Anime/manga hit gets the live-action treatment in 2015
Attack on Titan is the biggest international pop-culture phenomenon the anime/manga scene has produced in years, inspiring everything from cosplay to cafes to Subaru commercials. So a live-action movie adaptation? Not exactly a huge surprise – in fact, this one has been in development since 2011, with current plans being to split it into two features for release this coming Summer.
Now, the principal (human) cast of the film has been revealed in their live-action forms as a set of character posters released through Japanese news sites Sanspo and Eiga; which include familair series characters like Eren Yeager and Mikasa along with new characters created for the film. The posters also offer fans a first look at the characters costumes and weaponry, some of which is similar to the series while other elements are notably divergent in style.
No imagery of the Titans themselves have yet been released, and it is not known whether they (or the world of the film, for that matter) will diverge in any significant way from the aesthetic of the originals. In both the manga and anime, the Titans are typically depicted as enormous, mishappen humanoids often boasting exaggerated limbs and jaws; while others are further deformed up to and including a lack of skin.
A gruesome fusion of body-horror, giant-monster and retro-futurism genres, Attack on Titan is set in a world where humanity lives in walled-off nations following a mysterious attack a century earlier by immense, people-devouring human-like giant called Titans. When the monsters return after a long absence, a special force of young soldiers is deployed to defend humanity from them by utilizing “Vertical Maneuvering Equipment” that uses rockets and cables to let fighters make long, controlled leaps through the air to combat the Titans.
The two Attack on Titan features are expected to release this coming Summer in Japan. Shinji Higuchi, a former FX and Gainax anime veteran who scored a huge hit with 2013’s Lorelei.
