It’s not uncommon foranime to be based on western inspirations.Heidi, Girl of the Alpsand evenThe Adventures of Tom Sawyercome to mind, but those are based on novels.Anime based on comic booksare quite rare. But when they do exist, they tend to act as bridges for audiences of both mediums of entertainment and literature.
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Though, the result is not always for the best. It’s often hard to translate cultural norms and nuances into another lens that a certain far-off audience will appreciate without making the source material lose too much of its identity. But these following anime managed, and are now more or less solid bridges for two fandoms.
10Marvel Future Avengers
It was only a matter of time beforeMarvel’s superheroes invadedthe shores of Japan with their landslide appeal. So in 2017, during the height of theAvengersfilms hype,Marvel Future Avengersaired. It finished around January and told a separate story instead of anMCUtie-in.
This time around, a young and relatable self-insert template boy named Makoto gains some superpowers due to an experiment. So the Avengers gathered Makoto and others like him and dubbed them the Future Avengers. Mostly, it’s just a good excuse for the protagonist to fight alongside heavyweights such as Thor, Hulk, Iron Man, and Captain America.
9Marvel Disk Wars: The Avengers
But even beforeMarvel Future Avengerscame into the picture and reinvented the superheroes for the Japanese audience, there wasMarvel Disk Wars: The Avengersalready. It follows a pretty similar premise; a group of teenagers discovers some disks that contain superheroes and supervillains.
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Turns out Loki imprisoned allthe Marvel metahumanson these disks in an attempt to take over the world. So it’s up to the teenagers to summonthe Avengers(as though it was a collectible card game) to stop Loki and his evil plans.
8Iron Man
Iron Manwas already way ahead of the other Avengers members since he got his anime in 2010 which was also animated by Studio Madhouse nonetheless. And despite the mass appeal of the 2008Iron Manfilm, theIron Mananime doesn’t seem to be a tie-in to the MCU films.
Instead, it takes place in a different storyline where Tony Stark visited Japan. But his business trip was cut short after a combat mecha organization named Zodiac started crashing into his parties and ventures. Other than Iron Man, Wolverine also makes a cameo appearance here as a fan-favorite in Japan.
7Blade
There’s no shortage ofanime about vampiresin Japan. So, they might as well bring in one of the most conflicted and popular vampire slayers in fiction, Blade. In his titular anime,Blade,Blade goes to Japan for a mission where he has to track down Deacon Frost.
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It’s more personal since Frost was responsible for Blade’s mother’s death. But to get to Frost, Blade has to wade through the muck, namely Frost’s own vampire organization and henchmen. Despite the cool animation, a lot of Marvel fans were somewhat disappointed with the reuse of old characters.
6Ninja Batman
Of course,DCdidn’t want to be late to the party; so it arrived in style with animation, which is arguably its strongest suit outside of comic books. And given that it has to be related to Japan, they animatedNinjaBatman, which is a “what-if"story that explores Batmanas a ninja in feudal Japan.
The premise alone is enough of a reason to recommend it to anyone. Sure enough, the Joker also had to be there, and he had a head start of two years. This allowed the Joker to rise to power and eventually become a dominant warlord.
5Wolverine
Wolverine in the comic books already had plenty of reasons to go to Japan. A lot of his good stories outside theX-Meninvolve family and girlfriends in Japan. In the 2011Wolverineanime, the titular Marvel hero is out chasing a girlfriend who has disappeared in Tokyo.
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And since it’s Wolverine, there’s a mutant conspiracy and plan involved, along with an old and powerful magnate named Shingen who’s obsessed with Logan’s immortality. The anime faithfully follows the comic book storyline and canon where Wolverine or Logan is poised to be Shingen’s father-in-law.
4X-Men
SinceWolverineproved to be quite a decent hit, and he already has a better mass appeal compared to the Avengers, bringing in the rest of theX-Menwas already a promising venture. So soon after theWolverineanime, theX-Menanime of 2011 followed, and it included the most popular characters.
They needed a reason to go to Japan and that came in the form of Charles Xavier calling for an X-Men gathering in order to pursue a kidnapped mutant named Hisako (better known as Armor). They soon got more than they bargained for after discovering that Hisako’s kidnapper was a power-hungry cult.
3Cannon Busters
Cannon Bustersis one of the latest anime that was adapted from a comic book series. But unlike the other titles here, its prime inspiration is not a mainstream comic book, but rather, an indie series from LeSean Thomas. The anime adaptation is an endearing story about a friendship droid or robot named SAM who goes on an adventure to rescue his friend, an heir to a powerful kingdom.
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Joining SAM are a discarded maintenance robot and a wild bandit. Their dysfunctional party and ragtag group is all the hope that’s left for a kingdom that’s under siege. Those looking for something that’s generally new will find it here.
2Batman: Gotham Knight
Those who could recall Christopher Nolan’sDark Knighttrilogy might notice that there’s quite a big Batman activity gap between the films, most notably betweenBatman BeginsandThe Dark Knight. Hence,Batman: Gotham Knightbridges that gap. It’s a direct tie-in toThe Dark Knightfilm.
Gotham Knightis a short seriesof six episodes each detailing what Batman has been up to after saving the city from Ra’s Al-Ghul. He went on a tussle with Deadshot, wrestled with his trauma,tried out new technology, and even shook down some crime organizations. He was on his way to winning all of Gotham until the Joker arrived inThe Dark Knight.
1Witchblade
Witchbladewas quite a pleasant and underrated surprise that took a significantly different approach compared to its comic book source but came out somewhat intact with the spirit of its source material. It’s also about women who come in close contact with the Witchblade, an ancient weapon that turns women into scantily-clad superheroes.
But despite the obvious ecchi fan service,Witchbladehas its hearty drama and motherhood moments as the hero, Masane Amaha, tries to juggle taking care of her daughter with her destructive, newfound powers. There’s a good balance of story, action, and character development here, making it not just a well-made comic book adaptation, but also a good anime in general.
