With the announcement of anime Spirit Circle, it’s time to get back on that wishlist bandwagon!

Just to keep a scorecard of what happened last time, I’ve gotten 1 out of my 12 manga choices (Jigokuraku) so far. I’m using the same criteria as last time too, so please brush up on that before you continue…

We ready? Good.

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12. Yuusen Shoujo: Plug-in Girl (10%)

[Not available in English]

This is a wishful thinking sort of choice, especially since I barely remember what it’s about anymore (although it’s on Bookwalker, so I could buy it…) but if I do remember it right, as we approach a time where we become technology itself, this manga would be a biting commentary on it all, alongside the shonen battle conventions that draw in so many fans.

However, it’s less than 100 chapters (16, to be precise) and I seem to remember it was cut short, which doesn’t help matters.

11. Otomen (25%)

[Available via Viz]

Oh, Otomen...all these years and you’ve never gotten an anime? I feel like the way certain parts of the series are portrayed – particularly how Asuka’s father, in the manga’s words, “ran away to become a transvestite” and how we’re expected to mine that for comedy and drama – could use some serious updating in light of LGBTIAQ+ developments over the years, but it could appeal to that very demographic – the ones who are questioning their gender/sexuality/orientation and the ones who like doing things that society doesn’t expect of them – if handled right.

10. Look Back (30%)

[Available via Viz]

I think this is asking for a bit much, but since this was inspired by Spirit Circle – a manga which people thought would never get an anime for years – let’s shoot for the stars! Look Back has won manga awards, post-publishing change controversy and my heart for how clever it is, but it is also in commemoration of talented creators who left this world far too early. It would be nice to have a homage to them in animation…even if it was only a movie.

This is the only one shot to make this list or the previous one and there’s a reason for that – to make one shots work you either pad them out or make them into an anime format which will allow for the shorter length (a movie, as mentioned earlier, or the OVA/ONA format…maybe even a music video, if we want to take the Clover route). Furthermore, you can sell it by putting it in relation to Chainsaw Man and Fire Punch.

9 – 7. Hypnosis Mic BB & MTC+ and FP & M+ and DH & BAT (35%)

[Not available in English]

I know Hypnosis Mic already has an anime in the rear-view mirror – I mined that for all it was worth when it came out – but it only adapted early drama tracks (roughly equivalent until the end of the 1st DRB). Ramuda, in particular, suffers from the fact we don’t find out what’s going on with him much until later in the storyline, plus it occurred to me as I wrote this post we never saw Dotsuitare Honpo and Bad Ass Temple animated (beyond a few minutes of animation in a VR battle which was only accessible if you paid for it, plus some CGI models in that and the music video for Glory or Dust). Animating 3 manga at once might require several years’ worth of work and/or extreme splicing of storylines, considering only one of these manga have finished so far, but you do see this come to fruition when the storylines converge in BB & MTC+ and FP & M+, which is why I chose it. The anime-only characters from Rhyme Anima might need to be either ignored or assimilated into the wider canon to handle this, though.

This one can be easily sold to all the people who liked Rhyme Anima, but it, like many sequels, has the problem of causing Sequel Lockout (warning: TV Tropes link).

6. Show-ha Shouten! (40%)

[Available via Viz]

Comedy is hard to pull off and explaining it in a Bakuman-style manner is bound to put some non-fans off. However, proving everyone wrong when your back is against the wall is the exact essence behind Show-ha Shouten. If nothing else, the series can ride on the back of its star illustrator, who, true to form, also worked on Bakuman itself.

It’s still early days for this manga, so it’s a bit hard to call it as it is right now, but I’d like to see that wave of laughter happening with sound and colour.

5. Wandance (45%)

[Available via Kodansha USA soon]

Wandance has this beautiful sense of motion which would really fit the small screen with the right character designs. It’s an awfully grounded story where you can really get into the characters’ heads about how they tick. Its dance battle formula makes it “shonen”, but its manga magazine makes it seinen, while as it stands as of this post, the entire thing can be interpreted as platonic or romantic between Hikari and Kaboku, which is important, even for a shoujo/josei audience…it would be kind of troublesome to get all the rights for all those songs that shaped the manga, though…

It turns out I stuffed up on the chapter numbers a while back and the number of chapters the series currently has is in the 30s as of writing this post (because the chapters are all in parts). However, the chapters are quite long and several of them can be condensed into “battle arcs”, so I think it is doable. The forthcoming English release, as of this post, also hampers its chances some.

4. Codename: Sailor V (50%)

[Available via Kodansha]

With Sailor Moon‘s 30th anniversary happening right now (as of this post), it’s a good time to get even more fans into that world. What hasn’t been properly adapted yet? Minako’s time as Sailor V.

That said, Sailor Venus already has her part in the greater Sailor Moon canon, so it could be seen as redundant…?

3. Dandadan (60%)

[Available via Viz and Manga Plus]

Considering the huge success of My Dress-Up Darling this season, another wacky romance with ecchi elements won’t hurt anyone. However, Dandadan‘s big selling point is having everything and the kitchen sink – aliens, espers, love triangles…if someone could cram as much detail into every frame that they could, like Rie Matsumoto, I think it would do wonders.

This manga’s only at about 50 chapters at the moment – 41, since I just checked it for you – and it might be a bit niche because of its extra-ness. Furthermore, it doesn’t have a print release in English just yet, which hampers its chances by a long shot.

2. ‘Tis Time for “Torture”, Princess (75%)

[Available via Manga Plus]

From the person who created Senyuu is this comedy much in the vein of Maou-jou de Oyasumi. If you think Anya from Spy x Family is cute, wait ’til you see Mao-chan…! The Princess herself has some great face game, like Anya does, too.

It’s gone past 100 chapters as of writing this post and it’s still being as great as it was when I first discovered and binged it. However, it is a digital-only series right now, which stops it from reaching greater heights in the percentage department.

1. Kaiju No. 8 (80%)

[Available via Viz and Manga Plus]

This manga is tearing up the manga world by storm right now, I like it…heck, even France likes it. It could really be the next Demon Slayer, but also usher in an age of older protagonists as well. (Hey, as I get on in years myself, I want to see more protagonists who work full-time jobs or more protagonists struggling through uni like I did, okay?)

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A lot can change in a few years, as can happen with the Jump family of manga, which is where the vast majority of these manga come from. This time for non-Viz manga, I tried to focus on Kodansha manga, since they feature heavily in the upcoming Manga March.

Remember, the percentages are all made based on my best guess, so none of them will approach 100% until the announcement itself is made.