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Answerman - Why Aren't There More Video Game-Based Anime?


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CycloneSP



Joined: 26 Aug 2013
Posts: 31
PostPosted: Wed Sep 12, 2018 11:52 am Reply with quote
Wasn't there talks of an animated mario movie in the works recently? Or was i just imagining things, like usual?
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Merxamers



Joined: 09 Dec 2013
Posts: 720
PostPosted: Wed Sep 12, 2018 12:00 pm Reply with quote
I've been thinking it would be neat if the Fire Emblem series could get an anime adaptation or two; Record of Grancrest War showed what that kind of anime could be like. I doubt it will ever happen, but one can dream i guess.
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Chester McCool



Joined: 06 Jan 2016
Posts: 322
PostPosted: Wed Sep 12, 2018 12:02 pm Reply with quote
Most AAA western games aren't popular in Japan. Unless a western company pays a Japanese company to make an anime, don't count on Japan caring enough to do so. I also imagine western companies would want some degree of control over the production. and that never turns out well. Instead, enjoy your World of Warcraft, Assassin's Creed, and Doom Hollywood live-action movies.
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Xe4



Joined: 04 May 2015
Posts: 96
PostPosted: Wed Sep 12, 2018 12:06 pm Reply with quote
The video game property to get the best adaptation in recent memory is Castlevania, so I dont think the concept of animated video game films and shows is that rediculous. It just has to be done right, with the budget and talent required, neither of which are present in most video game adaptations anime or no.
CycloneSP wrote:
Wasn't there talks of an animated mario movie in the works recently? Or was i just imagining things, like usual?
Yeah, by Illumination. *shudders*
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ultimatehaki



Joined: 27 Oct 2012
Posts: 1090
PostPosted: Wed Sep 12, 2018 12:16 pm Reply with quote
Excuuuuuuuse me Jacob but Legend of Zelda did have an anime adaptation and it was terrible. Laughing
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Lord Geo



Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 2530
Location: North Brunswick, New Jersey
PostPosted: Wed Sep 12, 2018 12:18 pm Reply with quote
Merxamers wrote:
I've been thinking it would be neat if the Fire Emblem series could get an anime adaptation or two; Record of Grancrest War showed what that kind of anime could be like. I doubt it will ever happen, but one can dream i guess.


There's already a Fire Emblem anime; it was from that era of 90s OVA that Justin brought up. In fact, that OVA was the first time Fire Emblem ever came out in English in any fashion, pre-dating the GBA game by a few years.

Now, as for game-based anime, I'd argue that there are honestly a fair share of really good examples from the 90s, but we sadly just didn't get them. Instead, we tended to get the worst of the lot, simply because they were more relevant at the time, and would sell better due to their name cachet? Really, though, the question is a bit of a misnomer, because today there's a ton of game-based anime being made... It's just that most of them are adapting visual novels, more than anything.
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FilthyCasual



Joined: 01 Jun 2015
Posts: 2165
PostPosted: Wed Sep 12, 2018 12:24 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
Seriously if Nintendo announced a Legend of Zelda movie or anime series tomorrow, I guarantee it would be a money printing machine no matter how paint by numbers the plot.

"well excuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuse me, princess"
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Kicksville



Joined: 20 Nov 2010
Posts: 1168
PostPosted: Wed Sep 12, 2018 12:29 pm Reply with quote
CycloneSP wrote:
Wasn't there talks of an animated mario movie in the works recently? Or was i just imagining things, like usual?

Barring any future changes, Illumination is making one, yes. Nintendo started talking about being more open with their licenses a few years ago, pretty notably during the Wii U era. And of course now we have stuff like that, and a Nintendo Universal Studios theme park on the way.

No more Mario OVAs for the time being, though.
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Darkabomination



Joined: 17 Mar 2015
Posts: 89
PostPosted: Wed Sep 12, 2018 12:37 pm Reply with quote
Trails in the Sky got a pair of OVAs in 2011, but they were less an adaptation and more a series of cutscenes brought to life and voiced for the long-time fans. Also speaking of Falcom, the Ys adaptations in the 90s were pretty solid. Popful Mail was going to have one, but aside from a promo they shopped around, none of the studios would bite, ironically that was only a few years before Slayers would come out.
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Badcrazy



Joined: 26 Oct 2011
Posts: 31
PostPosted: Wed Sep 12, 2018 12:45 pm Reply with quote
Xe4 wrote:
The video game property to get the best adaptation in recent memory is Castlevania, so I dont think the concept of animated video game films and shows is that rediculous. It just has to be done right, with the budget and talent required, neither of which are present in most video game adaptations anime or no.


