Usually, when a manga gets a certain degree of popularity, it gets adapted into an anime series.Not every popular manga series gets an anime adaptation, however. Sometimes, certain series have an art style or a narrative structure that just doesn’t translate well into the animated medium. That doesn’t mean people haven’t tried, however.
Some have taken on the daunting task of translating these seemingly unadaptable manga to anime to varying levels of success. Others have avoided trying. Sometimes, the creators have not allowed their works to get an adaptation, believing the animated medium would not do their manga justice.
1987
Creator
Hirohiko Araki
There are many reasons it took about 25 years forJojo’s Bizarre Adventureto get a decent anime adaptation.Hirohiko Araki’s art style, inspired by Western comic books, was not very easy to translate into animation in the 80s. Additionally, the complex narrative structure and constant exposition are hard to adapt to a screen.
While the series has had adaptations in the form of OVAs since 1993, it wasn’t until David Production took the reins in 2012 that the series finally got to see its potential as an anime and reached a massive, international audience.
2009
Kengo Hanazawa
Often called the greatest zombie manga of all time,I Am A Herotopped many ‘best manga’ lists when it was still running, and even won many awards. As far as adaptations are concerned, it was made into a live-action film in 2018. So why are there no anime adaptations?
I Am A Herohas amore realistic art stylecompared to most other manga series, and is more of a psychological journey than a guns-blazing action comic. Adding to the fact that the series has very little dialogue, attempting to translate this manga into an animated show would be difficult, to say the least.
1998
Takehiko Inoue
Vagabondis one of the best-selling manga series of all time. Still, unlike Takehiko Inoue’s other masterpiece,Slam Dunk, it was never adapted into an anime and probably never will be. As asamurai-themed period piece,Vagabondis more reminiscent of an Akira Kurosawa film than a samurai anime likeRurouni Kenshin.
LikeI Am A Hero, the manga has a more realistic art style complete with graphic violence, making it more suitable for a live-action adaptation than an animated one.
2003
Kiyohiko Azuma
While Kiyohiko Azuma’sAzumanga Daiohreceived a fairly successful anime adaptation, the same cannot be said for his other well-known series,Yotsuba&!. In fact, Azuma has outright forbidden any sort of animated adaptation of the manga. While it was rumored that it was because he wasn’t pleased with theAzumanga Daiohadaptation, that certainly isn’t the only reason.
Yotsuba&!is a slice-of-life series in its purest form, which means it’s a series with no real conflicts and the characters quite literally go about their day-to-day lives. The pacing of the series isperfect as an Iyashikei manga, but would, admittedly, make for a boring anime.
2007
Inio Asano
While most of Inio Asano’s works are hard to adapt into anime,Goodnight Punpunin particular may not work as anything but a manga. Not only does it have aunique art style, which combines realistic and cartoony characters, but the story slowly goes from a typical slice-of-life comedy to an incredibly cynical coming-of-age series. Both of those are almost impossible to translate into animation or even live-action.
Despite its seemingly niche appeal,Goodnight Punpunhas received heaps of critical and commercial acclaim, winning awards and being translated into several languages.
Junji Ito
People have tried to adaptJunji Ito’s horror worksto anime and live-action, but almost every attempt has been met with mixed to negative reviews. It’s gotten to the point where many fans think his works just aren’t going to work in any medium but a graphic novel.
Ito depends on the element of the page turn to jump-scare audiences, which naturally can only happen in a book. In addition, his works are less about the characters and more about the highly detailed body horror. Translating this into animation or even live-action is going to require a massive budget or gaudy CGI, lessening the impact.
1989
Kentaro Miura
There have been many anime adaptations ofBerserk,but none have lived up to Kentaro Miura’s original manga. Many have even called the series unadaptable, as its brutal content just isn’t suited to the screen.
Berserk’s arcs are very long, and they have a ton ofexplicit scenes of sex and violence. Adapting them to TV is bound to result in heavy censorship, meaning viewers will lose a lot of important context and plot details. Much like other hard-to-adapt manga, it has a highly detailed art style to go along with the graphic content. Even the mostly faithful and well-received 90s anime adaptation had to tone a lot of the material down.
