Dragon Age anime movie deal

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This could either be really good or a travesty

Spoiler

BioWare, an EA studio and FUNimation Entertainment, the leading distributor of Japanese animation in North America, announced today an agreement to create an anime feature film adapted from BioWare’s critically-acclaimed fantasy Action RPG franchise Dragon Age. Production of the Dragon Age anime movie is slated to begin in May 2010, with a home video release in 2011. Executive producing the film are Bioware’s Executive Producer MarkDarrah and Creative Director Mike Laidlaw, as well as FUNimation’s Fukunaga and Director of Original Entertainment Chris Moujaes.

“Anime is a great medium for us to continue the robust Dragon Age story,” said Mark Darrah, Executive Producer for the Dragon Age franchise. “Partnering with FUNimation ensures that we are delivering the exceptional quality and entertainment value that our Dragon Age fans expect.”

“We are thrilled to be working with EA and BioWare on the production of the Dragon Age anime feature,” said Gen Fukunaga, President and CEO of FUNimation. “We are going to be bringing the classic visual and storytelling techniques found in anime to create a film that will extend the narrative of the world BioWare has created.”

Dragon Age has been selected as the first title in FUNimation’s slate of major anime movies to be developed through FUNimation’s Original Entertainment team since the announcement of the company’s co-production initiative in November 2009.

When originally released in 2009, Dragon Age: Origins won over 30 critics awards and was named “RPG of the Year” by the Academy of Arts and Interactive Sciences, Game Informer, G4, SpikeTV, and PC Gamer. Seth Schiesel of The New York Times described the game as “…perhaps the best electronic game made yet

 

To be frank, I don't see how they could mess things up. DAO is a nice setting but let's be honest, it is formulaic and mainly standard fantasy fare. So unless they go for an over the top with the anime look (big eyes, manga like features and humour) they can't really mess it up and even if they do it may well be entertaining.

 

ACK! If they make anime out of Dragon Age, it will put me off playing the game, and sequels permanently. Seriously. I hate it with a passion. Everytime I accidentally see anime\manga, I am reminded of pokemon. Its not something i would like to associate with Dragon Age, thats for sure. I hope this never ever happens.

 

Pokemon is more for the younger audience I think... that's akin to comparing Barney to Xena Warrior Princess (or something similar). Not that I've seen any "game to anime" done right.

Still, it might be entertaining. The only problem I see is with the amount of voice acting done for DA, unless no characters return from the games, hearing different voices coming out of their mouths will seem weird. I imagine those who have heard Alistair whining or Morrigan teasing surely will find it odd to hear a different voice trying to do the same.

Anyway; it's silly to disregard something simply because the plot was extended into an anime. There were Boo plushies for awhile (which were cute!), and plushies (generally speaking) are aimed toward children. Think of what you'd miss out on if you didn't play BG1/2 because of that!

I probably won't go out of my way to see any Dragon Age anime, but if they go with an original plot and cast of characters set in the DA universe, I'll definitely give it a go. The lore and setting of Dragon Age is rich, in my opinion (the mage towers, maelificarum, the fade, wardens, orlias, etc.), and if Funimation can capitalize on that, more power to them. I just hope it doesn't turn out anything like the Dragonlance ... whatever that was.

 

Alistair in Japanese could be nice now that you mention it!

 

Lol Cara. All things considered I have no trouble imagining that Alistair in Japanese.

 

Leliana will be 5 feet tall, wield a 7 foot sword, while wearing a mini-skirt and sounding like a 10 year old. Ohh and her eyes will be 3 times as big as her mouth. Belive me; this anime movie will utterly ruin any shred of "dark fantasy", as Bioware claim DA is.

 

It's good to see we're not stereotyping anime or anything.

 

I would rather have Uwe Boll make a DA movie, than someone making an anime movie. og DA.

 

I thought Street Fighter was really good. Not that I can recall any others.

I think this could be good if done like Ninja Scroll. I've a feeling it'll be a lot more kiddish though.

 

Ninja Scroll WAS kiddish.

