As I think about some of my favorite series, I am especially thankful that they weren't shows made in the United States. I am especially relieved that none were shoe-horned into a typical two-hour film format. Series like Fullmetal Alchemist - the original series spanned over 50 episodes, included dozens of important characters, none of which were purely good or evil. Each main and supporting character had at least some screen time, allowing them to be fleshed out in three dimensions, with unique motivations and backgrounds, all melding into a unified plot. In fact, the series then spawned a follow-up movie, as well as a currently airing new series, re-telling the original story (this time adhering more closely to the manga source material).
Series like FMA, Eureka 7 and RahXephon make me wish other stories that I've fallen in love with would find their way to one of the better anime production studios in Japan. Two different series of novels, both by geniuses of the science fiction genre, would be ideal for depiction in an extended anime series.
The winner of the first Nebula Award for science fiction, Dune by Frank Herbert, has never successfully made it onto film. The two main attempts at doing so (1984 film version by David Lynch and the 2000 television mini-series aired by the Sci Fi Network) were nothing if not disappointments to those familiar with the novel (and its sequels). Though the film got some decent reviews, there is really no feasible way to take a book topping out at over 600 pages (whose plot is nothing if not a labyrinthine tapestry of political intrigue, sociological and ecological commentary, and a host of other issues) can be edited down and successfully distilled into two hours. Such an epic deserves and demands a lengthier format. Unfortunately, the television mini-series suffered from both decidedly sub-par acting and effects (though more of the book's content survived onto the screen).
I can so easily picture Dune, and even some of the following books in the extensive series, being rendered in gorgeous, elaborate and specific detail in a two- or three-season anime series. Over the course of 50 or 75 episodes, the complex political background which the events of the novel play out against could be faithfully reproduced. The desert world of Arrakis could come alive. The impossibility of finding live actors who physically match the descriptions of the Fremen (a lean, tough and incredibly proud desert-based culture of people) would be made obsolete as artists could depict the Fremen as Herbert described them. The sandworms and the navigators, the machine world of IX and the uncanny powers of the Bene Gesserit - all could be realized in the anime medium as it was nearly impossible for it to be realized via live action and CGI.
What's more, so many anime series allow for mature plots and often controversial subjects to be heard. These are stories that would almost certainly not be told on the major networks and would more likely find their homes on channels like HBO and Showtime. Think Neon Genesis Evangelion - a science fiction, post-apocalyptic tale that takes a hard look at the psychological frailness of children asked to fight invaders (called Angels), and of the adults which force them to do so despite the catastrophic effects the battle is having on their psyche. Or think of Monster, an anime that asks the questions of whether all lives should be saved, as explored via a surgeon who blames himself for saving the life of a child who proved to be a sociopath, thus facilitating that sociopath's later murder of countless others. A show like Dune - which deals with sexuality, assassination, perversion, cultural misunderstandings, pending ecological disasters, empire building and empire falling, and genetic manipulation - could only be told properly where the makers not only had the freedom to tell the story in detail over many hours of airing time, but also had the freedom to not be pressured with censorship of its story or lack of access to a mature audience.
The second novel (or really, series of novels) which I would love to see carried out in the anime medium is Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card (along with the Shadow series of books, which follow the character Bean more closely than the eponymous Ender of the original book). Ender's Game takes place in the semi-near future (100 or so years beyond the present) in a world where an alien race has attacked the Earth, and the human race has put aside most of its differences (temporarily) to fight the threat. Historically, the best minds (militarily and otherwise) are the minds of the young - as a result, the war is fought by genius children, who are taken from home around the age of 6 and sent into space to attend Battle School.
Clearly, the biggest challenge of a live action version of Ender's Game is that it is a story where the vast majority of the main characters are children - many under the age of 8 or 9 years old. This novel had been rumored to be in consideration for filming, but the challenge of finding a cast of children who can act, let alone play geniuses (who, when reading the book, the reader often forgets are children) is at best daunting, and at worst impossible.
Making such a novel into an anime series obviates the need to find a cast of children, and also eliminates having them act out situations which could make any stage parent nervous (one child character inadvertently kills another child; there is bullying and ostracizing; there is a brother that threatens fratricide; there is the manipulation of children by adults). If just doing Ender's Game, 13 episodes would probably suffice to tell the story in exacting detail. If one wanted to integrate the Ender's Shadow story (basically covering the events from Ender's Game, but told from another character's perspective), and other Shadow books, the story could easily span one to two (or even three) seasons.
I can imagine the superb writing, complex action and questions of political morality that could be brought to life in a manner similar to the extremely sophisticated tale told in the Ghost in the Shell series (from the original film, the the Stand Alone Complex and 2nd Gig series, as well as the two other films). Similar animation and attention to detail brought to the Enderverse would be stunning. And in shows like Evangelion, not to mention countless others, complex stories involving children have been told to great effect.
One can only hope that some of the amazing novels that currently exist find their way to desks in Japan.
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