Random Anime Movies That Deserve Their Own TV Series (13 items)

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  (#1) Black Fox

  Black Fox is an original anime movie about a 16-year-old girl and her superheroic alter ego. Rikka Isurugi was a somewhat ordinary girl who was following in the footsteps of her scientific father and ninjitsu grandfather, until a paramilitary group raided Rikka's home and murdered her family over her father's research in drone technology. Months after the massacre, Rikka is now a private detective who dons her grandfather's fox mask at night to hunt the killers behind the attack. There's a Marvel superhero aura over Black Fox; opening itself up for more stories about its ninja-esque heroine and its equally entertaining cast of characters. 
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  (#2) Battle Angel Alita

  Before it was a live-action Hollywood movie, Battle Angle Alita was a two-episode OVA that was released in 1993. The story follows a female cyborg named Gally living in a dangerous post-apocalyptic world known as the Scrapyard. After being rebuilt by a Cyberphysician named Doc Ido, Gally searches for her memories as a bounty hunter. Despite being a critically-acclaimed manga, Battle Angel Alita only had a short-lived run in animation. While two of its manga volumes were adapted into an anime, there were seven volumes of Battle Angel Alita still left to tell. 
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  (#3) Promare

  From the people that brought you Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann and Kill la Kill comes Promare, a 2019 anime movie about a rag-tag team of firefighters going up against a terrorist group of mutated arsonists. The post-apocalyptic city of Promepolis is protected by a team of mecha firefighters known as the Burning Rescue. When Galo Thymos, an energetic rookie of Burning Rescue, goes up against Lio Fotia, the alleged terrorist leader of the Mad Burnish, their chance encounter will lead them to uncover the dark truth of Promepolis. As entertaining as Promare was, the 111-minute movie barely scratched the surface of all the cool ideas and characters within it, such as the minimal screen time given to the Burning Rescue team. An anime TV series of Promare would provide a more fully-fleshed out world and also strengthen the relationship between Galo and Lio. 
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  (#4) Akira

  • Takeshi Kusao, Mami Koyama, Tesshō Genda, Taro Ishida, Kōichi Kitamura, Kōzō Shioya, Yōsuke Akimoto, Mitsuo Iwata, Kazumi Tanaka, Nozomu Sasaki, Hiroshi Ōtake, Yukimasa Kishino, Michihiro Ikemizu, Yuriko Fuchizaki, Kayoko Fujii, Mizuho Suzuki, Tarô Arakawa, Masato Hirano, Masayuki Katô, Masaaki Ōkura, Kazuhiro Kamifuji, Yuka Ohno, Masami Toyoshima, Fukue Itō

  Often considered one of the greatest animated movies of the 1980s, Akira is a cyberpunk anime about a troubled teen possessing dangerous god-like powers in a post-apocolyptic world. The movie takes place in the gang-infested streets of Neo Tokyo, where Kaneda Shoutarou leads "the Capsules" against an attack from their rivals "the Clowns." In the midst of battle, Kaneda's best friend, Tetsuo Shima, is taken in by the government after encountering a rogue esper on the streets and soon develops psychic powers of his own. Despite being directed by its original creator, Katsuhiro Otomo, the 1988 Akira movie left a lot of things out from its six-volume manga to fit a two-hour runtime. While both versions of Akira reach the same conclusion, the movie leaves out so many characters, backstories, and storylines behind. 
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  (#5) Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

  • Jōji Yanami, Yoshiko Sakakibara, Ichirō Nagai, Sumi Shimamoto, Gorō Naya, Iemasa Kayumi, Kōhei Miyauchi, Mugihito, Hisako Kyōda, Tetsuo Mizutori, Mîna Tominaga, Akiko Tsuboi, Minoru Yada, Yōji Matsuda, Mahito Tsujimura

  Written and directed by legendary filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind is a theatrical adaptation of the 1982 manga series. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind is set in a post-apocalyptic world where humanity was nearly wiped out by nuclear warfare dubbed the "Seven Days of Fire." The remnants of humanity now live peacefully in a farming kingdom known as the "Valley of the Wind," but an invasion by the Tolmekian military reveals a dangerous plot to reactivate a nuclear weapon from the Seven Days of Fire. Nausicaa, the Princess of the Valley of Wind, must venture into the dangerous unknown to save her kingdom. While the 1984 animated movie is a marvel, 12 years of storytelling from the manga had to be condensed into a 117-minute movie. An anime TV show of Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind would allow for more room to breathe. 
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  (#6) My Neighbor Totoro

  • Noriko Hidaka, Ikue Ōtani, Sumi Shimamoto, Shigeru Shiba, Naoki Tatsuta, Chika Sakamoto, Yūko Mizutani, Daiki Nakamura, Shigesato Itoi, Akiko Hiramatsu, Tanie Kitabayashi, Tarako, Masashi Hirose, Tomohiro Nishimura, Chie Kōjiro, Hiroko Maruyama, Machiko Washio, Reiko Suzuki, Hitoshi Takagi, Toshiyuki Amagasa, Mitsuko Ishida

  My Neighbor Totoro, the 1988 anime movie by Studio Ghibli, has all the ingredients needed to make an amazing anime TV series. The original anime movie is about a father relocating himself and his two daughters, Satsuki and Mei Kusakabe, to the countryside to be closer to their ill-ridden mother. As the girls adjust to their new rural lifestyle, they soon become acquainted with friendly folklore creatures, such as the mystical forest spirit Totoro. The loveable cast of characters and slice-of-life storytelling makes My Nighbor Totoro perfect for TV. The seldom-seen sequel, Mei And The Kittenbus, proves there's so much more that can be done in this fantastical world.
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  (#7) Redline

