Who doesn’t love one spin-off? It’s a good way to branch a series into something new, while still targeting the regular audience. Not that it guarantees success. For every Frasier or Mork & Mindythere is a Joey or AfterMASH. For every Personathere is a Bomberman Act Zero.
It happens with anime at. The difference is that some have not as many eyes on them as Thus spoke Kishibe Rohan or boruto. They were drafted as manga, but either stayed there or failed to catch on when they escaped the printed page. Here are some examples of anime that got manga spinoffs going under the radar.
7 Kazumi Magica and Suzune Magica
These spin-offs from Puella Magi Madoka Magica were so short and similar to each other that they could be glued together in one item. Their original series was a stark deconstruction of the Magical Girl genre, quite akin to what Neon Genesis Evangelion did mecha adventure series like Mobile suit Gundam.
So it may come as no surprise that the spin-offs are just as heavy. The 5-piece long Kazumi Magica suffers from amnesia and tries to remember her life as one of the Pleiades Saints as she slowly succumbs to a dark transformation. While the 3-volume long Suzune Magica has his titular character, taking out both Magical Girls and their Witch enemies before setting her sights on the 4 girls investigating her.
6 Jaco The Galactic Patrolman
Created by Akira Toriyama herself, James is technically a prequel to Dragon Ball. Still, the events stand side by side with those of Goku and his friends. It follows Jaco Teirimentenpibosshi, a member of the Galactic Patrol, who crash-lands on Earth to prevent an alien invasion. In an attempt to repair his ship, he is overtaken by retired scientist Dr. Ōmori, a curious police officer named Katayude, and Tights, a young woman who helps Jaco in exchange for a few favors.
A few more Dragon Ball characters appear for some cameos. For example, Tights is Bulma’s big sister and her family gets involved in repairing Jaco’s spaceship. Likewise, the alien invasion that Jaco tried to avert would be carried out by the Saiyans. They don’t come, to Jaco’s relief. Except for one pod that drops a certain monkey boy at the house of an old man named Son Gohan. Maybe it’s a good thing Jaco was sidetracked.
5 BURN THE WITCH
This spin-off from Bleach even got an animated movie, which was released to mild acclaim. That’s a shame, because the premise sounds interesting enough. Instead of continuing BleachWith his neo-samurai look, Tite Kubo chose a horror fantasy setting in the Western division of the Soul Society. It follows two women, Noel Niihashi and Ninny Spangcole, as they work for Wing Bird in Reverse London.
They are an organization that protects the city from dragon attacks, while caring for the fire eaters and keeping them out of trouble. Their job sounds simple enough until they come across Balgo Parks, an ordinary London man who has the uncanny ability to attract dragons. Maybe the upcoming “2nd season” will help flesh it out more. Or at least it makes for funnier interpretations of western names like Bruno Bangnyfe, Macy Baljure and Wolfgang Slashhaut.
4 Food Wars: Shokugeki No Sanji
Food War: Shokugeki no Soma is a nice combination of fan service and catering service, with an inventive take on cooking with some shonen attributes. However, should it be about Soma and his friends? Wouldn’t it be more interesting if it was suddenly about characters from a completely different franchise, like A piece?
Tongue-in-cheek aside, food wars creators Yūto Tsukuda and Shun Saeki worked on this series A piece-based one-shots since 2018. They largely follow Sanji’s cooking and how they evolved over the course of his journey from his time with the Baratie to the Straw Hat Pirates. This year the final chapter was published just in time for A piecethe 25th anniversary.
3 Death Note: The Story of A-Kira
Takeshi Obata and Tsugumi Oba’s return to Obituary gained some notoriety on its original release. Ryuk comes back to Earth to give another child, Minoru ‘a-Kira’ Tanaka, a chance with his Death Note. Instead, Tanaka tells Ryuk to wait 2 years and then make the same offer. He does so, thinking that Tanaka will follow in Light Yagami’s footsteps. Instead, Tanaka offers to sell it online, which piques Ryuk’s interest. He helps Tanaka auction the book online, complete with TV ads and his own Twitter hashtag.
The winner eventually becomes the US president, who buys it for such a large sum that it single-handedly lifts Japan out of its recession. Unfortunately, the King of Death is enacting a new rule that would punish both Tanaka and the President for their sale. If Tanaka touches the money he earned from it, he dies. While the president dies touching what he bought. While the story doesn’t outright mention him, it’s clearly Donald Trump. No wonder the king pushed through that new rule.
2 Neon Genesis Evangelion: The Shinji Ikari Detective Diary
Hideaki Anno’s teenage mecha introspective analysis has spawned a series of spin-offs. There was a visual novel for the Sega Saturn, a self-conscious parody CD drama, and a virtual pet simulator on the Bandai Wonderswan. There was even a Japanese PS2 game along the lines of ace lawyer where Shinji investigated crimes and tracked down their perpetrators. If only that were a manga.
Well, it was, otherwise this section would have a different title. Written and drawn by Takumi Yoshimura, The Shinji Ikari Detective Diary takes place in an alternate universe where Shinji wants to help his friend Toji against some gangsters. Fortunately, private investigator Ryoji Kaji and his conspicuous assistant Kaworu Nagisa are there to help. Only, instead of tackling the case themselves, they help Shinji conduct the investigation instead. It seems that they, and especially Kaworu, have an agenda of their own.
1 Hokuto No Ken: Seikimatsu Drama Satsuei-Den
Fist of the North Star has been around for nearly 40 years and has received a ton of manga prequels, sequels, and alternative takes. skoku no GarO followed the popular side character Rei as he searched for his parents’ killer. Heart of Meet reimagined the big fat meme character Heart as a beautiful bishonen boy in his youth. Taisen Amiba no Isekai Haō Densetsu sent the egomaniacal villain Amiba to another world to get a second chance at life.
Perhaps the most interesting spin-off is the most recent. Hiroshi Kurao’s Seikimatsu Drama Satsuei-Den (“Post-Apocalypse Filming Arc”) depicts the original events of the manga as a TV drama. Kenshiro, his friends and his enemies are now actors struggling with their lines and directions as their intrepid crew tries to put together the show’s stunts. The manga was released in February 2021 and is still running on the Comic Zenon website.
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