All titles are listed in alphabetical order.
1. The Dirty Pair
Wherever these two intrepid ladies go, disaster follows. That was (and is) the premise ofHaruka Takachiho's series of science-fiction slapstick comedies that followed two interplanetary troubleshooters, the "Lovely Angels" Kei and Yuri, as they jet about the universe causing more problems than they actually solve. Eight books have been written in the series since 1979, with the last one released in 2007. Dark Horse picked up the first two for release in English. The resulting anime products don't adapt the stories in the novels, but instead take off in their own directions. Some are great (the original TV series); some less so (some of the OVA episodes); all are worth checking out if you like your SF as a launchpad for some absurdly broad laughs.More »
2. Guin Saga
In 1979, Kaoru Kurimoto began one of Japan's most consistently-sustained publishing endeavors, a one-hundred-plus volume fantasy epic named Guin Saga. Equal parts Robert E. Howard and J.R.R. Tolkien, it told the story of a mysterious man with the head of a leopard, the body of a gladiator, and the spirit of a hero. Kurimoto continued to add to the series until her death in 2009, but unfortunately the anime adaptation didn't actually appear until shortly after she died. If you're wondering how the entire cycle of books was squeezed into 26 episodes, the answer is simple: they didn't. Instead, they only adapted roughly the first fifteen or so, which form three self-contained story arcs, and which make for a very satisfying ride.More »
3. Katanagatari
The name translates to something like "Story of the Sword," and this series of novels from Japanese novel-writing wünderkind Nisioisin revolve around a quest for twelve mysterious weapons. That's where the predictable part of the story ends, though: everything from the David Mamet-style dialogue to the tangled plotting of this remarkable series is a standout. The novels haven't been released in English, but the TV series -- which apparently adapts the books with great fidelity, even retaining the character designs used by the illustrator -- has been, and it's well worth the effort to track it down.More »
4. Kiki's Delivery Service
Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli are known equally as well for their adaptations of other peoples' work as they are for their own original productions. Kiki's Delivery Service, about a young witch learning to make the best use of her powers, is one of the very best adaptations in their catalog. Witch was adapted from Eiko Kadono's 1985 book, which we're lucky enough to also have in English, and for that reason both are worth enjoying side by side.More »
5. Kuchu Buranko
This peculiarly-titled anime series (it means "Flying Trapeze") is a rather loose adaptation of Japanese novelist Hideo Okuda's cycle of short stories about a psychiatrist, his female assistant, and the bizarre parade of characters that come through their office looking for help. The show itself is no less outlandish -- it's more akin to the experimental video art approach of things like Tim And Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! than it is to traditional anime. Many of the Irabu stories are available in English via a collection named In the Pool; another of Okuda's titles to make it into English is the hilariously filthy Lala Pipo, later made into a Japanese live-action movie that is so outlandish it has to be seen to be believed.
6. Mardock Scramble
Tow Ubukata's epic-length 2003 SF trilogy about a cyberpunk-style La Femme Nikita deserved an anime adaptation of some kind, but it proved to be a bit rocky of a road getting one. The original attempt at an anime, an OVA project headed up by animation studio GONZO in 2005, featured the character designs of Range Murata (Last Exile, Shangri-la). Unfortunately, it never came to pass -- but in 2010, a new version of the project, a cycle of three theatrical films, was launched by Aniplex. Ubukata himself wrote the script (he was no stranger to writing anime projects, as he'd done Le Chevalier d'Eon), and the resulting films are slowly being released in Japan and the rest of the world. The book was also released in English by VIZ back in 2011.More »
7. Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit
It's something of a cliché to talk about the "pedigree" of an author, but in the case of Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit, the use of term is spot-on. Nahoko Uehashi, author of that celebrated novel series, is also a professor of ethnology at Kawamura Gakuen Women's University (she did her doctoral thesis on Australian aborigines). The novels reflect her expertise in her chosen field: they're set in a fantasy hybrid of multiple Asian cultures, where a spearwoman-for-hire named Balsa gets into and out of various adventures. The TV series adapted from the first novel in the cycle is a great little treasure: intelligently written, gorgeously animated, and worth returning to -- especially to compare against its literary counterpart. Too bad only the first two novels have been issued in English; there are nine total as of 2013.More »
8. Tatami Galaxy
Tomihiko Morimi's novel about college life hasn't been translated into English yet, but if it had been it might be described as "a romance with overtones of Groundhog Day." The nameless protagonist imagines -- not just once, but many times -- how his school years and his courtships of a certain girl might have gone if he had been a member of the different campus activity clubs. The Noitamina animation block did a superbly adventurous job of converting this quirky story into anime -- it's easily one of the best things that ever appeared under their umbrella, but it remains only available in English by way of FUNimation's streaming site.More »
9. Vampire Hunter D / Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust
Japanese fantasy and horror novelist Hideyuki Kikuchi has a long and prolific career, but if he's best known for anything on both sides of the Pacific it's the Vampire Hunter D series. A fun mix of Hammer Studios horror, dark fantasy, and a flavor that could be best called "Wild West Gothic," the novels garnered enough attention to win a release in English courtesy of Dark Horse. The first and third novels in the series have spawned animated productions as well: the original Vampire Hunter D OVA (from the first book), and the spectacular Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (from the third book, with some liberties taken). Unfortunately, the English-language distributor for both animated versions, Urban Vision, is defunct.More »
10. Welcome to the NHK
Novelist Tatsuhiko Takimoto suffered from a crippling anxiety disorder that left him a virtual shut-in or hikikomori. He confronted this problem by transmuting it into a novel in which a shut-in like himself tries to deal with his problem in various ways, including inexplicable offers of charity from a young woman he's never met before. Four years after the novel was published (2002), an animated TV series adaptation hit the airwaves, one in which the novel's black humor and stark terror is not only preserved but amplified.More »