The vast majority of anime is usually based on a preexisting material, be it Manga, Light Novels, Visual Novels or even video games and toys. These are the exceptions.
Anime is risky for a lot a reasons, but mainly because it's very costly. Literature and manga will usually only have a small handful of people that are directly involved in its creation; yeah, you'll need a small team in order for it to actually get it onto shelves, but the work itself technically only needs a writer, some artists, and an editor. For anime, you need a team of dozens for the animation alone (to say nothing of composers, voice actors, and other vital roles) just to create a single episode or film. Animation also has the additional problem of demographics; while publishing has to deal with this as well, the lower costs means that it's much less of a financial risk to release a work that appeals to a niche audience. With animation, if you're spending millions on even the cheapest 12-Episode Anime, it better appeal to the widest demographic possible in other to recoup costs.note
So naturally, anyone funding an anime is far more likely to cough up some cash if what's being created has already found success elsewhere; after all, you'll have a built-in fanbase and that preexisting material can serve as additional advertisement for the show and vice-versa, increasing revenue all around. The basic idea is certainly not unique to anime, as countless shows and films around the world - both animated and live-action - are based on preexisting properties for all these same reasons. But this tends to be far more common with anime than anything else, with a good 90% of programs released every year originating in another medium.
Occasionally manga comes out after such an anime, but only as a limited run. Some manga run concurrently to a show, so divergences are common and accepted. You don't want them to be exactly alike or the audience will wonder why you're messing with the story. You also sometimes get a sort of Double Subversion where the manga comes out first, but the original project was conceived as an anime; the manga was primarily intended as advertisement. (The well-known example is Neon Genesis Evangelion.)
Not to be confused with the common gripe that all of the anime examples on a trope page come first. (Seriously, guys, it's alphabetical. Either add in some examples from advertising, or let it go.) Compare with All Musicals Are Adaptations, a trope that exists for much the same reasons as this one.
Examples:
- The Anime no Chikara
project aimed to create entirely original anime, although it ultimately produced just three of them. All of them aired in 2010:
- 91 Days
- Akahori Gedou Hour Lovege
- Akiba Maid War
- Akudama Drive
- Aldnoah.Zero
- Angel Beats! Notable because its creator is best known for Visual Novels.
- Animation Runner Kuromi
- Anime-Gataris
- Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day
- Appare-Ranman!
- The Aquatope on White Sand
- Argento Soma
- Argevollen
- Artiswitch
- Ashita no Nadja
- Ayaka
- Ayane's High Kick
- Basquash!. Mecha show and shameless Nike shoes advertisement.
- Bee Train's girls with guns trilogy:
- 8th Man
- Best Student Council: While it does have a manga, it was mainly to promote the anime and it began only two months before the anime aired.
- The Big O. The order went First Season -> Manga -> Second Season, so the Manga version goes off in a completely different direction from the show (particularly regarding Beck and the ending). Some ideas from the Manga made it into the Second Season, if somewhat obtusely.
- ...which was followed by Manga (unreleased in the US) based on the Second Season.
- Birdie Wing
- Blood: The Last Vampire came out before the its manga adaptation. Same goes for its two other series:
- Bloody Escape
- BNA: Brand New Animal
- Boruto, the first issues of the manga retell the story of Boruto: Naruto the Movie.
- Brigadoon: Marin and Melan had a two-volume manga adaption. The manga's plot was somewhat simpler.
- Bubblegum Crisis
- Buddy Complex
- Buddy Daddies
- Burst Angel. The manga was also a prequel to the anime.
- Candy☆Boy is an odd case. It was originally just an original net animation used to promote a music video. However, the concept for the show proved popular enough that more episodes were created.
- Carole & Tuesday
- Case File nş221: Kabukicho
- [C] – Control
- Chargeman Ken! did have two manga based on it, though it was first conceived as an anime. The manga are often considered better than the anime, mainly due to them explaining more things and having fewer plotholes.
- Charlotte
- Chimimo
- Classicaloid
- Classroom Crisis
- Code Geass is an original story. Several AU manga and video games were made as promotions/bonuses, but the anime is the original canon.
- Concrete Revolutio: Choujin Gensou, one of those cases where the manga promotes and then runs concurrent to the anime.
- Cowboy Bebop. Two manga series for this show do exist, but they were developed as promotional material for the anime. "Shooting Star", which came first, was more of an original Alternate Universe type story, and the second series was a direct tie-in.
- Coyote Ragtime Show
- Cute High Earth Defense Club LOVE!, which has the same case as Concrete Revolutio. However, the manga focuses on the Conquest Club while the anime (and most of the other stuff) focuses on the Defense Club. For the second season, the manga shifted its focus back to the Defense Club.
