Akira was, obviously, the launch off point for Anime in the west, and the movie was great. But later on I read the Manga, and they were so much richer than the movie. It seems like a 12-episode Anime would be perfect for Akira. And it would probably be successful, because everybody knows/loves it.
20th Century Boys is a bit... odder. I've read the Manga twice, and I know that there's a live action film, but the work seems so much better suited to Anime. I don't know how it's held up -- certainly no one on KIA2 mentions it. It's also not great -- the build up is fantastic, but the denouement is... odd.
Just wondering if there's a reason for this, or if it's just an historical quirk.
I guess you could do Akira, but the animation would have to be on par with the film or everyone would complain. That'd be one expensive production.
Also, most anime adapts slop. I'm not sure if there's production capital and broadcasting room for other stuff.
Anime adapts are just the Japanese version of 80s cartoons. Seasonal marketing budgets for manga/merchandise.
He-Man and Transformers sucked pretty hard too if you don't have nostalgia for them, but they did their job and created a media empire and sold a shit ton of toys.
90% of anime are just doing the same thing, but for manga and all the various figurines/posters/whatever. We just don't have access to most of that in the West, so it loses the immediate hype value its meant to have.
Yeah, I guess that's true. I loved Hunter x Hunter and FMA:Brotherhood etc as Anime, but they both lacked the richness of the animation in Akira the movie.