Interest Stacks

8/10 - Yuuzo Takada's supernatural/fantasy masterpiece. One of the most popular titles in manga history but it never caught on in the west. Dark Horse released the first 8 volumes in English before dropping the title yet retained licensing rights so chances of it being available in English any time soon are slim but not 0. Two OVA series were made featuring the legendary Megumi Hayashibara as Pai/Sanjiyan however the chances of a TV series have always been remote due to the series' depiction of violence and gore, occasionally of a sexual nature. Consider that a trigger warning. Japan will never lessen its censorship laws enough for this to ever get a proper adaptation. I believe they wanted to animate it back in the mid-2000s and it got shot down for that very reason.

6/10 - Kazurou Inoue's second ever manga, following up the much more successful, and his only animated title to date, Midori no Hibi, this series is a step back all around in terms of quality. Ai-Kora is a harem title heavy on ecchi fetishism as the main character indulges in what he calls "parts love" and really ramps up the objectification of women at times which can get a bit uncomfortable. It occasionally makes him look really, really bad as a person. However, there are much worse titles out there that did get animated so I am not really sure why this one did not get the green light. Tenmaku is the main reason why I ended up giving this a 6 instead of a 5.

8/10 - Yutaka Tanaka is more well known for his hentai titles like Virgin Night, which received an OVA adaptation, however he found time to write this little known hidden gem. The main reason why I did not rate this series higher is because of the unnecessary and cryptic side story that gets introduced part way through. There are strong sensual/sexual themes running throughout the entire series which would make it incredibly difficult to animate as anything other than an OVA without changing or leaving out important scenes from the story (like the scene where Ikuru and Nagi actually watch Virgin Night, yes it is an important scene). However, it did not even get an OVA so the only way to enjoy this series is to read the manga, which I highly recommend.

7/10 - 21 volumes and all it got was a 6 episode OVA in 1993-94 and a special in 2001. Stereotypical (by today's standards) fantasy/sci-fi shoujo with loads of melodrama but with an engaging plot with well thought out and well told backstories for the characters. I am not really sure why this did not get animated. It is very much in the same vein as shoujo titles like Fushigi Yuugi, Ayashi no Ceres, Revolutionary Girl Utena and Escaflowne. The only thing I can think is that it was released before these titles opened up the genre to TV audiences so it just slipped through the cracks. If you like 7 Seeds then I highly recommend Boku no Chikyuu wo Mamotte as they as very, very similar in a lot of ways.

8/10 - No secret as to why this will never get a proper adaptation. It is just simply too short. That is probably the biggest complaint people have about this manga as well. The best you could hope for would have been a made-for-TV movie but it never happened and it is way too late now. The story is simple and engaging and worth a read for anyone looking for a quick little suspense title.

8.5/10 - In my review for this manga in my yuri manga stack I stated that I could not understand why this never got animated. Then, recently, I read Girl Friends and understood a little bit. Girl Friends never got animated either and Dekisokonai takes a LOT of inspiration from it. I mean the bath scene is almost identical and I'm pretty sure Ajiichi did that on purpose. If this were to ever get animated I would argue that Girl Friends should probably get animated first and considering how long it has been since that title ended it is safe to say that will never happen. Personally I prefer this one over Girl Friends as Girl Friends is rather heavy on the melodrama at times and none of the characters grew on me like Fujishiro did. I, also, love a good redemption story and that is kind of what Fujishiro's story is. Unfortunately this series will never get animated so we will have to make do with the manga and the Girl Friends manga.

8/10 - This got a 6 episode OVA way back in 1992. Really this had no chance of ever getting a TV series, especially back in 1992, for similar reasons as Ai-Ren and I"s (another, not as good, Masakazu Katsura title), heavy sensual/sexual themes that are integral to the plot. This is one of the first manga I completed and I have not reread it since due to the heavy themes presented within, so I cannot really say much about it as I have forgotten most of it. Suffice it to say it is not for the faint of heart. Death and rape do come up as major themes, so I would give the same trigger warning for Denei Shoujo as I would for 3x3 Eyes.

7/10 - Maybe a victim of being ahead of its time, it only received a 2 episode OVA in 1993, 2 years before Slayers blew the fantasy parody genre wide open. The humor was heavy on slapstick and was rather fast paced and a little all over the place so that might have played into it only getting an OVA. Basically, it never calmed down long enough to tell a story coherent enough to properly animate. I vaguely remember the OVA being not that great as well. The manga is a classic, though, and a sign of things to come in the genre.

