What’s the most exciting new anime announcement? And what’s the guarantee that your favorite series will get a good adaptation—or any adaptation at all?
Disclaimer:The views and opinions expressed by the participants in this chatlog are not the views of Anime News Network.
Spoiler Warning for discussion of the series ahead.
Nick
Nicky, it’s time to celebrate, because we’re creeping up on Phoenix Wright’s favorite holiday: Almost Christmas!
By that, I of course mean Anime Christmas, aka Anime Japan, where fans across the world come to suckle at the industry’s teat like starving calves, hoping for anime announcements, trailers, and proof that their most anticipated adaptations aren’t going to look like EX-ARM.
Nicky
We’re also creeping up on the spring season where we’re sure to see tons of already announced highly anticipated new and returning series!
However, even with an infinite amount of anime being made in this day and age, there’s still a bunch more manga that haven’t been made into anime that people want to see.
Yep, and Anime Japan is basically built on mining that fact for as much attention as possible. Every year my twitter feed is flooded at like 1am my time with announcements and PVs. I still remember the year Uma Musume Pretty Derby was announced, and made Anitwitter explode.
They even have a huge poll where people can vote for their favorite manga they want to see themselves! Judging by last year’s Top 10 results, winners aren’t always guaranteed an anime, it’s an interesting way to see where some of the demand while knowing that many people in the industry will also be looking at it, compared to most other polls.
Hooooo boy does seeing Magu-chan at number four there make me sad. But we’ll get to that. For now, we’ve got the list of nominees for this year’s poll and it’s a mix between highly anticipated series, stuff that got announced before the results could be released, and series that were straight up cancelled. Wild.
Yeah, Magu being on both lists, despite being cancelled last year, is some unintentional insult to injury. Like, y’all have to know it’s not happening. Why tease us by offering it as an option?
What’s next, gonna put Psyren on there to double down on false hope?
They actually had a super limited run of Magu plushes at one point before the axing, and I would absolutely sell my soul to an adorable elder god for the chance to get one.
I mean, I guess there’s always hope? But Tomo-chan also seemingly got co-produced by Crunchyroll specifically because of its dedicated fanbase overseas. Sadly I don’t see Magu-chan or PPPPPP getting that benefit.
Though on the topic of romcoms, there’s plenty of hope for You and I Are Polar Opposites, which I will absolutely convert people to the way I have with 100 Girl Friends.
That one definitely feels like it’s just a matter of time. The series has been a big success pretty much from the moment it started, but the engines of industry run slower than the tastes of online nerds would wish. I would absolutely put money on it getting announced before next year though, because Dandadan fuckin’ rules. It’s like Chainsaw Man but you don’t have to wait 40 chapters for it to get good.
Pretty apt comparison given that author Yukinobu Tatsu was Fujimoto’s assistant, and the series has a lot of material given that it moves as fast as the high-speed dick-stealing terrifying turbo granny ghost that kicks off it’s story.
It’s easily one of my favorite ongoing manga right now, and damn near every chapter has some weird, bold moment that leaves me flat on my ass. And yes, dear reader, there is a series-long running plot about the main guy having to get his dick and balls back from an evil grandma ghost. It’s brilliant.
There’s actually several Jump+ exclusive series on there, some that feel more likely to get adaptations than others (see the aforementioned Polar Opposites). You’ve got the clever spin on Magical Girl staples with Magilumiere Co. Ltd.; the simple fantasy comedy of ‘Tis Time for « Torture, » Princess; and whatever the hell Choujin X is supposed to be.
What I wouldn’t kill for a Jack Jeanne anime, though, Ishida’s rhythm-based otome game that I’ll finally get to play this year, hopefully.
Choujin X moves with the pacing of a narcoleptic cocaine addict, so it’s definitely a good idea to let that one kick around for a while longer. But being new and not having a ton of source material never stopped Shonen Jump fans from demanding an anime by volume 4.
For example, see the reaction this weekend to The Elusive Samurai‘s adaptation announcement, and half of it being people absolutely appalled it happened before Sakamoto Days.
