Favorite Anime

[Foggle]

Oh, okay! I thought the two terms were interchangeable.

I will definitely check out Death Parade and One Punch Man at the very least. I love the former's opening song!

[Spark Of Spirit]

If Foggle doesn't like OPM I'll be very surprised.

Nothing against the people who like them, but I feel that the Aughts of 2000 decade, spawning series like Bleach, HSDK,  Beelzebub, Medaka Box, Hitman Reborn, and so on; did more damage to the reputation of battle shonen manga, despite their popularity. Even though the genre is flourishing once again, and there were many classics in the past, a large number of people just assume that the genre is devoid of any sense of good writing or charm based on the numerous uninspired, derivative, formulaic, mediocre series that came out during that era within the genre.

There was this blind formulation of the genre that really sucked a lot of the fun out of it. I think of it when I compare Flame of Recca to MAR. The former is a pretty good action adventure while the latter is nothing but battle after battle and training over and over with no real advancement of plot. I'm not sure if they all decided to start writing the same thing at the same time, but it was a very boring period to be a shonen fan. Just looking at Bleach now you can see where that formula leads after much too long, and it's not a pretty sight.

Personally I feel the genre is in a much better place nowadays with manga like My Hero Academia, World Trigger, Food Wars!, and One Punch Man, and anime like Blood Blockade Battlefront, Kill La Kill, Ushio & Tora, and Parasyte. There's a lot more drive for story and adventure than there used to be.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Well, One-Punch Man, Kill la Kill, & Parasyte are seinin, but yeah, I definitely agree with the sentiment. Shonen manga, especially battle manga, are much more inventive and well-written on the whole now than they were a decade previous.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Here's an interesting one. A poll asking which "Nostalgic Shonen Anime" Japanese fans would like to see remade was conducted by iResearch. Of course, some of these series aren't shonen, but it was a good mix.

Spoiler

Honorable mentions: Ranma 1/2 and Yawara! A Fashionable Judo Girl (Tied for 14 and 15), Patlabor TV and High School Kimengumi (Tied for 12 and 13), and Sakigake!! Otokojuku (11)

10. The Laughing Salesman
09. City Hunter
08. / 07. Oishinbo and Maison Ikkoku (Tie)
06. Yu Yu Hakusho
05. Slam Dunk
04. / 03. Touch and Kinnikuman (Tie)
02. Dragon Ball (original)
01. Captain Tsubasa

[close]

Not a bad list, I would certainly watch new series adaptions of most of these. But a big NO on the second one in the 7/8 tie and 6. No new adaption would be able to match the original anime adaptions.

[gunswordfist]

And don't expect Toei to do 2 right today.

Also, the more Muscle, the better.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I'd be up for a Slam Dunk remake....if Toei no longer held the rights to it. The original anime adaptation was very good, but unfortunately unfinished.

Yu Yu Hakusho is already superior to its source material, which is saying a lot given how good of a mangaka Togashi is. I have absolutely no idea how they could possibly make it better.

Dragon Ball is a little anomalous. Firstly, I deeply LOVE the original anime, despite preferring the manga. That said, if they could do a remake with animation that could capture the fluid cartoon-esque charm of Toriyama's artwork in animated form, and direct it with a sense of actual comedic timing for the visual gags, it could potentially be my favorite anime ever.

The problem? Once again, it's Toei. So on that grounds, a Dragon Ball remake is a big no from me. I'd rather cherish what good we have than to see a cheap, inferior cash-in without any of the heart of the original series in it. And I just can't imagine the original series without its iconic soundtrack.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I think that's the problem. A lot of the reasons these were chosen was because fans wanted to see these series made with improved animation, direction, and writing. Slam Dunk would be improved just by completing the story. But would Toei really improve anything else from the original anime otherwise?

Same with Dragon Ball. A better adaption is very possible. But it won't be made by Toei.

And Yu Yu Hakusho? Forget it. The anime is already the better version. What would a new adaption do? Make the Three Kings arc terrible again?

The glaring omission to me is Rurouni Kenshin. Come on, isn't it about time the whole story finally got animated? We've had more than enough terrible spin-offs and adaptions. How about giving the Revenge arc its due?

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Yeah, the lack of Rurouni Kenshin on this list is really disheartening to me.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Kenshin is probably the only 80s/90s shonen series that I feel needs to get a new adaption, so that the entire story may finally and properly be animated.

Of the shows on that list, I'd be most interested in seeing new anime of Kimengumi and Oishinbo, mainly because no one has or probably ever will sub the old anime adaptions of those series. But I would watch new anime of almost all the shows on there, except anything still in Toei's hands and YYH, which as said before, couldn't possibly be improved unless given to a really strong director and studio.

