What did you like about your favorite anime? Perhaps it was a high school comedy, a drama that tugged on the heartstrings, or it was a gory horror story that chilled the spine. Of course, that's not even counting the vast world of Shonen action manga and anime, from One Piece to Naruto to Dragon Ball and beyond.
The popular and stylish short anime Cowboy Bebop is getting a live-action series, and, while fans are bound to love that, many other series may deserve a live-action adaptation too, if not more so. Some of these series have lush settings that would look great with practical effects, and others are anime with a mundane setting that would be easy to portray in live-action without CGI. Some anime movies or TV shows drew some criticism for their shoddy or excessive CGI, but many of the series listed here could use practical effects for a more grounded look.
10 Wotakoi
This short but well-animated (and well-drawn) series is a romantic comedy, but it totally breaks the mold. Unlike most of its peers, it's set not in high school, but in the workplace! We meet Narumi Momose, Hirotaka Nifuji, and more as they try to live a double life as ordinary employees and as huge anime and game nerds!
They're be mortified if their geeky side was outed, so the two main couples find comfort in each other. It would be quite easy to film this series, and the video game sequences would be hysterical to watch as the game characters speak with the voices of their grown-up players.
9 Azumanga Daioh!
Here is another series (among many) that would be nice and easy to translate to live-action, since there would be minimal need for CGI or the like. This is a slice of life high school series, where several girls form a loose squad and find joy in their ordinary lives. Throw in their bratty English teacher Ms. Tanizaki, the level-headed gym teacher Ms. Kurosawa, and a supernatural talking that that appears in people's dreams, and you've got a fine formula for some evening TV fun.
8 Food Wars!
Also known as Shokugeki no Soma, this is a Shonen action series that's not about magic or martial arts, but the competitive world of cooking! The heroes are students at an elite cooking academy, and seeing all that food being prepared in a live-action show would be positively mouth-watering.
The anime does a fine job depicting food in high detail, but nothing can beat the real thing. Even Gordon Ramsay, Guy Fieri, and Rachael Ray would face some serious competition here.
7 Lupin III
The tales of this master thief and his gang of outlaws have thrilled readers and viewers since the 1970s, and a live-action series would really hit the spot. Lupin III is already getting a Pixar-style animated movie soon, but really, it would be fantastic to see Lupin cruise across China, Italy, and the U.S. in a live-action series and pull off spectacular heists. Not to mention all the gorgeous classic cars that show up in the anime. Wouldn't it be a treat to see them driven for real on set?
6 Your Lie in April
Musicians such as Mozart and Beethoven have had movies made about them, but why not try a more modern tale about a musician and his piano?
Enter Your Lie in April, a deceptively flowery series that packs some serious drama. We meet Kosei, who struggles to play the piano again ever since the traumatic death of his mom, and he meets a blonde girl who kick-starts his muse with the little time she has left on Earth. It would be truly impressive to see a 14-year-old virtuoso play the piano like a master, and this series is almost certainly good enough to merit a live-action adaptation.
5 Fire Force
Of all the series in this list, Fire Force would probably need the most CGI, but it's worth it. This is a soft sci-fi series that depicts a fire fighting company that doubles as a church, where pyrokinetic firefighters extinguish Infernals (victims of spontaneous combustion) and pray for their safe journey to heaven.
The setting is an eccentric combination of modern tech and 1910s-level steampunk, which would look great in practical effects. And the CGI department could handle the eye-popping fire-based action scenes to round out a live-action Fire Force series.
4 Elfen Lied
This is the most R-rated entry on this list, but, if the right studio picked it up, it could make for an impressive live-action series. In fact, this anime inspired Stranger Things! We meet Nyu/Lucy, a horned girl with deadly powers who escaped a secret lab and is on the run. More people like her soon pop up, and cousins Kouta and Yuka get caught in the crossfire. Elfen Lied has action scenes, gore, horror elements, amnesia plots, and conspiracy alike, and that would make for some great late-night TV.
3 The Magnificent KOTOBUKI
Much like Fire Force, this anime would look incredible in live-action. It's set in a sort of Southwest American setting, combining dieselpunk elements with a cast of charming and colorful girls who pilot fighter planes as mercenaries. The dogfights would look outstanding in a live-action adaptation, and practical effects would make the setting look very "live in" and grounded, much like in the original Star Wars trilogy.
2 Recovery of an MMO Junkie
This is a series not too different from Wotakoi, though it has more potential to explore some serious themes. In the short anime, a businesswoman named Moriko gives up her job to become a shut-in and play games all day long, investing in an MMO character named Hayashi.
She loves it, but slowly, Moriko starts to step back into the real world as her in-game friends appear to her in real life. The anime is a comedy, but a live-action series would be easy to film with practical effects and video game footage.
1 Violet Evergarden
This final entry is in a similar vein as both Fire Force and The Magnificent KOTOBUKI. The popular and richly animated Violet Evergarden shows a sort of steampunk world where a war just ended, and young women like Violet are put to work typing letters for clients.
Sounds simple at first, but Violet gets some memorable adventures as she steps into the lives of her varied clients, and there's more than one tear-jerker scene. Imagine this world realized in live-action! It would be a treat for the eyes.