guy, who we’ll call the Fashionable Bangs Titan, made the cut to be included in the live-action version.
That’s more than we can say for fan (and fangirl) favorite Levi, who’s apparently been replaced by a character named Shikishima. Still, he shares several qualities with his anime inspiration, such as looking cool in his cloak and having a reputation as humanity’s most capable fighter. His skills don’t seem to be limited to killing Titans, either, as the trailer shows him passionately embracing Mikasa as the pair’s lips meet, a surprising violation of the no-kissing rule that seems to be in place for most anime heroines.
The first live-action Attack on Titan opens August 1, with its sequel following soon after on September 19.
Source: Jin
Top image: YouTube/Toho Movie Channel (edited by RocketNews24)
Insert images: YouTube/Toho Movie Channel