- Cyber Team in Akihabara has a manga adaptation that was published in the shoujo magazine Nakayoshi a few months after it started airing.
- Cybot Robotchi
- Darker than Black
- DARLING in the FRANXX had a 4-panel spinoff manga debut in the digital version of Shonen Jump the day after the anime premiered. A more serious adaptation followed not long after.
- Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High Schoolnote is the Grand Finale of the Hope's Peak Academy saga and the first original Danganronpa anime, and the reason for that is that the series's writer thought that its story would be best expressed in anime format.
- Day Break Illusion began as an anime, then got a manga adaption and a light novel prequel.
- The Day I Became a God
- Dead Leaves
- Death Parade
- Deca-Dence
- Den-noh Coil
- Devil Hunter Yohko
- Di Gi Charat
- Digimon Fusion. While the manga debuted first by around a fortnight, the anime was announced and presumably in production for months beforehand and the manga specifically adapts it, so it still qualifies for this trope.
- Dog Days
- Do It Yourself!! (though a manga adaption was co-produced with it)
- Both Dragon Ball GT and Dragon Ball Super are cases of Anime First for the Dragon Ball franchise, in contrast to the first two series, though Super aired alongside its own manga.
- Dragon Pilot: Hisone and Masotan
- Eden of the East
- El-Hazard: The Magnificent World
- Endride
- Endro~!
- Engage Kiss
- Ergo Proxy had the original 23 episode run, in addition to a manga Spin-Off
- Eternal Boys
- The Eureka Seven manga has a different ending to the anime, plus its own manga-only Prequel.
- The sequel, Eureka Seven AO had the manga come out first - but since the anime was announced at around the same time and was released three months after the manga's first chapter, it's clear the manga is more of an advertisement, in the vein of Neon Genesis Evangelion.
- Exception
- Extreme Hearts
- Fairy Gone
- Fairy Ranmaru
- Fanfare Of Adolescence
- Fantasista Doll
- Fantastic Children
- Fena: Pirate Princess
- Figure 17 Tsubasa & Hikaru
- FLCL, with a two volume manga afterward.
- Flip Flappers
- Free! is a sequel to the light novel series High☆Speed! rather than an adaptation.
- Galaxy Angel was supposed to be The Anime of the Game, but the game's release ended up being delayed so long that the anime couldn't really base itself on it. Galaxy Angel Party is the only manga adaptation set in the same Alternate Universe as the anime.
- Ga-Rei -Zero-. This is an anime-original Prequel series to the Ga-Rei manga.
- Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet: A manga adaptation began a few months before the anime first aired.
- Getter Robo Contrary to popular belief, the 70's anime adaptation of Getter Robo was released 3 days before the manga.
- Giant Beasts Of Ars
- Gibiate
- Girls und Panzer
- The Girl Who Leapt Through Space. Mecha show? Check. It's even co-sponsored by model and garage kit maker Good Smile Company.
- Glasslip. Manga and light novel adaptations came later.
- Granbelm
- Great Pretender. Manga adaptation currently being published.
- Gregory Horror Show. Manga adaptation came later.
- Guilty Crown
- Every Gundam TV series ever, and ALMOST every OVA series with the exception of Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn, and to some extent, Char's Counterattack. (Both were previously released as novels; the latter was from the film's creator called Hi-Streamer)
- Hanasaku Iroha
- Healer Girl
- Heat Guy J
- Hell Girl. The anime and manga began releasing almost simultaneously, but the anime is the original work and the manga is the adaptation (anime has a longer lead time than manga). The manga's quite different, and lacks Hajime and Tsugumi except in omakes.
- High Card'
- High School Fleet
- Himawari!
- Housing Complex C
- ID: Invaded, another case where the manga promotes, then runs concurrent with the anime.
- I'm Gonna Be an Angel!
- I My Me! Strawberry Eggs
- Infinite Ryvius. The manga is a P.O.V. Sequel.
- Innocent Venus
- Iroduku: The World in Colors
- Izetta: The Last Witch
- Japan Sinks
- Jellyfish Cant Swim In The Night
- Joran: The Princess of Snow and Blood
- Just Because!
- K - the anime is the nucleus of the project, which incles over a dozen manga and novels that are prequels, side-stories, and AUs - including adaptations of the anime.
- Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress
- Kado: The Right Answer— it does have a novel and a manga, but the anime came out before either of them.
- Kagewani
- Kaginado is an anime-original crossover between multiple Key/Visual Arts works.
