More and more anime properties are being chosen for live-action adapatations, but there's still plenty of good candidates for adaptation that haven't been tapped yet.
Here's a selection of anime that would make excellent adaptations to Western live-action productions, mainly because of their ease of adaptation for an audience that's both inside and outside of Japan.
This list will be updated if any of these titles are in fact filmed, and will only contain titles that haven't so far been set up for an adaptation.
1. Baccano!
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Another candidate for live-action episodic TV over film, thanks to the episodic, doubling-back-on-itself nature of the story -- but such epic projects are now becoming more widely accepted on TV (e.g., Boardwalk Empire). Even the nonlinear storytelling used throughout Baccano! is something used in enough primetime shows that it wouldn't throw audiences for too far a loop. And as for the setting itself, Prohibition-era New York -- that's something mainstream audiences shouldn't have any trouble connecting with.
2. Battle Angel Alita
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Yukito Kishiro's long-running cyberpunk/action manga story -- which mixes brutal violence with touching human drama -- had its first few chapters adapted into an anime version with good results. For years, James Cameron was talking about a possible live-action adaptation, but that seems to have been shelved in favor of making more Avatar films. It's a shame: modern special effects technology would do justice not only to the visceral but emotional sides of this story. Anyone else willing to step up and make this happen?
3. Berserk
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No other project on this list is less likely to be adapted into a live-action film, but no other project would result in a more striking film. Violent, depressing, and with a scope easily as broad as The Lord of the Rings (and a budget to match), Berserk would be brutally difficult to get made -- but anyone who's seen the OAV or read the original manga will know how much terrifying, spectacular imagery from this series cries out to be filmed. Its length probably best suits it for a miniseries, a la Game of Thrones, rather than a theatrical release, although that might correspondingly constrain the budget. And if any story needs a big budget and a wide-gauge look to it to succeed, this is it.
4. Black Cat
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Former elite assassin Train Heartnet turns his back on the shadowy organization that employed him, and hits the road with hard-luck bounty hunter Sven Vollfied and the mysteriously powerful Eve -- all of whom are on a collision course with the deadly Apostles of the Stars.
Gunslinging, world-spanning action aside (all of which plays like a fantasyland version of a James Bond film), the real attraction of a live-action version of Black Cat would be in its cast. It would be tough to get right, but absolutely worth the effort: see the anime itself to get an idea of how these mismatched adventurers bounce off each other.
5. Black Lagoon
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How is it that this hasn't been made into a live-action film? The inspiration for the whole thing was Hong Kong and Hollywood action movies, so for it to come full circle and be thus adapted seems flat-out inevitable. Audiences would welcome this as a complement to (or an advancement on) recent shoot-'em-up joints like The A-Team or The Expendables. The hardest part would be, again, assembling a cast that does justice to Lagoon's crazed collection of characters - they'd need to properly reflect the multi-ethnic flavor of the story.
6. Claymore
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This grim but compelling fantasy series, about a cadre of not-quite-human swordswomen who fight beasts that are definitely not human, has plenty of elements that make it a good candidate for a live-action adaptation. Aside from tons of spectacular things to put on the screen -- like, say, the sight of the heroine taking down one beast after another with a sword bigger than she is -- its setting is not all that far removed from Europe during the Middle Ages. That and its roster of fiercely independent female characters makes it a strong draw for a generation whose standards for film heroines have been set by the likes of Ellen Ripley.
7. D. Gray-Man
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Another show that features a vaguely Tim Burton-esque design -- not to the extent that Soul Eater manifests it, but it's still palpable. Also, this is another show with plenty of built-in appeal for Western audiences; it wouldn't need excessive rejiggering to be either comprehensible or enjoyable. The retro-19th-century look of the show would be welcomed both by steampunk fans and by mainstream audiences who grooved on Sherlock Holmes.
8. The Dirty Pair
© Takachiho & Studio Nue - SUNRISE. Image courtesy Right Stuf, Inc.
It seems criminal that there's no live-action version of the comedic far-future exploits of Kei and Yuri, the "troubleshooters" who end up making at least as much trouble as they shoot, and who often shoot more than just trouble. Their breed of interplanetary chaos is perfectly suited for a big-screen, big-budget edition. Casting suggestions, anyone?
9. Fullmetal Alchemist
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Another show that might well be too ambitious for the big screen -- but oh, to dream of what could be. Alchemist requires almost no reworking to be comprehensible to non-fans, and very little in the anime would be outside the reach of modern special effects. The real issue is the sprawling storyline and massive cast of characters, which could really only be done justice across a full-blown trilogy of films, each weighing in at two-plus hours each. Come to think of it, the biggest obstacle might well be proper casting -- not just for Ed and Al but for characters like Scar (or the other Ishvalans), to properly reflect the ethnic diversity in the story and not just whitewash it.
10. Guin Saga
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Even the most ambitious feature film adaptation would fall short of ever encompassing more than a fragment of Kaoru Kurimoto's light novel series, which ran to over 120 volumes until the author's death. The recent anime adaptation, though, hints at how the first few books could indeed be compressed effectively, but nothing short of a Lord of the Rings-level adaptation would do for the big screen. A fitting comparison: Guin has been repeatedly described as Japan's answer to Tolkien's own opus. And the sight of leopard-headed Guin himself leading an army on horseback across the desert would be more than worth the cost of a ticket.
