Whatever reactions this news incurs will provide some insight into the tastes of the Anime Vice community. I know we’ve got some youngin’s here… how many of you are actually fans of BAKUGAN? I’m not even going to pretend I’m anywhere near the age that show's intended for. I caught part of one episode while I was at the barbershop a month or two ago and it was the first time I saw a cartoon that was unmistakably an ad for toys and a game. They all but slowed the show down to feature a card and explain its specs like it was an item in an infomercial.
However, I’ll readily concede that many of the rebranded Japanese kids programming I grew up on like POWER RANGERS and, to a lesser extent, TRANSFORMERS were made with the same intention. They, at least, seemed less blatant about, though.
Either way, I would’ve expected POKEMON or YU-GI-OH! to make it theaters before this, but maybe somebody made a hell of a pitch somewhere. The Wrap says that Harald Zwart (who must recently directed the better-than-I-expected KARATE KID remake) has just been attached to helm a live action version of this for Universal. Oddly enough, the producer of this was also behind SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD, my favorite flick of the year, so gee... I don't know... if this were to go through, I might even be interested despite my usual inclinations.
Tom Pinchuk’s the writer of HYBRID BASTARDS! & UNIMAGINABLE . Order them on Amazon here & here . Follow him on Twitter: @tompinchuk
