Anime That Would Make for a Good Video Game

Every year, the usual suspects of super popular anime release a few games out into the wild, be it Dragonball, Naruto, One Piece, or something else of that ilk, but there are a ton of other very good series out there that are sadly overlooked, and would work quite well as a game. They're either ignored, or, worse still, receive a half-baked cash grab of a mobile game. It's an unfortunate state of affairs, but sometimes it can be fun to day dream of a time when a developer comes along and actually does some of these anime just and puts together a genuinely good game for them. Of course, this list will be an incredibly self-indulgent selection of anime that would make good games. If you don't like it, make your own list. \(^_^)/

Seirei no Moribito

Sporting an interesting fantasy world with an Asian flare, making for a refreshing departure from the usual European, Tolkien-inspired realms that the genre usually favours, Seirei no Moribito was a very good anime that flew past a lot of people's radar. The cast of characters were well developed, and it had one of the best female leads ever. By the end, it was sad to see the series end, even more so because it's based on a series of books in Japan, most of which have never been translated into English. With that, the anime and books make for a massive world filled with interesting people that would make for a very good game. Some sort of action RPG in the tradition of Elder Scrolls or The Witcher would be a good fit here, allowing players to wander the land as they see fit bouncing between the main quest line and optional side quests.

Jormungand

A game about arms dealers just makes sense. It would be gritty, violent, and with just a touch of quirky charm. The closest thing we've ever gotten to a Jormungand game was a cross promotion with Black Ops II, but a proper standalone would be so much better. Make the thing mission-based with the team going on hunts, there could be other times where Koko has to work her negotiation skills, and even times to appropriate weapons from other gun runners. There's a lot of places that a game based on this series could go.

Black Lagoon

Here's another example of a group of unsavory yet lovable criminals who deserve their own game. Revy and the gang could take up all sorts of contracts whether it's smuggling contraband, stealing weapons, or taking down rival gangs. Given that it's Black Lagoon that we're talking about here, guns would play a big part with no lack of opportunity to shoot all of the things and all of the people. With a lot of the show taking place on out of the way Pacific islands, boats could also play a role, maybe something akin to a combination of Hydro Thunder but with your vessel armed to the teeth.

Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers

It's been a few months since the first, and probably only season of Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers ended with a big cliffhanger that will only be resolved by trawling the internet in search of a fan translation for the light novel. Nonetheless, what the show had looked every bit like something that would work well as a game.

The obvious way that such a game could go would be for over the top action. The characters in the show have their own unique abilities that would make them stand out in terms of combat. A quick, easy way to go would be a fighting game similar in spirit to the stuff we've seen centered around Naruto, Dragonball, Saint Seiya, and the like. Maybe be a little more daring and make something that feels more like Powerstone. Then again, the show did have a have a heavily cerebral element with the locked room mystery, which would be something interesting to implement into the game, but it's a very big contrast to the action elements. Perhaps coming up with a way to make a Zero Escape with an action game could be doable, but making such distinct ideas work together may prove a challenge.

Fooly Cooly

After revisiting Jet Set Radio, I got in the mood for some stylish gaming. This got me thinking about Fooly Cooly, which was quite the stylish anime, and I wondered how well would this work as a game. The show can feel borderline surrealist with some of the stuff going on in it, which would lend well to going for a more unique visual presentation. It wouldn't have to be anything terribly complicated gameplay-wise. Have some combat elements, toss in areas where riding on a scooter is a must, and Haruko should have plenty of opportunity to wreck havoc.

Log Horizon

There has actually been a half-baked mobile game to come out and cash in on Log Horizon, but nothing proper, let alone good. It wouldn't take much to make something respectable based on the show. Developers could go all-in and make a full-on MMORPG set in the same world; however, I could see that being both expensive and risky in an environment where the genre is struggling to turn a profit outside of a handful of games. What would make more sense is a single-player JRPG with a lot of MMORPG elements. It would be a hell of a lot easier to develop without depending on subscriptions or hoping people take a liking to your in-game shop. The game could be something in the spirit of .Hack with various quality of life updates to bring it in line with modern games in the genre. Log Horizon is the first anime based on an MMORPG in a while that has turned out pretty good. Seeing a concerted effort to make a good game based on it would be great.

Outlaw Star

To this day, it boggles my mind that one of the best anime series of the 90s never got a game based on it. In the very least, I'd have expected the typical rush job as some publisher tried to turn a quick buck on a popular show of the time. There were no lack of anime-based games doing this then, but somehow Outlaw Star slipped through the cracks. It's probably for the best, but since such a game was never made, it tends to bring up the question, "What if?"

It's not like the show is lacking material to make a decent game. It has an interesting ensemble cast, plenty of adventuring around the cosmos, and nifty enemies too. Outlaw Star has a ton of content to draw upon. Realistically, it's probably too late to bother making a game based on the show since most of the people who actually remember it are old fogies like me, but that doesn't change the fact that it could still make for an entertaining experience.

