> I spend most of my time writing and researching live-action anime
What do you mean by live-action anime? This reads to me as contradiction in terms. Anime is a term of art for CJK animation, especially Japanese animation.
What do you mean by live-action anime? This reads to me as contradiction in terms. Anime is a term of art for CJK animation, especially Japanese animation.
The term is not well-defined.
You could say it applies to Ghost in the Shell, because it is based on existing IP of the genre.
You could stretch it to include The Matrix, which is an original IP but employs a lot of the style
Edge of Tomorrow, even though based on a Japanese light novel, has deviated enough both in plot and style for the term not to apply
The closest thing I can think of that I myself could describe that way would be Alita: Battle Angel, due to the big eyes/small mouth style of Alita, but I would never actually call it live action anime, but rather, a live action anime adaptation.
Maybe this is related to modern speech patterns? The closest thing I can think of is “it’s giving x” which seems to me to be a shortened version of related phrase “it’s giving x vibes.”
On a related note, The Matrix actually has an animated spinoff The Animatrix, which has segments that are arguably anime, as they are produced by Japanese creators in a typical style.
However, I find that the phrase live-action anime perhaps says more about the person saying it and their perspective than it says about the content being described as such.
I have never thought of its origins before, but I'd assume it's a short hand for "live-action anime adaptation". Maybe this makes it more palatable for you?
As for Animatrix, yes -- it really went full circle, considering how they pitched the original feature:
> When Larry and Andy Wachowski were pitching The Matrix to their producers, they played them a DVD of an 82-minute Japanese cartoon and said: "We wanna do that for real."
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/oct/19/hollywood-ghost...
I think finding the term live action anime slightly off is my own issue, as I also find the term Japanimation also slightly grating. It probably has something to do with being a fan of a historically somewhat mocked/maligned subculture.