Anime throughout the years had been inspiring to us all. It opened windows to worlds we didn’t imagine could exist. It allowed us to explore stories that had yet to unfold. However, anime had to come from somewhere, correct? And that somewhere was Manga. Rewinding the clock, let’s look back at some of the best shows out there that have succeeded their manga predecessors.
Miss Koboyashi’s Dragon Maid:
Miss Koboyashi (Left), voiced by Mutsumi Tamura, and Tohru (Right), voiced by Yūki Kuwahara. Image provided by Comicon.com
Miss Koboyashi and a Dragon named Tohru meet one drunken night in the mountains of Koshigaya. Tohru had fought humans in another world, consequently dying from a sword wedged into her thigh. After saving her life, Koboyashi invites Tohru to live at her place as a maid, to which Tohru lovingly accepts.
Kyoto Animation, or KyoAni for short, is the company responsible for the anime adaptation of the Coolkyousinnjya produced manga. Season 1 of the anime aired between January and April of 2017. Yasuhiro Takemoto of KyoAni was the director for the anime, before he, alongside 30 other co-workers, unfortunately passed away in the KyoAni Fire of July 2019. Takemoto had also worked with other projects for KyoAni, such as Lucky Star and Clannad.
Kyoto Animation had thankfully recently recovered, and announced that Season 2, titled Miss Koboyashi’s Dragon Maid S, will air July 2021. Season 1 won both the Best Comedy Award and the Best Ending Award at the 2018 Crunchyroll Anime Awards.
With Season 2 on it’s way, many fans look forward to seeing what the future holds for Tohru and Koboyashi.
My Hero Academia:
Izuku Midoriya (aka: Deku), Voiced by Daiki Yamashita. Image provided by Pinterest.com
Enter Izuku Midoriya, a young high schooler who dreams of becoming a hero just like his Idol, All Might. However, Midoriya had been born without a Quirk, leaving him vulnerable to a Villain attack. After All Might saves his life, he admires the boy’s determination and gifts him the ability “One For All”. With these powers, Midoriya attends U.A. (Ultimate Academy) under the Hero name “Deku”.
Kōhei Horikoshi created the My Hero Academia Manga back in July 2014. Toho Animation produced the anime in 2016, alongside Bones Inc., a fellow animation studio. Toho Animation is well known for their works My Neighbor Totoro and Steamboy. Bones Inc. is well known for their involvement with many projects such as Full Metal Alchemist and Ouran High School Host Club.
Due to soaring popularity, My Hero Academia won the Hero of the Year award at the Crunchyroll Anime Awards for Izuku Midoriya In 2016. It had also won Best Animation for My Hero Academia: Season 2 in 2017. My Hero Academia also held a musical stage play under the title My Hero Academia: The “Ultra” Stage, which performed in both Tokyo and Osaka, Japan from April 12th-29th, 2019. With My Hero Academia still appealing to fans and many anime lovers, many hope to see more “Deku” in the near future.
Kaguya-Sama: Love is War:
Kaguya Shinomiya (Left), voiced by Kanna Hashimoto, and Miyuki Shirogane (Right), voiced by Sho Hirano. Image provided by Polygon.com
They say “Love Is Like a Battlefield”. Two parties battling it out for one another’s affection, hoping to eventually declare victory over the other. For high school students Kaguya Shinomiya and Miyuki Shirogane, love has spurred into an all-out war. Hoping to make the other crack, both students fight hard to earn that fairy tail romance.
Kaguya-Sama: Lobe is War had been created by Japanese manga artist Aka Akasaka. Akasaka had also created many works, including Ib: Instant Bullet and Sayonara Piano Sonata. A-1 Pictures helped produce the series in January of 2019. A-1 produced many anime projects, such as Black Butler and Fairy Tail.
Voice talents that helped bring Kaguya-Sama: Love is War to the screen include Sho Hirano as the voice of Miyuki Shirogane, and Kanna Hashimoto as the voice of Kaguya Shinomiya.
At the 2020 Crunchyroll Anime Awards, Season 1 had won the Best Comedy Award. At the 2021 Crunchyroll Anime Awards, Season 2 had also won the same award. The Manga itself, as of October 2020, had won the 65th Shogakukan Manga Award in the General Audience category. With Season 3 on its way, we can only hope this war can have a happy ending.
Your Lie In April:
Kosei Arima (Left), voiced by Natsuki Hanae, and Kaori Miyazono (Right), voiced by Risa Taneda. Image provided by Pintrest.com
Arima Kosei had been an aspiring Pianist, becoming very successful in competitions. Tragically, his mother passes away, resulting in him to no longer be able to properly play the piano. Now entering high school, a violinist, Kaori Miyazono, opens up to him, hoping to help him move on from his past.
Your Lie In April was created by Naoshi Arakawa back in September 2011. A-1 Pictures helped bring the animation to the screen from October 2014 to March 2015. Voice talents include Natsuki Hanae, the voice actor for Arima, and Risa Taneda, the voice actress for Kaori.
Your Lie In April, as of 2013, won the Kodansha Manga Best Shōnen Award at the 37th Kodansha Manga Awards. The anime, itself, was the winner of the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper’s 2016 Sugoi Japan Awards, whilst receiving high praise by critics for its wonderful musical scores, animation, and story telling. A live-action adaptation in 2016 soon followed, with the characters set in their second year of high school. With how the story has progressed, perhaps we’ll be seeing future works soon to come.
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba:
Tanjiro (Left) voiced by Natsuki Hanae and Nezuko (Right) voiced by Akari Kitō. Image provided by Amazon.com
Tanjiro Kamado comes home one morning to find his entire family slaughtered by Demons. Nezuko, the only survivor of the family, had been turned into a Demon. However, she still retained her human self. Now searching for the one responsible, he travels with his sister and trains to become a Demon Slayer.
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba was created by Koyoharu Gotouge in February of 2016, when his original novel, Haeniwa No Zigzag, failed to become serialized, and Kisatsu no Nagare was deemed too serious for general audiences. Tatsuhiko Katayama, Gotouge’s editor, suggested to add a title that would be easy to understand. Thusly, Kisatsu no Nagare had its named changed to Kimetsu no Yaiba, which translates to Demon No More.
Ufotable is the animation company responsible for producing the anime.
Demon Slayer won the 2020 Crunchyroll Anime Award for Anime of the Year, while the light novel series won the 2020 2nd annual Kodansha Noma Publishing Culture Award for Reinventing Publishing. The following film, Demon Slayer: Mugen Train, won the 2021 award for Animation of the Year. With Season 2 in the works, fans hope that this tragic story will finally have a happy ending.
While not every popular anime out there made this list, I think these 5 adaptations have done amazing work. Have some you would like to share with your fellow otaku? Or perhaps an opinion on which anime is better? Then, be sure to stop on by to our Facebook Page, and say hello! And, as always, Stay Geeky!
