Doomed Megalopolis - Differences From Tokyo: The Last Megalopolis

Differences From Tokyo: The Last Megalopolis

• Yoichiro Tatsumiya is given a more sympathetic and respectable treatment in the live-action version.

• In the anime, Yasumasa Hirai explains that Kato wants to use Yukari Tatsumiya as a vessel for Masakado’s spirit because she possesses an “powerful spiritual energy”. In the live-action version, Kato wants to use Yukari Tatsumiya as a medium because she and Yoichiro are direct descendents of Masakado’s family and share the closest blood ties with the dead warlord.

• The character of Kamo (head of the Tokyo branch of the Tsuchimikado Family) is not present in the live-action version. Instead Koda Rohan is responsible for all his activities. Likewise, nobody dies during the skirmish with Kato at the site of Masakado’s grave—both Junichi Narutaki and Koda Rohan survive.

• In Doomed Megalopolis, the reason Kato goes into a ten year seclusion after failing to use Yukari as a medium for Masakado’s spirit is because he hopes to use her daughter, Yukiko as a medium in her place when she is older. In the live-action film, Kato has been planning the Great Kanto Earthquake with the White Lotus society in Dalian, China for ten years by amplifying the reverberations of artificial earthquakes created in Dalian. Yukiko is not involved in any way in this operation. Likewise Kato escapes from the Kimon Tonkou spell by himself.

• The role of Junichi Narutaki is shortened in the live-action version. After the battle with Kato at Masakado’s mound, he only has one more scene where he exchanges a brief greeting with Yoichiro Tatsumiya and then disappears for the rest of the film.

• In the live-action version, there is only one battle between Keiko Tatsumiya and Kato, and these parallel the events of the third episode of the anime with some differences. The end result of Keiko's sacrifice is also left unclear. Likewise, Kato is clearly still alive at the end of the live-action version.