We have to keep in mind Castlevania is pretty much a passion project that took years to get off the ground... Not many people out there willing to put that much effort in something like that.
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belvadeer





PostPosted: Wed Sep 12, 2018 1:10 pm Reply with quote
Chester McCool wrote:
Most AAA western games aren't popular in Japan. Unless a western company pays a Japanese company to make an anime, don't count on Japan caring enough to do so. I also imagine western companies would want some degree of control over the production. and that never turns out well. Instead, enjoy your World of Warcraft, Assassin's Creed, and Doom Hollywood live-action movies.


Live action is a far better medium than turning those titles into anime of any kind.
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Primus



Joined: 01 Mar 2006
Posts: 2758
Location: Toronto
PostPosted: Wed Sep 12, 2018 1:31 pm Reply with quote
It's important to remember most animated adaptations of video games are meant as little more than advertisements. Games that have sold 10+ million units aren't really going to be introduced to new audiences through animation. It's likely a person interested in video games would've already heard of the property by then. Take Capcom, for instance. Mega Man: Fully Charged is intended to introduce the franchise to kids, as was Monster Hunter Stories: Ride On. Since Ace Attorney's anime ditched the game's voice cast and aired in prime time, it's likely that was an attempt to promote the property to a wider audience.

Mobile games get a steady flow of adaptations. For many, that's just part of the promotional campaign (Sony is launching a series based on Sora to Umi no Aida, a free-to-play mobile game that's amassed <100,000 downloads in a year on Android) but for a few it's a way to leverage their gargantuan mainstream mobile success into other areas. Look at the kind of effect including in-game goods had on Granblue: The Animation's disc sales in Japan. Something like Puzzle & Dragons can be made into an easily merchandisable TV show watched by little kids who aren't allowed to rack up hundreds in micro transactions on mom's phone or their own tablet.

The stuff aimed at the fans of video games have predominantly been OVAs. Unless it's a bonus episode used to incentivize an expensive Blu-Ray release, Japan doesn't really make those anymore. Western companies tried to fill in the gap at the start of this decade. Starz put out Dead Space and Dante's Inferno DTVs, Funimation with Dragon Age and Mass Effect, and Warner on Halo. As we're not getting anymore of those, I'm assuming they weren't financially worthwhile. The last one standing is Sony with their irregularly released Final Fantasy and Resident Evil CG features.
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EricJ2



Joined: 01 Feb 2014
Posts: 4016
PostPosted: Wed Sep 12, 2018 3:31 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
What ARE the top game titles these days?


Well, "Persona 5" is quite the hit, "Ace Attorney" still has its fans, and the latest Pokemon is unkillable with handheld fans...

(I looked at the headline and actually thought, "Wait, is someone complaining that there aren't enough current videogame adaptations in anime??"
And then read the article, and saw the poster was asking why we didn't have as many afternoon Nintendo cartoons, like we did in the US in the 80's and 90's.)
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Chester McCool



Joined: 06 Jan 2016
Posts: 322
PostPosted: Wed Sep 12, 2018 5:46 pm Reply with quote
belvadeer wrote:
Live action is a far better medium than turning those titles into anime of any kind.


I don't really play any of those games, but I find it hard to believe live-action is a superior medium for any video game adaption than animation would be. Animation is much more versatile, and these games are essentially animated to begin with. Plus you would have to have a Hollywood movie budget to get decent special effects, which limits your adaption to a couple hours. Most video games would benefit from the seasonal format. Even adaptions like Persona 4 and 5 feel rushed with two cours. I'd hate to see Persona 5 crunched into a 2 hour live-action movie.
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belvadeer





PostPosted: Wed Sep 12, 2018 6:13 pm Reply with quote
Chester McCool wrote:
I don't really play any of those games, but I find it hard to believe live-action is a superior medium for any video game adaption than animation would be. Animation is much more versatile, and these games are essentially animated to begin with. Plus you would have to have a Hollywood movie budget to get decent special effects, which limits your adaption to a couple hours. Most video games would benefit from the seasonal format. Even adaptions like Persona 4 and 5 feel rushed with two cours. I'd hate to see Persona 5 crunched into a 2 hour live-action movie.


I find it hard to imagine a large mass of the fandom wanting a popular and long running western video game franchise turned into some schlocky anime series. World of Warcraft fared quite well in both its live action movie and high quality cinematic trailers Blizzard does for the game's many expansions. They're expensive to produce, but they work. There was an attempt to make a Warcraft animated TV series a long time ago, but it fell through. Maybe it could hypothetically work if they tried again with a much bigger budget, but I doubt anyone wants such a thing now.

As for Assassin's Creed and Doom, I really can't see an animated series working out for either one, considering their rather grim subject matter. There was that Dead Space: Aftermath animated movie made to bridge the gap between the first two games, but it was quite terrible and didn't do very well with fans at all.
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