7.5/10 - I am not really sure why this was not animated other than, perhaps, it was released at a time when normalized yuri stories were not treated the way they should be. This came out in 2006 and my experience with yuri characters up until watching Kashimashi (which was animated the same year Girl Friends debuted) is that they were treated as joke characters and/or sexual deviants/predators. So this series likely never had a chance of ever being animated when it was released and too much time has passed since for it to likely ever get animated now. It really is a good read, though, and is surprisingly wholesome considering Milk Morinaga's other works are almost entirely hentai and, at that time, often dark and rapey (y halo thar Mare). Unsure if that reputation played any role in preventing this series from getting animated.

7/10 - Yeah no surprise here. . . Seemingly non stop depictions of violence and gore has ensured that this series will likely never get a TV release. Ever. And this manga is, like 3x3 Eyes, insanely popular. It, along with Akira, pretty much revolutionized the cyber punk genre. It shocked me to no end when the live action WESTERN movie was announced. They had to remove a ton of stuff to make it work for a western audience. It did get a 2 episode OVA in 1993 and unlike other OVAs on this list it was actually good. This is the only entry on this list where I watched the OVA first and wanted to read the manga because of it. All the others were the other way around.

7.5/10 - See above. I gave Last Order a sightly higher score due to it having a much more coherent, consistent and less episodic story.

6/10 - Yeah this was never going to get animated. . . I fully admit that this is a "guilty pleasure" of mine and is not long enough nor good enough and simply way too off-the-wall to get animated. The best it could have gotten is an OVA or, like Tetsuya Takahashi's more well known series Penguin Musume, an ONA. If you want a wacky yuri with cute characters and mild (if constant) ecchi then you will not be disappointed, otherwise, as I said, this is a guilty pleasure of mine and you might not like it.

8.5/10 - This one truly baffles me. Much more than any other in this stack. 17 volumes with a great story, great characters (I ended up falling in love with all 3 of the main girls) and the right amount of ecchi (all of which is incredibly tame by today's standards) to be cute without detracting at all from the story. The fact that this never got animated boggles my mind. It should have been a slam dunk. It does have a fair bit in common with Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai but that absolutely is no obstacle for a TV series. Somehow this one slipped through the cracks and unless, like Kiyohiko Azuma and Yotsuba&!, Ryou Minenami refused to allow it to be animated I see no reason why this did not get animated. Seriously, more people need to read this.

8/10 - Only 3 volumes, but there absolutely is enough material here for a 12 episode TV series and the story is pretty good despite its shaky start. I am assuming that there just simply was not enough appeal for it to be animated. The manga ended earlier than Miyako Miyahara had planned as well so, unfortunately, it seems the manga did not have enough appeal either. I cannot fathom why. Is it because the main characters are adults and the series deals more with adult issues than the average yuri? It always seems that these types of yuri manga only last 3 or 4 volumes and that is a shame. We will be seeing this issue again in this stack. As I stated in my yuri stack, this is probably the yuri manga that I wanted to see more of the most. As great as the series was it just feels like they left so much on the table.

6.5/10 - This genre is hard to animate while the series is ongoing and by the time this series ended, and with the ending being rather weak, any appetite for an animation (if it existed at all) would have been long gone. The series does a good job of staying interesting throughout but never really becomes a riveting must read, which does not help when it is classified as a mystery. The harem aspect is a major drawback here too, especially when the reason for it is revealed. It just does not work and is distracting to the story. I am assuming it was included for added ecchi to appeal to the younger male demographic. All in all I am not surprised this did not get animated. It is enjoyable to read as long as you keep your expectations tempered.

6/10 - It is possibly too short for a TV series. However, it could, mayhap, make for an okay movie, but they would have to cut a bunch of stuff to make it fit. Also, we have the same issue as Ichido dake demo, Koukai Shitemasu with regards to adults in yuri manga only getting short serializations. Lots of melodrama in this one and it feels out of place somehow. It just seemed to me that this series would have worked better as a yuri fluff piece rather than the neverending melodrama that Shuu Yasaka tried to make it out to be. This could have been an effective iyashikei, but I guess if it were then maybe it would be too similar to Onna Tomodachi to Kekkon Shitemita. Still, it was good, but could have, and maybe should have, been better.