- Kaina Of The Great Snow Sea
- Kaleido Star
- Kamichu! was probably a safer bet, as the animation style is derivative of Studio Ghibli and therefore an integral part of the series (not to mention guaranteeing a certain amount of fandom).
- Kami Erabi God App
- Key the Metal Idol
- Anything by gímik. Which is really just Kiddy Grade and Uta∽Kata. Gigantic Formula also counts.
- Kill la Kill. Interesting as the manga started a day afterwards.
- Kiznaiver
- KJ File
- Knight Hunters
- Kujibiki♡Unbalance was originally an entirely fictional manga series within Genshiken, which later spawned a fictional anime. When Genshiken got an anime adaptation, Kujibiki Unbalance got three real anime episodes, and then became a full-fledged anime series in real life—the manga was released alongside it.
- Last Exile. The sequel series was weird here; the first episode technically predated the manga, as it was shown at a con. Most viewers were able to see a few chapters of the manga before airing began, though.
- Legend of Himiko. The 12-Episode Anime ended the same month as the manga began its eight-year run.
- In a strange inversion, most fans of Lilpri think that the anime adaptation came before the video games and manga, when the manga really came first.
- Listeners
- A Little Snow Fairy Sugar was adapted into a three-volume manga with the first volume released a couple months after the show's premiere. The manga followed the anime's plot pretty faithfully for the first two volumes then diverged significantly from it in the last one.
- Little Witch Academia (2013)— had a film before an alternate universe manga was released, then predating the second film and the TV series.
- Love Flops
- Lupin III began as a manga series, and the first adaptation, "Green Jacket", was based directly on it and several of the manga chapters were adapted into episode plots. However, once the series got a Revival in the form of Red Jacket, it moved into fully original territory, and has continued on that route ever since. There have been manga made based off of The Castle of Cagliostro, The Secret of Mamo, and certain Green Jacket episodes.
- Lycoris Recoil
- Magic User's Club started with an OVA series.
- Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's and StrikerS. What manga they had were supplementary material for the anime series. The first season isn't an example since it's (loosely) based on the Lyrical Nanoha mini-scenario of the Triangle Heart 3: Sweet Songs Forever fandisc, though most fans don't know that.
- Magical Destroyers
- Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi: While two manga adaptations began before the anime aired, they were mainly meant to promote the anime and there are some differences in plot between them.
- The Magnificent Kotobuki
- Majokko Shimai Yoyo To Nene
- Mama Is a Fourth Grader: A manga adaptation was released a year after.
- Makoto Shinkai's works. Most of the movies and shorts received novelizations afterwards.
- Voices of a Distant Star
- The Place Promised in Our Early Days
- 5 Centimeters per Second: Also has a 2 volume manga adaptation.
- Children Who Chase Lost Voices
- The Garden of Words
- Your Name: Also has a manga adaptation.
- Weathering With You
- Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms
- The Marginal Service
- Martian Successor Nadesico, which was shortly after adapted into a much different manga.
- Metellica Rouge
- Michiko & Hatchin
- Mnemosyne was produced specifically to commemorate the anniversary of the anime channel it aired on. The light novel and the manga were just supplementary material.
- Mononoke, although it was already proven popular as a part of the multi-story Ayakashi series.
- My-HiME was an Anime First, but despite popular belief My-Otome could better be described as "Anime Simultaneously". The thing was the production teams for the anime and manga were both given the same settings and characters, but worked with them in entirely different ways. So despite what people think to the contrary, the manga isn't, nor could it have been, an adaptation.
- My Life After I Became A Dummy Head Mic One Morning
- My Neighbor Totoro: It saw a four-volume series of ani-manga books published a month after the film came out in theaters (in Japan); they were probably created around mid-production of the film.
- Nagi-Asu: A Lull in the Sea
- Najica Blitz Tactics
- Namu Amida Butsu! -UTENA-: Release order went: original defunct game → -UTENA- anime adaptation while the game's remake is still in pre-registration → the actual -UTENA- game.
- Natsuiro Kiseki
- Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is a weird example wherein the manga was released first, but primarily to help the production of and promote the (anime) film. This example is further atypical in that the manga wound up being a major Adaptation Expansion, starting its run two years before the film ultimately came out... and finishing ten years after it, a total run of twelve years. (And unlike with Evangelion below, this had nothing to do with Schedule Slip.)
- Neon Genesis Evangelion is an unusual example of a single show's popularity lasting over a decade due to careful merchandising which is still regularly released. Various spinoff manga exist, including the intermittently produced one that ran alongside the original show (see below). The success of the anime would become a game-changer for the industry, as it would inspire the creation of other similarly ambitious original anime projects in the years to come.
