Five mangas that MUST be made into anime

Over the last year, I read some incredible manga. Pretty much all genres and a wide variety of categories. You could call year 2008 my year of exploration for manga. I also watched more anime last year than ever. That’s kind of embarrassing to admit since I think actually watched more cartoons as a middle aged man than I ever did as a kid. Go figure.

With this newfound manga lore, I came up with a list of five manga that are (in my opinion) just begging for an anime adaptation. My recommendations are based on a number of factors: entertainment value, good story, good art work and successful commercial possibilities. I think the possible commercial aspects of any manga has to be given strong weight in any evaluation since making an anime adaptation is a risky undertaking.  Animes can fail commercially and they’re not exactly cheap to produce. So without further ado, my list…

Kami no Mizo Shiru Sekai (The World God Only Knows)

Mangaka: Tamiki Wakaki

Genre: Shounen

Summary (from Onemanga.com): Katsuragi Keima is known on the net as the god of getting the girls while in real life he’s known as otamegane and he hates all real girls. However he is approached by Elyse, a devil from hell, to help her in catching runaway spirits that hide in people. Apparently the spirits only hide in the hearts of girls and the only way to get the souls out is by making the girl fall in love so the spirit gets forced out. And he’s not allowed to fail or he will lose his head.

I wasn’t exactly impressed by the manga on reading it’s description alone. I’ve pretty much had it with weak male lead protagonists, and Keima is an otaku to boot.  But I read some positive reviews about the manga and decided to give it a try.  I’m glad I did, because it’s become one of my all time favorites.

What surprised me about the manga is that I became genuinely interested in seeing Keima’s strategy to ‘capture’ each of the girls. Keima comes off as a smart character, albeit one with an extreme aversion to 3D girls and real life in general. His application of dating sim strategies to real life girls is always interesting and unexpected.

The artwork is done in a cute style and I think Elyse and her fellow demons would make awfully cute figurines. And because there’s a different girl featured in every chapter, there’s definitely potential to show off some ecchi (though the manga is surprisingly clean cut).

Kaichou wa Maid-Sama

Mangaka: Hiro Fujiwara

Genre: Shoujo

Summary (from Mangafox): Ayuzawa Misaki is the student council president of the former all-boy school, Seika High School. In order to protect the girls, she battles the boys everyday. On the other hand, she secretly works at a “Maid Cafe”. But a popular boy from school, Usui Takumi, found out! Living in between the double identity of a Maid and a student council president.

This manga reminds me a lot of Special A,, which has already been made into an anime. Unlike Special A, the main conflict isn’t due to a competition between the two leads, but rather the dual life led by Misaki, the student body president and part-time maid cafe waitress. The tension between the two main leads (Misaki hates men, but Usui knows her secret) as well as the strides Misaki goes to in order to hide her shameful secret would lend itself well into an anime adaptation.

My Balls

Author: Shigemitsu Harada, Artist: Takahiro Seguchi

Genre: Seinen, Ecchi

Summary (from Mangafox): In a freak sealing accident the Queen of Terror is sealed into Satou Kohta’s balls, thus preventing her from reigning destruction on the world. However a lesser devil, Elyse, has been sent up to Earth to release the Queen at all costs. The only way to do so is to make Kohta ejaculate, and Elyse only has 30 days to do it.

Of all the mangas I’ve chosen, My Balls has the most ecchi and mature content by far. However, that probably makes it the most commercially viable. Feature a perverted and hapless male lead, throw in a few lolicon devils, a number of sexual situations in which they try to make Kohta ejaculate (hence releasing the Queen of Terror) and you got yourself a sure fire winner.

Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer

Mangaka: Satoshi Mizukami

Summary (from Onemanga.com): The world is in mortal peril. Sir Noi Crezant, the Lizard Knight, has been sent to gain the aid of the great warrior Amamiya Yuuhi in hopes of finding the Princess Samidare and protecting the planet from the incredible ‘Biscuit Hammer’ poised to crack the Earth in two. Unfortunately Yuuhi wants no part of it, and the Princess doesn’t prove to be the shining ‘hero of justice’ role model that Noi had hoped for.

Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer is definitely my dark horse pick. You have a reluctant hero in Yuuhi, a lizard companion he can’t get rid of and a princess who wants to save the world only show she can destroy it herself. As odd as it sounds, the manga is quite funny and the relationship that develops between Yuuhi and his princess is sweet if not a bit twisted. Oh, and there’s a bit hentai…at least enough of it to give it commercial viability.

Yanki-Kun to Megane-Chan

Mangaka: Miki Yoshikawa

Genre: Shoujo, Shounen

Summary (from Mangafox): Shinagawa Daichi is a high school delinquent who just wants to be left alone. However, class rep Adachi Hana will stop at nothing to get him to go on the upcoming Social Studies field trip. What are her true motives behind getting a “yankee” like Shinagawa to go on such a thing?

This manga is sort of a series of one-shots involving Hana Adachi, the class rep and Shinagawa, the class deliquent or ‘yankee’.  What you don’t learn about until later is that the reason why Hana is working so hard to get Shinagawa involved is that she’s a disguised yankee herself, and she needs Shinagawa’s help to adjust to school life.  I think Yanki-kun has the potential to be the next Minamike, an anime series that didn’t have a central plot line but dealt with a lot of slice of life moments. Plus, Hana is funnier than heck. And she knows no bounds in getting Shinagawa to help her.

Do think I’ve overlooked a manga? Let me know!

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