  • Tadanobu Asano, Yū Aoi, Daisuke Gōri, Takeshi Aono, Takuya Kimura, Unshō Ishizuka, Kenyu Horiuchi, Kenta Miyake, Kōji Ishii, Kanji Tsuda, Chō, Tatsuya Gashuin, Yoshiyuki Morishita, Kōsei Hirota, Yoshinori Okada, Akemi, Shunichiro Miki, Ikki Todoroki, Akane Sakai

  Redline is a 2009 anime movie that puts a deadly twist on the Wacky Races formula. Old-school racer, JP, has qualified for the greatest and most dangerous racing competition in the universe: Redline. While he's thrilled to be competing with the galaxy's best racers, such as the alluring Sonoshee McLaren, this year's Redline will be even deadlier thanks to its latest setting in Robworld: a militarized planet filled with criminals eager to use the competition to their advantage. Redline is an imaginative and visually-thrilling movie that deserves to have more of its fascinating universe revealed. It would fit in beautifully with other racing greats like Initial D or IGPX: Immortal Grand Prix. 
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  (#8) Kase-san and Morning Glories

  Kase-san and Morning Glories is a 58-minute OVA based on the yuri manga series of the same name. The romantic slice-of-life movie revolves around the unlikely relationship between Yui Yamada, a timid high school girl, and Kase Tomoka, a popular and athletic tomboy. Kase-san and Morning Glories does a beautiful job of animating the early chapters of Kase-san, but there's so much more that's left on the table. The manga series not only covers Yui and Kase-san's relationship through high school, but has now expanded to their lives as college freshmen. 
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  (#9) 3x3 Eyes

  3x3 Eyes is one of the strangest, yet, most endearing supernatural romance in all of anime. Through a series of strange events, Yakumo Fujii becomes the immortal slave of one of the last three-eyed demons in existence. The three-eyed demon, Pai, absorbed Yakumo's soul to save his life, which transformed him into an immortal being like her. Despite Pai's split-personality that ranges from cute to demonic, Yakumo falls in love with her during their quest to become human again. The manga ran for 15 years, but only four OVA episodes were made during 1991 and 1992. A series as oddly charming as 3x3 Eyes deserves to have more of its story told in animation. 
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  (#10) Children of the Sea

  • Mana Ashida, Hiiro Ishibashi, Seishū Uragami, Win Morisaki

  Another anime movie that deserves to have more breathing room on TV is Children of the Sea, the 2019 release based on the five-volume manga series. After a fallout between her friends and mother, junior high school student Ruki decides to spend her summer vacation at the aquarium where her father works. She soon becomes acquainted with two strange boys named Umi and Sora, whose "raised by dugongs" upbringing allows them to swim unbelievably; as if they were flying. The connection among the trio is somehow intertwined with the strange phenomenon of fish disappearing from the world. 
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  (#11) Red Ash: Magicicada

  Red Ash: Magicicada is a CG animated short that was released in 2017 by Studio 4°C. The 23-minute film is set in a futuristic world where the "Nanorace" - a race of humans who are superpowered by the nanomachines in their genes - are discriminated by the "Purerace" of normal human beings. To pay for an operation that would turn them into Purerace, a legendary hunter named Beck and his shy, but larger-than-life partner Tyger take up dangerous jobs in the old world. Everything changes, however, after their fateful encounter with a mysterious girl on the run named Call. Red Ash: Magicicada was originally launched as a Kickstarter project to coincide with the Kickstarter of the Red Ash video game by Level-5 Comcept. While the Red Ash Kickstarted failed to reach its goal, the anime movie was successfully funded and completed. Since there's more interest in a Red Ash anime than a video game, Level-5 Comcept should invest in an anime TV series that would expand upon the imaginative premise. 
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  (#12) Usogui

  The story of Usogui takes place in a world where gamblers risk their lives in deadly games, while a third-party organization known as the "Kagerou" referees the situation. Baku Madarame, who also goes by the name of Usogui (The Lie Eater), is out to control the Kagerou by out-gambling these maniacal gamblers in their own twisted game. Although the manga ran successfully for eight years, only one animated episode was made of Usogui, which was based on a later story arc. The series deserves a shot at a fully animated TV series, such as Kaiji and Kakegurui. 
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  (#13) Tekkonkinkreet

  • Kazunari Ninomiya, Yū Aoi, Masahiro Motoki, Rokurō Naya, Tomomichi Nishimura, Mugihito, Kankurō Kudō, Nao Ōmori, Yūsuke Iseya, Min Tanaka, Yoshinori Okada, Yūki Tamaki, Tōru Nara, Kazuko Kurosawa, Atsushi Imaizumi, Yuji Matsumaru

  Based on the originally named Black & White manga, Tekkonkinkreet is a visually surreal anime movie that was released in 2006. The mean streets of Treasure Town belong to "The Cats;" a pair of orphans that go by the name of Black and White. While the two boys have always relied on one another to survive, their bond is put to the test when the yakuza invade Treasure Town and threatens their way of life. As critically-acclaimed as Tekkonkinkreet was, a common complaint against the anime movie was the limited depth in the characters and lack of insight into the gorgeously animated world. An anime TV series of Tekkonkinkreet would allow for more context from the manga to seep in. 

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