I think that with this third post about videogames and anime I am going to end the special, although logically many titles are left out due to lack of space. We have already seen that the list of video games based on anime is so extensive that it would give for posts and more posts and we could be thus an entity.
In this last post, as I said in the previous one, we go to the opposite side and we take a look at a few animes that have emerged as a result of many other video games . Of course the list is short, taking into account the large number of animes of this type that exist, and it would give me for several posts, but I think you have to know how to stop in time and I will not lengthen the special.
Of all the animes based on video games that there are, I have chosen a few quite well-known, although along the way I have come across some really surprising ones.
Animal Crossing
There is no doubt that ‘Animal Crossing’ is a video game franchise whose titles, by aspect and theme, lend themselves perfectly to being turned into an animated series for the little ones in the house. ‘Dōbutsu no Mori’ is the result of this move from video game to anime, although not in a regular series format.
It is a film based on the title for Nintendo DS ‘Animal Crossing: Wild World’ that was released in Japan on December 16, 2006 and that managed to collect about five million dollars at the box office.
Blue Dragon
Anyone would think that Akira Toriyama is in charge of giving life to the characters of ‘Blue Dragon’ in the anime series that took place after the game was released, more than anything because he was responsible for the design of the characters in the game, but no. Neither the manga ( ‘Blue Dragon ST’ , drawn by Ami Shibata and ‘Blue Dragon RalΩGrad’ , illustrated by Takeshi Obata, from ‘Death Note’) nor the television series were drawn by him.
The anime, directed by Yukihiro Matsushita and whose plot has nothing to do with that of the video game, began to air on television (TV Tokyo) on April 7, 2007, had two seasons and even came out of Japan, premiering on April 5, 2008 on the Cartoon Network in the United States. It did not last long in those lands.
Devil May Cry
The adventures of Dante and company in the ‘Devil May Cry’ saga, as many of you know, have been the subject of manga, novels and, obviously, their own animated series. The anime, which debuted on the Japanese channel WOWOW on June 14, 2007, was created by Shin Itagaki and features Bingo Morihashi, writer of installments two, three and four of the series, on the writing team.
It consists of twelve chapters that are basically nourished not only by the characters and stories born on our consoles, but also by the events that occurred in the manga and novels.
F-Zero
‘F-Zero’ is one of those surprises that I was talking about just before starting the review of this list. I had no idea that someone would have thought of making an anime based on a title like this. The same is because after the first title, appeared on SNES to be exact, I did not pay much attention to the rest of the installments of the saga.
The anime, called ‘F-Zero: GP Legend’ , consists of 51 episodes and made its debut on the Japanese channel TV Tokyo on October 7, 2003. The plot, how could it be otherwise, revolves around some races futurists and the characters that take part in them, coming from any corner of the galaxy.
It came to be broadcast in the United States, after a series of modifications by the 4Kids Entertainment production company, but it was canceled when not even twenty chapters had been broadcast yet.
Street Fighter II
The saga ‘Street Fighter’ has multiple in anime format. On the one hand we have the animated film ‘Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie’ . It was released in 1994 and, unlike film adaptations with real actors, it was well received by the public. What less, it is based on the mythical ‘Street Fighter II’ and also we do not have to endure the heavy Van Damme playing Guile.
On the other hand we have another anime called ‘Street Fighter II V’ , which as its name indicates is also based on ‘Street Fighter II’, and two other Japanese series based on ‘Street Fighter Alpha’ called ‘Street Fighter Alpha’ : The Animation ‘ and ‘ Street Fighter Alpha: Generations’ .
There is at least one more animated series simply called ‘Street Fighter’, although it is not Japanese, but American.
Zone of the Enders
I will finish this brief review of some of the video games that have given rise to animes talking about ‘Zone of the Enders’ . A title that originally appeared for PS2 from the hand of Hideo Kojima and that, in addition, was the first one I played when I bought my Playstation 2 I don’t know how many years ago.
This futuristic-style story with a roster of stylized highlights La mar de majo was transferred to the world of anime twice: one in the form of an animated film and the other in the form of a series.
The film, called ‘Zone of the Enders: 2167 Idolo’ , works as a prequel to the events that occurred in the original title and was released in 2001. The animated series, for its part, responds to the curious name of ‘ZOE Dolores, i ‘ . It was released in Japan on April 7, 2001 and consists of 26 episodes, the first 12 of which take place before what is seen in the game and the rest five years after what is seen in ‘Zone of the Enders: 2167 Idolo’.
And here I come with the special on video games and anime. Along the way there are animated series and movies based on games like ‘Arc the Lad’, ‘Art of Fighting’, ‘Darkstalkers’, ‘Chrono Trigger’, ‘Dragon Quest’, ‘Final Fantasy VII’, ‘Mega Man’ and a very long etcetera. As I said at the beginning, talking about everyone is impossible …
What has become clear with these three posts, and that was my idea, is that video games and anime are two well communicated worlds. The one feeds on the other and vice versa, as happens, for example, with movies. What is certain is that the quality of these adaptations, both in one sense and another, is much higher than in the case of movies with real actors.
| Videogames and anime (I), Videogames and anime (II)
