Top 5 Games that turned into Anime
Anime adaptations springing from games is not a rare sight at all. It started all the way back with Pokรฉmon. Some games deserve their anime adaptations, and they do get one most of the time. This will be a painful list to make as I will have to balance the popularity of the game and the anime, and a few anime or games are bound to be left out. Maybe I will make a 2nd list like this to include them. Let me say this first hand; I do not include Devi May Cry here because while all 5 of the games are amazing, the anime is just trash. It is soulless writing. That aside, letโs gets started with the list:
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Pokรฉmon
I mentioned this in the introduction but canโt move on without mentioning the 1st successful anime adaptation of a game. The Pokรฉmon games and anime are very old. Both of them share the same universe with the same characters but are slightly different. If you dint know, Satoshi (Ash) is not the protagonist in the games. He is just a character created based on the game’s protagonist. Another difference between anime and games is that the Pokรฉmon world is a dark one; you may not realize it, but it is. The games hint towards this fact as much as they can without being direct. The anime tries its best to cover these parts as much as it can. You can still spot hints of what is actually going on in the anime, too, if you’re observant enough. This difference is mostly because the anime is mostly aimed towards kids while the games are mostly aimed towards teenagers and adults.
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Azur Lane
Azur Lane is one of the most famous gacha games out there. It was natural that it got an anime adaptation sometime. While the anime is not very good, I included it here because it had a very good opening, and it produced a faithful reproduction of the game’s story. So the anime being bad is not its fault. Azur Lane is a game that proud itself on its waifus and gameplay, not the story. That is why I included the anime here. If you want to try it out, I would not recommend the anime try out the game because its gameplay is actually good. It takes a little bit to get used to it, but once you do, it is amazing. You will have definitely have fun playing this game.
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Fate/Series
So there are a lot of Fate/Anime that stem from games. There are so many that I could have made a list, like just from Fate/Series, but I decided to put the Fate/Series in a single entry. Let’s be clear here; not all Fate/Anime comes from games. Fate/Zero and Fate/Apocrypha come from a light novel. But, the entire Extraverse and the original Fate/Stay Night comes from games (well, F/SN is a VN, not a game technically). More recently, Fate/Grand Order was given a faithful adaptation of a part of its story. The anime is actually very good. The animations are great, the soundtrack is good, and they did a very good job overall in adapting boss fights into animations. You should watch the Grand Order anime if you donโt have the time to play the game, and of course, Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works and Fate/Stay Night: Heavenโs Feel stay on top of my recommendations list as always. So do check those out, too, because UFOTable absolutely nailed it with those 2 adaptations.
Grisaia series
I am strictly sticking to the original Grisaia Trilogy here because the Phantom Trigger part is BS. I feel like the original Grisaia trilogy, i.e., Grisaia no Kajitsu, Grisaia no Meikyuu, and Grisaia no Rakuen, are a little underrated. While the source material is an Eroge and its only purpose for existing is you knowโฆ. Well, you know what I mean if you have ever even heard of an Eroge. If you haven’tโฆ check it out on your incognito tabs, please. The anime is rather good despite having fan service that reflects its roots. The story is dark, with a lot of things that are downright twisted happening a lot of times. The characters are somewhat well developed, and everyone is given their good backstory. Some of the action scenes in the Rakuen anime are amazing. If you want to experience the series, I would recommend the VN because it gives the choice of experimenting with dialogue options that lead to different choices. If you donโt have the time to fully experience all the routes of the game and only care about the story, watch the anime.
Steins; Gate
Steins; Gate is one of the highest-rated anime on MyAnimeList, and for a good reason. The story aside, the author actually did put his time into researching time travel theories. The story is a little generic; you know, the protagonist is trying to find a way to keep all of his friends alive by traveling back in time again and again. What sets this anime apart is how well the alternate timelines are detailed and the fact that time travel is not convenient like it sounds. Time travel comes with its drawbacks as well. Some timelines leave Okabe completely devastated. Most of all, he saw his friends’ death repeatedly to add to his suffering.ย While the anime is masterfully done, the VN is even better.
The VN is very open-ended and does not give you direct choices. It is very common in the VN that you aim for a particular ending, and you make one mistake that throws you off to another end. For this freedom and Okabe’s monologues (that explain time travel things in even more detail), the VN is leagues ahead of the anime. Of course, if you don’t have time or only care about the main story, by all means, watch the anime. The anime is good for sure it’s just that the VN is like god-tier good.
