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Which english books would make good japanese anime adaptations?

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ImipolexG frozen in time from all our yesterdays Since: Jan, 2001
frozen in time
#76: Jan 12th 2011 at 11:53:04 AM

Gravity's Rainbow as done by whoever did Excel Saga.

no one will notice that I changed this
Scardoll Burn Since: Nov, 2010
Burn
#77: Jan 12th 2011 at 11:55:17 AM

For The Great Gatsby: It'd actually be interesting to see that, if only because the American Dream is such a huge part of the book.

edited 12th Jan '11 11:55:40 AM by Scardoll

Fight. Struggle. Endure. Suffer. LIVE.
Journeyman Overlording the Underworld from On a throne in a vault overlooking the Wasteland Since: Nov, 2010
Overlording the Underworld
#78: Jan 15th 2011 at 9:35:28 AM

Neil Gaiman's work would be cool to try in Anime. They've already done movies out of his stuff before.

The trick is finding a work that would please the Japanese as well as Western civilization. Maybe Gordon Dickson's Childe Cycle? John Dalmas's work would have a leg up, especially his "Regiment" series, since the major religion in that has some Buddhist feel to it.

I also second the Posleen war series and even "Into the Looking Glass."

Taelor Don't Forget To Smile from The Paths of Spite Since: Jul, 2009
eX 94. Grandmaster of Shark Since: Jan, 2001
94. Grandmaster of Shark
#80: Jan 15th 2011 at 11:09:07 AM

^HELL! YES!

The story reminds me of a Studio Ghibli movie anyway.

edited 15th Jan '11 11:09:57 AM by eX

Nyktos (srahc 84) eltit Since: Jan, 2001
(srahc 84) eltit
#81: Jan 15th 2011 at 11:10:48 AM

@Taelor: I concur. (I also have this weird idea that it would work as a JRPG.)

I guess it is.
Journeyman Overlording the Underworld from On a throne in a vault overlooking the Wasteland Since: Nov, 2010
Overlording the Underworld
#82: Jan 15th 2011 at 4:10:22 PM

Why not? BBC I believe, or PBS, or both, had a live action Neverwhere. Anime version seems like a good move.

Nyktos (srahc 84) eltit Since: Jan, 2001
(srahc 84) eltit
#83: Jan 15th 2011 at 5:25:41 PM

Actually, the book is based on the miniseries.

I guess it is.
eX 94. Grandmaster of Shark Since: Jan, 2001
94. Grandmaster of Shark
#84: Jan 16th 2011 at 1:11:57 AM

Originally, Gaiman wrote the mini series for the BBC and everything he had to rewrite, he instead used in the book.

edited 16th Jan '11 1:12:29 AM by eX

Nyktos (srahc 84) eltit Since: Jan, 2001
(srahc 84) eltit
#85: Jan 16th 2011 at 9:36:32 AM

I am aware.

I guess it is.
OOZE Don't feed the plants! from Transsexual,Transylvania Since: Dec, 1969
Don't feed the plants!
#86: Jan 16th 2011 at 1:22:41 PM

I always thought it would be funny to see a horrible, Adaptation Decay'd anime of Harry Potter.

I'm feeling strangely happy now, contented and serene. Oh don't you see, finally I'll be, somewhere that's green...
Jordan Azor Ahai from Westeros Since: Jan, 2001
Chubert highly secure from California Since: Jan, 2010
highly secure
#88: Jan 16th 2011 at 1:47:57 PM

^^ EKUSUPERIARUMASU!

Whatcha gonna do, little buckaroo? | i be pimpin' madoka fics
JHM Apparition in the Woods from Niemandswasser Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: Hounds of love are hunting
ConfuciusRex Since: Jul, 2009
#91: Jan 19th 2011 at 8:07:45 PM

Flashman could be interesting. Rousing historical adventure, beautiful women, and the most despicable yet lovable anti-hero around. I think a Japanese studio could pull it off because they have less pressure to be as politically correct.

Iaculus Pronounced YAK-you-luss from England Since: May, 2010
Pronounced YAK-you-luss
#92: Jan 19th 2011 at 9:55:33 PM

Muthafuckin' Malazan Book Of The Fallen, bitches.

Studio-wrecking budget, multiple seasons, and everything - the action, the melodrama, the freaky-awesome settings - taken even further Beyond the Impossible than it was already. It would be the essence of anime distilled into one glorious, bloated, Madhouse-produced magnum opus.

You know you want it.

edited 19th Jan '11 9:59:24 PM by Iaculus

What's precedent ever done for us?
frog753 Non-Action Guy from CT and/or MA Since: Jul, 2009
#93: Jan 21st 2011 at 10:43:44 PM

Not another one of these threads! There's basically an exactly oppositely arranged one in the Manga/Anime section!

So anyway, my obligatory list, or whatever.

