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One recent topic I posted in:
> Recommendations, Suggestions & Identification > Looking for Anime dealing with far future galactic civilizationsAnd another from a few months back:
> General Discussions > What is the first book that you read?got me to revisiting an old fantasy of mine that I've entertained for many, many years now.
Imagine that you had enough money to fund your own anime project(s). Millions in your budget, you can pitch your project to any anime house you wish, the best artists from all over the world, try to hire the best soundtrack artists, licensing from the original author not an issue, you don't care if the anime is successful so long as it turns out the way you like it, can be done as a movie or series, etc.
What are your
favorite hard science fiction stories that you would love to see turned into an anime ..? Not interested in zombies or horror (although
Alien or
Predator might be fair game). But, maybe focus on stuff with really unique story elements that are pretty uncommon in anime, or even Hollywood movies.
The story does not have to be a novel. It can be a short, or a graphic novel/comic/webcomic, or a movie version you prefer over a written version, etc. Even a video game (
Halo comes to mind).
I could list 100 or more. I'll skip over some obvious big titles (
Dune,
Brave New World,
1984,
Blade Runner,
The 5th Element, etc.) in favor of lessor known works that haven't been brought to the screen yet.
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Soundtrack:
I'd want to start with the artists that created the soundtracks for
NOIR,
Vexille,
Fairy Tail,
Cowboy Bebop,
Earth Girl Arjuna. In particular I'd want
Yoko Kanno and the Seatbelts. All incredible soundtracks, and I'd certainly add to the list .. but this would be a Good Start.
_______
Animation style:
I'd want to go with a more serious and semi-realistic style like in
Ghost in the Shell,
Wings of Honneamise,
Wonderful Days,
Paprika,
Time of Eve,
Pale Cocoon,
Technotise,
Mushishi,
Texhnolyze etc.
The extra CGI in
Ghost in the Shell 2.0 left me slightly cold, although it has potential if used properly. Time of Eve & Technotise actually go a bit too far in some ways, but are still excellent possibilities.
Appleseed and
Oblivion Island, for examples, just come off as a bit creepy, at least for what I want to do here. Something that definitely has a cell animation feel, but with deep, rich detail.
I love the classic anime features, but want them toned down a bit ... eyes should come closer to normal size rather than giant dinner plates, breasts should be realistic, faces have a bit more detail than less, and fuck the insane hair styles that never change no matter how wet or sweaty a character gets. Definitely want a solid touch of realism, including a ban on superdeformed and slapstick comedy.
_______
The stories:
1)My top three start with
David Brin's Uplift Universe. If you've not read them, I suggest starting with either
The Uplift War or Startide Rising. They're the most digestible and, if you like them, there are half a dozen more titles to fill it out, some better than others (the
Heaven's Reach trilogy in particular).
What I'd want to accomplish with these is to create a universe of characters that are, in large part, aliens with in-depth insight into alien culture & thinking. I think that most sci fi anime does not do a very good job of depicting a wide variety of alien designs (bodies & technology) and cultures. Ideally, I'd want to create an anime of at least 52 episodes plus half a dozen or so OVAs that tell the combined stories of
The Uplift War and Startide Rising in parallel.
It's a big project, so it might even have to be expanded to 78 episodes to really take the time and tell it in full. Each episode would focus on one of the stories, but switch over to the other for the last five minutes as a lead-in to the next episode and keep alternating.
As a bonus, there is an entire unwritten story that is implied in these books. One of the human-colonized worlds being assaulted & held hostage is a water/ocean world where dolphins are being uplifted into sentience. The majority culture on that planet is supposed to be Asian, and Japanese in particular. I'd love to get part of that story included since some really juicy ideas are hinted at but never really discussed in these other two books.
2)The next I'd like to take on would be at least one
Frank Herbert story, and there are several to choose from that I think would be even better than the
Dune universe. The two that would be at the top of my cut are
The Jesus Incident (written with Bill Ransom) and
The Dosadi Experiment. Both are heavily weird, hard-hitting and highly cerebral works. Either of these could be a stand-alone series of maybe 26 or 48 episodes, but each is also the second book in their respective universes. The others are not as good, but do have some critical points to make, so there's room to expand.
Beyond those, Herbert had a half-dozen more that would be mind-blowing anime.
The Dragon in the Sea (alt title
Under Pressure),
Soul Catcher, and
The God makers would all be on my "to do" list.
Soul Catcher in particular would be really amazing, maybe a short 26 or 36 episode story, much more mystical and non-science fiction than any other title I've listed, mainly because I'm sneaking a plug in for one amazing story by an amazing author that doesn't fit into most categories easily.
3)Then another author with an incredible list of top-level sci fi:
C. J. Cherryh.
Her bibliography is overwhelming with potential titles.
For a huge, epic series that would also go about 52 or 78 episodes, the entire
House Chanur series of five novels. The first book is fairly short and might be done in 3 OVAs (or so). It's followed by three books originally intended to be one long story, and it would be maybe a 48 or 52 episode series. Following that is a longish, separate story that revisits some well-loved friends from the previous stories while adding some fantastic insight into the several alien cultures of this universe.
Fundamentally, these are action-packed, humorous and have great aliens, including a take on cat women that are anything but
neko-chan fluffies. You'd lose your ears to one of them in a heartbeat if you even had the thought ... they are some bad-ass, tough-chick spacer girls.
Beyond those, C. J. Cherryh has quite a number of obscure titles that really just need to see the light of day. For anime adaptations, I think that
Voyager in Night would make a stunning movie, something ground-breaking on the level of
Ghost in the Shell.
But, her
Era of Rapprochement novels (which are all great) include two gems in particular:
Serpent's Reach and
Cyteen. This entire series would be nearly impossible to adapt to any movie format, anime included. But, the sheer challenge of trying would yield some pretty amazing stuff.
4)I give honorable mention to
Larry Niven, whose entire
Known Space universe is a rollicking joyride of fun and brain candy. There is, of course, the
Ringworld, which would be really amazing, especially if
The Ringworld Engineers was included. But, to go a bit non-mainstream, I have a particular love for
Protector, several of his related short stories on Protectors and the Ringworld (especially Pierson's Puppeteers, FTW), and
The Mote in God's Eye (written with Jerry Pournelle).
The Flying Sorcerers (written with David Gerrold) is a pretty hysterical novel filled with inside sci fi community jokes & bad puns. There's a whole series of stories in his
The Magic Goes Away universe, which would make an amazing series of (10 or 12?) OVAs on a sort of alternate / deep pre-history of our world. Also humorous, but filled with cautionary tales on resource depletion.
OKay, so I could go on for about another 100 pages on this topic, but these are my offerings. It's actually a bit of a sleazy way to see what recommendations anyone else might put forward for some exciting, hard core science fiction.
All of these stories are pretty essential reading to a serious science fiction fan, but these are the ones I'd love to be able to turn into top-quality anime.
Y'know ... if I should win the $200,000,000 lottery in my lifetime or something like.
