Ask John: What Was the First Anime Adaptation of a Hentai Game?

Question:
What was the first anime series to be adapted from an eroge?

Answer:
If I’m not mistaken,

Japanese adult PC game developer Elf released its first Dragon Knight role playing game on November 1, 1989. The original Dragon Knight OVA was released in Japan two years later, in October 1991. Although the original Dragon Knight OVA is only mildly adult oriented, it should be considered the first erotic anime game adapted into an erotic anime.

Ironically Alice Soft released its fantasy role playing game Rance: Hikari wo Motomete on August 15, 1989, nearly three months before Elf released Dragon Knight. But the two episode long Rance: Sabaku no Guardian adult anime OVA series didn’t premier until December 25, 1993, more than two years after the Dragon Knight OVA.

Elf released its Kakyuusei (“Underlcassmates”) computer game on June 7, 1996. The game was a spin-off from the successful 1992 “Dokyusei” (“Classmates”) series of love simulation games that had been adapted into erotic anime. Anime production studio Pink Pineapple and producer KSS launched the four episode “Elf Ban Kakyuusei ~ Anata Dake wo Mitsumete…” (Elf Version Underclassmates ~ I See Only You…”) on November 24, 1997. The series’ first three episodes were suitable for all viewers. The fourth episode was released in an adults only version, and a general audiences version that replaced the sex with additional dialogue scenes. This 1997 anime series, which was also broadcast on Japanese television in early 1998, was titled “Elf Version” to distinguish it from the four episode “Kakyuusei ~ My Pretty Class Student” erotic anime series that Pink Pineapple released in 1995, which had no relation to Elf’s similarly named computer game. The Elf Ban Kakyuusei anime represents the first adaptation of an erotic computer game into a mainstream, all-ages friendly anime.