This is just my opinion but in terms of storytelling, I’d rather something be adapted too « Late » so to speak than too early. It’s much easier to adapt a more fully-realized property or outright finished narrative than to hedge all your bets on guessing where something will end up. Though, striking while the irons are hot can be a good boost too, some titles stay evergreen. I really thought we’d get a Delicious in Dungeon anime sooner but I’m happy to see that monthly-series get it’s own end-point before seeing Studio Trigger animate the hell out of some DnD monsters (before they’re consumed as delectable meals).
With just how much anime is being produced right now, I’ve largely given up expecting or trying to predict when/if a series will get an adaptation. Big titles can be expected, but a lot of smaller stuff is up in the air, and I’d rather just enjoy the manga or novels for themselves rather than viewing them as a springboard for a television show.
That said, if they wanted to make a lavishly rendered adaptation of A Bride’s Story you wouldn’t hear me complaining.
Like I said, measured expectations are important. It’s very rare for any production to get the level of time and resources to create an equivalent to illustrations as luscious Kamome Shirahama. At the same time, there are things anime can do that manga can’t, like sound. An adaptation with mediocre visuals can still capture the emotion and spirit of its source through music and voice acting.
There’s pros and cons of each medium for sure, I’m willing to forgive some budgetary measures if a series can still portray the same heart to a wider audience. That said, I think the real reason people clamor for things to be adapted into movies or series isn’t just because of the fuller sensory experience, but because it’s really hard to convince people to take a little time to read things without a full advertising campaign and hype movement at their disposal.
True, I’ve certainly put off series before because I just didn’t have the bandwidth, and decided I’d wait to watch the anime instead. Just for this upcoming season I finally tried out Skip & Loafer and Heavenly Delusion because people were so excited for their adaptations. So maybe I’m part of the problem.
(Side note: Holy shit, Heavenly Delusion is gonna be wild.)
I’m just as guilty, there’s things I’ll put off if I’m not being constantly reminded about them. I read volumes faster than I watch episodes of anime but it’s more work for my brain to try fill in all the voices and images myself. It’s also certainly cheaper and faster for me to watch a whole season on my Crunchyroll account than to shell out for every individual volume of what might be an ongoing series. It’s unlikely that a manga or novel gets merch without being animated. There’s tons of valid reasons that people might have an easier time watching over reading and overall they make anime more accessible despite there being so many good manga. I can’t even openly gush about the unanimated in-depth because there’s too much risk of spoiling the yet-to-be-initiated.
Shout out to every person in my servers who has to just follow their recs for Oshi no Ko with a « Just trust me, bro. »
I mean, do trust me, bro. Oshi no Ko is fuckin’ wild. There’s a very good reason that first episode is going to be movie-length. It’s exactly as bonkers as you’d expect from combining the creators of Scum’s Wish and Kaguya-sama: Love is War, and I cannot wait to see my timeline meltdown over that premiere.
It’s a great upcoming example because anime has the power to create a simultaneous mass reaction that we struggle to do individually. Being broadcasted can turn singular story-beats into an event. So I’ll never blame people for wanting to see their feelings recreated on a mass scale. It’s okay to dream! Sometimes they even come true, but I don’t think it’s always essential to be adapted for a work to reach that same scale or necessary when all we really want to do is be allowed to publicly talk about how things make us feel.
I guess the point is that they make these adaptations as promotion for a reason: they work! Work enough to be worth the risk, at least.
I can hold onto every single one of my adaption dreams and try to forget my one-too-many adaption nightmares but I do so in the face of a few crushing realities. First, numbers wise, not everything can be adapted. There’s always going to be more manga or light novels or original sources other than anime, period. Second, dreams come at a cost. Animation is a lot of labor and the more anime get greenlit, the tighter the schedules is for many of the few major anime studios.
Yeah, that’s the other side of this. More Stuff is great if you’re a consumer, but not so much if you’re an overworked industry of artists struggling against poor management, ludicrous deadlines, and a still ongoing pandemic that’s routinely causing crunch and delays. Anime is in a very tenuous production bubble, and eventually something’s going to give.
You’d assume more projects would be a sign of flourishing and healthy industry but because of the particular technical details surrounding anime, that truly isn’t the case. When studios take on more projects, animators work more but aren’t paid any better than if they worked less. This video from the animator supporters program, a non-profit dedicated to housing underpaid animators, explains it in much greater detail.