10/10 - This and Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou are by far the best manga in this stack and the fact that this has not been greenlit for an animé yet is a complete travesty. There is no fanservice at all in this series and the relationship between the two female leads remains platonic throughout. So not only is it appropriate for all ages, but even people who do not like yuri can still appreciate it. This series tackles heavy topics like bullying, suicide, loss and grief in a serious and realistic manner without falling into the trap of becoming too melodramatic like most dramas do. The emotions and actions of the characters are believable and relatable. Sadly, without fanservice, moé characters, mascots, exaggerated melodrama, isekai BS or comedy this series has an uphill battle to ever be animated. It's just too raw and real for the mainstream audience. Please, Japan, feel free to prove me wrong.

6/10 - This is very much a cult classic. However, I honestly do not think there was ever much of an appetite for a Koko wa Greenwood animé. The OVA aired between 1991-93, after the manga ended, and with an episodic format with no real story and a weak ending. . . A TV series just was not feasible, really, and the OVA showed that. Even though I enjoyed it I honestly do not feel it was good enough for a TV series either. The comedy was just good enough for me and I really liked Miya as a character but this is a weak 6 from me for sure. Still an enjoyable read, just do not expect anything spectacular.

6.5/10 - A decent, yet watered down, version of Hitsohi Ashinano's hit manga Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou, which is also on this list. YKK is the best manga I have ever read and likely ever will read. So if YKK was not able to get a proper adaptation then Kotonoba Drive never had a snowball's chance in hell. Hitsohi Ashinano's style is difficult to animate, as shown by the YKK OVAs that we got. I would expect a Kotonoba Drive animé to be more of that, especially considering it does not have the same strong underlying and interweaving plot that YKK had. For anyone who has read YKK and wants more, this is probably the best option from Hitoshi Ashinano as it is the closest he has come to duplicating that magic since.

7/10 - I am kind of glad this did not get animated. I guarantee that had it been animated that the borderline hentai, rapey first few chapters would have been drawn out and used over and over and over again to lure in viewers. . . I almost dropped this because of the first few chapters. Then chapter 6 happened and I said "Ah. . . this is a borderline hentai version of Kimi to Tsuzuru Utakata." The hentaish stuff then calmed down a bit (but never went away) and the story got very heavy very quickly and that might have been the nail in the coffin for an animé. This series is not for the faint of heart. At all. If not for the hentaish bull and the rushed ending (chapter 21 was so rushed it did not even give me time to cry and I had been fighting tears up to this point) this could have easily got a 9 from me. It could have been THAT good. As it is it was still good enough to get a 7 from me in spite of everything.

9/10 - It is not Maison Ikkoku and it very clearly tries to be early on. Not really sure why it never got animated other than it might have been seen as a less funny Maison Ikkoku and it debuted 2 years after the Maison Ikkoku animé ended. Considering the Maison Ikkoku ending never got animated there just might not have been an interest in this type of series anymore and the similarities really cannot be overstated. This series does not get a high rating from me due to its Maison Ikkokuish humor, though (that is likely where I dock it, actually), but rather the more serious storylines that occur later in the series (Izumi's secret anyone?). It is this shift in tone that makes Living Game as great as it is but by the time we get there any hope of an animé was likely long gone.

6.5/10 - I can think of reasons why this was never animated. The big one being it is way, way too short to be properly animated. The other being depictions of relationships, yes plural, between an adult and a child who are also doctor and patient, which might be why this series was cancelled. This is also why I had so much trouble rating it. The story was good and wholesome, but it could easily be seen as a doctor using her position to engage in a relationship with her 13 year old patient and it is kind of hard to overlook that while reading. If this is not an issue for you then you are very likely to like the series and only be upset that it was not longer.

6.5/10 - The last volume caused my rating to drop from a 7.5/10 to a 6.5/10. I will be rereading this series soon and will give my final thoughts at that time so I will keep my opinions to myself for now. My rating will not drop any lower than this so it belongs here.

7.5/10 - Switch crossdressing with gender bender and suddenly Ookami Shounen wa Kyou mo Uso wo Kasaneru turns into Kashimashi. They really are quite similar. That has nothing to do with why this series was never animated, though, as they are 7 years apart and aimed at different demographics to boot. I just wanted to throw that out there. To be honest I think this was just a case of there not being enough interest. Which is a shame as, until the crossdressing reveal and rushed ending, this was an incredibly good manga. It certainly was good enough to be animated. Perhaps, considering it was a crossdressing manga, the complete lack of ecchi humor turned animation studios away?

