Attack on Titan, The Movie: Part 1 - Attack on Titan
Shingeki no Kyojin ATTACK ON TITAN is a Japanese live-action film based on the the manga, Attack on Titan created by Hajime Isayama, also known as Shingeki no Kyojin in Japanese. Although the movies are based on the original manga, it has a completely original story.
The ATTACK ON TITAN film is split into two parts. The film was directed by Shinji Higuchi, and written by Yusuke Watanabe and Tomohiro Machiyama for both Part 1 and Part 2. Both movies were supervised by the author Hajime Isayama, though the story and setting were changed significantly. Character designs were created by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto. The writer for GANTZ, Yusuke Watanabe, cooperated with the film critic Tomohiro Machiyama to write the script.
The World Premiere of Part 1 was on July 14, 2015 and was held at the Egyptian Theater in Los Angeles, California. The full theatrical release in Japan was on August 1, 2015, while the U.S. and Canada received their releases on September 30, 2015.
About Attack on Titan
Attack on Titan is a Japanese dark fantasy series that has gained worldwide popularity. It started as a manga series written by Hajime Isayama and started in 2009. As the manga series became a hit, it received an anime adaptation, animation film series, and then into a live-action movie adaptation. The original manga still continues today.
Synopsis
The setting of the story is a world where humans are protected inside enormous walls while gigantic Titans are wandering out in the lands beyond. Since these Titans are seen as evil and dangerous, humans have built tall walls in order to protect themselves. As these walls surrounded cities and villages, people lived peacefully until one particular day.
The story begins on a day like any other, until the outer wall is suddenly destroyed by the Colossal Titan. This Titan crashes inside the village where the protagonist, Eren Yeager lives. Soon after, the Titan kills and eats Eren's mother. Eren runs away with sadness and anger, and promises to devote his life to eliminating all the Titans.
Cast and Characters
The two-part film has a completely original story that includes the manga's main characters that are portrayed with an original cast.
Haruma Miura plays the role of the protagonist, Eren Jaegar, a young man who demands freedom.
Kiko Mizuhara plays Mikasa Ackermann, the skilled female warrior that flies around the battlefield.
Kanata Hongo plays Armin Arlelt, the kind-hearted childhood friend of both Eren and Mikasa.
Satomi Ishihara plays Hans, Commander of the Scout Regiment and Titan researcher. She is the live action counterpart of Hange Zoe.
Takahiro Miura plays Jean Kirstein, the rebel blade.
Nanami Sakuraba plays Sasha Blouse, the hungry sniper.
New Characters
Apart from these key characters above the live action movie introduced seven new characters:
Hiroki Hasegawa plays Shikishima, the captain of the Scout Regiment. He is the 'strongest' man of humanity.
Pierre Taki plays Souda, the sad leader.
Jun Kanimura plays Kubal, the director of military forces.
Rina Takeda plays Lil, one of the female soldiers who lives for love.
Satoru Matsuo plays Sannagi, the hero with deep affection.
Shu Watanabe plays Fukushi, the sorrow protector.
Ayame Misaki plays Hiana, the mother-like warrior.
The producer Yoshihiro Sato commented on a question regarding whether or not the film crew cast actors based on the original characters’ physical features. He said he never took it into account and talked with Isayama, the writer, over and over about casting actors based on how they would embody the characters’ spirits rather than their looks.
Production and Film location
Filming started in May 2014 and lasted until August that same year. Locations like Gunkanjima in Nagasaki prefecture were used along with other locations like Kumamoto, Ibaraki Prefecture and more. Director Higuchi commented that they separated one week’s amount of work in two days and filmed with two teams at the same time. Higuchi said he can't remember much of the process as it was just so speedy.
At Gunkanjima, Higuchi explained that the location was "beautiful, but sad". "There are not many places like it in Japan and maybe even in the world. I wanted the actors to feel this kind of atmosphere," he explained. The actress Mizuhara has also said that she was astonished to see Gunkanjima. "I felt a mysterious power. I felt scared at first, but now I feel a lively vibe to it," she explained. The actress Ishihara commented that "I was relieved and happy after watching the completed film. I'm glad that I gave it my all". The actor Hongo also said, "It was amazing to see the Titans' force with side effects from special photographing instead of CG".
Critics
Since Attack on Titan was such a popular manga series, the public thought that it would be challenging to create a live-action film that could recreate the dark action story. Such films are hardly produced in Japan because it is a difficult genre. Productions have slowly increased, but when compared with Hollywood movies, both the number of productions and their budgets are low.
The setting of the movie is shifted to be slightly more futuristic, resulting in vehicles being the primary mode of transportation. This was a huge difference between the manga's use of more medieval horses, guns, and cannons. Readers explain that soldiers on horses going to fight the Titans is one significant factor that contributed to its fantasy world.
In the "Movie Award of the Magazine HIHO Hakusaku 2015" of "Movie Treasure", the magazine selected to choose the worst movie of the year. This particular film was voted as 1st. The second part of the film, ATTACK ON TITAN - End of the World was voted as 4th worst movie later that year.