Manga That Deserve the Anime Treatment: Our Picks for the Most Overdue Adaptations
Let's be real for a second. For every Fullmetal Alchemist or Chainsaw Man that gets a legendary anime adaptation, there are dozens of incredible manga sitting on shelves — both physical and digital — waiting for their moment. Some of them have devoted fanbases who've been campaigning for years. Others are hidden gems that most people outside of hardcore manga readers haven't even heard of yet. All of them deserve better.
This is our list. It's opinionated, it's passionate, and it's unapologetically pro-manga. Let's get into it.
Dungeon Meshi Already Got Its Adaptation — Here's What That Proves
Before we dive into the wishlist, let's acknowledge what Delicious in Dungeon (aka Dungeon Meshi) proved when it finally got its anime adaptation via Studio Trigger in 2024: patient fanbases get rewarded, and studios that take risks on unconventional premises can create genuine cultural moments. The series — about a group of adventurers who cook and eat the monsters they defeat — sounds absurd on paper and became one of the most talked-about anime of the year.
That's the energy we're bringing to this list. These aren't just titles we want adapted because we love them. These are stories that would work on screen, that would connect with Western audiences, and that would make studios money while also making fans very, very happy.
Dungeon Meshi Aside — Here Are the Real Ones
Frieren: Beyond Journey's End — Oh Wait, That Got Adapted Too
Okay, we're being a little cheeky here, but stay with us — the point is that the manga titles that have gotten adapted recently tend to be exactly the kind of emotionally resonant, character-driven stories that Western audiences have proven they'll show up for. Frieren hit differently because it was slow, contemplative, and deeply human in a way that a lot of shonen spectacle isn't. That's a template worth following.
Goodnight Punpun by Inio Asano
This one is the elephant in the room for manga fans, and it's been there for years. Goodnight Punpun is one of the most critically acclaimed manga ever written — a devastating, unflinching portrait of a boy growing up in modern Japan, rendered in Asano's signature mix of hyper-detailed backgrounds and deliberately abstract character design. Punpun himself is drawn as a simple cartoon bird, which somehow makes his suffering more unbearable, not less.
Would this be a difficult adaptation? Absolutely. The material is dark, the narrative structure is unconventional, and the art style would require serious creative translation to work in animation. But that's exactly why it would be extraordinary if done right. American audiences who connected with Bojack Horseman or BoJack-adjacent media — stories about self-destruction, trauma, and the complicated mess of becoming an adult — would find a lot to hold onto here. A prestige anime adaptation of Punpun, handled with the care of something like Flowers of Evil's rotoscoped anime, could be genuinely historic.
Why studios might be sleeping on it: The content is genuinely difficult. Depression, abuse, and moral ambiguity don't make for easy marketing pitches. But the audience for this story exists and is hungry.
Dungeon Meshi Creator Ryoko Kui's Backlist — But More Importantly: I Am a Hero by Kengo Hanazawa
Zombie narratives are a dime a dozen, but I Am a Hero is something different. It's a slow-burn psychological horror manga that centers on Hideo Suzuki, a deeply ordinary — even pathetic — manga assistant who gets caught up in a zombie apocalypse that's more surreal and disturbing than anything in The Walking Dead. The horror here isn't just the undead; it's the crushing mediocrity of everyday life and what happens when the systems that keep us functional completely collapse.
A live-action film adaptation was made in Japan back in 2015, and it was decent. But a proper, full-length anime series could do so much more with the material. The manga's pacing — slow, deliberate, deeply uncomfortable — is actually perfect for a serialized format. And for American audiences who've been waiting for a zombie story with genuine psychological weight? This is it.
Why studios might be sleeping on it: The protagonist is intentionally unlikable, and the story resists easy heroism. That's a tough sell in a market that still gravitates toward power fantasy. But prestige TV has trained audiences to appreciate flawed, complicated protagonists, and the anime market is ready for that too.
Biomega by Tsutomu Nihei
If you know Nihei's work, you know Blame! — and you probably know it got a gorgeous Netflix film adaptation in 2017. But Biomega, his post-apocalyptic sci-fi manga about a synthetic human and his AI bear companion traversing a dying Earth, somehow remains unadapted. The visual language Nihei brings to Biomega is unlike anything else in manga — massive, decaying megastructures, grotesque biological horror, and action sequences that feel genuinely cinematic.
For Western sci-fi fans who love the aesthetic of Annihilation, Akira, or the retrofuturism of Neon Genesis Evangelion, Biomega would be an absolute gift. The story is lean enough to adapt faithfully, and the world-building is rich enough to sustain multiple seasons.
Why studios might be sleeping on it: Nihei's work is niche even by manga standards. The narrative is intentionally sparse on dialogue and exposition, which makes it a harder pitch than character-driven stories. But visually? It would be stunning.
The Witch and the Beast by Kousuke Satake
This one is for the fans who want dark fantasy with genuine style. The Witch and the Beast follows a duo — a stoic, long-haired man and a woman locked in a coffin-like box — as they hunt witches who've wronged them. The manga has gothic atmosphere in spades, clever magical system storytelling, and a visual sensibility that feels tailor-made for animation.
It actually got a short anime run in early 2024, but the adaptation was underwhelming and didn't do the source material justice. What we're advocating for here is a proper adaptation — one with the budget, the studio talent, and the episode count to let the story breathe.
The Bigger Picture: What Are Studios Missing?
Looking at this list, a pattern emerges. The manga that keep getting passed over tend to be the ones that resist easy genre classification, that center flawed or unconventional protagonists, and that require adaptation teams willing to take creative risks. In other words, exactly the kind of stories that audiences are increasingly hungry for.
The success of Chainsaw Man, Vinland Saga, and Frieren has proven that anime fans — including Western ones — have the appetite for complex, tonally varied storytelling. The market is there. The audience is there. The source material is absolutely there.
Now we just need studios to catch up.
What manga are you most desperate to see adapted? Drop your picks in the comments — we read every single one.