 

I'm not expecting it to be high brow. I just hope it isn't Pokemon.

 

Now that I think of it, the characters do have a certain anime quality, especially Sten! If it's geared toward teen/adult audience (which would match the gamers), then it will more likely resemble Naruto or Bleach. I was skeptical towards animes at first, but a friend got me hooked on the storyline. There is also some really good anime out there too. Before you judge the entire genre(?), take a look at Mononoke Hime, or the Cowboy Bebop series.

I'm just wondering, are they going to only perform quests as described in the game, or are the authors allowed some more artistic freedom?

You watched pokemon? You didn't realize beforehand that it wouldn't meet your expectations?

p.s. if you like laughing at anime, check out Berserk Abridged on youtube. It doesn't matter that you haven't seen the original, it's priceless entertainment!!!

 

If the anime is on the level of Samurai X (Ruruoni Kenshin), then it should be ok. Less focus on melancholy/emotional parts, more on the action and logic behind each character's motives. All anime-ic poses relegated to the opening/ending sequences only. Presence of drama and good, appropriate comedy, but nothing excessive (grrr flashbacks). Little to no fanservice. Practical (except the sword and chi moves).

 

Thats the stuff I am talking about Coin. The style in the clip you linked up. I will be mortified if i ever see any DA characters looking like that.Small mouth, huge eyes, pointy chin.

 

Sounds interesting, not a huge anime fan but there are a few I like. I'd rather see a more western style of animation but its not very popular any more. I hope they get one of the better animators to do it, like the guy who does the stretchy thing. I don't know his name, he did the one about the track runner on the animatrix. Or the guy who does Cowboy Bebop. Which, despite its goofy name, is one of the best TV series ever.

 

I'm not a huge fan of anime/manga series but there are some really good ones like Slayers, Cowboy Bebop (very good pick Coin), Samurai Champloo (awesome), Fullmetal Alchemist, Black Lagoon, Fist of the North Star or Cobra Space Adventure (I'm a big fan of Cobra ever since I first watched it in the 80s and I actually own the entire series on DVD).

It's not just about looks, there are some great stories and characters in series like these. It may be a bit over the top at times but the anime thing can be incredibly cool (if you can look past the way characters look).

DAO would look different in anime but this different perspective may bring some very interesting things to the game world as well.

 

Anime can be stellar stuff and it's a big shame if you throw it all in the same basket. It's a medium like any other, with upsides and downsides. It can convey the most beautiful of stories in a manner acted movies cannot. A lot of Best-of have already been mentioned, i strongly advise (if you're in the anime-is-rubbish camp) to check any of those out. I'd recommend Rurouni Kenshin (Samurai X) OVAs as a good start.
I used to despise anime, knowing what i did about it from passing a TV with Sailormoon playing. You have all those Pokemons and Sailormoons and a lot worse too. It's like starting to watch movies with Uwe Boll (ty rawgrim ). Some of it also has to do with the relatively alien japanese culture. Some are almost incomprehensibly stuck in it, make no sense to us westerners at all and thus appear rubbish. Fist of the North star for example can put you off because of it's antique and decidedly japanese style, while being a very decent anime if you're used to it.


I think this has great potential and the biggest question i have is how western-ish (or eastern-ish) it's going to be. There's potential for both, but i think western approach is much more suitable for the setting. Minus bikini chainmail -.-


Forgot to check date, this is slight necromancy o.O

 

Hopefully they do put some solid work into the picture quality of the anime, because it would be a travesty if the anime looked worse than the game or cinematics.

That said, anime is the best medium for a video game movie/series. You always get people that know what they're doing and know how to write fantasy/sci-fi. It also opens up to a style that matches the DA style of violence. It's over the top and we like it that way.

(watch Vampire Hunter D or at least it's sequel "Bloodlust").

@Rawgrim: How is a movie like ninja scroll kiddish? The plot is really complex and well... the content is easily R.

 

I remember some apelike cartoonish guy in it. i think he had a wasps-nest on his back. The rest of the male characters looked like transvestites. Its as lame as it gets.