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It's been fourteen years since Puella Magi Madoka Magicachanged the world of anime forever, and even though re-watching the anime series is never a bad idea, the anime director Akiyuki Shinbo has decided that the time has come to take on another project that is as exciting or maybe even better than Madoka. He singled out three titles that he's kept his eye on for adaptations: Android Kikaider, Guerrilla High and Babel II.

Originally released in 2011, Puella Magi Madoka Magica was a brilliant deconstruction of the magical girl anime genre, capturing the attention of audiences worldwide. The series has since expanded into sequels and an ongoing movie franchise. Meanwhile, key creative figures behind the show, including director Akiyuki Shinbo—also known for The SoulTaker—are reportedly exploring new projects, hinting at future creative endeavors beyond Madoka Magica.

Recently, Akiyuki Shinbo revealed that he’d like to adapt a long-running manga, possibly as a two-cour or year-long broadcast. He also named several manga he’d like to adapt one day. These titles, though relatively obscure in the West, were beloved by Japanese children in the 1960s and 1970s: Android Kikaider by Shotaro Ishinomori, Guerrilla High – Gakuen Taikutsu Otoko by Go Nagai, and Babel II by Mitsuteru Yokoyama.

Android Kikaider: A Cybernetic Classic Guerrilla High: The Forgotten Rebel Manga

Of the three titles Shinbo mentioned,...

Discotek Media announced a new slate of licenses at their Discotek Media Industry Extravaganza panel at Otakon 2024 today, including new releases of MxC: Most Extreme Elimination Challenge (the recut series of Takeshi's Castle which aired on Tnn/Spike TV), Gto: Great Teacher Onizuka , the live-action Ouran High School Host Club movie and more. Announcements made during the panel and stream are in alphabetical order. Android Kikaider : 43-episode Blu-ray release of the tokusatsu series in Japanese with English subtitles. Extras include a Daisuke Ban interview, vintage Hawaii stage event and retrospective video. Scheduled to release in 2024. Captain Harlock: Space Pirate : 42 episode Blu-ray release in upscaled 1080p of Leiji Matsumoto's classic series in Japanese with English subtitles. Scheduled to release in September 2024. Chie the Brat 2nd TV Series : First US release of the second Chie the Brat TV series, featuring all 39 episodes on Sd-bd in Japanese with English subtitles.

Anime has always been a home for adaptations, with many of the earliest anime shows and movies adapting popular manga, folk tales, and novels. This tradition hasn't slowed down with time, with a good chunk of each new anime season being made up of adaptations of popular manga series. But it isn't just manga, anime's inherent flexibility as a medium means that many beloved stories from other mediums have received anime adaptations.

However, many of these anime adaptations have been forgotten. There can be many reasons for this. Sometimes a show is rejected by viewers, who opt to push the show out of their memory and never talk about it. Sometimes, an adaption only has a limited release or is released unusually, meaning many viewers never hear about it. Or, often, the simple passage of time leads to an adaption fading from the public consciousness.

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