Siliconera Speaks Up: Anime, Manga, and Games

Varied stories, distinct art style, and archetype characters are all key features in both video games and anime/manga. It’s no wonder that the two go hand in hand. What anime/manga would you like to see converted into a game and what genre would it be?

Spencer:I grew up watching Hayao Miyazaki movies, but his classics don’t have video game counterparts. Licensed video games often pale in comparison to their source material, but a cel-shaded, stylish action game of Princess Mononoke would be awesome. Telling the story from two sides — Ashitaka’s and San’s can compliment the story too. Being a hugely popular character Totoro from My Neighbor Totoro should star in his own game. Practically putting Totoro in anything would be a sure sale, although throwing the loveable forest spirit in a first person shooter would taint the movie… a lot. Totoro and all of the creative characters should have been used to make an environmental game like Eco Creatures. The main character in that game practically looks like Totoro anyway.

Thanks to a partnership with Level 5, a Miyazaki developed video game is coming to the Nintendo DS.

Jenni: Most of the anime and mangas I enjoy have already been turned into video games. You can find Ouran High School Host Club, Nana, Gakuen Alice, Vampire Knight, Aria, Bleach and Saiyuki games in Japan, often on multiple platforms.

There are a few series I’d love to see turned into games. Honey Hunt by Miki Aihara could be a simulation game where you try to turn Yura into a superstar. The Princess Tutu anime could inspire a ballet game, where you dance as Princess Tutu/Ahiru to restore Mytho/Myuto’s heart. Or maybe a fashion design game based on Ai Yazawa’s Paradise Kiss or a classic, turn-based RPG based on Planet Ladder.

I’d also love to see a Fruits Basket game. Perhaps a life simulation where players go through Tohru’s daily life, trying to build friendships with all the Sohma family members so the curses will break. A Fruits Basket visual novel could work quite well too.

Louise: Like Jenni, a lot of the anime I watch has already been turned into games. But that’s not saying that they got turned into good games. One of my favorite anime is Cowboy Bebop. I was ecstatic to find out that there was a Cowboy Bebop PS2 game, but like most licensed games, it was pretty mediocre.

I’d love a next-gen Cowboy Bebop game. That’s not to say I want it to be fully 3D with awkward models or anything. Something in a 3D environment, but cel-shaded would be awesome. I think Cowboy Bebop would really make a great GTA-type sandbox game where the player could just pick different missions to go on while at the same time trying to fly under the radar.

Ishaan: While I read and like all kinds of manga, most of my favourite series tend to fall into the shounen category. The first manga I ever read was Flame of Recca and it left a huge impression on me that still influences my reading list to date. Even after reading several other series, I would always look back at Recca and marvel at how cool every single character was. I could never actually pick a favourite character that I could stick to for more than a couple chapters. The art improved continually as the series went on, the fights were insanely cool and the humour really had me in splits in places.

I’d love to see to see someone turn Flame of Recca into an action-adventure game where you could pick to play as a particular faction (Hokage, the various “Uruha” groups etc) and work your way through a story-focused hack-n-slack quest a la Devil May Cry, making use of all the various element weapons. (No, Final Burning on PS2 doesn’t count) Beyond that, I’d love to see a .hack MMO done right (where is it, Namco?), an original Gundam game with all the drama and character development from the anime series and a Rurouni Kenshin game that explores Kenshin’s days during the revolution in greater detail.