Japanese animation has continued to increase in popularity and ubiquity in the United States since the early 2000s. Now, keeping up with episodes as they air is easier than ever. But what can you do when your favorite series just ended its season, and you’re dying to know what happens next?
Well, you can always read the books! Introducing our new genre to help anime and manga fans find their way to the latest chapter: “Manga to anime!”
Many successful anime programs are adaptations of popular manga. Even if access to your library’s video collections is currently limited, you can still view anime in your home, either by physical media or by streaming services. Alongside anime-specific services like Crunchyroll or Funimation, the streaming giants have also taken to licensing series for streaming, even producing some of their own. Many series are volumes behind the storylines as written in the manga, so by searching for the titles in this genre, once the latest season ends, you can stay in the loop and keep going beyond! You can also use this genre to look into your favorite manga titles to see if you missed an adaptation that you would like to watch!
This genre is applied at any age level. You can search for these titles in NoveList by using the genre search GN manga to anime.
Here are some examples of titles that you may see in this genre:
My Hero Academia, by Kohei Horikoshi, is a superhero manga about a boy named Midoriya Izuku, born into a world where not having an innate superpower, known as a Quirk, makes him an outcast. However, a chance encounter with Japan’s greatest hero, All Might, will change the course of Midoriya’s life forever. The anime adaptation is currently available across multiple streaming platforms, while the manga is licensed by VIZ.
Sailor Moon, by Naoko Takeuchi, is a classic of the magical girl genre. Young teenager Usagi Tsukino is an average girl, but when she adopts a strange cat named Luna, she learns that she is actually a magical princess and galactic guardian named Sailor Moon. While the original manga of this series is several decades old now, the legacy that it and its anime adaptation have left even outside of Japan lasts to this day. A remake of the original anime, titled Sailor Moon Crystal, also came out in 2014.
Berserk, by Kentaro Miura, is a classic adult manga inspired by dark European fantasy. The story centers around the lone wandering fighter named Guts, who catches the attention of Griffith, the leader of a mercenary group called Band of the Hawk. The manga has been adapted into anime in 1997 and 2016.
BEASTARS, by Paru Itagaki, is set in an alternate world where anthropomorphic herbivores and carnivores coexist in a fragile peace. An awkward teenage gray wolf named Legoshi must confront dark truths about his own carnivorous nature, and about society itself when an herbivore member of his academy’s drama club is murdered, and he finds himself inexplicably drawn to an upperclassman rabbit. The first season of the anime adaptation, released in the United States in 2020, is an original Netflix series with the manga currently being licensed by VIZ.
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Jamie Langer is a Metadata Librarian I for NoveList. She is currently staying at home and watching Haikyu.