10 Terrible Live Action Anime Adaptations

The Crying Freeman manga has been adapted into both anime and movies, with the 1995 film being a surprisingly decent actioner. An earlier Hong Kong movie called Dragon From Russia tried to adapt the manga too, and made a complete mess of things.

The story has a normal guy being kidnapped by a group of assassins – I hate it when that happens – and being forced to become their hitman. He’s brainwashed into performing hits but as a sign of his humanity, he always cries after he kills someone.

The story is a dark, mature affair filled with violence, but the producers of this version tried to make an awkward hybrid between wacky comedy and serious action movie. The switch between tones is jarring, and it’s impossible to take the rubber-faced leading man seriously during the darker scenes.

It’s not the worst movie ever made, but it could – and should – have been a lot better.