What if Taki was a white guy and Mitsuha was a black girl?
Ever since the confirmation of a Hollywood live-action remake of blockbuster anime Your Name, serious doubt has been cast on whether a production steeped in Japanese culture will translate well into westernized film.
Japanese manga artist @yokoyama_bancho may have just envisioned how the movie will turn out using sprinklings of American stereotypes and a little bit of imagination.
Featuring male protagonist Taki Tachibana as a white guy from New York and Mitsuha Miyamizu as a black girl from New Orleans, hilarity ensues when they discover their bodies have been switched.
▼ Live-action Your Name, part one.
English translations courtesy of Twitter user @nise_shi. (Read right to left.)
▼ Part two of the parody.
There’s no telling who will star in the actual movie, but Japanese netizens seem to appreciate the comic at least:
“Hollywood Mitsuha seems really strong and Taki looks like a squad leader in Attack on Titan.”
“I live in America so I can relate to all of these.”
“It won’t be a Hollywood movie without big explosions.”
“I want to see this so much.”
“It’ll be rather interesting if the movie is a parody like this!”
J.J. Abrams could take a few pointers from these for the upcoming film, but short of a total overhaul of critical plot elements like the shrine ritual scenes, he has a daunting task ahead of him indeed. While I would like all Hollywood producers to leave our anime alone, perhaps some good can come out of it, particularly if it incorporates a slam dunking Mitsuha.
And if it doesn’t turn out well, we can still pin all our hopes on the Fullmetal Alchemist live-action remake.
Source: Twitter/@yokoyama_bancho, Twitter/@nise_shi via Otakomu
Top image: Twitter/@nise_shi