I just recently reread the Alex Ross's masterful "Kingdom Come", and, like with his his Marvel epic Earth/Universe/Paradise X, I seriously want to see this thing animated. However, unlike the latter, KC is done entirely in Ross's painted, photo realistic style, which was a major part of what made the story the attraction that it still is, and that is something that can't be captured in 2D animation. The only way to do it would be CGI, and, when I say CGI, I mean Batman Arkham series level CGI...but that would be stupid expensive, and would have to be treated as a major theatrical release.
The thing is, while I agree that Ross's style can't be done in 2D, I do think that if it was to be done, at all, it'd need to be done in an epic scope, and great, dynamic animation...and USA 2D animation simply isn't good enough, or maybe it's that it's not taken seriously enough, to do such an epic story justice. That doesn't meant that there wasn't been awesome 2D animated movies created in the US, but when compared to Japanese animation it simply doesn't compare.
And that brings me to the point of this topic. Now BEFORE you simply jump ship, and call me a blasphemist, could you at least listen, and look at, what I'm trying to get across to you? Please?
With that out of the way....yes, I'm saying that I believe that Kingdom Come would be better served if animated by a Japanese animation company working closely with a Bruce Timm.
Here's the thing tho, for some reason, in the comic book community, and the US in general, Japanese manga, and animation, is either taboo, or dismissed. As someone who is a fan of both styles, I don't really understand how this is the case. Now, don't get me wrong, there's a lot of weird stuff that goes on in Japanese manga and anime, and I'd hardly call myself a "true" fan of it, as I have my issues with the general direction that the genre seems to be wanting to go in; a more mainstream, and "cute", direction.
Still, while anime certainly is eccentric, and exaggerated, to say the least, I don't think it can be debated that Japanese animation is just leagues above western animation when it wants to.
This here is a scene in an anime called "One Punch Man", which is a parody/satire on the Superman-power set, superheroes, and action anime in general, where the main character destroys a meteor in one punch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUT4_Tynw0I
Here's another clip of an animated racing movie called "Redline", which I dub "F-Zero on LSD" : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3hggcC10Ks
They also do a better job of capturing emotion, and atmosphere, and if you've seen any Miyazaki/Studio Ghibli film, then you'd know this is true. This clip is from an anime movie called "Wolf Children", which is about a woman who was in a relationship with a man with lycanthrope abilities, he died after their second child was born, and she has to try to raise two children with the ability to transform into a wolves, and humanoid wolves, as well as keep their powers secret from the general public. The clip shows one of the happiest moments in the movie, in which the family of three enjoy playing in the snow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ea3fxOZer9
I'd say that wrecks Frozen in almost every way possible.
Even in Naruto, an anime that I very much dislike, can make fight scene, of which the build up to was butchered to high hell, very exciting and dynamic, such as in the very popular Kakashi vs Obito fight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylBQVeh8L6s
Now that's just the exaggerated, and stylized, stuff. Kingdom Come has a style based wholly in realism.
Japanese anime can do that as well.
Ghost in the Shell: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mS3PGKUiSco
Ghost in the Shell - Innocence: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJnjmu-NAaY
Jin Roh - The Wolf Bridgade: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lrl5Kj79u4
Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMqu...x974FuC4FJpkug
Mind you, most of these are direct-to-bluray/dvd, or television shows, and yet they have better animation than most 2D western properties.
I feel that if DC worked closely enough with the Japanese character designers of, say, Bones, or MadHouse, or I.G, or Sunrise, to keep it as close to an American/Western style of design, but with the flare, fluidity, speed, and detail of Japanese animation, I think we could get a very good adaptation of Kingdom Come with 2D animation. While it would feel like a different experience without Ross's awesome style, and think that you can still create the epic feel of the story.
Thoughts?