No Game, No Life

The whole premise of the show is siblings who are amazing at any game they play. It wouldn't be that far of a leap to make an actual game of them doing this. The only major challenge would be keeping it interesting and the games challenging since they would be so varied. There's the risk of it feeling like a bunch of rushed mini games lacking any real depth. If that could be overcome, though, there'd be a lot of potential here. From a story perspective, the show / manga are quite funny with plenty of parody moments in them, so the game would have that going for it as well.

Gate

This show has a huge gaming / anime nerd as the main character who also just so happens to be in the special forces of Japan's military. It basically has a modern army going on various adventures in a fantasy world full of wizards, elves, and dragons. That in mind, there's gotta be a way to make this into a decent game. Give players the option to play as Itami, Rory, Lelei, and Tuka, either going for a JRPG or an action game. There's a lot of directions one could go here.

Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers Season One Anime Review

With an epic fantasy unfolding, an ensemble cast to dig into, nice art style, and an interesting, somewhat Aztec-esque motif (something you don't see very often in anime), there were a lot of reasons for me to really get sucked in by Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers. The basic premise is something we've seen before where a band of adventurers must assemble to defeat an ancient evil, but the characters had some meat on their bones and the arch of the story evolved into a very interesting "There's a traitor in our midst" sort of thing that had me steamrolling through the whole season eager to find out what would happen next.

Basically, the story is such that a powerful demon king resides on the edge of the continent in which the show takes place. Every few hundred years, it has a resurgence in power and tries to send its army of demons out to conquer the world. To counter this, one of the land's powerful goddesses selects six people to join up and fight the demon king, with each of these individuals being marked by a six-pedaled flower tattoo.

A large chunk of the story revolves around Adlet Myer, one of those selected by the goddess to fight the demon king this generation, who comes off as a bit of an overly confident moron but grows into a much more interesting character with a developed back story that makes him a lot more sympathetic. It isn't just from learning about Adlet's past, though, as his interactions with everyone else makes him all the more endearing. He's the sort that will do his best to work together with others despite constantly claiming to be the strongest man in the world. Even if people don't want to believe him, which is the case for about half of the series, Adlet will do everything he can to bring them on-side.

This was particularly the case between him and Flamie, catapulting him to one of the most likable characters I've come across this year in an anime. It also made me warm up to Flamie herself, who plays the dark loner who pushes everyone away for fear of being betrayed. Sure, it's a character type we've seen many, many times in the past but the back and forth between her and Adlet is great, developing over much of the series. Watching this unfold, it's hard not to cheer for these two as they make progress, occasionally stumbling along the way.

When it comes to the other characters, they don't get nearly as much screen time as Adlet and Flamie, so there isn't the same opportunity for them to grow. There is some basic foundation work done so that we can get a basic idea of what they're like, but we'd need another season or two in order for this to have a chance to transpire (more about this later). Some of the characters suffer from fairly traditional archetyping like Goldof being the serious, loyal soldier and Hans the assassin.

However, Chamo could turn out to be quite interesting. She's the youngest of the heroes, and still quite immature. Maura pretty much has to watch over her and make sure that she behaves. I could see her coming into her own as she has the most to learn of the heroes. Maura herself, though, I'm not sure about. She's supposedly in charge of overseeing all of the Saints of the world, individuals entrusted with the power of the gods. For having such an important responsibility, she struck me as being awfully stubborn and a poor judge of character. Her actions struck me as odd more often than not given her position. Nachetanya as alright. She seemed like a naive princess out in the world for the first time more often than not, and it wasn't until right near the end of the series that we got a good idea of the sort of person she is.

As I mentioned earlier, the ancient South American theme to the civilizations in Rokka struck me as as a pretty neat idea. It's not something we see often and made for some nice settings. The main characters don't reflect this at all and have a much more straightforward fantasy motif to them, which is fine because they look great. I particularly like Adlet and Flamie's designs, but Goldof and Maura also look quite good.

The fight scenes are quite fluid and a lot of fun to watch. There's a particularly intense one between Adlet and Hans at one point that stood out for me and is at least on par with Adlet's skirmishes with Flamie. These smaller scale battles are where the show really excels, as they feel a lot more exciting and well choreographed than the larger encounters against hordes of fiends. In that regard, Rokka does a very good job, providing some very enjoyable fights.

Some folks seem to feel that the show as a bit slow paced, but I never thought so. There was steady action and progression with each episode in my opinion. We got introduced to the characters, learned a bit more about them and their ultimate goal, and had a major arch while they tried to find a traitor in their midst. All things considered, it was a very good first season.

It's just too bad that it seems unlikely that Rokka will get a second one. From everything I've heard, the show just didn't perform all that well and when that happens studios just don't consider continuing on with it, which is a real shame because Rokka finishes on such a huge cliffhanger. There is a fan translation of much of the light novel series on which the show is based, so those that enjoyed it can actually get some closure if they want. Nonetheless, it is a bit of a drag. So, anyone going into Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers should be prepared. There's a lot to enjoy here, but as of this writing it looks highly unlikely that we'll see the anime go through the entire story. My fingers are crossed that this will change, though.