Superheroes in my Anime; Anime in my Superheroes

[hi! Lord Fear]

With the recent Japanese take on Witchblade I started to wonder what other comic or American property could be given the anime treatment.

Here's my list:
Rom (i mean come on robots, aliens, and city destroying goodness)
Ghost Rider (i really liked the Skull man anime and GR kinda reminds me of it)
OMAC (either Kirby's or the OMAC project)
Machine man or Nextwave (Aaron Stack wearer of big bras)

[jeanprixx]

I LIke punisher!

Skull on the shirts that's cool!

[Young Avenger]

A Shonen anime out of Iron Fist.

[Darth Joker]

I could see Iron Man being converted into a cool mecha-show.

A giant Iron Man vs. a giant Titanium Man; a giant Iron Man vs. Fin Fang Foom; a giant Iron Man vs. a Mandarin who can turn himself into a giant.

Those would be fun to watch!

[jabrams007]

I'd love to see an anime take on some new mutants learning at the X-Mansion. It could be about their schooling and how they're coping with their powers and being young.

I also think an anime Black Panther or Daredevil would be kickass!

[Ramiel]

I'd love to see Iron Fist turned into an anime. With a similar story/feel that the current series has would be great.

Wouldn't mind seeing an alternate take on some superheroes, but if the Marvel Mangaverse is any real indication of how that would go, then just ew.

[The Mirrorball Man]

A Japanese version of Jack Kirby's OMAC would be brilliant, actually.

[yeoman]

I'd love to see Iron Fist turned into an anime. With a similar story/feel that the current series has would be great.

Wouldn't mind seeing an alternate take on some superheroes, but if the Marvel Mangaverse is any real indication of how that would go, then just ew.

The manga-verse did have a few decent versions of characters. And it did have Fred Perry piloting the Iron Eva.

[Ramiel]

The manga-verse did have a few decent versions of characters. And it did have Fred Perry piloting the Iron Eva.

I really hated 98% all of what they did in Mangaverse. Made Spidey and Venom into ninja, the FF a giant mech team, X-Men were magic, Punisher was a Japanese prostitute, Hulk was Godzilla, Thor was anti-Godzilla.

Just man. Oh, though I never did read the second volume and the Spidey ones.

[Len Ikari145]

I really hated 98% all of what they did in Mangaverse. Made Spidey and Venom into ninja, the FF a giant mech team, X-Men were magic, Punisher was a Japanese prostitute, Hulk was Godzilla, Thor was anti-Godzilla.

Just man. Oh, though I never did read the second volume and the Spidey ones.

They did a good job with Manga Spawn, though.

[Ramiel]

I did a good job with Manga Spawn, though.

I didn't even know there was a Manga Spawn.

[yeoman]

the FF a giant mech team


Adam Warren very specifically made them the Evangelion cast. With Reed as Gendo, sleeping his way through most of the female cast over the course of the issue.

[ChrisIII]

Yeah, Marvel did the whole "Mangaverse" event a couple years ago. It was kind of bizzare.Various mangaverse series have come and gone since then.


There were also non-Mangaverse manga adaptations of Spider-Man and the X-men, although in the X-men's case it was an adaptation of the FOX TV show (Sort of an alternative to X-men adventures)


Kia Asamiya, a notable manga/anime artist in Japan, also did a short art run on Chuck Austen's Uncanny X-men....and I've seen a bunch of Gundam/Macross/Evangelion-inspired mechs in various comics. Gundam's Kapool is Ultimate Fantastic Four's H.E.R.B.I.E, and Salvador Larocca's Sentinels are basically Evangelions.


and then of course there was the Spider-Man live-action sentai show which had nothing to do with the comics at all...

[hi! Lord Fear]

You know an anime Hulk would be cool especially if they make him a victim of a secret organization headed by Thunderbolt Ross (sorta like Guyver but not)
an animated Iron Fist only if they let Matt Fraction do it; speaking of him I would love a cartoon Cassanova Quinn or Tech Suit.