7.5/10 - It has been a while since I read this, but I think the biggest hurdle to this getting animated is that it is a slow paced, slice-of-life with the adults as the main characters instead of cute animé girls doing cute things. Slice-of-life series are typically hard to animate anyway as not much tends to happen in a manga chapter and if there is no cuteness overload to draw viewers in it is difficult to fill out 22 minute episodes and keep the audience entertained (also why Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou never got a proper animation). So, despite it being a really good, wholesome manga, that is absolutely worth reading, this series never had a snowball's chance in hell of ever getting animated.

7/10 - Remember what I said about Ichido dake demo, Koukai Shitemasu and how it appears that adult yuri with adult issues just do not seem to have much appeal? Well here we are again. 4 volumes, no animé. Even making one of the women look like a teenager could not help, though at least it looks like Hayako Gotou got most of what she wanted written before the series got canned. This also came out in the mid 2000s, a time when more serious yuri storylines really never had a hope of getting animated, as I previously mentioned for Girl Friends. The word I used to describe the manga ending in my yuri stack was forced. It is the only time I say forced instead of rushed as it looks like she was not given much time to end the series properly at all. It really was a shame as after the story settles down it gets really good and stays that way until it gets close to the ending.

8.5/10 - More adults in yuri. This time in 1900s England. A time and a place where homosexuality was a literal crime. This manga is very much a social commentary on the treatment of homosexuality in the past as well as in present day Japan and at times it hits hard. So this had no chance of ever getting animated. Alice is a noblewoman and successful author who yearns for death as she sees this as the only alternative to being forced to live a life where she has to hide her sexual identity in order to maintain her image as a proper noblewoman in the eyes of Victorian English society. This is not really much of a spoiler. It is revealed very early as it is half of the plot of the manga. The other half is that she ends up falling in love with her new Japanese maid, Hanako. This series should have been longer, but adults and yuri never seem to last more than 3 or 4 volumes.

7/10 - This was too short to animate so it never had a chance. To be honest the gimmick used would be difficult to maintain without it getting stale anyway, so making the manga longer would probably have lowered the story quality considerably. It was just long enough to properly tell the story it wanted to tell. The series has a bit of ecchi in it, they are sharing the same room so that is to be expected, but it is mild and not excessive. Meguru's personality was the biggest drawback for me as I was reading. He was kind of unlikable at times.

7.5/10 - This is the kind of yuri title that I would expect to be animated. I think I summed it up well in my yuri stack when I said; "I honestly do not understand how Hikawa-sensei managed to make a series this ecchi this charming. It is chock full of 18+ yaoi and yuri references with occasional groping scenes, some mild nudity and sexually suggestive fantasies yet somehow, that I cannot explain, still felt somewhat innocent." And the comedy was top notch, if a tad overdone at times. The characters were all likable, which is insanely rare. It should be a slam dunk to be animated but never was. The only thing I really had a problem with was the weak ending. This is probably the second most baffling animé snub in this stack behind Hatsukoi Zombie.

6/10 - Another that was just way too short to ever be properly animated. This one also suffers from having a main character that is like a more nasty, less likable version of Keima from Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai which is a bit of a hard sell. Pure's character is not developed very well, either, and she really needed to be. So I kind of put this in the camp of being a weak 6 and probably not good enough to animate anyway even if the material was there. Had it been longer my opinion may have been different but I have my doubts about that. It is worth a read, just do not expect anything amazing.

6/10 - A cute girls doing cute things manga with a gimmick that was difficult to maintain and thus only lasted 3 volumes. It never had nearly enough material to ever be animated even if the interest was there and I am pretty sure it was not. It was cute for what it was but it just was not good enough to last or ever be considered for an animé. Interest in the manga was likely low as it very much looks like it was cancelled early. It is a quick read if you want to try and give yourself diabetes.

6.5/10 - This is the 6th of 6 yuri manga featuring adults dealing with adult issues in this stack. Like the previous 5 the material was there to properly animate it but I sincerely doubt it was ever considered. It very much looked like Ayu Inui was in a rush to get to the actual relationship part of the story so it was a bit of a whirlwind at first. After that it settled down nicely. The note exchanging gimmick was rarely mentioned after the first few chapters, though, and there was a time gap near the end which, as always, messed with the pacing of the story a bit. The drama they tried to infuse the story with often made the women look out of character. So consistency was a bit of an issue. Still one of the better adult yuri titles I have seen but never had a hope of getting animated.

