Rebooting things is all the rage these days, isn’t it? It isn’t limited to movies and video games, even anime has gotten on the train. While some fault rebooting as a profound lack of imagination or just a cash grab, in many cases, it revitalizes older anime series that no one bothered to watch. In some instances, it rectifies past mistakes where a series was simply adapted poorly or before the source material could finish.
Best Anime Reboots and Remakes
Hellsing Ultimate
Poor original Hellsing series. It is one of those anime series that just shouldn’t have been made. It took the idea of the manga series and just ran around with it because there was a fraction of the source material available. Hellsing Ultimate rectifies that fully by telling the story as it was meant to be told.
Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood
The original Full Metal Alchemist series is by no means a bad watch, but it suffers from a very common problem. It caught up to its source material and had to sort of fill in the ending. That is why there is sort of a half way point where the plot was pretty similar, but then it deviates wildly. Brotherhood, as it does follow the complete source material, gives you that nice concrete ending that all series ultimately deserve.
Hunter X Hunter
The most disappointing thing with the original Hunter X Hunter series is that, not unlike Gantz (a series that could use a reboot, too), it stopped sort of one of the very best arcs. Hunter X Hunter has the Berserk problem where the author goes on hiatus for long periods of time. It took from 1999 to 2011 just to gather enough material for the reboot, even starting the series over again just to stretch it out further.
Fruits Basket
The Fruits Basket original anime had a myriad of different problems. The original author and director had so many disagreements, interesting characters were missing, it had a disappointing ending, and it lost the dark tone that the series takes on later in the series. The 2019 reboot is doing a much better job and has the benefit of all those fancy new animation techniques. Goodbye, weird huge eyes!
Osomatsu-san
This reboot was an unexpected success, though perhaps because no one knew it was a reboot. Osomatsu-san first popped up in the 60’s, then again in the 80’s, and here it is now in a new millennium. This time, however, the sextuplets are not children, but weirdly little adults. In all fairness, Osomatsu-san turns what used to be a wholesome family anime into a killer comedy.
Ushio & Tora
This series was once just an OVA in the 90’s that served as a poor adaptation. However, the 2015 version still had that 90’s era storytelling with lovely modern animation. As reboots go, this one wasn’t super popular because it didn’t really have a new and interesting hook nor the established fanbase that other reboots have.
Dororo
As I understand it, the original Dororo was ahead of its time in its themes. Airing in the later 60’s with fairly dark themes, it was heavily censored. It certainly was a bit of a departure from Osamu Tezuka’s previous works. However, the 2019 reboot has introduced it to pretty much everyone with its original dark tones and lovely animation, this time in full color as well.
The Heroic Legend of Arslan
Though not many know it is a reboot, the TV series for Arlsan is a reboot of the original OVA in the 90’s. The OVA was actually really good, there just wasn’t a lot of it. Arslan the TV adaptation gave you more and it gave it to you in good animation. In the OVA, there was also an issue in which there was such a length of time between the creation of the segments that the animation changed. It made it look rather odd when watched all at once.
Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure
Long time Jojo fans have had a bit of a rough shake when it comes to anime. Initially, there was an adaptations in the early 90’s. Then another in 2000, but it didn’t quite stick until the reboot by David Production in 2012. Now they are living the high life, though. Finally, the anime adaptation has made it through Part Three and all the way to Part Five. Here’s hoping Stone Ocean doesn’t die on some desk somewhere, eh?
Captain Tsubasa
For sports anime fans, Captain Tsubasa, the original series, is still legendary. It is one of the best. However, it, like many of some of the best sports anime, does look a little dated. Here is hoping this remake of the original Captain Tsubasa is just one of the first remakes of sports anime. Slam Dunk could use a glow up, or perhaps some of the older bits of Initial D.
Casshern Sins
Similar to Dororo, the original Casshern likely suffered due to the era in which it aired. That, and the original was also quite short. It had some lovely dark tones, but often came off as more of a dramatic Power Rangers sort of show. The remake takes bigger advantage of the available themes and explores all the dark nooks and crannies.
Gegege no Kintaro
Starting from the late 60’s, there have been six adaptations of this anime series. So why not one more, right? As the series is a bit of a “problem of the week” series, it didn’t really hurt it to have so many adaptations. The most recent celebrates the 50tth anniversary of the original anime.
Devilman Crybaby
The Devilman series has never really enjoyed huge popularity in the west, until now. Crybaby has introduced the series to many with a vicious Devilman at its head rather than a silly looking one. However, Crybaby is only sort of an adaption of the original manga. In truth, it is more re-imagining of it than some of the other entries. For example, many of the themes are interpreted differently to fit with the modern era.
Dragon Ball Kai
The major flaw most people had with Dragon Ball Z is that some of the fights lasted dozens of episodes when they really didn’t need to. Some of the more finicky neckbeards will argue it didn’t faithfully adapt the manga as well. Kai does a bit to fix all that. It keeps things more compact to lessen the episode count and looks more modern as well. It makes the transition from Z to Super less jarring.
Evangelion Rebuild
Although they take forever to come out, the Evangelion movies do a lot to modernize the series. There isn’t much wrong with the original series, but the new movies make everything a little shinier and remove a bit of the director’s descent into crippling depression that didn’t really at anything.
Do you have anime reboots and remakes that you think deserve to be on here? Let fans know in the comments section below.
I liked Star Blazers 2199