Even the most popular anime couldn’t exist without its original manga. Therefore, studios wanting to create a classic anime should be fans of the primary series. This appreciation is apparent through their interactions with the manga’s initial creator, proper characterization and designs, even down to the anime’s tone. Ultimately, there are several signature signs that the manga’s fans are behind a particular anime adaption.

10

A Successful Anime Has Engaging and Thoughtful Episode Titles

An Enthusiastic Studio Understands How to Title Episodes Correctly

While it may seem insignificant, episode titles can heavily affect how an anime is perceived. Episode titles are key to establishing anticipation among the audience. Good titles will tease enough about the episode to get fans excited without spoiling anything important. One amazing example of this is the first episode where Goku goes Super Saiyan in Dragon Ball Z. The episode is called “Transformed at Last”, which is not enough to give any of its content away but gives fans a reason to tune in.

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A good episode title can also affect the anime’s viewership. Careless titles cause the audience to become disinterested. Studios genuinely concerned with their series’ performance should create engaging titles that reflect the theme of the manga. Anime producers who are already fans of the source material will find little issue doing this. This is also a great opportunity to get creative, with Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood’s first episode, “To Challenge the Sun”, being a good example.

9

Careful Anime Creators Listen to Their Target Audience

An Adaption’s Success Can Be Effected By Its Reaction to Criticism

An anime’s success is ultimately determined by its target audience. There have been several instances where a studio has changed an anime’s ending to pander to their enraged audience. Although uncommon, creators usually do this to amend egregious changes to the source material or to amend large amounts of fan criticism. However, sometimes these changes cannot be added to the anime and are fixed later in the franchise. The End of Evangelion beautifully shows this as it attempts to fix the rushed ending of the original series.

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While an audience shouldn’t have a large effect on the anime, it should show the creator if there are any major issues. If the team behind the anime truly appreciates the source material, they will understand where the fans are coming from and work to make their dreams a reality. That being said, any project with overly large fan involvement is doomed to fail. It’s nearly impossible to get a large group of people to agree on one thing conclusively.

8

Anime Adaptions With Good Intentions Always Heavily Involve the Original Creator

Dragon Ball Super’s Toyotarou Began As a Fan of Akira Toriyama And Consistently Sought His Guidance

An anime is more likely to be successful if it features involvement from the original manga author. This is a surefire way to ensure the anime stays true to the feeling of the manga. While it is not a direct correlation, adaptions with creator involvement are much more likely to be successful. A recent example of this relationship is Dragon Ball Super’s Toyotarou’s relationship with the original creator, Akira Toriyama. Toyotarou consulted with Toriyama to ensure each of his character designs was to his standard.

Dragon Ball Super has some minor issues, but character design is not one of them. It’s clear that Akira Toriayama’s involvement in the anime only benefited the series. That being said, Toyotarou might not have worked so hard with his mentor if he didn’t have a deep respect for him. Their relationship is a large part of what made the sequel so successful. Toyotarou was even selected to take over the Dragon Ball Super manga because of his original fan series.

7

Anime Creators That Care About Their Series Put Thought into Their Filler

Fillers That Don’t Consider the Source Material at all Push Fans Away

Unfortunately, because of the constraints of anime adaption, filler is one of the several downsides of the anime medium. Fillers are episodes or arcs that are not considered part of the overall canon. Yet, they can sometimes be necessary if the anime catches up to the manga because of conflicting release schedules. It is necessary for the anime showrunners to deeply understand the manga. This knowledge ensures that anime fillers stay true to the characters and their world.

Certain anime fillers have even become fan favorites, like One Piece’s G-8 saga. This appreciation largely comes from the fact that some fans don’t even realize the saga is filler. The creators of the One Piece anime comprehend the source material to where they can create faithful original additions to the franchise. An appreciation like this can only come from fans.

6

A Quality Adaption Should Faithfully Or Intuitively Adapt the Manga’s Art Style

The Anime Team Behind One Punch Man Brilliantly Brings the Manga to Life

Since manga has no motion, it can be difficult for an anime to decide how to bring the series to life. More often than not, fans of the manga will make the correct choice and try to develop the art style as faithfully as possible. A great example of this is the One Punch Man anime adaptation​​​​. One Punch Man dutifully recreates the anime and web series’ original style while adding beautiful cinematic moments.