Flora Segunda, so much. It's a weird, genre-busting (sort of...I'm tired and not nearly coherent enough right now) fantasy set in a sort of alternate-universe mid-to-late 19th century California (sans rest of U.S.) with magic and very complete gender equality, a military dictatorship that is itself under the yoke of their southern neighbors, which are essentially the Aztec Empire with a crapload of powerful mages, among other things. It subverts and averts so many tropes and would probably confound any adaptation by mainstream western sources, but it's nothing many of the Japanese studios couldn't handle, and has the potential for beautiful visuals. As much of a cop-out as this sounds like, I think we could do worse than to give it to the Code Geass team of Goro Taniguchi+CLAMP and see what happens, though the heroine isn't exactly CLAMP-skinny by any stretch of the imagination...but they could probably handle the visual richness and decadence and evoke it in a similar way as they did for Geass.

Also, Sabriel.

And also, yes Larklight would be great, but while we're talking Phillip Reeve, how come no one has mentioned the Hungry City Chronicles/Mortal Engines Quartet! Another thing that would probably decay less than if adapted by westerners because the Japanese would be more accommodating to some of its tricker elements.

Flora Segunda | World Made By Hand | Monster Blood Tattoo ^You should read these series.
Bur from Flyover Country (Living Relic) Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu
#94: Jan 21st 2011 at 10:53:10 PM

I'd worry that they wouldn't make Hester as physically fucked up as she's supposed to be. It's kind of against Japanese aesthetics to have a teenage girl with half a face, half her teeth, no nose, etc etc in such a way that is against all forms of cute.

frog753 Non-Action Guy from CT and/or MA Since: Jul, 2009
#95: Jan 22nd 2011 at 6:52:43 AM

[up]Yeah, that could be a problem. In fact, one of the biggest problems, because it's been commented on many times that it doesn't seem like any American visual depictions of her are capable of showing her properly either, for a number of reasons. I guess it depends on how much the production team was willing to overcome the general Japanese trend and just do her accurately. And if they couldn't, it's a shame, because there's so much amazing stuff visually in the series that would be well-served by some excellent animation, stuff that might be quite costly to the point that Hollywood would be wary of it for a feature film.

I just get the feeling that some open-minded Japanese director would be more willing to depict Hester properly than studio people in Hollywood...her appearance is one of the surest targets for good old Executive Meddling that I've ever seen. But I'm no expert on any of this, I'm just throwing out guesses and opinions...

Flora Segunda | World Made By Hand | Monster Blood Tattoo ^You should read these series.
ShadowBane Through A Mirror Weirdly from Venezuela Since: Mar, 2013
Through A Mirror Weirdly
#96: Jun 2nd 2013 at 7:14:25 PM

Just... to get this off my chest:

  • The Phantom Of The Opera The Anime. I think it would be great to see it expanded upon, and somehow anime seems like a good medium. They could do plenty of flashbacks to the Phantom’s past, use amazing background music, anime is used to romantic tension so it would play out the Will They or Won't They? longer and add some character development in the mix. Also, the characters that get cut off the other adaptations could have a chance of having their own episode.

  • The Godfather Anime. Its one of those books you'd like to see in visual media, but the movie sadly left some subplots/characters out. It could be serious and dark seinen. May be true to the original or they could swap the Italian mafia for the Yakuza.

With great power come weird people in costumes trying to kill you.
TamH70 Since: Nov, 2011 Relationship Status: Faithful to 2D
#97: Jun 3rd 2013 at 2:26:29 PM

Obviously Harry Potter. Less obviously the 1632 series by Eric Flint and others. I mean, seeing an actual 21st Century American town land smack dab in the worst war in European history until the outbreak of Big Mistake Number One - just how cool would that be? I wanna see an incarnation of Gustavus II Adolphus, Rex Sueciae charging onto the field of Breitenfeld and pummelling the crap out of his enemies with the best field artillery of the seventeenth century.

edited 3rd Jun '13 2:35:32 PM by TamH70

Darkabomination Since: Mar, 2012
#98: Jun 5th 2013 at 9:44:18 AM

Perdido Street Station would make a good anime I think. Enough creepy monsters and fantastic ideas in the city to inspire the artists. Plus New Crobuzon would be a wonderful blend of weird and Nightmare Fuel on screen, perhaps even more so than the book.

Ficus Since: Aug, 2010
#99: Jun 7th 2013 at 12:06:20 AM

The Iliad, The Odyssey and The Aeneid would be interesting, (although not "English.").

Possibly with mechas.cool

edited 7th Jun '13 12:07:14 AM by Ficus

Lemurian from Touhou fanboy attic Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: Buried in snow, waiting for spring
#100: Jun 7th 2013 at 5:26:15 AM

The Black Magician Trilogy. When I was first reading them, I kept thinking "this would be perfect for a shoujo series".

Join us in our quest to play all RPG video games! Moving on to disc 2 of Grandia!

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