Considering how many expansive worlds and compelling characters there are in manga/anime, it’s surprising how few game adaptions have done justice to them as source material. Many well-known properties like Attack on Titan, Dragon Ball, and My Hero Academia have already had video game spinoffs of varying quality. But which of Japan's lesser-known properties could -- and should -- make even better ones?
Dorohedoro
Dorohedoro is a seinen manga series that has been running monthly since 2000, but only recently garnered attention after it received an anime adaptation by Studio MAPPA (Yuri on Ice, Kakeguri). Written and illustrated by Q Hayashida, it's about a lizard man named Kaiman living a post-apocalyptic urban fantasy world called Hole. After becoming a lizard man and losing his memories, Kaiman goes on a quest for revenge to find and kill the sorcerer who cursed him, leading to some very visceral confrontations.
Even though Dorohedoro’s world deals heavily with magic, many of the fights feel more like intense street brawls rather than flashy displays of spells and mysticism. With that in mind, a game adaptation should feel like the intense and dramatic action/open-world games of Yakuza, developed by Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio. The world of Hole is like an abandoned, grungy city with the only citizens being lowlives and scavengers, similar to the many delinquents and yakuza goons that prowl the city of Kamurocho in Yakuza.
Not only that but the way that Kaiman can make such quick work of multiple enemies is very reminiscent of the Dragon of Dojima, Kiryu Kazuma. This also wouldn’t be RGG’s first apocalyptic setting for a video game as in 2018, the studio made Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise, based on the Mad Max-inspired shonen battle series, Fist of the North Star.
Kingdom
Beginning publication in 2006, Kingdom is a fictional retelling of the Warring States period of China from the perspective of Shin, an orphan boy who dreams of becoming the greatest general under the heavens. The various arcs of Kingdom are different wars and battles spanning across multiple years, with a great deal thought put into the strategy and warfare of the armies at the time.
In Kingdom’s second arc, trying to take over a hill from the Wei Army feels near impossible, while much later in the story, attempting to defend a small city from invasion from 40,000 men can only be described as an insurmountable task. Yet the author, Yasuhisa Hara, makes these battles feel real and tangible with the type of strategy and quick-thinking actual generals would have applied during this time.
With that in mind, it only makes sense that a game adaption of Kingdom would be a war strategy game in the vein of Civilization or Total War: Three Kingdoms. Players could control their favorite characters’ armies in the wars across the series while trying to unify China. Depending on which character army the player is moving, that character’s weaknesses/strengths should be reflected in their abilities. For example, The cunning and ruthless Kan Ki -- infamous for being a leader of a mountain bandit tribe before joining the Qin military -- should be adept at underhanded strategies such as setting fire to camps or ambushing other armies.
Inversely, controlling the battle-hungry Duke Hyou’s troops should be like reining in a violent bull who decimates everything in its path with pure overwhelming strength, but very little strategy beyond that. That combined with the varying environments of China that are on full display in Kingdom, such as dense forests, open planes, harsh canyons, and mountainous areas could make for a one-of-a-kind strategy game.
Chainsaw Man
Chainsaw Man is a fairly new Shonen Jump property that began publication in 2018. Far darker and graphic than most shonen properties, the series follows an orphan teenager Denji indebted to the Yakuza. However, after nearly dying, his pet devil Pochita saves his life by becoming his new heart, which causes Denji to become a chainsaw devil/human hybrid. An ambitious woman named Makima then captures him and spares his life in exchange for becoming her pet and a member of the Public Safety Devil Hunters. With a nice place to call home for the first time in his life, Denji now kills devils for a living as he fantasizes about becoming intimate with the malicious Makima.
What immediately sticks out about Chainsaw Man is its unsettling designs of the many devils depicted in every arc. They’re more than just monsters or demons, as each one represents a general (but very real) fear of humanity's. As Denji and other characters come face to face in these life or death struggles with these monstrosities, they become very reminiscent of some of the best boss fights from Dark Souls or Bloodborne.
A Chainsaw Man video game should have the feel of Bloodborne because Denji is as aggressive and visceral in his attacks as a Devil Hunter. Boss battles should be similarly graphic, using antagonists like the Bat Devil, Katana Man and the Bomb Girl. The player wouldn't be able to approach fighting the very different bosses the same way Katana Man can only fight at close range, but Bomb Girl has long-range capabilities that can make trying to get in close a nightmare.
Aggrestuko
Aggretsuko was created by the Sanrio Company, famous for mascots like Hello Kitty, and got two anime adaptions in the form of three-minute shorts, and then a Netflix series in 2018. The series follows a 25-year-old red panda named Retsuko who is so stressed by her job and coworkers that she needs to sing heavy metal karaoke every night to decompress.
As off-the-wall as the series can be, it doesn’t shy away from the fears and existentialism that come with facing disappointment in the adult world. So, the perfect game template to translate Aggretsuko into would have to be Animal Crossing, of course. Animal Crossing has always been a game about taking it easy and chilling out, which is ironic as for most of its entries, the player is trying to pay off their massive debt. Tie this with Aggretsuko’s examinations into social anxiety, societal pressures and corporate culture and it becomes a game that leaves the player more stressed out then when they started.
The game would start simple: trying to balance Retsuko’s work, social life, and karaoke with how the player decompresses at the end of the day. Certain factors during work time could affect how long the player spends at karaoke, such as which coworkers they talk to, what work they decide to do that day, or if they’re forced to do overtime that night. Then, off the clock, the player is free to choose how Retsuko spends her days off, either with friends or trying to deal with her overbearing mother.
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May 25, 2020 at 07:59AM
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