Favourite Anime and Manga Based on Video Games

Pleased to see a mention of the SFII movie from Cold Cobra. Not much story to speak of, true to the games, but the fights in that film are brilliantly animated and choreographed. The whole thing is amazing fanservice.

Gungrave is the correct answer, of course.
 
Arknights: Prelude to Dawn is a pretty great example of a video game adaptation done right. Even as an Arknights fan I can admit the initial arc is pretty lacking compared to what comes later. Thankfully that isn't an issue with the anime. Yuki Watanabe, Masaki Nishikawa and the team at Yostar Pictures made great use of the medium to make some needed adjustments to improve on the story.

The visual presentation is also pretty unique for TV anime as Yostar Pictures produced the series in a cinematic 2.35:1 aspect ratio. What's great is it's not just used as a visual gimmick either as the storyboards make fantastic use of the extra space. Fitting as the studio has previously worked with this aspect ratio before when producing trailers for the game.
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The series is also pretty short for a TV anime at only 8 episodes which is very good for adapting the relatively short initial arc but also for the relatively young Yostar Pictures. A low episode count and more approachable medium should make it easier for introducing newcomers to the franchise. Really looking forward to the second season.
 
I'm planning on trying Arknights again in future arcs as I have to admit, the first episode did not work for me at all. My Arknights-loving friend insists that the later story arcs will be much more engaging so I'm going to give the series a second chance when he tells me that the time is right.

R
 
Rui said:
I'm planning on trying Arknights again in future arcs as I have to admit, the first episode did not work for me at all. My Arknights-loving friend insists that the later story arcs will be much more engaging so I'm going to give the series a second chance when he tells me that the time is right.

R
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Yeah that's fair. My judgement is no doubt biased as a game first player lol. Much of the first few episodes is pretty heavy on exposition and doesn't really find it's footing until later. As much as there are improvements from the game it is still adapting the weakest part. I do recommend catching up once the second season does come around if you're still interested. It gets much stronger past what thr anime adapts and FrostNova's character arc in particular is one of the best parts of the game.

While it may seem odd I think the Arknights anime would've benefitted from adapting the Rainbow Six Siege collaboration first. No doubt they'd have to get approvals from Ubisoft for that but it's a much better introduction to the world.
 
When it comes down to anime based on games, the only one I watched that I remember being any good was Pokemon but it was an absolute age since I watched it so it may just be down to nostalgia; there may be others I haven't seen that might be good, for instance, I haven't seen Digimon so I cannot say how that one fares.

Honestly it is rare for either an anime based on a game or a game based on an anime to be any good but one from the latter category I can say is really good is Fist of the North Star Lost Paradise, it has so many things to do in it and a pretty good story to boot, pair that with a fantastic English dub (why don't more anime games have dubs) that makes it stand out from basically any other anime game.
 
Only skimmed through. Most seemed to be visual novels and similar text heavy stuff rather than actual games that have game play to go along with the story. Let's face it most adaptations of those types of games are pretty poor both East and West (The Last of Us has been great though)
Having said that good to see Princess Connect mentioned and I'll add another Cygames gacha game Uma Musume: Pretty Derby.
 
I don't think I've seen a game to anime adaptation I've actually liked much apart from SFII which I watched a ridiculous number of times as a kid, it really captured the feel of the game and had great quality animation from what I remember. Well, I also really enjoyed Tekken too but it didn't hold up so well during a rewatch some years ago I don't think. Gungrave was probably more lauded as a anime than a game but I prefer the game much more, it's fun and dumb and short and the anime isn't really any of those things, it's like the inverse of what an anime adapation of a game usually is. I do want to give it rewatch though and see if I warm to it more. Generally I think I prefer video game adaptations of anime than the reverse. I can't actually think of many of those I like either, but taking some cool, rich and interesting but non-interactive world and infusing it with playability seems like a worthwhile task and could lead to some great results. But taking a world that has interactivity at its heart and removing that core in order just cash in seems kind of lazy. It's not always lazy and can be passion fuelled as this article proves though.
 
D1tchd1gger said:
Having said that good to see Princess Connect mentioned and I'll add another Cygames gacha game Uma Musume: Pretty Derby.
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I think the gacha game adaptations or those in the whole "media mix" concept have been pretty good recently. PriConne and Umamusume probably the best of the bunch. And I did enjoy Girls Frontline for the most part. Think I missed Arknights.

Vashdaman said:
Well, I also really enjoyed Tekken too but it didn't hold up so well during a rewatch some years ago I don't think.
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I haven't seen the old Tekken adaptation, but I have an odd soft spot for Blood Vengeance. The recent Netflix show was also okay and at least did the prep work for promoting Jun coming back in Tekken 8.
 
awadama said:
Oh no, not Danganronpa! 😭
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Thought it would be controversial, sympathies! Just wanted to share that specific memory as I used to be really into it at the time and watching the anime got me to buy the game. Hardly my favourite though. That goes to stuff like Aikatsu and PriPara although they aren't available in English.
 
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