There is a large difference between the animation quality and the art style. An anime can have high-quality animation but be disliked because of its unfaithfulness to the source material. A faithful and thoughtful anime adaption enhances the original art style for the silver screen. Instead of trying to be overtly unique, a successful anime works to be an accurate part of the highly acclaimed franchise.

5

Anime Creators That Care About Their Adaptions Don’t Overuse Filler

Smart Show Runners Only Use Filler When Necessary

Anime creators who are actual fans of the manga attempt to use filler as sparsely as possible. Because of their understanding of the source material, they know its overall schedule and can plan the anime accordingly. The creators behind the 90s shonen anime Saint Seiya understood this beautifully. That is why there is so little filler in the anime and the instances where it occurs, like the fan-favorite Asgard arc, are quite popular.

Filler is an inescapable negative part of an anime. Yet, knowledgeable producers use superior pacing to only use this narrative device as sparsely as possible. Without knowledge of the manga’s schedule, an anime can become prone to filler or divert in a completely different direction. This redirection is seen in the less popular original Fullmetal Alchemist anime.

4

The Best Anime Adaptations Pay Close Attention to Pacing

Bad Pacing Can Make or Break an Anime’s Popularity

Pacing refers to the speed at which the story and the events within a story unfold. Since anime has an episodic time constraint, there can sometimes be issues with how an anime converts the manga. To avoid filler, an anime can sometimes stretch the time it takes for the protagonists to complete their tasks. This decision is almost universally as unpopular as filler.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood had the benefit of coming out after the manga had officially ended. It worked to amend many fans’ issues with the original anime. This meant having accurate pacing that allowed fans to be compelled in its entirety. This adaption is largely considered one of the greatest shonen remakes in history. The creators used their deep compassion for the manga to bring their adaption the success the franchise has deserved.

3

Quality Voice Acting Is One of the Most Important Factors for an Anime

No Amount of Quality Animation Can Fix Poor Narration

Voice acting is equally important as animation for bringing a manga’s characters to life. Therefore, showrunners who want their anime to be successful rely on quality talent like Hiroshi Kamiya. His dedication to his roles has elevated many already amazing anime to fan-favorite status, like Attack on Titan​​​​​. His role as Levi is more than partially responsible for rocketing the anime to worldwide stardom.

Voice acting isn’t everything, but it works in tandem with the other anime factors to make a classic series. So many studios choose to use talented voice actors like Hiroshi Kamiya or Mayumi Tanaka. These professionals have become household names and their popularity transcends to the anime they star in. Several producers have admitted to reading the manga with a certain actor already in mind.

2

A Good Anime Will Stay Completely True to The Characters

Needlessly Changing Established Characters Can Ruin an Adaption

One way to ensure that an anime will at least be well received is to be true to the characters. However, this is easy to do for producers who are already fans of the manga. As fans of the franchise, they already have a rich understanding of the characters and can develop these ideas with more nuance than usually demonstrated by normal producers.

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The My Hero Academia anime understands its characters so well that it expands on them in meaningful ways. This is one of the main reasons it has become one of the most popular anime of the modern day. This appreciation is due to the showrunners’ beautiful understanding of the manga’s complex character quirks.

1

A Quality Production Studio Will Show Proper Respect to the Original Manga

An Anime Should Only Enhance The Franchise

Ultimately, an anime would not exist without its manga predecessors. Therefore, to be successful, an anime should show the source material the proper appreciation. Many producers who are already fans of the series show this respect consistently throughout their adaption wherever possible. Attack on Titan is often considered one of the most faithful anime adaptions.

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There is no wonder why Attack on Titan has some of the most popular episodes. Another great example of a thoughtful and respectful adaption is Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba. This respect has caused some anime to become some of the most popular in the modern day. Their respect shines through their efforts to make a successful and thoughtful addition to their respective franchise.