This action film rated 22% is one of the worst manga adaptations ever made: it nevertheless won over Amazon Prime Video subscribers

News culture This action film rated 22% is one of the worst manga adaptations ever made: it nevertheless won over Amazon Prime Video subscribers

A bad adaptation for Prime Video

Despite the hopes raised by the success of One Piece on Netflix, the time for bad adaptations does not seem to be completely over. Released in 2023, the film adaptation of Knights of the Zodiac suffered a critical and commercial failure. Directed by Tomasz Bagiński, known for his work on The Witcher, this feature film, carried by Mackenyu (seen in Pacific Rim Uprising and One Piece), did not convince either early fans or a wider audience . The film, which is part of an ambitious project of six feature films, suffers from writing considered too light and from production which, although careful, fails to do justice to the rich and complex of Masami Kurumada’s manga. The critical reception was frosty, with a score of 21% on Rotten Tomatoes, while the public, if they were a little more forgiving, were not won over either. If you still feel like it, know that the film is available on the Prime Video platform.

Just the beginning of the nightmare?

This bitter failure is partly explained by a desire to reach a wider audience than that of anime fans, a strategy which did not bear fruit. The film, which benefited from a substantial budget, failed to return the investment, contrary to Toei Animation’s hopes. The Knights of the Zodiac thus joins the long list of manga adaptations which have failed to convince, recalling in particular the dismal failure of Dragon Ball Evolution.

It will not satisfy the demands of fans who want a faithful homage to their favorite children’s work, nor will it make the uninitiated understand why this story of blind courage in the face of insurmountable odds has generated such devotion for decades – Los Angeles Times

Yoshi Ikezawa, producer of Toei Animation, certainly did not foresee this failure. Before broadcast, the man announced to Variety that he planned to make the franchise a saga made up of six feature films. It remains to be seen what his intentions are to date…

The original manga has 28 comic volumes. The original animated series has 140 episodes, plus 30 or 40 sequels that belong to the original comic. So that’s almost 200 episodes. It is possible to make many films with this. And after the success of Marvel, studios are looking for properties that can lead to sequels, like “Harry Potter” or “Hunger Games.” We’re looking at a set of six films.