Summary
- Many older shōnen anime need reboots to improve adaptations and do justice to the original manga storylines.
- Some anime suffer from excessive filler and deserve reboots to have better pacing.
- Other anime would benefit from reboots to have better direction and more faithful storytelling.
Shonen anime, as with any medium, is no stranger to reboots. If a series is old enough, or if the original version is lacking in one way or another, a reboot is necessary to present the original work as best as possible. Anime like Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and Sailor Moon Crystal are classic examples of this, and even One Piece is being rebooted via The One Piece.
There have been plenty of great anime reboots over the years, but many anime that deserve one, especially shonen anime, still need one. Shonen anime have a history of falling short as adaptations due to the difficulties of having to keep pace with the manga.
Between excessive filler, changes to the characters and story, and simply not adapting everything, many older anime have survived largely off of nostalgia as opposed to the quality of their adaptations. Those kinds of anime are in desperate need of a reboot, and a few, in particular, are especially worth mentioning.
10 Best Anime Remakes & Reboots
Some of the best adaptations of anime and manga are reboots and remakes, as seen with the success of Trigun Stampede and Hunter x Hunter.
10 Rosario + Vampire Needs To Show How It’s More Than A Harem Anime
Released in 2008; Based on the manga by Akihisa Ikeda
In Studio Gonzo’s Rosario + Vampire, Tsukune Aono, unable to get into any local high schools, is sent to Yokai Academy, a school that, as the name implies, is supposed to be exclusively for monsters. Tsukune quickly befriends and falls in love with Moka Ayakashi, a kind vampire girl with a violent alternate personality, and to stay with her, he needs to keep his identity as a human a secret all while dealing with dangerous monsters and the advances of all the girls who fall in love with him.
While Rosario + Vampire started as a typical harem manga, after a few years, it shifted gears into a more serious battle manga with an engaging story, great fight scenes, and a well-crafted deconstruction of the harem tropes it had originally played straight. None of that is present in the anime, however, as Rosario + Vampire’s anime focused almost exclusively on fanservice and harem antics, making things even raunchier than the original manga. The original Rosario + Vampire anime made the story seem far more shallow than it was, so a reboot would be the perfect chance to show off its true depth.
9 Eyeshield 21’s Anime Was Ruined By Excessive Filler
Released from 2005 to 2008; Based on the manga by Riichiro Inagaki & Yusuke Murata
Studio Gallop’s Eyeshield 21, Sena Kobayakawa is a weak and timid young boy whose only talent is his incredible speed. That, however, draws the attention of the eccentric Yoichi Himura, who quickly recruits Sena as a running back for their high school football team, the Deimon Devil Bats, and with Hiruma believing that other schools would want to steal Sena from him, he has him hide his identity with an eyeshield and play as the titular Eyeshield 21.
Created by the team of Dr. Stone’s Riichiro Inagaki and One-Punch Man’s Yusuke Murata, Eyeshield 21 was a standout sports manga with great character writing ed by an equally great art style. Unfortunately, as was common with many anime in the 2000s, Eyeshield 21’s anime was overrun with filler episodes and bad pacing, and it ultimately ended without finishing its story. There are very few sports stories like Eyeshield 21, and a reboot would do a great job of showing why that is.
Eyeshield 21 is returning with a special celebrating its 21st anniversary, and artist Yusuke Murata created a short animated trailer for the occasion.
8 Rave Master Needs To Show How Good Hiro Mashima’s Writing Can Be
Released from 2001 to 2002; Based on the manga by Hiro Mashima
Studio Deen’s Rave Master takes place 50 years after Shiba Roses, the titular Rave Master, used the power of the Rave stones to save the world, albeit at a terrible cost. Haru Glory is discovered by a now elderly Shiba to be the new Rave Master, and in Shiba’s place, Haru must travel the world with Plue, Shiba’s guardian and allegedly a dog, to stop the terrorist organization Demon Card and other groups looking to take over the world.
While Hiro Mashima’s most famous work, Fairy Tail, has a very divisive reception for its lack of stakes and seriousness and overuse of fanservice and the power of friendship, the same can’t be said about Rave Master. Rave Master’s more serious storytelling and serialized plotting make it one of Hiro Mashima’s best works, if not the best, but the anime ended right before the story could truly get going. Add in art and animation that didn’t always live up to the quality of the writing, and Rave Master would greatly benefit from a modern reboot.
7 Ramna ½ Deserves A More Accurate Adaptation
Released from 1989 to 1992; Based on the manga by Rumiko Takahashi
Ranma ½ opens with the tomboyish Akane Tendo getting ready to meet her fiance, Ranma Saotome, only to find a girl with a panda at her doorstep, instead. As it turns out, however, Ranma fell into a cursed spring while training in China, and now he’ll be forced to turn into a girl whenever he’s hit with cold water. What follows is an episodic comedy of martial arts hijinks and increasingly complicated love dynamics all centered around a cast of largely selfish people.
Ranma ½ is one of the most famous works of Rumiko Takahashi, but its anime doesn’t completely hold up in modern day. In addition to not fully adapting the manga, Ranma ½ had an excessive amount of filler and made a lot of changes to the cast, most notably in Ranma and Akane’s dynamic, so it’s hardly an accurate depiction of the manga. The recent Urusei Yatsura reboot has shown how good a modern adaptation of Rumiko Takahashi’s work can be, and as such, Ranma ½ would benefit just as much from that, if not more so.
6 Soul Eater Deserves The Same Attention Studio Bones Gave Fullmetal Alchemist
Released from 2008 to 2009; Based on the manga by Atsushi Ohkubo
In the world of Studio Bones’ Soul Eater, monsters are very much real and a constant threat to people, especially witches. Under the guidance of Lord Death, people from all around the world gather at the DWMA, a school to train both people who can transform into weapons and the Meisters who wield them in battle against evil, with both parties bringing out the most in each other by harmonizing through soul resonance.
