As Naruto live-action film is greenlit, these are the other popular animes we’d like to see on the big screen

Naruto’s live action film has finally seen the green light to move on with casting and production, thanks to Lionsgate for assigning renowned screen writer Tasha Huo to compose its script. This positive news, along with One Piece’s resounding success with hundreds of millions of streaming hours has heralded the dawn of properly executed live action projects. Here are five classic animes, whose live action adaptations we’d love to see on the silver screen soon.

Monster

This 74-episode anime series was first broadcast in 2004. Weaving a fascinating tale of a skilled neurosurgeon’s pursuit after a serial killer, Masayuki Kojima and Masahiko Osaya tell a compelling tale of what happens when a ‘saved’ person starts terrorizing his savior. The amount of drama, emotional conflict, and thrill this anime carries is enough to get the most detached viewer hooked onto its live-action film.

Rosario+ Vampire

This Japanese manga, written and illustrated by Akihisa Ikeda, was first serialized in the Monthly Shonen Jump magazine from 2004 to 2007. This anime tells the story of a human boy, Tsukune, who accidentally takes admission in a private school, due to failing grades, only to discover it being a secret school for monsters. His survival and acceptance at the supernatural school, pairing with resolving daily conflicts and saving the school when needed, makes it a binge-worthy manga that deserves multiple live-action adaptations.

Ghost Stories

Ghost Stories, also known as Ghosts at School, is a classic Japanese anime that had aired on TV from 2000 to 2001, though it was published as early as 1990 onward. The series takes a unique approach to the threat of hyper urbanization and traces the story of Satsuki and her friends, as they struggle to contain angry ghosts that had erstwhile been sealed by Satsuki’s mother (but were now being let out due to urbanization and demolition of old buildings). Following a book that the protagonist’s mother had left behind, detailing how to exorcise each ghost, the children have daily adventures at night as they protect their town from being terrorized.

Fruits Basket

This Japanese manga is a poignant and emotional one, tracing the story of Tohru Honda, who yearns to help the Sohma family, as 13 of them are cursed to be possessed by and turn into the animals of Chinese zodiac. Whenever these members are weak, stressed, or embraced by someone of the opposite gender who is not possessed by a zodiac animal, they turn. A live action film of Fruits Basket would perfectly showcase the beauty and sincerity of Tohru as she helps heal their emotional wounds, in turn finding a place among them.

Psycho Pass

Though this cyberpunk anime has been adapted numerous times for TV and the big screen, none were live action. Psycho Pass paints a futuristic Japan where a biomechatronic computer named Sibyl System, rules the roost, by analyzing every person’s brain for criminal potential. Those with a higher potential than the prescribed limit must be arrested or killed. The problem arises when the protagonist Akane Tsunemori and Enforcer Shinya Kogami come across a criminal mastermind, Shogo Makishima who is ‘asymptomatic,’ or has a low crime co-efficient and is safe from Sibyl System’s control, despite committing heinous crimes.