Manga what's your favorite manga of all time that doesn't have an anime ?

[OmegaPunch's iconOmegaPunch]

ARES!!! MAKE A VAGABOND ANIME ADAPTATION, AND MY LIFE IS YOURS!!!

 

[gekiganwing]

Wasted Minds, also known as Dust Spot. This is one of the few Rumiko Takahashi stories that hasn't been adapted to animation. There's only five chapters. So it doesn't provide much insight into the main characters, who are agents with limited super powers. I think there's just enough material to justify writing more episodes which would expand the fictional world.

During college, I enjoyed Kaiji Kawaguchi's Eagle a lot. This story will probably never be adapted to animation. It's partly a political drama, partly a soap opera, partly a commentary on politics around the year 2000. The localized version took a lot of work. It was not only flipped so it would read left to right, but it had to portray characters based on real people, and it had to include real regional accents. The series should not have gone out of print so quickly.

 

[CardcaptorEd2019]

Also, Oyasumi Punpun but I doubt that they'd get the tone right and wouldn't want to see it's legacy tarnished.

I was gonna suggest most manga that Inio Asano has done. I can't see them adapting something like A Girl on the Shore and especially not something like Oyasumi Punpun. Solanin was adapted into live action and not an anime. The only anime that was adapted from his manga was Dead Dead Demon's Dededede Destruction which I guess fit an anime the most out of his manga.

 

[Mago]

Lone Wolf and Cub is my favorite manga ever and as far as I know its only had live action adaptions.

 

[mollieifusco]

Shinichi Hiromoto's "Hell's Angels" carved delight into the eyes with its faithful adaptation to the screen. Trouble is, it's one of the few works of his that got an animated adaption. I'd blow the roof off - straight up - for his "Jagi Gaiden" Hokuto No Ken adaptation to get as good a pass as it did.

Secondary to that: expansion of "STONe" - also for the big screen. Just a love letter to every popular science fiction novella back in the 80's outfitted in his crass but bespoken style.

 

[mini pancake]

I'm waiting for the 20th century boys adaptation

 

[Yousef]

Kongou bancho

 

[Deleted member 179251]

While it does have a live action film that only covers parts of the story and basic premise, Freesia as a manga is yet to find an anime. Because I believe if the entire thing is adapted into an anime, it would definitely push some buttons, but also be one of the finest stories ever told if adapted correctly.

 

[Pjira]

Gunsmith Cats and Sanctuary, both have OVAs but they are very short and cover little to none of the manga. Sanctuary is also written by Buronson who also write Fist of the North Star.
I will also throw GTO out there, it has a pretty good adaptation but it stops about half way through and makes up it's own ending....not to mention the prequel/sequels that were never(or barely in the prequel's case) animated.

 

[hitsugi]

Vanilla Spider & Heat. Heat has a drama adaptation, but I wish Vanilla Spider could've gotten an OVA at least...

 

[TheWanderer]

If it's strictly manga than probably,Tougen anki maybe ,if manhwa included then
100% it must be the legend of northern blade

 

[Antilocal123]

Usogui

 

[Fray Guillermo]

This one's really easy. 20th Century Boys, even among those mangas that do have anime adaptations

 

[micheI]

Out, Usogui, The Climber, the 3 latest JoJo parts.

 

[J0_]

It's questionable as to whether Blame! could even be adapted to a commercially viable anime tbh. The netflix movie had to add a lot of character-related fluff to what was already one of the most character-dense arcs in the manga.

 

[sk4di]

since CSM got animated already. Here's 3 of my favorites aot.

 

[Haixen]

wow i just came back and my thread is still kicking, kinda happy its still going, please share your obscure mangas I'm reading everything and filling my Backlog <3

 

[Super Funky Piece]

admittedly most stuff i read has been animated, just not fully. but one i did come across some years ago just for its art alone was Shut Hell, which while may have some isekai elements is mostly a period drama set during the Mongol invasions in China. i really liked the lead's design with her wild red hair and downright feral battles. the bright eyed young male lead also has some great development throughout.

a friend also once recommended me No.5, from the same author as Ping Pong. it's a very surreal looking post-apocalypse setting with remaining nations under the rule of strong psychics, each assigned a number and one of whom goes rogue and starts picking off the rest of them. i would describe it as unpredictable in both look and plot is it unfolds.

another recommendation i picked up was The Skirt Sings at the Landing. it's about a girl in a formal dance club that's taller than any of her partners and has always been stuck taking the lead despite wanting the opposite, until one day a shorter new girl takes the initiative on their first meeting. i'd call it a very sombre story that delves into each character's insecurities and how they all clash with one another, wanting to defy people's assumptions while still applying their own on others

but overall some real big faves are actually two Idolmaster manga, Blooming Clover and Brand New Song. theyre each a different continuity and neither overlap with the existing anime. they tend to get surprisingly introspective across a big varied cast, but handle the character's troubles with a lot of grace and kindness that pushes me to tears often.

 

[extermist]

no, but I wish

 

[Yankee]

For me, Yankee-kun to Megane-chan, AKA Flunk Punk Rumble.
It's a Coming of Age style High-School Action Comedy with a bit of unnecessarily complicated Romance of course. It got a short live action adaptation but it couldn't nearly capture the charm of the longform character story telling, chaotic fight scenes, or goofy gags well in that format.

 

[Cuestionador]

Gunsmith Cats and Sanctuary, both have OVAs but they are very short and cover little to none of the manga. Sanctuary is also written by Buronson who also write Fist of the North Star.
I will also throw GTO out there, it has a pretty good adaptation but it stops about half way through and makes up it's own ending....not to mention the prequel/sequels that were never(or barely in the prequel's case) animated.

Both are great mangas, Sanctuary is massively underrated. One of my favourite mangas is Chronowar by Kasumasa Takayama, a very obscure autor who blends sci-fi with existentialism, is really good. Plus 2001 Nights by Yokinobu Hoshino have an OVA, but not a full adaptation of the manga (another favourite of mine).

 

[mel]

The moon by George Akiyama.

I read that supposedly the director of elfen lied's anime was going to direct an adaptation at one point, but it never happened.

Post automatically merged: Apr 25, 2025

Code Geass: Soubou no Oz, and Code Geass: Shikkoku no Renya.
Some of the spin-offs/prequels for Great Teacher Onizuka.

Technically they have anime, but the second half of Akira was never adapted. Nor was the second half of Deadman Wonderland. Same with Ben-To beyond the first season. Same with Gunsmith Cats. Same with Bobobo-bo Bo-bo-bo.

Also a novel that got a manga adaptation, but no anime: All You Need Is Kill

Akira, gunsmith cats, and bobobo? You have phenomenal taste.