With Animax arriving on the Playstation platform, we look at how Anime has influenced some of the most beloved video games of all-time.
The fates of anime and video games have long been intertwined. Both beloved by a similar fanbase, the two industries have continued to influence each other for decades. Sharing bright visuals, beautiful characters, and placing the emphasis very much on action, it is little wonder that countless animes have been adapted as videogames, and vice-versa. Forever aesthetically tied, they share neighbouring spheres in modern popular culture – and boy, these neighbours are nosy. Nearly every time you switch on your console you’re playing something that somewhere along the line has been directly inspired by anime.
The arrival of the Nintendo Entertainment System to North America in 1985 introduced millions of young Americans, bred on a wholesome diet of Cola and cartoons, to the overblown world of Japanese anime. Swiftly the patented visual characteristics (wide-eyed, big haired – you know the drill) of animator extraordinaire Osamu Tezuka and his followers popular in Japan since the 60s, found their way into college dorm rooms across the United States. Japanese-made classics such as Super Mario Bros and The Legend of Zelda brought an unfamiliar style across the Pacific Ocean, and soon had American videogame fans seeking out the shows that may have inspired them.
Since then the exchange of ideas has been incessant. From Akira to Evangelion; Black Belt to Bleach, game developers have long called on animation for inspiration, and even if shows have not been wholly adapted, their influence on the world of gaming and its developers are clear. The 3 M’s: Mecha, magic, and monsters – all long-term anime hallmarks are now an established part of the modern gaming handbook. Indeed, many companies have employed respected figures from the anime industry to give their products the additional kick they need – Cowboy Bebop writer Keiko Nobumoto’s fiendish fingerprints can be found all over the terrific original Kingdom Hearts; and the equally-esteemed animator Yoshinori Kanada leant a hand to Square Enix and the Final Fantasy series.
And it was only inevitable that the exchange would go both ways. Anime artists have called upon established videogame franchises, taking advantage of their in-built fanbases and pre-existing plots, to advance the story and build-out the universe. The likes of Salamander OVA; Shin Megami Tensei: Persona; and Digimon were all given the anime-treatment with great success. The most famous example of course is Pokemon – the story of Ash Ketchum (or Satoshi in the homeland) and his ‘Pocket Monsters’ being transformed into a turn of the millennium global anime phenomenon that threatened to bury cities in playing cards and Pikachu backpacks.
And so, with the arrival of ANIMAX, the UK’s ultimate anime destination, on the PlayStation platform, we’re taking the opportunity to look at the greatest Anime-Video game crossovers. Let’s hope game developers are watching too – it’s about time the likes of Berserk and Black Lagoon got video game adaptations of their own…
1. Metal Gear Solid
Hideo Kojima’s debt to anime began early with the underrated Policenauts, showcasing all sorts of genre tropes. And while Metal Gear Solid took a different direction, wearing its influences from Western cinema proudly on its sleeve (Snake was designed apparently with the body of Van Damme and the face of Christopher Walken), Kojima can’t help but consistently come back to his anime roots – note the use of mecha; the guns of Vulcan Raven; and even Raiden’s flowing locks.
2. Date A Live
First introduced to the world as a Japanese light novel series, Keitaro Motonaga directed the anime adaptation of Date A Live, first aired in April 2013. Enthusiasts were hooked by the plight of Shido Itsuka and his mission to save the world from “spacequake” destruction at the hands of the Sprits. This, the high school rom-com of anime, has fast become a widespread sensation. It was a mere matter of months before it was adapted for PS3 in June 2013 as the Date A Live: Rinne Utopia video game.
And fans have more to look forward to as the hotly-tipped Date A Live: Arusu Install is set for a summer release launching on Playstation 3 in Japan later this year.
3. Black Belt
Almost unrecognizable from its original form, button-bashing Sega Master System fighter Black Belt none-the-less originated from anime. Hukuto No Ken (Fist of The North Star) was a wildly popular manga-turned-anime that was picked up by the videogame developers and eventually released in the West under the hugely uninspired moniker, Black Belt. The gory anime was a perfect fit for 80s gamers who wondered if they could knock Wang’s head off.
4. Street Fighter
Capcom’s Street Fighter dominated the gaming industry in the early 90s, and it was only natural that the colourfully bloody adventures of Ken and Ryu would soon need an anime adaptation. What makes Street Fighter unique is the sheer number of adaptations that would ensue, though the successful Japanese anime shows and movies would out-perform their American counterparts commercially and critically.
5. Final Fantasy
Yoshinori Kanada, one of Japan’s truly great animators, made the switch over to the game industry in 1998 when he joined the pioneering team at Square Enix. Working for the company on a number of projects right up to his death in 2009, Kanada dictated the stunning CG cutscenes and storyboards of the wildly-successful Final Fantasy franchise – ensuring lush anime-inspired visuals like the above were enjoyed by millions.
6. Pokemon
Who would have thought that Satoshi Tajiri’s humble Game Boy game Pocket Monsters, based around his slightly nerdy childhood hobby of insect collecting, would become one of the most lucrative franchises on the market and a true global phenomenon? Alongside the videogame and the masses of cards that littered school playgrounds, it was the hugely popular anime, both here in the West and in Japan, which gave the franchise a face in the form of unsupervised budding Pokemaster Ash Ketchum, and elevated electric fur ball Pikachu to the A-List. Almost 20 years later it’s as iconic as ever.
7. Persona 4
It was no surprise that the wildly popular Persona RPGs was given the anime treatment. The bonkers tale of schoolchildren entangled in a delicious world of supernatural murder; giant alter ego ‘personas’; and a very meta alternative dimension located in their television sets was ripe for a series. The mutually beneficial anime/videogame relationship advanced a further step when the series’ visuals were faithfully re-adopted in the brilliant 2D fighter spin-off Persona 4 Arena.
It’s an exciting time for the franchise, with Persona 4 Arena Ultimax and Persona 4 Q appearing later this year, and Persona 5 expected in 2015.
ANIMAX has now launched on PlayStation 3! Catch Persona 4, Date A Live and Street Fighter II on the platform today.
Sign up at http://www.animaxtv.co.uk/ for a free 2 week trial, then simply download the PlayStation app and dive into a stunning world of HD anime on your television sets.
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