Ask John: Why Isn’t there any Lone Wolf & Cub Anime?

Ask John:
Why hasn’t a Lone Wolf and Cub or Lady Snowblood anime ever been produced despite their tremendous influence?

Answer:

The Kozure Okami manga, known internationally as “Lone Wolf and Cub,” was created by writer Kazuo Koike and artist Goseki Kojima, and first published in 1970. The series has been adapted into multiple live-action movies, television series & one-shot specials, and a Japanese-exclusive 1987 video game.

Moreover, Koike & Kojima’s Kozure Okami is among the most beloved and influential manga ever created, reaching beyond Japan to inspire foreign artists including Chinese film maker John Woo (see his 1984 film Heroes Shed No Tears), American comic artists Frank Miller, Justin Jordan (creator of “Spread“), and Mike Kennedy (author of the Lone Wolf & Cub 2100 comic series), Russian-American animator Genndy Tartakovsky, and most recently the Star Wars spin-off series The Mandalorian. Writer Kazuo Koike and illustrator Kazuo Kamimura first published their Shurayuki-hime (widely known as “Lady Snowblood”) manga in 1972. Shurayuki-hime was adapted into a pair of live-action movies in 1973 & 1974 and a 2001 sci-fi update motion picture. Although not as widely recognized as Kozure Okami, Shurayuki-hime was notably one of the primary inspirations for writer/director Quentin Tarantino’s 2004 film Kill Bill Vol. 1. In fact, Meiko Kaji’s theme song “Shura no Hana” (“Flower of Carnage”) from the 1973 Shurayuki-hime movie reappears in Tarantino’s Kill Bill. So anime adaptations of one or both titles don’t seem at all unjustified, yet so far the closest that exist seem to be Kozure Okami homages including a 1973 TV commercial for Momoya chansai seasoning, the 2017 third season of Crayon Shin-chan Gaiden subtitled “Kazokukure Ookami (“Wolf Taking the Family Along”), and this year’s “Samurai & Shogun (Rick and Morty).”

Kozure Okami has also been parodied in brief cameos within anime including Gintama episode 6,

Urusei Yatsura broadcast episode 77 (BD episode 100),

Samurai Champloo episode 22,

Busou Shoujo Machiavellianism episode 6,

Hugtto Precure episode 44,

and the opening animation of the 2005 Square-Enix produced Playstation 2 game Hanjuku Hero 4.

Seemingly, however, the closest thing to a serious, direct Kozure Okami anime adaptation that exists is anime footage created for the 2012 Shin Kozure Okami pachinko game.

The Kozure Okami manga was published by Futabasha, and Shurayuki-hime by Shueisha. Both publishers have printed many titles to have received anime adaptations. The late Kazuo Koike wrote or co-wrote Crying Freeman, Hanappe Bazooka, Kizuoibito, and Mad Bull 34, all of which have had anime adaptations. Neither illustrator Goseki Kojima nor Kazuo Kamimura ever drew manga that was adapted into anime; however, I’ve never heard of either artist expressing opposition to adaptation of their work. Both artists are also now deceased. If there aren’t personal objections or corporate feuds obstructing the anime adaptation of these titles, only one logical hurdle suggests itself. In practically all cases, anime get produced either to embody an animator’s personal creation or as publicity for a publisher’s current product. Neither the Kozure Okami nor Shurayuki-hime manga are getting new volumes or even new editions. There’s no need for a fresh marketing blitz to boost sales of these two manga titles. Moreover, these mature and violent stories aren’t intended for children, so there’s no value in introducing them to new generations of children in the same way that perennial titles such as Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro, Tetsuwan Atom, and Tetsujin 28-gou receive new anime adaptations every decade or so. By the time readers are old enough to be ideal consumers for the Kozure Okami & Shurayuki-hime manga, the titles themselves are prominent enough to attract readership without the need for additional marketing support.

Since these two titles have gone so long without anime adaptations, one may assume that most likely possibilities of either receiving an anime in the future would be the active development of the dormant American Lone Wolf and Cub film originally affiliated with director Justin Lin, an American distributor, for example Netflix, suggesting its willingness to bankroll such a production, or a Japanese publisher deciding to fund a spectacular re-publication and anniversary commemoration for one or both of the titles. Quite simply, the most likely reason there hasn’t been a Kozure Okami or Shurayuki-hime anime adaptation is because there’s not enough profit to be made from any such production.