Anime for the last 30 to 40 years has found an audience in the West, and over the last decade the appreciation for the medium has taken off to another level. Despite its ever-growing popularity, we still have yet to see the Triple-A space in gaming commit to delivering licensed experiences.
Most anime are relegated to low to mid-tier budgets which result in smaller scoped games with clear quality shortcomings. It's time that the video game industry commits to bringing some of the world's most beloved and cherished anime to life, including My Hero Academia and Attack On Titan, in a real way and providing gamers with high-quality experiences.
8 Mob Psycho 100
Mob Psycho 100 is an anime that revolves around a young boy named Shigeo Kageyama who goes by the nickname Mob. He has powerful psychic abilities that he often retrains that come at the cost of him showing emotion. The show has a good blend of comedy and action and translating that into the video game medium would work quite well.
A psychic power base provides enough gameplay mechanics, and there are plenty of characters and situations to pull from in the anime.
7 Promised Neverland
Now, an anime about a bunch of orphans growing up on an estate doesn't sound that interesting, but it's the twist of this anime that would open the door to a video game take on the entire thing. This is your spoiler warning if you're thinking of checking out this anime.
For everyone left, the opening section of the game can be the orphanage, and the real gameplay starts when the kids figure out what's going on and begin to plan their escape.
6 Hunter x Hunter
Hunter x Hunter is one of the most beloved anime and it's largely due to the series having the theme of friendship at its core. The power of Nen in the series is very video game adjacent, as well as an entire arc in the series revolving around collecting cards and using their abilities.
With the continuation of the anime on indefinite hiatus, it'd be nice for fans to experience this beloved story once again, in a way they haven't before.
5 Jujutsu Kaisen
Every year there's always a new anime, it seems, that lights up the scene and becomes a big success. Jujutsu Kaisen was that in 2021, despite it debuting in late 2020. The series revolves around humans emanating Cursed Energy, with those who can control it being called Jujutsu Sorcerers.
Each of these individuals has unique abilities, and the more powerful curses can act like boss encounters in the game, where the main character Yuji Itadori must overcome them with his skill and power.
4 Attack On Titan
With Attack On Titan being one of the most popular anime series ever, the demand for a Triple-A game has persisted since the series amassed its audience. The scouts being able to zipline across buildings, and the combat versus titans could be a rather engaging and intense experience.
There have been some lower-budget games that have tried implementing this experience, but the series lacks a high-quality experience that can give fans the Attack On Titan game they've yearned for, for years.
3 Berserk
In many ways, the world of video games has had Triple-A Berserk games by way of the Dark Souls series, as developer FromSoftware has admitted that the anime was a huge inspiration. That being said, you don't play as Guts, and the world of Dark Souls is distinctly its own thing.
Gaming has always had high fantasy RPG experiences, but it's hard to find something as dark and introspective as Berserk, that's willing to reach into the bottomless pit that is human desire and greed.
2 Cowboy Bebop
A live-action Netflix series is on the way for Cowboy Bebop and fans are crossing their fingers it is halfway decent. Adapting anime to live-action has never been easy, but adapting to video games seems like an easier transition. A game where players control the bounty hunters and get to go on missions in-between the tentpole episode plot points from the anime could be the perfect middle ground.
Fans get to exist in that world once again without having to worry about it being altered in a way that diminishes the overall experience.
1 My Hero Academia
Superhero properties have always gone hand-in-hand with video games as powers provide a great place to start when it comes to implementing mechanics. My Hero Academia is an anime revolving around a world full of super-powered people and focuses on kids trying to work their way into the role of actual heroes.
The mobile gaming scene and the fighting genre have tried to provide an engaging experience, but it's clear that this anime is popular and beloved enough that a big-budget Triple-A role-playing game set in the world of My Hero Academia should be in the works as we speak.