(Afrogamers.com) Several anime series have gotten remakes or CGI adaptations. Sailor Moon had a revival in Sailor Moon Crystal which was a shocker. Voltron got an extremely popular remake on Netflix and Hunter x Hunter had a whole series revival after the first anime adaptation ended. Fullmetal Alchemist even got a reboot in Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood.
That’s just naming a few. The last decade was pretty generous when it came to giving old school and older modern anime a second—or third wind. Here’s five series I believe should get the anime reboot treatment.
Yu Yu Hakusho
This legendary anime series by Yoshihiro Togashi ran from 1992 until 1994 and ran in the U.S during the early 2000s. It details high school delinquent Yusuke Urameshi’s adventures in the underworld and the real world. The series starts out as a supernatural mystery series but quickly became more of a supernatural battle anime.
Togashi would create the series Hunter x Hunter a few years later in 1998. This series would get an anime adaptation in 1999 which reached the U.S in 2008 and aired the following year. The first series ran from until 2001 in Japan before getting a revival in 2011.
While I prefer Hunter x Hunter more, there’s no reason why Yu Yu Hakusho couldn’t get the same treatment. It’s basically the blueprint for Hunter x Hunter sans the heavy fantasy martial arts adventure approach.
Ronin Warriors
This series started off as an anime in 1988 and ran until 1989 with just 39 episodes. It is one of the early series of the 1995 anime wave that kicked off the 90s boom. Unfortunately, it’s also one of the forgotten cult series in anime since it didn’t have a massive impact.
A revival of the series could give it a second wind and it would technically be new to everyone since the last time this series ran was 1999 on Cartoon Network. It has several things working for it to be a revived franchise.
First, there weren’t many episodes produced and what made it to the West was edited and dubbed quite a bit. Also, it didn’t make it out of the 90s, so it’s dormant. There’s a whole generation who have most likely never seen it and half of a generation who wouldn’t remember it.
Hell, people from my end of the generation barely remember it because Dragon Ball and Sailor Moon were the biggest stars out of that wave of anime. Netflix could pick it up but it already has a far more popular five-member, color coded armored team in the Bronze Knights from Saint Seiya.
Then there’s Voltron. I don’t know, I suppose another wouldn’t hurt.
Teknoman
Known by hardcore, old school anime fans by its original name—Tekkaman Blade—Teknoman was another anime series in that 1995 wave of anime. It was also the only one that aired on Sunday. For those who don’t know, before Sunday afternoon in the States, nothing good is on TV. Sunday means you can go do something with your day until sports and prime time dramas come on.
As a kid, I avoided Teknoman because of this. I figured something must have been wrong with the series or it was boring because it aired on Sunday. Years later when I actually sat and watched the series, I found that it was a pretty good series with mediocre animation for that period.
Tekkaman Blade aired in Japan from 1992 until 1993 with a 50-episode run. It was a sci-fi series that featured several characters in cool armor that look like mech—but they’re not—fighting alien bugs and each other in an alternate Earth.
This Earth is pretty much losing a battle to aliens but the Tekkaman armor is seen as their last hope after seeing Blade in action. All of that could be made into a dope series with modern animation, anime art, and storytelling.
Battle of the Planets/Eagle Riders
Aw man, do you know how many anime old heads from the generation before me loved Battle of the Planets? I grew up watching it as Eagle Riders on Cartoon Network and I wasn’t impressed at all. It was later aired on UPN on Saturdays before Dragon Ball Z as G-Force and I was just as unimpressed.
As it always happens, time warmed me up to the series which has a good story. The animation was a bit too dated for my liking at the time—which is weird because I loved Robotech and Voltron from the same period.
Battle of the Planets is one of the western names for Gatchaman which for 105 episodes from 1972 until 1974. Just imagine how long it ran in the U.S if you could only catch it once a week and had to deal with slow dubbing speeds.
It hit the U.S in 1978 and ran until 1980. The series was similar to Voltron only without the heavy focus on mecha. These guys were space ninjas with different skills and abilities but nothing over the top like chakra or ki blasts.
The main reason we got Battle of the Planets in the first place was because an American producer saw how hot Star Wars was and anything sci-fi or space related was the ticket. No one was really clamoring for or trying to bring anime to the U.S at the time but this series blew up big after the 60s anime…trickle here. It pretty much opened the gates for other series later in the following decade.
Without a doubt, we should have a reboot of Battle of the Planets. There have always been plans for it but they never took off. Here’s hoping we finally get a new series this decade.
Speed Racer
This was a series from my parents’ childhood. Speed Racer ran from the late 60s into the early 70s. Along with the above Eagle Riders, it was one of the early anime series aired on Cartoon Network in its early years. Since it stopped airing on Cartoon Network, it would get a major film release in 2008 and modern adaptations.
However, those modern adaptations never really lasted long when compared to the 52 episodes of the original. I believe a reboot would’ve worked in the last decade and would work now. Writing for TV, film, and comics are all much better. That means story pacing would be improved and there might be deeper dives into character back stories.
The original Speed Racer was a straight up adventure of the week series. A new series would be similar to how Netflix’s Voltron features stronger storytelling than the original. The streaming service that manages to get the rights to a reboot would really have a good series to work with.
Staff Writer; M. Swift
This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.