With its quirky cast and amazing animation, Soul Eater was quick to become a hit with fans and critics alike, and the series is still held in high regard over a decade after their respective endings. Like many anime, however, Soul Eater was forced to come up with an original ending due to ending years before the manga did, and that left some of the best parts of the story untouched in animation. Studio Bones is no stranger to more accurate reboots, as shown with Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, so giving Soul Eater the same treatment would be great to see.
5 Pandora Hearts Needs An Anime That Can Its Story
Released in 2008; Based on the manga by Jun Mochizuki
Xebec, Inc.’s Pandora Hearts stars Oz Vessalius, the heir to the Vessalius Dukedom who was cast into an alternate realm called the Abyss to be killed by monsters called Chains as punishment for his sin of existing. Oz escapes by forming a contract with a Chain named Alice, and with 10 years having ed since he was sent to the Abyss, Oz needs to figure out how to adjust to his new reality and why he was sent to the Abyss, in the first place.
It’s very common for anime adaptations to make changes to their story, and Pandora Hearts is one of the most egregious examples of that. While the manga is famous for its character writing and its incredible amount of mysteries, the Pandora Hearts anime cut out most of the more complex writing of the original manga, resulting in the anime having very little depth and an ending that made very little sense. It’s one of the anime to be hurt the most by its adaptation, and it’s plenty deserving of a reboot that’s interested in telling its story right.
4 Claymore’s Story Deserves An Anime With Better Direction
Released in 2007; Based on the manga by Norihiro Yagi
Studio Madhouse’s Claymore is set in a world where people live in fear of shapeshifting monsters called Yoma that feed on humans, and the only ones who can protect them are the Yoma hybrids called Claymores. Among these Claymores is the stoic protagonist Clare, and in her journey to destroy all Yoma, the audience slowly begins to learn that there’s far more to her character than there initially seemed to be.
While the Claymore manga is an incredible dark fantasy series, the anime is unfortunately lacking in comparison. Not only did the anime come up with an original ending that completely worked against the story, but Claymore’s overall direction never lived up to the story thanks to its poor lighting and even poorer execution of its soundtrack. Claymore ends up being a rare miss for Studio Madhouse, but if they or someone else were to reboot it with a more competent direction, then it would certainly become the hit it was meant to be.
3 Magi: The Labyrinth Of Magic Needs To Finish Its Story
Released from 2012 to 2014; Based on the manga by Shinobu Ohtaka
A-1 Pictures’ Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic is an Arabian Nights-style fantasy where the world is littered with mysterious structures called Dungeons. Conquering a dungeon can grant a person enough wealth to live comfortably for the rest of their lives, and it’s in an attempt at conquering one of them that series protagonists Aladdin and Alibaba meet one another. Things aren’t as simple as the two believe them to be, however, and they and their friends soon find themselves wrapped up in a web of conspiracies both magical and political in nature.
Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic’s anime is mostly fine, but it’s far from the best adaptation possible for the manga. In addition to its very inconsistent art and animation, the anime had odd deviations from the source material, and to make things worse, Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic ended on a massive cliffhanger set right before the biggest twists in the story would have taken place. At the very least, the anime returning for a third season would be great, but a reboot with more consistent animation and adherence to the source material would elevate the series to another level.
10 Best A-1 Pictures Anime
A-1 Pictures is a beloved studio with a rich history that has delivered dozens of influential anime, but these are truly the cream of the crop.
2 Slam Dunk’s Incredible Legacy Demands A More Modern Take On The Series
Released from 1993 to 1996; Based on the manga by Takehiko Inoue
Toei Animation’s Slam Dunk stars Hanamichi Sakuragi, a delinquent high schooler who falls in love at first sight with Haruko, an avid fan of basketball. Despite never even touching a ball before, Sakuragi says he’s a genius basketball player to impress her and forces his way onto his school’s basketball team, and his time there ends up making basketball far more important to Sakuragi than he could have ever imagined.
Slam Dunk is one of the biggest manga of all time, but its anime doesn’t necessarily live up to its reputation. Mostly due to the period it was made in, Slam Dunk’s art and animation don’t always do a great job of capturing the intensity of Takehiko Inoue’s art, and it even ended without fully adapting the story, the final arc only adapted decades later in The First Slam Dunk. Modern animation techniques have done a lot to make sports anime look great, so there’s no reason why Slam Dunk wouldn’t benefit from that in a reboot.
1 Konjiki No Gash!! Deserves An Adaptation That Lives Up To Its Writing & Art
Released from 2003 to 2006; Based on the manga by Makoto Raiku
Toei Animation’s Konjiki no Gash!!, also known as Zatch Bell! in the West, stars Kiyomaro Takamine, a troubled teen prodigy who meets Gash Bell, an amnesiac boy sent by his father to help Kiyomaro make friends. The two soon discover, however, that Gash is one of 100 demons who were sent to Earth to fight for the position of king of the demon world, and as luck would have it, Kiyomaro is the sole human who can read Gash’s spellbook and activate his powerful lightning magic.
Konjiki no Gash!! is an underrated classic, and there are few anime more deserving of a reboot. Not only was the art and animation incredibly inconsistent, especially in filler stories, but most egregiously of all, Konjiki no Gash!!’s final arc was completely different from the manga due to its cancelation and ended without the main plot being resolved. The original Konjiki no Gash!! manga has some of the best writing and artwork of any story, all of which deserve to be properly animated, and that’s why it’s one of the most notable shonen anime that deserve a modern reboot.
