Fire Emblem anime?

[Cute Chao]

3 hours ago, Dandy Druid said:

Wasn't there a FE manga that wasn't based off of a game? That seems like the safest bet, since it's easier to translate manga into anime than a videogame into manga. Plus, that manga isn't as well known/popular, so you're likely to not upset as many fans if any changes were made. But then we would need to question if it will get enough attention then.

There have been several - FE1 got one for sure, FE6 got a sort of spin off one and FE4 definitely got one, too - one for each gen (maybe two since I remember two different styles). My favourite was FE1 :D

[Dandy Druid]

10 hours ago, Cute Chao said:

There have been several - FE1 got one for sure, FE6 got a sort of spin off one and FE4 definitely got one, too - one for each gen (maybe two since I remember two different styles). My favourite was FE1 :D

No I mean there's a manga out there with Fire Emblem in the title, but the characters and story were never in a game. It has all the archetypes and niches Fire Emblem has though. It may be on the FE wikis. I can't remember the name of it though.

[Cute Chao]

2 hours ago, Dandy Druid said:

No I mean there's a manga out there with Fire Emblem in the title, but the characters and story were never in a game. It has all the archetypes and niches Fire Emblem has though. It may be on the FE wikis. I can't remember the name of it though.

Ooooh, sorry lol. The one that comes to mind for me was the FE6 one. It did sort of follow FE6 and had some of the characters in, but they were mostly away. It mostly followed some kid named Al. I didn't particularly like it, personally, but that might be the one? Had mostly new characters and mostly ignored the existing (Hasha no Tsurugi is its name).

If that's not the one, I hope you can remember the name. I'd love to read it :D 

[Junkhead]

On 20/3/2017 at 6:29 AM, phineas81707 said:

All you need is a romance arc. And I'm pretty sure you could fudge an Alfonse/Anna or a Sharena/Zacharias if you were desparate enough.

Alfonse/Anna. 

Desperate it is.

[bethany81707]

1 minute ago, Soul~! said:

Alfonse/Anna. 

Desperate it is.

...Both options were meant to be ones to be taken only if you really wanted a romance arc. I actually think Sharena/Zacharias might have halfway-decent chemistry in a competent writer's hands.

[Junkhead]

It has an actual basis, at least.

[Azure Sen]

On 3/21/2017 at 9:06 AM, Extrasolar said:

Yeah, I see your point. That's always the trap when it comes to any video game adaptations of anything, from film to animation. I see it as more the fault of writers trying to compress the entire game into animation with a much shorter running time, rather than picking and choosing the key plot points, character moments, and such to adapt (which in and of itself requires careful choice and planning, and here is where a lot of adaptations go wrong). That style is always doomed for failure, imo. (And of course, plenty of games don't lend themselves well to episodic formats, but I'd argue that FE is one of the rare ones that does due to its already chapter-based format.)

But I remember one in particular, the Tales of the Abyss anime, that did it pretty well, with only 26 episodes to adapt a huge, huge game. It hit all the major plot points and interactions for the most part, but was also easy to follow for someone who had never played the game (my friend who never touched the game before watched it alongside me, and he wasn't lost or confused at really any point).

Speaking of 26 episodes though, we could always get more than that, if we're lucky...

Just because FE has a vaguely episodic format doesn't mean it would work as a full anime series. People really seem to underestimate how difficult it is to properly pace and fill ~23 (actually more like ~20 when taking into account opening and ending themes) minutes, especially with a game like FE where most of the time spent on a chapter is in gameplay, not in story. This is especially noticeable in the FE OVA, which has a lot of shots and scenes meant to pad out the runtime and with only 4 minutes spent on the equivalent of gameplay in the first episode and most of the focus of the second episode not even being on anything relevant to the main story.

I can't discuss the quality Tales of the Abyss anime adaptation because I haven't watched it.

It's unlikely that a FE anime would get more than 26 episodes, just because that's not what the anime industry does anymore. Most anime that have over 26 episodes these days are long runners like One Piece or Case Closed, those with the grandfather clause like Gundam (and not every Gundam series; Reconquista in G, Build Fighters and Build Fighters Try only got 25-26 episodes), or shows that run for less than the normal running time.

