(AfroGamers.com) There are some major, influential franchises in comics and on the screen that eventually just fall by the wayside even if they have more to give.
Japan has a number of them! Let’s check out four manga and TV series that deserve a reboot or revival.
Lone Wolf and Cub
This series will always be at the top of my list of anime or manga that deserve a television show. It had a series for films and inspired a number of films and series that came after it.
Unfortunately, it never got an anime adaptation or a TV show. The nudity and gory content are definitely a factor but this was series released in the 1970s for adults.
In the U.S, series such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Savage Dragon, WildC.A.T.S, and Mortal Kombat all saw adaptations for a younger demographic. On the flip side, a graphic series like Spawn saw an animated series that made it even more extreme.
Today, in modern anime, things get graphic mentally and physically. Lone Wolf and Cub would probably be just another series content-wise. Hell, it might even be more at the mild end of adult series.
Zatoichi
Here we have another series based in feudal Japan. The Zatoichi film and television series told the story of the blind masseur Zatoichi. He’s not just a blind masseur, he is also a highly skilled swordsman, assassin, and sometimes criminal who does a lot of different tasks.
Often times those requests escalate and it’s up to his abilities to either fight or manipulate others to survive hairy situations.
Zatoichi is a series that should have a manga or anime series. Like Lone Wolf and Cub, I’m surprised it doesn’t.
Moonlight Mask
I only have Moonlight Mask here because of the series’ significance to Japanese pop culture. Moonlight Mask was Japan’s first TV superhero—one of the country’s earliest tokusatsu series.
Tokusatsu is basically a superhero-focused version of the monster and robot-focused kaiju genre. Some well-known franchises include Power Rangers and Masked Rider/Kamen Rider.
Between the 1940s and 1960s, radio series and late TV shows were a popular way to promote superheroes and comics to the mainstream.
Moonlight Mask is like the 1960s Batman series in late 1950. He had a motorcycle, fought crime, and solved mysteries all while wearing a mask, a cape, and a turban.
By the early 1970s, Moonlight Mask wasn’t the draw it used to be and the generation of teams and more action-oriented tokusatsu was about to begin.
I just feel that something could’ve been done to keep that franchise active in all of this time. Franchises such as Power Rangers or Super Sentai are freshened up regularly and will always have a running series or two in any given decade starting with the 1970s.
Kamen Rider
I was always a Masked Rider fan over the Power Ranger as a kid. He just seemed so cool with his awesome helmet, red scarf, and motorcycle. Plus, he had the dreaded evil-destroying Rider Kick!
In essence, Kamen Rider is the spiritual successor of Moonlight Mask. Unlike Moonlight Mask, KR actually gets a series or two a decade so it’s a series that stays fresh and has never had a lengthy dormant period.
Seems like it’s doing alright? We haven’t had an adaptation of the recent Kamen Rider series in the West for years. Sure, Super Sentai will always get the nod for a Saban series but Kamen Rider has seen a handful.
I always felt that Kamen Rider could’ve grown a fanbase in the U.S–especially when the series in the 2000s and 2010s dropped. At least Rider isn’t collecting dust like Moonlight Mask, right?
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.