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Anime That Should Get Live-Action Movies

Potential box-office hits — a list of anime that should get live-action movies.

By Bill ShaffirPublished 6 years ago 5 min read
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Anime, at it's most simple, is a form of hand-drawn or computer animation. And, outside of Japan, anime is used to refer specifically to animation from Japan, or Japanese-disseminated animation style often characterized by colorful graphics, vibrant characters, and fantastical themes. This leaves a pretty rich area for storytelling, so it's no wonder that many anime series have been adapted to live-action movies.

Plenty have already been adapted for the screen, but there is a ton of great anime that should get live-action movies in the near future. Some of these series come with big, built-in fan bases that could make the movie an immediate success.

Anime is a diverse art form, and these live-action movies would no doubt bring out a diverse crowd to the theater. It's a ripe market, and without further ado, here is a list of anime that should get live-action movies.

Fullmetal Alchemist

Fullmetal Alchemist is one of the few anime that straddle the line between immense popularity and terrific quality — which means we could have a monster box-office hit on our hands. Put this on the list of anime that should get live-action movies yesterday.

The characters are likable, the world is carefully constructed, and it isn't hard to see why this thing is a hit. The transition to film would likely be a rather smooth one.

Darker than Black

While it doesn't quite have the fan base as Fullmetal Alchemist, Darker than Black is safely on the list of anime that should get live-action movies. But in terms of anime, it pretty much has it all: a big, scary thing happening in Tokyo, people with special powers that also make them cursed, and a complete lack of concrete answers to anything.

This one would make for a darker movie as well as the mysterious protagonist Hei would make for an interesting casting choice by potential filmmakers.

The Devil Is a Part-Timer!

Most slice-of-life anime doesn't need to be adapted into live-action movies, as it's been done a bunch of times to lukewarm reception. The comically exaggerated characters just don't come across as well in person, and it takes a special type of actor to pull it off without becoming annoying.

However, The Devil Is a Part-Timer! mixes it up effectively — giving us a good dose of epic battles to counter the slice-of-life moments. The humor in these things tend to fall flat, but this one might be an exception, making it anime that should get live-action movies.

Sailor Moon

Sailor Moon has been adapted to live-action several times, but has never gotten a true major movie adaptation. This one would be a massive box-office hit, making it inevitability on any list of anime that should get live-action movies.

There is potential here for a darker Power Ranger's type of movie if the source material is given a more western adaptation. A bunch of high school girls fighting evil in tiaras and tiny skirts is something that we can accept in animation, but it would just come off as looking absurd in a movie with any hopes of being watchable to a mainstream audience.

Psycho-Pass

Everybody loves a good police drama, especially one where the partners become buddies and forge some deeper connection. Psycho-Pass also offers up some dystopian story lines, which, if you haven't noticed, are huge at the moment.

Set in a futuristic Japan that classifies people based on a "crime coefficient." Supposedly, it's a system that determines whether or not people will commit a crime. It’s essentially a way to keep the populace utterly paranoid about their mental state at all times — sort of like Minority Report.

One-Punch Man

Superhero movies are everywhere and every depth is seemingly being scraped for more of these stories, so this is near the top of the list of anime that should get live-action movies. One-Punch Man follows the adventures of Saitama, an under-appreciated superhero looking for a challenge — he handles all his opponents in just one punch!

This leads him to an existential crisis, and could make for a darker superhero film — much like Deadpool or even Hancock. This is one of those movies that there clearly is a large market for.

Terror in Resonance

As far as anime goes, the story of Terror in Resonance could really connect with a western audience. It's the story of two mysterious teenagers, Nine and Twelve, and the anime portrays their terrorism in the city of Tokyo — all in an attempt to uncover a possibly devastating truth.

Terrorism and social change are the main themes here, and they are big stories in the times we are living in. It's a story that seems highly adaptable to live-action, and it's a manga-anime series that seems pretty tough to totally botch.

Black Lagoon

Black Lagoon would be an absolute blast on the big screen, maybe the most fun of anime that should get live-action movies. Think Quentin Tarantino with even more guns. It follows an average Japanese businessman who falls in with a band of mercenaries who follow their own codes and shoot a lot of shit, though they’re often the good guys.

This fun shoot-em-up is practically made for a western audience, and the live-action version would probably resemble The Expendables starring Sly Stallone and Jason Statham.

One Piece

One Piece is probably the most popular anime series on air in Japan, making it a shoe-in for anime that should get live-action movies. The show never seems to take itself too seriously, and yet, it still manages to create memorable and lovable characters regularly.

The series has made over 100 episodes, so the potential amount of source material available for adaptation is almost limitless. They could theoretically pull from certain seasons and make a trilogy of One Piece movies. Here's hoping.

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About the Creator

Bill Shaffir

Lover of gangster films and worried about the future of artificial intelligence.

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