Fortiche Studio, the animation group behind Netflix's Arcane, has revealed which manga series it'd love to take a stab at adapting.
In a new interview with anime streamer Crunchyroll, co-founder Pascal Charrue pinpointed Naoki Urasawa's works or, more specifically, Takehiko Inoue's Vagabond, which centers on Japanese swordsman Musashi Miyamoto, when asked which manga they'd love to develop for the small screen. "It's a masterpiece with incredible depth and stunning artwork that would be fascinating to bring to life," he said of the series, which is based on a novel by Eiji Yoshikawa.
"When considering manga to adapt, it's essential to find those that genuinely benefit from being animated," Charrue went on. "Often, I find myself disappointed with some adaptations due to the simple fact that the pacing of a manga, which you control as a reader, doesn't always translate well to animation."
Elsewhere in the lengthy chat, Charrue said that while Fortiche is not really looking to develop new takes on existing material, he was a big fan of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, too, and sees how it'd match up to the studio's signature storytelling.
"I must admit, I don't watch as much anime as I used to due to time constraints, but the last one that really caught my attention was Cyberpunk: Edgerunners by Hiroyuki Imaishi at Studio Trigger," Charrue continued. "I initially watched it out of curiosity because it's also an adaptation of a video game. Even though it's quite different from Arcane, they managed to successfully incorporate emotion into the story, which is something we always aim to achieve in our own work."
Released in September 2022, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners serves as a prequel to the Mike Pondsmith's similarly named tabletop role-playing game, and takes place about a year before the events of Cyberpunk 2077. Created by Rafal Jaki, it follows David Martinez/Deibiddo Marutinesu, after a terrible tragedy forces him to drop out of school and sets out to become a mercenary outlaw, otherwise known as "an edgerunner".
For now, Fortiche is gearing up to release the second season of Arcane, which'll see sparring sisters Jinx (Ella Purnell) and Vi (Hailee Steinfeld) continue to navigate the unfolding war between the residents of wealthy city Piltover and its struggling underbelly Zaun.
While a specific premiere date has yet to be announced, Netflix has confirmed the show will return sometime in November. For more, check out our guide to the best Netflix shows for some viewing inspiration.