6/10 - I'm not going to sugar coat this. This is a watered down Shinryaku! Ika Musume for monster girl enthusiasts. In spite of that it was still charming in its own right. Charming enough to earn the 6 rating I gave it. You could tell that Hanao Tabi wanted to do more with the story, though, as Kaori's secret identity was never revealed and the wolf girl was probably intended to be a recurring character, likely to be tied in with Kaori's big reveal, but never got a second chance to appear. Ultimately I believe that repeating the same jokes over and over again is what did the series in. There probably was enough material here to animate but it would have been difficult to do so due to it being a slice-of-life with short chapters. Had this been animated it probably would not have been nearly as good as the manga so maybe it is for the best.

8/10 - This is what Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu could have and should have been. However, there is a reason why Nogizaka was animated and Tonari no Kashiwagi-san never was. Fanservice. There really is not much ecchi here. No bath scene. No swimsuits. No token loli flashing her goods either. What you get is a wholesome romcom with a side love story that was every bit as good as, and perhaps even better than, the main love story. Yuuto's thick headedness can be grating at times, and the Kotone as Sayane as well as Kotone's secret otaku hobbies storylines take a back seat way too soon. Aside from that this manga is romcom fluff that is a joy to read. This really should have been animated, but I am assuming the logic is that it is not ecchi enough to reel in the fans so it just never happened.

7/10 - Tsukiyo no Fromage is impossible to animate as a TV series and would not really work well as a movie. Also, the MAL entry lies. I have tried to get it fixed but to no avail. This series was discontinued over a decade ago when Tinkle disbanded in 2010. Nowadays Tinkle is a one woman show who only does artbooks and light novel illustrations. This series is dead at 17 chapters and the chapters are not nearly long enough for there to be enough material here for TV. The slice-of-life style used probably would not translate well as a movie, either. I was so disappointed when I found out that there was never going to be any more chapters. The characters are incredibly cute, the story was very interesting and the world Tinkle was creating was amazing.

7.5/10 - This was the manga debut of Suu Minazuki of Sora no Otoshimono fame. Despite what MAL says, this manga is relatively ecchi free aside from volume 10 and boy does the ecchi in volume 10 look out of place. Aside from the writing style Watashi no Messiah-sama is starkly different from Sora no Otoshimono. If you have read Sora no Otoshimono then you would get a pretty good idea of what Watashi no Messiah-sama is like by concentrating on the darker aspects of the series and imagining that stretched out over 13 volumes. I am not sure why this was never animated. Yes, it is a bit generic and predictable, but that is not really a barrier for a series to get animated. I mean come on, just look at all the other isekai getting animated these days. I am assuming that perhaps the darker tone of the series and the lack of fanservice may have combined to discourage studios. To be honest maybe it is best that it was never animated. If I had to watch the ending of Lilu's story animated it would absolutely gut me.

7/10 - It has been so long since I read this that I cannot really say much about it. It is a fairly stereotypical romcom, I remember that. I cannot remember how ecchi it was but MAL has it tagged as an ecchi. I do remember after reading it that I felt it was just as good as any typical romcom from the mid 2000s. I also remember that I choked up a bit at the end but I do not remember why. I will probably have to reread this at some point so I can comment properly on it.

10/10 - Listing alphabetically meant saving the best for last. . . It would be difficult for an animé to do this manga justice due to how slowly paced this series is. It is also a pure slice-of-life with no action whatsoever, no real fanservice and very subtle comedy. You do not get any more slice-of-life than Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou. And because of that it will never get properly animated. The 2 OVAs that were made are big nothing burgers. You get introduced to some of the characters and they show a couple random chapters from early in the manga and stretch them out to fill up time. Anyone watching the OVAs without reading the manga absolutely would not understand what the big deal is and trust me this manga is a huge deal. It is a world building tour de force and is the very definition of mono no aware (Wiki it) and Hitoshi Ashinano has never been able to recreate that magic since. I could literally talk for hours about not only how amazing the series is, but also of the style and pacing from start to finish. I have never read a more perfect manga before and sincerely doubt I ever will again. By the end I was fighting tears and I was not even sure why and when that happens you know you have just read something truly special. If you like slice-of-life and have not read Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou you have done yourself a great disservice and need to correct it asap.