Ask John: What Recent Anime Could Use Remakes?

Question:
One trend awhile back that I notice was that some anime were remade to fit with the original story present in the manga. A good example was Fullmetal Alchemist which was remade under the title Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, which aside from the anime-only first episode, followed the original manga story very closely. The same thing happened with Hellsing when it was remade in a series of OVAs known as Hellsing Ultimate. And know Berserk, which first aired as an anime adaption in 1997 is being remade into a series of films set to come out in 2012. Which anime should be remade to follow the manga’s original story line.

Answer:
Recently anime fans have noticed a particular upswing in reboots and remakes of anime series that have premiered since the late 1990. Examples include the current Hunter x Hunter television series, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, the forthcoming Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Hen OVA series, and the upcoming Berserk movie trilogy. These examples are supplemented by recent remakes including Kanon, Lyrical Nanoha, Negima, Princess Lover, and Macross Frontier. These remakes have been popular, and in most cases complimented if not surpassed the original productions. Over the same span of roughly a dozen years, fans have been treated to a variety of exceptional anime productions which haven’t been, and shouldn’t be remade. Titles including Yamamoto Yoko, Tenshi ni Narumon, Shoujo Kakumei Utena, Chikyu Shoujo Arjuna, Noir, Ou Dorobo Jing, Princess Tutu, Elfen Lied, Fuujin Monogatari, Rozen Maiden, Mushishi, Yume Tsukai, Dennou Coil, RD Sennou Chousashitsu, and Michiko to Hatchin, just to name a few, are fantastic examples of their era that deserve and demand respect and credit exactly as they are. I’m a proponent of the adage that, “If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it.” However, a number of anime titles from the past dozen years do present themselves as credible candidates for reinterpretation, either due to unfaithfulness to their source inspirations, or simply because they didn’t fulfill their utmost potential.

The 2003 Air Master television series remains the finest female street fighting anime of this generation despite suffering from a highly uneven narrative and rushed conclusion, even at 27 episodes, and frustrating limited animation presumably hamstrung by a small budget. 2003’s Gilgamesh television series excelled in visual design but suffered from stilted animation and poorly developed story. Gilgamesh wasn’t good but should have been. Air Master was good, but with screenplay revision and resources equivilant to the Tenjho Tenge or Ikkitousen television series, could have been brilliant.

2003’s Shingetsutan Tsukihime was the first anime based on Type-Moon source material. The show made a valid effort but felt tentative, uncertain of itself. Were the experience, confidence, and production values of recent Type-Moon adaptations like Kara no Kyoukai and Fate/zero applied to it, a Tsukihime remake could far exceed its original anime incarnation.

The first and last episodes of 2004’s Mezzo television series promise a spectacular, fun, exciting action anime. Unfortunately, everything in between failed to rise to the level of the bookends.

While fans continue to bemoan the absence of creativity and narrative uniqueness in contemporary anime, they overlook the highly unique 2005 Gallery Fake television series that’s half art appreciation lecture and half Indiana Jones. This globe-trotting drama about a disgraced fine art expert that cares about antiquities more than his reputation had a handful of wonderfully engaging episodes and a handful of dreadful ones, all of them compromised by budget production values. A remake with better production values and a greater emphasis on charm and wit would make this a wonderful alternative to contemporary doldrums.

Madhouse’s 2007 Kaibutsu Oujo television series wasn’t especially bad, but its resurrection in OAD form by Tatsunoko reveals how much more fun the anime has the potential to be. More faithfulness to the source manga in one core principle, and a tone that’s not so moribund in Tatsunoko’s OADs make me wish for an entire TV series with Tatsunoko’s aesthetics rather than Madhouse’s.

2008’s Mnemosyme mini-series wasn’t bad at all. In fact, just the opposite. Mnemosyme introduced such fascinating characters and setting that a longer series that more deeply and expansively explores its depth and breadth would be absolutely welcome.

The dark, dangerous, off-kilter prologue of the 2008 Soul Eater television series is an atmospheric, evocative highlight that the remainder of the 51 episode series never revisits. Soul Eater has the potential to be a visual hybrid of King of Bandit Jing and Tim Burton’s imagination with action on par with the R.O.D. OVA, Fullmetal Alchemist, or the best of Naruto or Bleach. But the show was actually second tier shounen mediocrity half-elevated by dynamic potential only partially exploited.

2008’s Shikabane Hime television series diverged significantly from Yoshiichi Akahito’s original manga, I think, to its detriment. Rather than principally focus on its titular shikabane hime, as the manga does, the anime largely chose to orbit Makina Hoshimura, weakening the narrative focus and linear momentum of the anime. Shikabane Hime has the potential to be the female version of Hellsing. But rather than do that the anime became an unfocused, jumbled mass of parallel plots and idiotic action.

Certain other anime from the recent past could also benefit from remakes, including the 1999 Gundress movie, 2001 Samurai Girl: Real Bout High School television series, and 2002 6 Angels movie, but I think that the possibility of remakes for these titles is so remote that even spending concentrated effort to envision such remakes is futile.