17 hours ago, Gustavos said:

So these Shadows of Valentia cutscenes may be their test drive of the format for Fire Emblem, yes? At first I thought it was just a reduced budget for the game that made them choose the cheaper alternative of 2D over 3D, but maybe there's more to this. The entire Echoes project seems to be about gauging fan interest in older titles as well as profiting from them. The next Echoes project could be an anime instead of a game.

That's a stretch. The cost of animated 2D cutscenes vs. rendered 3D cutscenes varies, especially when we're talking outsourced vs. in-house, and the fact that they're working with a studio as high-profile as Khara also casts doubts on the idea that they went with 2D cutscenes because of budgetary concerns. Most likely, they're just going with animated cutscenes to better match the aesthetics of the rest of the game. Not to mention that animated cutscenes are in no way an indication that FE's story would work in a longer series format.

[Thane]

Didn't we already get a Fire Emblem anime with that Tokyo Mirage Sessions thing, or was that just a weird fever dream I had?

[Jedi]

On 3/22/2017 at 0:22 AM, Dandy Druid said:

Wasn't there a FE manga that wasn't based off of a game? That seems like the safest bet, since it's easier to translate manga into anime than a videogame into manga. Plus, that manga isn't as well known/popular, so you're likely to not upset as many fans if any changes were made. But then we would need to question if it will get enough attention then.

Theres quite a few FE manga actually. Not just one, none of them are based in their own original universe though.

Edited March 23, 2017 by Jedi

[Etrurian emperor]

6 minutes ago, Thane said:

Didn't we already get a Fire Emblem anime with that Tokyo Mirage Sessions thing, or was that just a weird fever dream I had?

What's that? Never heard of it. Definitely a fever dream you're having. 

I think Genealogy would work best as an anime from an artistic standpoint. The cast being split in two gens makes the large number easier to manage and all the chapters neatly fit into arcs were the focus can lie on a select few units. Sigurd and Co in the prologue, the Adean suitors in Verdana, Lakchise, Sigurd and Cuan in Augustria, Levin in Silesia and Azel, Tiltyu and Lex in the grandbell campaign. 

Genealogy is a lot less marketable though so from that point of view it would never stand a chance of becoming the focus. 

Blazing sword could also work. It smaller scale would be a blessing for the budget as they don't need to animate whole armies fighting each other and its one of the more fondly remembered games, being the first of the majority of the old fans. 

[Extrasolar]

5 hours ago, AzureSen said:

Just because FE has a vaguely episodic format doesn't mean it would work as a full anime series. People really seem to underestimate how difficult it is to properly pace and fill ~23 (actually more like ~20 when taking into account opening and ending themes) minutes, especially with a game like FE where most of the time spent on a chapter is in gameplay, not in story. This is especially noticeable in the FE OVA, which has a lot of shots and scenes meant to pad out the runtime and with only 4 minutes spent on the equivalent of gameplay in the first episode and most of the focus of the second episode not even being on anything relevant to the main story.

Sure, it's difficult to pace an episode, but we've got indication from the FE OVA that they definitely can do it. Sure, there wasn't much gameplay adaptation, but with the adaptation to anime, you gotta make changes, just based on the fact that anime is not an interactive medium like video games are. Gameplay is the most important thing in a video game just because you've got a person sitting there and interacting with different mechanics in order to be entertained, and as such, that's where the focus is. In anime, though, the person is just sitting there watching, taking it all in, as a means to be entertained, so gameplay isn't that important, or adapting it isn't the most important thing. I think the FE OVA worked precisely because it took the focus away from the gameplay and filled in much more of the story...and when you're talking about a game as text sparse and bare-bones as Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light, that's quite an accomplishment.

They could easily do a similar thing with an FE anime, especially one based in the story-rich Tellius series. Fight scenes in general are much shorter than story-building scenes by necessity. Fight scenes are cool and all...but an anime full of nothing but fight scenes is going to get boring fast, because you need to be able to get attached to the characters and conflict in plot and character-building moments. Seriously, how boring would it have been to get a straight-adaptation of people moving around on a battlefield in formations and hacking enemy soldiers to death for 22 minutes?

I don't think there's anything wrong with taking a break from sticking rigidly to the main storyline (i.e., the anime series wouldn't have to strictly be one episode, one chapter), especially for character development. I don't think anyone would object in a Tellius anime if we got an episode, for example, expanding on Soren's younger days, rather than hopping straight to the next chapter. Not only would it develop Soren more, but it would expand on an area of the game we're only told about rather than seeing.

