You know, there WAS a live-action "Maison Ikkoku" movie made in Japan! It's a bit weird--the cast sings a musical number or two, I forget--but all the characters are there. It just...it just wasn't Rumiko Takahashi. And it was a bit slow. You can read about it at
http://www-ucsee.eecs.berkeley.edu/~leon/mi/GUIDE/MIlive.txt and pop "Maison Ikkoku live-action" into Google.com or Hotbot and come up with more, maybe pictures. (This was just the first link that popped up.) It wasn't well reviewed in the Japanese press, I remember that much.
I was jazzed for about a minute at the idea of a live-action "Ranma," but I shudder to think about all the morphing shots and CGI/cheapass puppet animals like those in "Sabrina" playing the panda and P-chan and Shampoo's cat and more...besides--who on Earth could play ol' Happy and "Ghoul?" Pass. With reservations.
The live-action "Wicked City" bears little/no resemblence to the anime. As you might imagine, being a low-budg HK film, the demons are not as wildly designed and the sex angle is near-nonexistant. There IS, however, the usual psychotic kung-fu fighting, including a hand-to-hand flying battle that spans skyscrapers and airliners! Top THAT, Ang Lee!
"Fist (Up) The North Star" blew maximum chunkitude. Some things
cannot be forgiven.
"The Story of Ricky" is a live-action version of the manga-anime "Riki-Oh."
The "Peacock King: Spirit Warrior" series has a live-action version out there, somewhere, I think.
"Dragonball: The Magic Begins" is a Korean film with NO connection to the anime, unless they're based on the same legend.
Hentai freaks will be delighted to know, if they don't already, that three live-action "La Blue Girl" films are coming out in English VHS/DVD, the first already out. Again, low-budgie stuff not too close to the original, but slimy and tubular. Pervert! (There are actually live-action "Demon Beast Invasion" and "Urotusuki Doji" movies--sort of. More info available at
http://galaxy-of-terror.com but you have to go to a paysite to see the films. Pervert. Aren't you ashamed? Pull up your pants.)
Three manga/anime I'd love to see done live-action or full CGI:
"The Ghost In The Shell" (or "Appleseed"); If you don't know these, you shouldn't even be in this thread. There was a kinda lousy/kinda cool live-action demo of "Appleseed" included with the anime version.
"Gunsmith Cats;" Oh, I like the ladies. Bean's cool, too. Imagine "Gone In 60 Seconds" but it doesn't suck knob.
"Parasyte;" now HERE's where the CGI could really shine. If you're unfamiliar with this one, it's about a "Brain Eaters/Body Snatchers '78"-style invasion by wormlike alien lifeforms that take over their hosts by slithering into the ear and assimilating the brain. They then gain complete molecular control of the host, meaning that they can turn their heads into giant mouths or arms into blades in a heartbeat. They eat, well,
us. The hero, Shin, is the victim of a failed assimilation: the alien inhabits only his hand--and the two have to coexist, threatened by both alien and human foes. Sure, every single element in the entire story is rooted in something from 50s classic sci-fi to "Terminator 2" and "Evil Dead 2," but it's a fun read.