Of series not mentioned on the list, the big one for me would be Urusei Yatsura. While it's very unlikely a new adaption would be able to rival the original in the quality of it's execution and production, the characters and world are such that the possibilities of what you can do with them are almost limitless. It's be ripe for an ambitious director, or one which a really great sense of humor and understanding of the original, to modernize it to satirize present-day japanese society and popular culture to the same degree that made the original manga and anime as revolutionary as they were back in the late 70s/80s. Ashita no Joe would also be another one I'd be interested in seeing redone, mainly so that there'd be one consistent anime adaption that covers the entire manga beginning to end.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I considered mentioning Ashita no Joe. That's a tricky one, though. The first anime is great for its time, but could certainly be improved upon with better animation and less filler (with the utmost respect to the legendary Osamu Dezaki, of course). But Ashita no Joe 2 is just....perfect. It's right up there with YYH as one of the best anime adaptations ever, and once again that's saying a lot given the fact that AnJ is my favorite manga.

So, on the one hand, it'd be amazing to see a modern take on the whole series, but when the story inevitably got to part two....well, how do you make it better than what's already the best?

An interesting alternative would be to retell the story but take some creative liberties to both make the story appeal to a modern target audience (while the original holds up perfectly, IMO, modern youths might not be as into it's old-fashioned presentation) while still keeping it true to the core spirit and themes of the original story. But that would take an extremely talented team of writers, directors, and animators to put together in a way that works, IMO.

Kenshin is probably the only 80s/90s shonen series that I feel needs to get a new adaption, so that the entire story may finally and properly be animated.

What about Slam Dunk? I mean, of course we don't want Toei to do it, but if any other company could get the rights to do a remake of it, wouldn't that be highly warranted. After all, the best arc of the entire series has never been animated before.

[LumRanmaYasha]

True, it would be very hard to surpass AnJ2 as an adaption unless alternative creative liberties are taken with the source material once again, but I still think it would be of merit to re-do it if it were to be given better animation and a modern visual polish. I also think a really well-done re-make of the series, even if it can't surpass AnJ2, would still introduce the series to a wider audience both inside and outside of Japan, and that would definitely be a good thing.

What about Slam Dunk? I mean, of course we don't want Toei to do it, but if any other company could get the rights to do a remake of it, wouldn't that be highly warranted. After all, the best arc of the entire series has never been animated before.

Well, even if it was outside of Toei's hands, I'm very skeptical that any anime adaption of the final arc could do proper justice to it. I think the way it was presented took full advantage of the series' strengths as a manga, and I'm not sure how well it would translate. It's very rare for non-boxing sports series to get genuinely good adaptions; Haikyu is really the only one I'd consider better than it's manga and well-made in every area. Then again, I never watched the original anime, so if it's really as good as the manga, I should probably give it a shot sometime. Otherwise, while I'd love to see a new anime adaption of SD done right, I don't feel as much desire in seeing one because of how modern sports anime adaptions tend to be these days, and how high a standard one would need to be to truly do justice to that final arc in particular.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Both Hajime no Ippo (the first anime) and Haikyuu are superior to their manga counterparts, and AnJ2 is arguably as great as the manga is, so it's definitely possible to do a great adaptation of Slam Dunk (once again, not Toei, though).

I'm not exactly sure what you're getting at when you claim that it wouldn't translate well into anime. Could you possiby elaborate on that point? Having read the manga, myself, it seems just as suitable as any other shonen to being adapted, and the original anime proves that it can be done. All that's really needed is for a good adaptation to complete the whole story. The final arc could most definitely be done justice with proper directing, voice acting, animation, and music, just like any other strong adaptation of good source material.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Yeah, but like I said, besides those, I haven't seen many other good sports anime adaptions. Both AnJ and HnI, being boxing series, also can translate as anime in the same way as other fighting-based series do, as opposed to how ball-based sports tend to.

Again, I haven't seen the Slam Dunk anime, so I don't really know how well the games translated there. It just feels to me that the Sannoh game had this rare energy and perfect combination of pacing, art, layouts and the like that makes it difficult for me to imagine it working in animation as well. Though, I think I've been confusing the point. Really, it's just a matter of me liking reading sports manga more often than I do watching them. Exempting the boxing anime I like, Haikyuu! is the only one I'd consider better than it's manga counterpart, but even though it's well-made, it took me like a year and a half to actually get through the first season since I kept losing steam with it after every couple or so episodes and watched other shows instead. So, back to the statement I made about Kenshin, while I am skeptical that a new anime adaption can truly capture the same sensations I got from reading the manga, it's less that I don't think SD isn't any less deserving of a strong new anime adaption, and more that I'm just more interested in seeing the former's final arc animated than I am the final arc of Slam Dunk because of my own personal preferences in the kinds of anime I like to watch, which are narrower than my manga preferences.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Well, ball or no ball, it's still basically a battle shonen simply in the way that it's presented in the manga. I suppose I just don't see it the same way that you do, though. To me, it's perfectly possible to make a great sports anime, and it has already been done up to a point with the original Slam Dunk anime, so from my perspective, a well-done adaptation could absolutely capture the intensity and heart of the Sannoh match.

[gunswordfist]

10. Fate/Zero
9. DBZ Kai
8. Hellsing Ultimate
7. Fist Of The Nortstar
6. Ushio & Tora
5. One Piece
4. Jojo's Bizarre Adventure 2011
3. Hunter X Hunter 2011
2. Hunter X Hunter 1999
1. Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood

This is based off of what I've recently...ish seen and off of the top of my head.