On the side has anyone read Junk (Kia Asymia) Digimortal (the guy wrote BLAME!) and Zetman?

[The Xenos]

There were also non-Mangaverse manga adaptations of Spider-Man and the X-men, although in the X-men's case it was an adaptation of the FOX TV show (Sort of an alternative to X-men adventures)
...
and then of course there was the Spider-Man live-action sentai show which had nothing to do with the comics at all...

I have the second volume of The Spider-man manga, in Japanese. It has art by notable mangaka Ryoichi Ikegami.

As for the live action sentai show... wow. My roomate picked up a bootleg VHS one time new New York. Just wow.
Adam Warren very specifically made them the Evangelion cast. With Reed as Gendo, sleeping his way through most of the female cast over the course of the issue.

I love the parody of it. Halfway through I just bust out laughing once I realized who everyone was.

[captain_unimpressive]

I think the Challengers of the Unknown would make a great anime.
The Fantastic Four would be great, too, of course, since they're essentially the same concept.

Besides thinking about what properties would make great anime/manga, look at how many properties have been influenced by anime and manga.
Apparently TV producers think that a cartoon won't sell these days unless it's anime, so everything from the Fantastic Four cartoon to The Batman have big-eyed character design.

[Kage Kisaragi]

I really hated 98% all of what they did in Mangaverse. Made Spidey and Venom into ninja, the FF a giant mech team, X-Men were magic, Punisher was a Japanese prostitute, Hulk was Godzilla, Thor was anti-Godzilla.

Just man. Oh, though I never did read the second volume and the Spidey ones.

Aaamenn!

Seriously, I only enjoyed one Marvel Manga-verse story and that was Ronin. The art wasn't so hot, and the story was so so, but out of all the manga-verse crud that came out it was the most plasuible one. :) By the way the whole spider-man ninja thing wasn't really all that original, you could just as sooner contribute it to the japanese interpretation of Spider-man back in the 70's. Even if you over look the giant robot, and spidamobile.

Anyway, ... this idea makes me cringe, .... a lot. Yet, besides creative new looks, it loses a lot of its appeal, mostly because (at least for me), The idea of anime/manga isn't just big eyes and small mouths, but a cultural difference. I don't really care for anime/manga that parodies modern day America. That's boring, I could read about that in any American comic and it'll probably be handled better there, some thing goes to manga/anime that deals with world threats like Gundam Wing, (it's one of the few Gundams other than G that I actually watched.) I totally think a American based version of either story would have been handled better, more in depth and sophisticated.

So when it came to the Marvel Manga verse I felt cheated. I didn't really want to just see some body try drawing Manga-versions of the X-Men and other marvel staples just for the heck of drawing them that way, I wanted to see those staples as they might have appeared in a japanese based culture. Largely Ronin tried to do that, but it mixed to many elements that didn't sit well, they had ninjas in modern day time, with magic users and psychics and one dude trying to be a samurai, underground masters of mutantism, and political/criminal organizations.. It didn't mesh because they used way to many elements all at once. The art again.. wasn't stellar, even as far as Manga goes but it was acceptable enough that you weren't immeditately digusted. I still have the trade of Ronin and its one of my favorites to this day, but if I had to rate it on a manga or amerimanga i'd give it 3 out of 5 stars. Best score any Mangaverse title would get from me.

[Devil_LeonX]

I think Superman and definitly batman could do somewhat well if they were animaid. To be honest quite a few could do well least I think so

[ChrisIII]

^I think there was a Batman manga.

[Melbourne Mew Mew]

The Batman manga was "Batman: Child of Dreams" by Kia Asamiya. It got an english-language release. It was pretty good.

[Perry Holley]

Amethyst would be a natural to do as an anime series... hell, the character was a 'magical girl' before Sailor Moon made that particular sub-genre popular.