Games today are often epic stories told over dozens of hours. Sure, some games let the player’s choices shape the narrative, but many still have large plots that would be perfect for serialization. So, why not tell them using the time-tested, serialized-storytelling vehicle better known as anime? For decades now, anime has been willing to tackle the more unusual subjects that games regularly cover. From giant robots to magical girls to battling pocket-sized monsters, anime isn’t afraid to let its freak flag fly. With Persona 5 The Animation coming soon, we thought now would be a great time to talk about five games that need anime adaptations.
Zero Escape
Okay, technically speaking, the second game in the Zero Escape series did receive a 13-minute promotional anime adaptation. Still, the complex plot of these three games would be amazing as a series. Zero Escape tells the stories of people trapped in psychotic games (à la the Saw movies) with their lives at stake. It plays fast and loose with the rules of time but in the best possible way.
Its unique, out-of-sequence storytelling and timeline-hopping drama would help it stand out from other sci-fi shows. The games are already so drama and dialogue heavy that they would be easy to adapt. It even comes with three seasons built in. Each new game in the trilogy brings a mix of original characters and familiar faces along for the ride. This would make a fantastic anime for those interested in the crazy story but not the game’s tricky puzzles.
Xenogears
Xenogears tells the tale of an amnesiac hero who must rise up and save the world from a god. Its end credits made a promise: that this game was episode five in a six-episode saga. Unfortunately, Square never made a follow-up. The series lived on, in a way, through the Xenosaga and Xenoblade franchises, but those were more spiritual successors than true sequels.
This epic story remains unfinished, and what better way to lay it all out than in an anime? It’s full of drama and the weird religious imagery popularized by Neon Genesis Evangelion — not to mention giant robots and martial arts. The game’s anime cutscenes already showed us how awesome a Xenogears anime would look. All we need now is a studio to greenlight it.
Horizon Zero Dawn
While not a Japanese game, Horizon Zero Dawn’s story would fit comfortably in the wheelhouse of an anime studio like Trigger or A-1 Pictures. Aloy, a powerful woman and an outcast from her tribe, is forced to rise up and face an encroaching evil. It’s got anime written all over it. Anime series have never shied away from telling post-apocalyptic stories, and Horizon’s is outstanding.
Beautiful landscapes, interesting tribes of characters, and terrifying monster machines — it’s got it all. The many side characters Aloy meets throughout her journey would fill out the cast nicely. Also, since the game is open-world, the show would have room for one-off episodes that cover compelling side quests. Imagine an episode centered around Aloy trying to reunite Elida and Atral. Awesome, right? Who do we have to bribe to make this happen?
Doki Doki Literature Club
Since we can’t talk about why this would be great without giving it all away, consider this a spoiler alert. The central conceit of Doki Doki Literature Club is that you’re playing a game and one of its characters has become self-aware. An anime adaptation could leap off from that idea.
Picture it. A gamer playing Doki Doki suddenly begins experiencing creepy oddities. It seems the characters in the game are talking to them, not to their in-game character. Then, creepy things start happening in real life — bleeding walls, eerie poems showing up out of nowhere, and mysterious voices. There’s also a wealth of ideas in Doki Doki’s hidden game content (locked away within the game’s files on your computer). An expansion of the concept here would make for a compelling and terrifying anime series.
Life Is Strange
Some time ago, there was talk of a live-action adaptation of Life Is Strange. While we’d be all for that, it seems the ship may have sailed on that particular show. But it’s never too late to turn the beloved game into an anime. Life Is Strange follows a teenage girl who discovers she has the ability to rewind time. She uses her newfound power to save her best friend’s life and solve a mysterious disappearance in her small Northwestern town.
Its world is full of colorful, conflicted characters. Its wild plot and time travel focus bring to mind brilliant anime series like Steins;Gate. Picture this: a series that focuses on Max Caulfield, the heroine of the story, with flashbacks or maybe a mini-arc that tells the backstory of Chloe and Rachel from Life Is Strange: Before the Storm. The game allows you, the player, to determine the course of the plot. So wouldn’t it would be cool to see a completely original take on the story? The anime could still hit the major beats, but also forge its own path. Teenagers with mystical powers, does it get more anime than that?
Many fans of anime became fans because of their love of games. There’s so much overlap between the two mediums, largely because a lot of games, like anime, come from Japan. Anime is often adapted from different source material, and games are a great source of anime inspiration. Shows like Persona 4 The Animation (and, hopefully, the upcoming Persona 5 adaptation) prove what can happen when anime studios get inspired by games.
