Over the last few years it has been clear that a number of games have shown great potential in the storyline department which could use a different medium to get its plot across to different audiences and to be given a bit more freedom where gameplay is not a factor. This last year a number of Game to Anime installments have proven rather successful with fans and newcomers alike, such as Persona 4: The Animation – that without the limitation of needing to provide gamers things to do, has successfully set itself apart by providing shorter and more precise social links, more focus on the characters instead of needing to facilitate on dungeon crawling and in the last episode even giving the protagonist which remained silent in the game installment some crucial development. Another example in a different form would be The Idolm@ster 2, in which they replaced the (sometimes) grindy stat and concert elements and the three idol limitation with individual character plots and entire group events that make use of all the idols instead of those the gamer picked… also giving a high degree of freedom.
As such, these are the five games that I feel would really benefit from a Game to Anime adaptation:
#5 – Tales of Xillia
Considering that all of the Tales anime series seem to be quickly picked up for license over the actual game releases, this would be of as much benefit to international audiences as it would be fans of the game series. During the opening sequence and a number of other moments during the game, the Tales Studio and Ufotable showed that they had much talent in doing animated sequences so if they were able to maintain that same quality… who knows how high this series could rise in the anime popularity charts? With a small character cast it would give them the freedom to give the characters a decent development even over 12 episodes however still has a strong and engaging plotline which would be well suited to a 24 or 26 episode series.
#4 – Eternal Sonata
I am aware that people found various aspects of the plot to pick at, but after playing through this game again recently I couldn’t help but think a lot could be done with the storyline, to both give the many characters more development (I think every character could have used a greater look at their backstory) and to work a bit more with the “Dreams of Frederic Chopin” plot element. It was indeed a plot that gave lot to work with.
#3 – Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor (or any non-Persona SMT game)
I could potentially fill up this entire list with examples of Shin Megami Tensei games that would adapt to good anime series, but I will for the sake of argument go with the most recent installment in the series – Devil Survivor. As the gameplay essentially goes in half hour (in-game) installments, while the game runs for 7 days in-game it has enough content to keep the plot going for at least 12, quite possibly a full half-year season. The only problem I would see is the diverging endings for each of the protagonists, so they would most likely have to go for the neutral one.
#2 – Resonance of Fate / End of Eternity
Actually, I would like to ammend this and state that instead of the normal anime-style, I would like something along the lines of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children to be done with Resonance of Fate. Think about it, three youth each with dark backstories living and taking missions in a steam-punk themed tower with lives tied to rocks and with people from all walks of life after them as both friend and foe. If they cut out some of the non-important content they could easily make it into a 2-hour movie… but the door is open on this one for me….
Special Mention – Criminal Girls
Okay, as you may have been able to tell, this list goes by no specific order… but don’t say you are not a bit curious as to how they will have a game about helping moe-fied versions of the seven deadly sins escape from some deep and dark underground prison all the while spanking and “punishing” them in order to see some fanservice scenes help them learn skills in order to ensure their survival. With the number of fanservice series we have in both games and anime, might as well throw another one in that might differentiate the plot a bit (Fanservice in a dark cavern…. is that even possible?).
#1 – Phantom Brave (or Makai Kingdom)
There are two Nippon Ichi Software classics which I think would make brilliant series. I was torn between Phantom Brave and Makai Kingdom – two of the earlier and highly enjoyable releases by NIS America which both offer a creative plot with the satire of the Disgaea series which would have made for excellent watching. I chose Phantom Brave over Makai Kingdom for the simple fact that the game loaned itself more to a proper storyline, with main character Marona being exiled from everyone else for being able to speak to Phantoms while trying to become a Chroma (Bounty Hunter).
The Almost Forgotten #0 – Little Busters
While it was my intention on adding this title to the list, as it is perhaps one of my most wanted game to anime ports… through bad memory or a lowering morale to this ever seeing an anime release I didn’t add it to the list. So I thank Alex from Facebook for reminding me about this and with any luck we will see this adapted eventually. Aaeru from Visual Novel Aer has a very interesting article about the Little Busters anime relating to a talk president of Visual Arts Vava held at Kyoto University, which you can read HERE.
Related posts:
- So The Rumor About The Tales of Xillia Anime Series Were Not Fact…… For Now
- The Love Child of the Tales of Series and the Dynasty Warriors Series….
- New Makai Kingdom (PSP) Storyline to Feature Zetta’s Daughter
- Nippon Ichi Software America Releases Trailers for Newly Announced Anime Series + My thoughts on another anime….
- Phantom Brave: The Hermuda Triangle – Announced