5 hours ago, AzureSen said:

It's unlikely that a FE anime would get more than 26 episodes, just because that's not what the anime industry does anymore. Most anime that have over 26 episodes these days are long runners like One Piece or Case Closed, those with the grandfather clause like Gundam (and not every Gundam series; Reconquista in G, Build Fighters and Build Fighters Try only got 25-26 episodes), or shows that run for less than the normal running time.

Eh, even if it did only get that much, Tales of the Abyss has proven that it can be done with a much, much longer game than any FE game (if you're not aware, the Tales games are huge RPGs that span roughly 80 hours of gameplay each, with side content and huge story galore). I know you've never watched it, but it was largely successful and beloved, and in my opinion a great adaptation of the game, proving that it in fact can be done with enough effort and care.
 

Edited March 23, 2017 by Extrasolar

[Tolvir]

Personally, I think the best option would be to base a Fire Emblem anime on the Future Past scenario. Base it on Lucina and the rest of the 2nd gen of Awakening trying to survive and defeat Grima in some kind of post apocalyptic wasteland that Akaneia was turned into.

It has just enough information to make a series on it, but is empty enough for an entire series to be make on it without fans knowing almost scene for scene what is going to happen in the story. It allows for a certain level of openness and freedom for the writers to take it where they want.

The cast of Awakening's children characters were interesting enough to hold their own game, so I can see them being able to hold up a series. Throw in Frederick from 1st gen as the person that trains the 2nd gen how to fight, and I think that cast alone would be fun for an entire series. Maybe even throw in a couple of original characters to the mix.

 

Edited March 23, 2017 by Tolvir

[Slumber]

The Jugdral continent is the only one with a "grand" enough story to really warrant a full season of any kind of TV. Maybe Tellius, too. But mostly Jugdral. It even has the big "mid-season cliffhanger".

[Dandy Druid]

19 hours ago, Cute Chao said:

Ooooh, sorry lol. The one that comes to mind for me was the FE6 one. It did sort of follow FE6 and had some of the characters in, but they were mostly away. It mostly followed some kid named Al. I didn't particularly like it, personally, but that might be the one? Had mostly new characters and mostly ignored the existing (Hasha no Tsurugi is its name).

If that's not the one, I hope you can remember the name. I'd love to read it :D 

Yep that's the one I believe. Weird, I forgot it was during Roy's time. I would've liked it more if Al was like an Ike of some sorts, but that didn't happen. Oh well.

[Godhand]

I don't see why a Fire Emblem anime couldn't be successful. Path of Radiance + Radiant Dawn should have more than enough story to fill twelve episodes, at the very least.

[Interdimensional Observer]

Thinking on the permadeath thing in FE, I heard the Devil Survivor 2 anime took the Nicaea videos where playable characters die thing and basically ran crazy with it (well the dying at least, not so much the videos I think). Basically by the end of the last episode everyone except the MC and Yamato are bloody dead. Interestingly, the anime later influenced the 3DS version of the game by restricting Satan's fusion recipe to be the one in the anime- meaning you need to best Alice before being able to fuse our favorite blue mammary gland monstrosity.

I would hope they wouldn't do the same thing with FE.

Edited March 27, 2017 by Interdimensional Observer

[Azure Sen]

3 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Thinking on the permadeath thing in FE, I heard the Devil Survivor 2 anime took the Nicaea videos where playable characters die thing and basically ran crazy with it (well the dying at least, not so much the videos I think). Basically by the end of the last episode everyone except the MC and Yamato are bloody dead. Interestingly, the anime later influenced the 3DS version of the game by restricting Satan's fusion recipe to be the one in the anime- meaning you need to best Alice before being able to fuse our favorite blue mammary gland monstrosity.

I would hope they wouldn't do the same thing with FE.

The Devil Survivor 2 anime was one of the anime I had in mind when I was talking about the anime industry's terrible track record with RPG adaptations. Aside from being poorly paced, it also cut a ton of screentime for pretty much everyone, ruined the message of the story by killing everyone off when the Nicaea videos say so even though one of the major themes of the game is giving the proverbial middle finger to destiny, ruined the tone by making it too serious when the game could be downright goofy at times, and on top of all that was pretty blatantly ripping off Evangelion. It and its ilk are precisely why I have concerns about a potential FE adaptation.