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Anthropomorphic Animal Adaptation

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This Superman adaption really went to the dogs.

A lot of books that were written by famous authors have an entirely human cast. However, when the story is adapted (mostly as an Animated Adaptation), some creators decide the best way to really jazz up the story is to replace the humans with Funny Animals or Beast Men. This is known as an Anthropomorphic Animal Adaptation.

Compare Adaptation Species Change and Alternate Species Counterpart. Can take place in a World of Funny Animals. See also Furry Lens. Contrast Human-Focused Adaptation.


Examples:

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    Anime & Manga 
  • Sherlock Hound is Sherlock Holmes with an entirely canine cast.
  • Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds is The Three Musketeers with also an entirely canine cast, and other animals.
  • Animal Treasure Island is a partial example. There are a few human children (notably Jim, the main character), but all the pirates are portrayed as animals.
  • The animated film of Night on the Galactic Railroad makes the main characters anthropomorphic cats, although there are some human secondary characters.
    • Gisaburou Sugii did the same thing again with The Life of Guskou Budori, also based on a novel by Kenji Miyazawa.
    • Shoji Kawamori directed Spring and Chaos based on Miyazawa's life with everyone as anthropomorphic cats.
  • The obscure direct-to-video anime series Mother Goose Songs & Rhyme (known as Mother Goose Video Workbook in Japan) adapts Mother Goose nursery rhymes and songs with cute anthropomorphic animals. The series was made by Triangle Staff and was released in Japan, United Kingdom, and American between 1988 and 1991. The series had a total of 12 volumes, with only the first three gaining an international release.
  • In a similar way to Sherlock Hound, mentioned above, Studio Junio later released Montana Jones which takes inspiration from Indiana Jones, but featuring a cast of anthropomorphic felines.

    Asian Animation 

    Comic Books 

    Films — Animated 

    Literature 
  • Basil of Baker Street (which was adapted into The Great Mouse Detective) is not a straightforward adaptation, as Basil lives in a mousehole near Sherlock Holmes, and considers the detective his mentor in-universe, but it fits.
  • The Sherlock Hound novels by Brenda Sivers (unrelated to the anime of the same name, beyond the obvious).
  • In the Welkin Weasels books, Sylver is very loosely Robin Hood, and his descendant Montegu Sylver is slightly less loosely Sherlock Holmes.
  • The Muppets Meet the Classics: The Phantom of the Opera by "Gaston Leroux and" Eric Forrest Jackson, which features Christine as a pig, Raoul as a frog, Erik as ... a sort of dragony creature ... and so on.
  • An illustrated version of The Emperor's New Clothes by Scott Gustafson depicts all the characters as dogs.
  • If real people count, the Bunbury Tales picture books by David English, and subsequent animated series, was about a cricket team of anthropomorphic rabbits, which included lapine versions of notable cricketers of the 1980s with names like Ian Buntham (Ian Botham) and Viv Radish (Viv Richards). The Opposing Sports Team was the cats of Whiskertown, including Mike Catting (Mike Gatting) and Geoff Boycat (Geoff Boycott). One story even featured the ghost of the greatest rabbit cricketer of all time, W.G. Grass (W.G. Grace).

    Live Action TV 

    Puppet Shows 

    Tabletop Games 
  • Critter-TEK, a licenced(!) funny animal parody of BattleTech. The Federated Suns become the Amphibian Suns, the Lyran Commonwealth becomes the Feline Commonwealth, and so on.

    Video Games 
  • Enslaved: Odyssey to the West is an inversion - Monkey and Pigsy have changed from a monkey and a pig to humans, as is often the case with adaptations of Journey to the West.

    Webcomics 

    Websites 

    Western Animation 

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