We all have our wishes when it comes to anime. Certain manga we want to see adapted into anime, certain anime we want more seasons of and even some anime that we would like to see get “the Brotherhood” treatment. I’m sure you all know what I mean by that but essentially we want those shows to get an adaptation that is more faithful to the manga than the current adaptation is. I’m sitting at work as I type this out, waiting for my next class to arrive in about half an hour and I was thinking about shows I would really like to see. So with that said, let’s take a quick look at my anime wishlist.
Let’s start with manga that I would love to see an anime adaptation of. Admittedly I do not have a lot of those, considering most of the manga I read, I discovered through watching the anime first. Anime as a medium is in big part just a giant marketing campaign for the source material, since that is where a lot of the money is. Unless you get popular enough, then merchandise takes that spot. There are two manga I would like to see adapted into anime though. The first one technically already has an adaptation, but it’s so short that I would say it doesn’t really count. And that one comes straight from my list of guilty pleasure manga: History’s Strongest Disciple Kenichi. A manga about martial arts that is as over the top shonen as it gets. Women are scantily dressed, men are buff and strong and drink alcohol and the cast of characters keeps growing as defeated opponents become newfound allies. It has everything you would want from a silly shonen and it baffles me that there isn’t a proper adaptation of this manga. The second one is a manga that I read ages ago that was probably more problematic than I liked to admit at the time, but despite its questionable material, I still really enjoyed it. That manga was Love so life. It follows a high school girl who falls in love with the guy she is babysitting for. The age difference is definitely problematic but I do think that – considering at the end of the day it is still fiction – it is handled with enough tact that it doesn’t become an issue. The romance is super sweet and wholesome and the characters are fun. It’s probably one of the only times I’ve read or watched something and thought to myself that maybe having kids wouldn’t be such a bad idea.
Now let’s talk sequels, and there are two that instantly jumped to mind when I started writing this post. The first one is Chihayafuru. The romance manga about the card game Karuta is beyond sweet and has some great music and atmosphere throughout. There is no official English translation of the manga though and I like to read my manga on paper, so the next best alternative is hoping that a fourth season will be released at some point. A few years ago we got a third season completely out of nowhere, so I feel like there is some hope with this one. Another manga I’d love to see a sequel anime for is Sangatsu no Lion. It’s my favorite anime of all time and one of my favorite manga of all time as well and I really just need more of it in my life. A story about a young shogi prodigy that’s talented enough to stand out but not so talented that he doesn’t have to put in the hard work. On the side he battles with mental health issues and a complicated family situation that leads to many sad scenes followed by scenes that will brighten your day so much you’ll spontaneously start to cry.
For the longest time, a sequel to Spice & Wolf was on my wishlist as well, and we got something like that with the recent reboot, but after having read a few more of the novels, I think the amount of Spice & Wolf we have is enough. I love the story dearly, but it did get more and more repetitive as the story went on. Sometimes too much of a good thing isn’t better.
Now let’s talk “the brotherhood treatment”. These are manga that got an anime adaptation, but the anime adaptation was rather lacking in my opinion. There are four that jump to mind, which I know is a lot, so I’ll go through them relatively quickly. The first one is Soul Eater. I’ve talked about Soul Eater at length on this blog, but it’s a manga by the same author as the recent Fire Force; Atsushi Ohkubo. Set in a world where young people train to reap the souls of evil spirits and witches, our main characters have to deal with a grand plot to bring back an ancient evil and in the process they grow up. A classical coming of age story with incredible art and visuals that was turned into a sloppy shonen when it was animated. That anime original ending still makes me cringe when I think back to it and knowing that the manga has a “moon’s haunted” arc that was never animated feels like such a massive waste of potential.
The second one that springs to mind is God of High School. Now I’m not saying the webtoon for God of High School follows a clear and straight line, but it was much less confusing than the adaptation we got. Things moved lightning fast in the anime to the point that I barely knew what I was watching. The Webtoon has this issue at times too, but the pacing is definitely more acceptable.
What isn’t acceptable is the way that Studio Pierrot treated Tokyo Ghoul. That second season which went fully anime original was beyond terrible to the point that they completely retconned it for the sequel anime. And then the sequel anime tried to put way too much content into way too few episodes. The entire thing was a mess which is a shame because I think that Tokyo Ghoul is one of the better edgy manga out there. Sui Ishida’s art and creativity get him quite a long way and with a good animation team this anime could have been something special. It wasn’t.
Last but not least is another one that many people probably expect to be on this list and that is The Promised Neverland. Telling the story about a group of orphans living in an idyllic orphanage where things aren’t what they seem. They soon learn that there is a horrible secret hidden behind their peaceful lifestyle and now have to escape from the demonic overlords that have been treating them as cattle. The manga builds up tension really well and has a fantastic arc early on called Goldy Pond. The anime on the other hand completely skips this arc in favor of other content and not only does it make you miss out on a very cool arc, it also makes the pacing absolutely jarring to the point that big reveals several chapters in the making now happen overnight and you do not have the time to feel invested in what is happening. A full remake that is more faithful to the manga – which wasn’t perfect either, but better than the anime – would be a joy for many.
And that’s my anime wishlist. I can think of a few more things to add – maybe a Magi reboot or more Tower of God – but I think the ones mentioned above are probably the ones I would be most excited about seeing more of. Are there any wishes you have for a new or different adaptation? Let me know in the comments down below and as always, thanks for reading!
Opal Kaharis 