Sadly this is not an April Fool’s Joke. I just didn’t realize what the date was when I scheduled it.
Ok, so we’ve all seen Akira, right? I mean, it is kind of considered one of the really important works of anime, along with Macross, Gundam, or Ghost in the Shell.
Akira takes place in Neo-Tokyo and has pretty much an all Japanese cast of characters.
So why in the name of all that is unholy are they talking about setting the live-action remake in “Neo-Manhattan?” And why, also in the name of all that is unholy, are the only names attached to the project as potential leads white?
From Racebending.com, the list of the actors being considered for Tetsuo and Kaneda:
For the role of Tetsuo: Robert Pattinson, Andrew Garfield and James McAvoy.
For the role of Kaneda: Garrett Hedlund, Michael Fassbender, Chris Pine, Justin Timberlake and Joaquin Phoenix.
Did you notice something?
YEAH, THEY’RE ALL FREAKING WHITE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Are you kidding me?
Ok, look, Hollywood, did you not learn anything from that whole Airbender debacle? And shit, this time you can’t even come up with some weak tea excuse like, “Well, it’s a fantasy world so blah blah blah…”
Know what ISN’T a fantasy world, asshats?
JAPAN!!!!!!!!
Japan is not a fantasy world, you do not get to just erase the race of characters from a Japanese created and produced classic because you’re too fucking lazy to find Japanese actors. And I know there are Japanese actors because Japan has a fucking film industry.
Also, the Japanese, not a fantasy race you can pretend you didn’t know what they looked like.
Look, I actually am trying hard not to come off like some rabid, baka, ameritaku with a bug up my ass. But COME ON! It’s fucking AKIRA!!!
And yeah, I know. You’re afraid Mr. and Mrs. Middle America won’t pay to see a movie with scary Japanese people in it.
You know what? They aren’t the audience for this movie in the first fucking place. So screw your kowtowing to the lowest common denominator. You’re going to lose your main audience for this film, and that is anyone and everyone who loves the original. All you’re doing is pissing us off and looking like a bunch of racist scum in the bargain.
Knock it the fuck off.
Remember we’ve got the GGR Twitter, Tumblr and Facebook page.
Geek Girls Rule!!! 
And it’s supposed to be PG-13. So basically they are remaking Akira which:
1. Is Live-Action
2. Is set outside of Japan
3. Has no Japanese actors
4. Is PG-13.
My spouses response to this:
“Oh. So they are making a movie named Akira, but other then that it’s not related to the original at all.”
So, essentially, it’s “I, Robot” all over again.
sigh
I’m surprised they’re not putting Will Smith in it.
Ugh, I’ve beek keeping up on this through RaceBending’s LJ account, and it’s annoying that they’re doing this again.
Heck, it’s tied closely to Japan so to remove it from the country entirely makes no sense or logic. Then again, it didn’t make much sense to white-wash the cast of Avatar: The Last Airbender either.
About the only thing we need now to make this complete would be to have one of the leads make a joke about tanning like that moron who played Sokka.
[…] Geek Girls Rule! #162 – The Whitewashing of an Icon | Geek Girls Rule […]