Mangaare Japanese comic books mostly adapted into animation, especially when there is a huge fan base for a particular manga. While there is the widespread belief that most animes are based on manga, this has been proven wrong over the years with some popularly known anime.
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Manga to anime progression isn’t a rigid law or principle that the anime industry must follow. Some anime series didn’t draw their plot reference from any Manga, while some even brought in their manga adaptation when the anime series had already aired or was in production. Here are some anime that aired before their manga release or none at all.
8Code Geass
Code Geasis an anime series directed by Goro Taniguchi. Lelouch VI Britannia, an exiled prince, is the anime’s protagonist, set in an alternative universe. After the Holy Britannian Empire conquered Japan, prince Lelouch vowed to do anything to protect his empire from its oppressors.
Fortunately,Lelouch gets his hand on a supernatural powerthat gives him the ability to make people succumb to his will. With his newfound power, he fought for his country’s independence. Many Alternate Universe (AU) manga and video games were made as promotion, but the anime series is it is original.
7Dragon Ball GT
The original author of theDragon Ball manga, Akira Toriyama,had nothing to dowith Dragon Ball GT. The show is a follow-up toDragon BallZ, and the plot unfolds when Emperor Pilaf turns Goku into a child.
Unlike its predecessors,Dragon Ball GTwas not based on a manga. It tells an original story visualized by Toei Animation using the characters in theDragon Balluniverse. WhileDragon Ball GTis not widely accepted by some fans of theDragon Ballseries because of Toriyama’s disassociation, it does have its spark.
6Violet Evergarden
Violet Evergardenis a breathtaking story of love, war, and the importance of letters. Violet Evergarden is a child soldier who finds it hard to recover from the darkness of war. She finds hope and light in the weirdest circumstances by writing out people’s emotions and words in letters. While helping people convey their emotions on paper, she discovers herself and unravels her feelings for his boss, Gilbert, whom he lost during the war.
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Violet Evergardenwas a light novel series written by Kana Akatsuki and also won the Kyoto Animation Award in 2014.Kyoto Animation Studiolater made a 14-episode anime series of the novel.
5Samurai Champloo
The anime series is similar toCowboy Bepopand is directed by the same director, Shinichiro Watanabe.Samurai Champlooaired in 2004, somewhat connected with Watanabe’s first masterpiece project,Cowboy Bebop.
The plot has tea waitress Fuu recruiting Mugen and Jin to search for a samurai who smells of sunflowers. The manga series consists of only two volumes. And even though the manga was published first, the anime series has already finished production, making it the original work.
4Angel Beats
Set in a high school environment in the afterlife,Angel Beatsis a supernatural anime that follows the story of some kids who must overcome the trauma and hardships in their past life before being reincarnated.
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It is a 13-episode series depicting past traumas as a roadblock to living a fulfilled life.Angel Beatsis an original anime that Seiji Kishi directed. However, two volumes of the manga were later released between October 2014 and April 2016, following the anime aired on April 2010.
3Samurai 7
The 2004 anime television series is loosely based on historical figures and is based on the Akira Kurosawa film7 Samurai. Unlike the movie, the anime isn’t in feudalistic Japan but in a futuristic setting with machines and robots.
Just like the film, the anime depicts how honor is much more worthy than money. In the anime, it is up to seven samurais to save some villagers from the hands of bandits who terrorize their existence. Although a good deal of anime are adapted from mangas or light novels,Samurai 7is an anime remake of Kurosawa’s7 Samurai.
2Pokemon
Pokemonis a Japanese media franchisefounded by Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures.Pokemonstarted as a video game made by Nintendo in 1996 before its success led to the conception of anime on April 1997.
Later, the manga was released, but the storyline and themes significantly differed from the anime. The story mainly focuses on Satoshi (also known as Ash Ketchum), his yellow pet Pikachu, and a group of friends who travel around the world ofPokemon. It is one of the longest anime that is currently running.
1Paranoia Agent
Paranoia Agentis a 2004 Japanese Anime television series created by the late Satoshi Kon. It is one of the best original anime out there because it isn’t based on either a mangaor a light novel series. The series comes to life in Musashino, Tokyo, with the introduction of a delinquent named Lil’ Slugger.
The little kid terrorizes the community by roller skating through the streets and attacking bystanders or any random individual with a bent baseball bat. It is an anthology series that combines horror elements with a much larger event.