- Even though the manga began publication before the anime began airing, it was made as a promotional tie-in for the anime series which was in production at the time, as with Nausicaa. Amusingly, the manga ended up running for 18 years...because of Schedule Slip.
- Night World
- Noein
- Now and Then, Here and There
- Odd Taxi, although a five volume manga adaptation between 2021-2022 was released before, simultaneously, and after the show's run.
- Ojamajo Doremi, the (now second) longest-running Magical Girl show in existence.
- Onipan!
- Ookami Shonen Ken (lit. "Ken the Wolf Boy"), a mid-1960s black and white anime which was Toei Animation's first animated TV series, is believed to be the Ur-Example.
- Opus COLORS
- Overtake
- The Orbital Children
- Osomatsu-san first released its 2016 manga adaptation after the series' first cour aired.
- Otaku no Video
- Otogi Zoshi, although the anime appeared only a month before the manga.
- Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt
- Paranoia Agent
- Penguindrum, similar to Utena (which was also by Ikuhara), has novels being released simultaneously.
- A Place Further than the Universe has a manga adaptation that began before the anime aired, but it was meant to tie into the anime's promotion.
- Plastic Memories
- Please Teacher! and Please Twins!: The manga adaptations differ significantly from the anime plot toward the end.
- Pokémon: The Series: Okay, Video Games First, but the anime did come before the manga it bears the most similarity to (The Electric Tale of Pikachu); not always the case in the other manga continuities, however.
- Pole Princess
- Popin Q
- Every installment of Pretty Cure, another Magical Girl show. Manga adaptations typically come out a few months after a season premieres.
- Futari wa Pretty Cure
- Futari wa Pretty Cure Splash★Star
- Yes! Pretty Cure 5
- Fresh Pretty Cure!
- HeartCatch Pretty Cure!
- Suite Pretty Cure ♪
- Smile PreCure!
- Doki Doki! PreCure
- HappinessCharge Pretty Cure!
- Go! Princess Pretty Cure
- Maho Girls Pretty Cure!
- KiraKira★Pretty Cure ŕ la Mode
- HuGtto! Pretty Cure
- Star★Twinkle Pretty Cure
- Healin' Good♡Pretty Cure
- Tropical-Rouge! Pretty Cure
- Delicious Party♡Pretty Cure
- Hirogaru Sky! Pretty Cure
- The Price of Smiles
- Princess Mononoke
- Princess Nine, which gained a 3-volume companion manga.
- Princess Tutu: The manga is notorious for removing many of the anime's original plot elements, pretty much screwing with the actual point of what the story was really aiming for.
- Psycho-Pass. The 22-episode anime began airing on noitaminA in October 2012, while the manga began running in November.
- Puella Magi Madoka Magica, with a three volume manga adaptation released concurrently with the anime (but after the anime aired the episodes depicted in each volume). It also has two manga Spin Offs: Puella Magi Kazumi Magica and Puella Magi Oriko Magica. Kazumi Magica began serialization while the anime aired and is still ongoing. Oriko Magica skipped serialization entirely and was released as a two-volume series shortly after the anime's conclusion. A (noncanon) anthology manga series was released several months after the anime ended. Another manga Spin Off was released alongside the Compilation Movie.
- Pui Pui Molcar
- RahXephon
- Raideen
- Rakugo Tennyo Oyui
- Re:CREATORS
- Re-Main
- Revenger
- Revolutionary Girl Utena: the anime and manga were made simultaneously.
- Ride Your Wave
- Rolling Girls: A manga began before the anime aired, but it was mainly meant to provide more backstory for the anime.
- Rumble Garanndoll
- Rymans Club
- Saint October
- Samurai Champloo. A two volume manga was published that was a series of mostly original side stories (the only adapted story was a shortened version of the first episode).
- Samurai Pirates (A Magical Girl work despite the title)
- Samurai 7. (Loosely) Based on Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, though.
- Sands of Destruction was originally conceived as a video game. Midway through production, they decided an anime would be a good way to promote the game, and so a second team split off to produce it. The anime was released before the game in both Japanese and US markets, despite being started later. It was later adapted into a manga as well.
- Sarazanmai had its light novel and anime release days apart from each other, with its manga adaptation running just after the anime wrapped up. A spinoff manga, Reo & Mabu, was released before anything else of Sarazanmai, but it explicitly takes place in an Alternate Universe that has nothing to do with the main story.
- Science Ninja Team Gatchaman and most other shows made by Tatsunoko Production (aside from very early stuff like Speed Racer).
- Even then, the Mach GoGoGo manga was made primarily to generate interest for the anime. The anime diverted from the manga in many aspects.
- s-CRY-ed. Despite what some people might claim, the manga came out second.
