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[Editorials]

Bokurano: Hiroyuki Morita on trial

Posted by Martin  [Tags: Bokurano, Rants]

A recent bit of news is Hiroyuki Morita’s controversial decision with Bokurano. I’m taking this on now because 1) it’s still relevant and 2) it’s straightforward to write with my current situation amounting to a laptop that’s out of action until the weekend, at the earliest. Bah.

The problem lies in the fact that the show’s director has decided to take it in a very different direction to the original story, and adds to this by stating he doesn’t actually like the original in the first place. Thanks to fans’ affection for the manga and the apparent ingrained lack of confidence in GONZO’s ability to bring existing stories to the screen, there’s quite a furore over it. I’ll admit straight out that I haven’t actually read any of the manga (the simple reason is that I prefer reading paper copies over scanlations so haven’t had the chance) but the series so far, ep #7 at the time of writing, has led me to conclude that it’s the best show this season. And there’s a lot of competition. It looks like the battle lines are drawn…

The idea of taking a good story and changing it is a bad one unless there’s just cause for it, that much is obvious. It’s understandable then that the news of altering fundamental aspects of Bokurano was met with so much disappointment - changing the utterly pessimistic outcome is essentially turning the story into something else, which isn’t necessary with something of Bokurano’s calibre…or is it?

The bottom line is, the manga is ongoing so some changes will have to be made sooner or later, if only in order to give it a proper ending. Perhaps this is why the manga-ka has given permission for Morita to do so, albeit with one condition of ‘not using magic’. In addition to this, I’m of the understanding that some of the scenes in episodes #8 onwards are not nearly as shocking in their content as the manga. If this is the case I actually agree with Morita for toning it down: the events of episode #7 provided all the shock and tragedy needed so for me at least, it simply isn’t necessary to crank the brutality up any further in order to get the message across.

It’s also worth remembering that Bokurano is intended for airing on television - while you can write my personal feelings off as being oversensitive, there’s the question of what’s actually allowed to be depicted on TV. Given a choice between preserving the source material’s details and risking a hack-job censoring or leaving out the more distasteful parts at the production stage, I imagine most directors would choose the latter! Sure, the no-nonsense, close-to-the-bone approach is one of Bokurano’s best features but even by today’s standards it might prove to be too much for the broadcasters so I can’t blame the writers if they are erring on the side of caution.

One detail that softens the blow for the manga’s fans is that Morita publicly warned them that this adaptation will not take the direction of the original, rather than sneaking changes in without a word of explanation. It strikes me as an unusual decision but it could well be an attempt at reducing the backlash! This is a situation that is a frequent headache for directors of TV adaptations, but I always wonder about the true severity of it: after all, a bad adaptation doesn’t affect the quality of the original. If readers don’t like what they see on TV - and Morita himself recommends this - they should stick to the original instead. If the adaptation is so bad, it’ll just get forgotten in the long run anyway.

My main criticism with Morita’s decision is not what he’s doing: the reasons outlined above are just those that I could think of on a weekday evening on a borrowed PC. Public announcement or no, the sticking point is why he’s doing it. As the director of the project with the permission of the original author, he’s within his rights to do so but altering bits purely because he dislikes them just feels wrong to me. If he finds the material too unpleasant, why take on the project at all? My only explanation could be that, at the time of being approached for the position, he did not know what direction the story would take. Combining a plot-line with very mature themes and the saddest possible outcome with a director whose previous notable effort was a family-orientated film was strange the first time I read of it, and it still looks equally bizarre now.

At the end of the TV show’s run there will be two very different takes on the Bokurano story - a neater arrangement than, say, the ‘redone ending’ idea that was used for Evangelion; an approach that still didn’t satisfy everyone and to make matters worse haunted the director for years afterwards. While this series will earn no prizes in being a faithful adaptation, is this such a bad thing? The disappointment I feel as a result of this is not that a good story is being ruined - it’s that a director who I have great respect for has been assigned to the wrong project. Bokurano is dark, twisted, traumatic and not for the faint of heart. Sure, it’s not for everyone but that is what makes it stand out, which is something Morita should remember even when his ‘dislike’ is perhaps understandable. There’s still a fair chance I’ll enjoy the anime version from the excellent episodes I’ve seen so far - in fact I’m curious to see how Morita and his team can pull it off - but if not, I’ll bit the bullet and read the manga instead. Rest assured though, if I do criticise the way the anime’s headed, it’ll be because I’m judging it on its own merits, not some reactionary response that only goes as far as “GONZO can’t do adaptations”.

Thanks for reading and I hope I can follow all this up when my beloved Navi is back in working order.

[Filed under Editorials]  [Tags: Bokurano, Rants]

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