It’s a big god damn mess, and while I’d hope things could improve, in the here and now I think the best we can do is to try and be understanding when a long-awaited adaptation has problems or falls apart. You don’t have to like it, obviously, but it’s worth considering that nobody involved wanted things to turn into poop, and even the most cut-rate productions aren’t made by « lazy » artists.
Oh yeah, while I wish I could just easily blame one person for the reason something didn’t turn out the way it did, most of the time I can’t even get mad when a production falls apart. It’s more sad than anything knowing that people with passion just aren’t given the right resources to do the job that you’d hope for. I’ll hold the Farewell, My Dear Cramer anime as my shining example, that poor show clearly had people who cared. Even some anime I’d consider « serviceable » now, still can’t help but feel a little melty. I have to keep crossing my fingers that my favs don’t just explode mid-production, including next season’s Yuri Is My Job!
Was a little worried for a more drama-based series to just get less work in it, but this new trailer looks better than some previous ones.
I’m on the opposite end with Hell’s Paradise. The trailer looks really slick:
But MAPPA‘s never-ending assembly line of resource-intensive projects constantly has me worrying about people ruining their health to achieve that slickness.
These two shows I feel definitely « deserve » to be made too! Their manga have good art, appeal, and characters, etc., other qualities that plenty of people will latch onto and enjoy with a bit of added sound, color, and motion. However, I think studios could also be a bit more selective with their titles. Having so many low-budget adaptions can be equally overwhelming and disheartening.
I’m not saying every anime needs to be immaculate, but I think most people would rather have one great-looking show with a good hook than ten moderately animated ones most people won’t have time to watch. Hell, its budget is probably one of the biggest reasons Demon Slayer stands out as much as it does and I’m excited to see the ufotable animate the shit out of an arc I actually like and will maybe even have a lot to say about.
I gotta disagree there. While having a big, lavish production is nice, I think there’s a lot to be said for modest, charming series that are just given the care and attention they need to deliver. Sasaki & Miyano, for instance, is a very modest production, but it has a perfect aesthetic and directorial perspective for its slow burn love story.
I think it’s more about knowing what’s best for the material, and having the creative freedom (and time) to make the right decisions for the resources you have.
Oh yeah, while I say « moderate » I guess I should clarify that I mean we’re still getting good shows that aren’t getting as much and care as their premises might demand. I love how Sasaki and Miyano looks for it’s atmosphere of what’s otherwise a slow and breezy story, it’s exactly what the story needs.
Budget, to me, isn’t just about money for showing off but having time and being well-managed. As said in the previous video, most anime actually have identical amount of money given to them but little means to be flexible. Having every production being a rushed-out mess means there’s less room for the kind of oomph you might need to make your work standout. Just having the space to make those small and meaningful decisions can help bring out better resonance in an audience.
It’s a tricky situation. The increase in productions isn’t healthy, but at the same time it provides room for more risky or just abnormal shows to be made, even in the realm of adaptation. To take it back to the beginning, Tomo-chan’s anime probably wouldn’t exist without that bubble, specifically because it’s been finished for years.
I think in my heart there’d be a world where the increase in demand didn’t mean an increase in pain. An industry that’s doing well could also theoretically afford a few more small projects to space out the big ones, and there’d definitely be more animators and small studios to take them on if they weren’t all crashing and burning out. It’s also not that these series aren’t making money, it’s that the studios aren’t seeing most of the profits.
That’s the rub when you’re in a world where art must necessarily be capital and product to even exist. Some times, things work out for the best. Other times, multiple billion-dollar corporations pay to make a show so badly conceived it can’t animate a truck.
They couldn’t animate a truck.
They wrote in a plot point about this dude vanishing a truck that’s about to hit her. But they couldn’t animate it.
Maybe in the end, what really needs proper adaptation…is our expectations.
Exactly, I think we need to learn to okay loving something that will never get an adaption. Some manga are really great and unique on their own and we don’t need corporations to remind us what to love, how to love them, and when. It’s depressing when you have no one to talk about a series with but I’ve personally found much reward from being that annoying friend who hankers others to check out a series and watching them react.