- Seiren premiered as an anime, unlike its predecessors, Kimikiss, Amagami, and Photo Kano, which started out as video games that were later adapted into anime.
- Serial Experiments Lain
- selector infected WIXOSS and its sequels. The plot is original, but was made to promote the Wixoss card game from which it derives several characters. Various prequel manga were made before and after the series debuted that take place in the same continuity.
- Seven of Seven: While a manga adaptation began before the anime aired, the manga was mainly meant to be promotional material for the anime.
- Shine Post
- Shinobi no Ittoki
- Shirobako. There was a prequel manga.
- Shounen Hollywood, primarily referring to the "HOLLY STAGE" series instead of the Prequel novel about Hiiragi. The series had a spinoff manga, and a serialized sequel novel after HOLLY STAGE FOR 50.
- Sk8 the Infinity is a wholly original IP by Studio Bones. A comedy manga spin-off called "SK8 Chill Out!'' came shortly after the anime premiered, and a manga adaptation began in March 2021.
- Simoun was primarily the anime series, with two manga and a light novel produced as alternate universe retellings of the main story. The creators attempted to recoup the costs via merchandise.
- Sonny Boy
- Space Battleship Yamato was the very first Anime First TV production. Its success paved the way for everything else on this page.
- Space☆Dandy
- Spirited Away: A bit of an odd example here in that it was not based on any manga or novel, nor were any of those things created after the film was released. Consider it a stand-alone.
- Star Driver
- Stars Align
- Summer Ghost
- Str.A.In.: Strategic Armored Infantry
- Super Dimension Fortress Macross, and its sequels (Macross Plus and Macross Zero are the exceptions to subsequent manga adaptations, being OVAs and all).
- Super Milk Chan
- Symphogear: A manga adaptation began before the first season aired, but it was mainly to promote the upcoming anime.
- Tactical Roar
- Tada Never Falls in Love
- Tamako Market
- Tamayura
- Tenchi Muyo! - a manga was created in the gap in between the first and second OVAs and actually kept going despite the gap between OVA 2 and OVA 3. There was also a 6-issue American-made comic based off of Tenchi Universe.
- Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: There was a direct manga adaptation, a School-AU spin-off, and a different AU-manga coming out.
- Terror in Resonance
- Tesagure! Bukatsu-mono
- Texhnolyze
- Tiger & Bunny
- Time Bokan
- Tokyo 24th Ward
- All of the various Transformers anime series are original material, though most of them have accompanying manga (or sometimes an American comic) published concurrently in order to promote them. The nature of these manga varies; sometimes they offer supplemental side-stories set in the anime's continuity, and other times they act as an Alternate Continuity, with varying degrees of similarity to their animated counterparts; the Transformers Victory manga ended up being completely different due to being based on an unused early draft of the anime.
- True Tears
- Tsuritama
- Tsuki ga Kirei
- Turkey
- Tweeny Witches
- Uta∽Kata
- Vampire in the Garden
- Viper's Creed
- The Vision of Escaflowne: Due to its Troubled Production, the TV show hit the screens after the very first manga adaptation appeared in stores, despite the latter being actually based entirely on preproduction materials for the former. Two more mangas and a movie adaptation have been produced after the show aired. Both are alternate re-tellings of the TV series, and if you were a fan of the television series before the film was released (2001 in Japan, 2003 in North America) and were upset with the drastic changes made in the latter, chances are you'll also be surprised and (quite possibly) upset with the differences in the manga series as well - assuming you haven't picked them up yet.
- Visual Prison
- Vividred Operation
- Vivy: Fluorite Eye's Song
- Vlad Love
- Waiting in the Summer
- Wan Wan Celeb Soreyuke Tetsunoshi
- A Whisker Away
- Wizard Barristers
- Wolf Children. A manga adaptation that expands on the ending was made later.
- Wolf's Rain. There is a 2-volume manga adaptation, but the story (and especially the ending) has numerous differences.
- Wonder Egg Priority
- World Conquest Zvezda Plot
- Xam'd: Lost Memories.
- Yadamon
- The manga of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, 5D's, and ARC-V all have the same characters, as well as some new ones, but totally different plots which bear no resemblance to the original ones.
- Yuki Yuna is a Hero. It has an a prequel light novel running at the same time.
- Yurei Deco
- Yuri Kuma Arashi: While a manga began before the anime aired, it tells a very different story from the anime and some of the characters have different personalities.
- Yuri!!! on Ice
- Zombie Land Saga
- In a weird instance for the Pretty Series, the anime adaptation of Kiratto Pri☆Chan is coming out first, with the game being released eleven days after it premieres.
