Highlights
- Netflix should consider adapting anime shows from the 2000s, not just focus on 90s nostalgia like One Piece and Yu Yu Hakusho.
- Shows like .hack//Sign and Inuyasha would make great live-action experiences.
- Samurai Champloo, another work by Shinichiro Watanabe, could be an easier and more successful adaptation for Netflix to try after the flop of Cowboy Bebop.
Netflix has always had some great anime content on the service and their exclusive stuff has been good too, like Cyberpunk Edgerunners or Castlevania: Nocturne. Unfortunately, they started their live-action adaptations on the wrong foot via Cowboy Bebop in 2022. 2023 was a year of redemption though, as they had hits like One Piece and Yu Yu Hakusho to brag about.
Those were both 90s anime and great ones at that. 90s nostalgia is at an all-time high right now, but that doesn’t mean Netflix should focus solely on that decade. There are plenty of anime shows from the 2000s that could work well as live-action experiences too. These are a handful of some of the more obvious picks that Netflix should consider.
6 .hack//Sign
A Melodrama Mystery In Cyberspace
The .hack project was a huge to-do in the early 2000s via Bandai Namco, or just Bandai at the time. There was a game, manga, this anime, and so much more, and they all took place at different points in the canon. .hack//Sign followed Tsukasa, a player of the MMO called The World. He finds out he can’t log out, which leads to an investigation with other players he meets in his day-to-day life online.
Even though the entire anime takes place in a video game, there isn’t much fighting. It’s more of a mystery-drama to figure out what’s going on with Tsukasa and various other abnormalities in The World. This series would make the most sense to film it on green screens or to use The Volume like in The Mandalorian.
5 Fullmetal Alchemist
Equivalent Exchange
Fullmetal Alchemist did receive a live-action movie in 2017 which covered only a small fraction of the story. It was met with mixed reviews, but it certainly found a fan base. The anime is just so expansive that making a movie based on the property didn’t make sense.
To get the full story, at least twenty movies would have to be made, which seems like an unreasonable risk for any studio to take. That’s why a show has always seemed like a better idea. CG could do a convincing job with the alchemy-based magic at this point. Also worth noting, Alphonse should be a real human in a metal costume and CG should only be used for him when he removes his helmet to show the empty shell inside.
4 Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex
Leave Scarlet Out Of This One
Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex was a great adaptation of the classic anime movie that expanded upon the universe it built. There was a live-action movie made in 2017 starring Scarlet Johansson which was met with mostly negative reactions. To prevent that debacle from happening again, an Asian cast should make up the show just like in Yu Yu Hakusho.
Logistics aside, Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex as an anime could be broken down as an episodic crime show starring a bunch of cyborg cops trying to solve mysteries and murders. One of the bigger arcs in the first season concerned a criminal named The Laughing Man. If Netflix picked this up as a live-action series, The Laughing Man should be the focus.
3 Hellsing
A Bloody Good Time
Hellsing was a one-season wonder initially that made up its own story since the manga was fairly new at the time. That’s why it was eventually remade as Hellsing Ultimate, which more closely followed the manga. The original anime follows Alucard, a vampire who works under the British government to fight other vampires and creatures of the night.
It was filled with bloody action that only the best OVAs could produce in the early 2000s. Netflix could use a gore-filled show like this to push boundaries in the live-action space. Plus, who doesn’t like a good vampire show when done right? This is one of the few examples on the list that would work well as a show filmed outside of Japan, like in London.
2 Inuyasha
Sit Boy!
Inuyasha feels like the penultimate Isekai of the 2000s. It was about a young schoolgirl, Kagome, who falls into a well that transports her to the past. She soon finds out that demons were once real in Japan, and she’s the descendant death of a famous shrine maiden. She also meets the demon, Inuyasha, who she ensnares to do her bidding.
She’s not trapped in the past though, like a lot of Isekai anime. Kagome comes and goes as she pleases, as she still has a school life to worry about. It’s as much an action anime as it is a romance anime between Kagome and Inuyasha in the ever-struggling concept of “will they, won’t they?”
1 Samurai Champloo
Hip-Hop Samurais Looking For Sunflowers
Netflix admittedly flopped hard when it came to their live-action version of Cowboy Bebop. It had its fans and it wasn’t all bad. Even the haters can admit that the intro music was good, and the costumes made everyone at least look the part. While that wasn’t a hit, Netflix could try adapting another one of Shinichiro Watanabe’s works.
Samurai Champloo might be easier to adapt to since it takes place on Earth and doesn’t require any CG for space shenanigans. It’s a simple story that follows a young girl in feudal Japan who hires two samurai to help find her brother. Disastrous hijinks ensue. The action was top-notch and the influx of modern hip-hop into the anime structure made it stand out. What’s there to lose for Netflix on this one?
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