Summary

• Berserk's gruesome content doesn't transition well to animation due to its detailed art and triggering themes.
• Oyasumi Punpun's bleak storyline and realistic art style make it difficult for a proper adaptation.
• Yotsuba&!, Junji Ito's works, and 20th Century Boys face adaptation challenges due to licensing, author wishes, and horrifying content.

For most stories, getting an adaptation is a moment of joy for both the creator and the fans. Who wouldn't want to see their favorite characters and their favorite scenes come to life as an anime wi♌th fluid animation, voice acting, and a soundtrack to make each sꦓcene hit harder?

Well, sometimes, it's better to leave stories in their original medium. This may be because of censorship concerns when publicizing a series for TV, or because of the author's own wishes. At times, even the sheer beauty of the original art can make fans wary of an adaptation butchering it. Among the v𝔉arious incredible pieces of art out there, here are 7 Manga we believe should not get an adaptation.

7 Berserk

Content Too Gruesome

Berserk did have multiple adaptations, but none of them succeeded in providing a truthful look into 𓂃the gruesome world of Kentaro Miura's dark fantasy Manga, Berserk. There are plenty of reasons why these failed, and why any good future adaptation is unlikely as well.

First and most obviously, Mirua's art is not very fitting for an anime. The strong shadows and ext♑remely detailed pages have trouble being translated into animation. The actual content of the story isn't fit for TV either, ha🎉ving all kinds of triggers that might not sit well with the general audience. You could always censor and remove these, but doing so would take away what makes Berserk hit so hard.

6 🅘 Oyasumi Punpun

Pain And Suffering

Oyasumi Punpun is a manga that depicts the horrors of human life in a less than subtle manner. The protagonist, Punpun, is drawn as a simplistic doodle o♋f a bird. The reason this manga will never receive a proper adaptation is ⛎similar to Berserk's reasons.

Inio Asano's art seems more like it belongs in a graphic novel than a Manga. Inst🅘ead of the simplistic cutesy char🍎acters typically expected from manga and anime, each character is drawn in a very eerily realistic manner. The backgrounds are a treat for the eye as well. Apart from the art just being too good to be adapted, it also works better in static panels.

Also, like Berserk, there's an issue of content, albeit in a very dif♏ferent way. Instead of having gruesome, over-the top-graphic violence (though Punpun has hints of that as well), Punpun's story is extremely disheartening and depressive, which isn't something most casual ꩵwatchers would enjoy.

5 Yotsuba&! ༒🔥

Author Is Against An Adaptation

Yotsuba&!, like its name, is an oddball on this list. Instead of being dark and edgy, it's a story about Yotsuba, the titular character, living her daily life. It's a lightheꦇarted slice-of-life manga💞 with very wholesome comedy.

The reason this Manga should not, and likely would not, ever be adapted is due to the author's wishes. Kiyohiko Azuma has expressly stated that he does not wish for Yotsuba&! to be adapted. This may be due to his dissatisfaction with the adaptation that his other best-selling series, Azumanga Daiyoh, got, but the actual reason remai🍸ns unknown.

4 Junji Ito's Works

Art Too Horrifying To Adapt

Junji Ito is undoubtedly one of the greatest horror mangaka of all time, as well as the♛ most popular one. Still, most people who primarily watch anime might not be🌺 appreciative of his talents. This is because, like Berserk, the adaptations his works got were less than ideal.

With Junji Ito, the reason is very clear. His horrifying art style does not work well with how anime is traditionally presented. The sheer dread that you get from turning a page is absent. However, Netflix's Uzumaki seems to be a better adaptation than most expected from th🐼e trailers.

This adaptation is keeping Ito's original art style, as well as a🌼 monochromatic color palette to make the show look more like an animated Manga than an Anime series.

3 20th Century Boys ♋

Licensing Issues

20th Century Boys follows a group of kids growing up to fight "Friend," a faceless mastermind manipulating thꦡe world from the shadows. It's similar in nature to Naoki Urasawa's other critically acclaimed work, Monster.

Monster itself had a difficult time getting adapted,♉ as Urasawa has a very hands-on approach to his adaptations. However, where Monster did not face a problem is with copyright laws. Put simply, the manga goes deep into nostalgia, with its title itself being inspired by 20th Century Boy by T. Re𒆙x.

An 𝓰adaptation could certainly switch the songs out for other൲s, but replacing the titular song would not sit well with fans of the series.

2 ൩ 𝓀Fire Punch

Taboos And Censorship

Most Manga on this list are incredibly edgy, and Fire Punch might take the crown for being the edgiest. Like its successor, Chainsaw Man, Fire Punch does n💦ot shy away from the cruelties of its world. Every taboo is not only shown, but emphasized. Even in the starting chapters alone, things happen that cannot be put on a TV screen.

Stꩲudio Mappa has stated that they'll adapt every single one of Fujimoto's works, including Fire Punch. Whether it'll be through a private streaming service such as Netflix, or it goes the heavy censoring route, it'd be a very difficult series to breathe life into.

1 ☂ I Am a Hero ✅

Better Fit For Cinema

There's a lot of zombie media out there, including tons of manga depicting the horrors of a zombie apocalypse. However, if you ask any seasoned fan of the medium, they'd claim I Am a Hero to be the best zombie manga of all time. It's won plenty of awards, yet it's never gotten close to getting a ✱much-deserved Anime adaptation.

The reason for that, ♑like with many other entries here, is the art. Kengo Hanazawa opts for a more realistic art style when compared with traditional mangaka, and it fits his world perfectly. However, an Anime adaptation might need to use CGI to get the same aesthetic flowing, which isn't something that always goes well. Another problem is with the dialogue.

I Am a Hero has panels upon panels without a single word of text. This works fine with manga, but might no🎀t translate well to an animated medium.