By
Zach Zamora
Published Feb 6, 2026, 9:00 PM EST
Zach joined the ScreenRant Anime team as a contributor in June 2024, before taking on a Senior Writer role in November. Since then, he has covered breaking news and produced features and lists about the most popular anime titles.
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The Keeper of the Camphor Tree, an anime adaptation of the novel series by Keigo Higashino, directed by Tomohiko Ito with A-1 Pictures, released on January 30th in Japan and is receiving early praise from moviegoers. A-1 Pictures scored its most recent smash-hit with Solo Leveling, and has produced more than a few popular shows and movies in recent years.
Tomohiko Ito was at the helm for a number of them, directing 2010's Occult Academy, the first two seasons of Sword Art Online, and 2016's Erased with the studio. While promoting his newest movie, Ito touched on his experience adapting a novel series, and implied that there's a lack of diversity in the stories being told in anime.
Director of Sword Art Online and Other A-1 Pictures Anime Urges for More Anime Not Based on Manga
Though Anime Is Growing Around the World, Ito Claims Non-Manga Adaptations Are Becoming a Lost Art
It cannot be denied that anime is more popular around the world than it has ever been before. The latest Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle film broke long-standing box-office records, while Netflix, arguably the biggest streaming service on the planet, revealed that 50% of its users regularly watched anime last year.
The most successful titles in the industry, however, are almost always adaptations of already popular manga. Both Demon Slayer and Chainsaw Man, which scored the second highest-grossing anime film of 2025 behind Infinity Castle with the critically acclaimed Reze Arc, ran in Weekly Shōnen Jump, Japan's most popular weekly manga magazine.
Reze twirling her hair between her fingers in Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc.
During his interview with MANTANWEB, Tomohiko Ito touched on the dwindling presence of non-manga adaptations in anime, and expressed fear that it may become a lost art. He has a point, as only 15 or so years ago, visual novel adaptations were nearly just as popular as manga adaptations.
Series like Fate, Clannad, Steins;Gate, Higurashi, and many others were and remain some of the most popular titles in anime. Today, anime fans could go an entire year or longer without seeing an adaptation of a visual novel. Adaptations of novels, like The Keeper of the Camphor Tree, are still popular, but produced far less frequently than manga adaptations.
Ito claimed that there are benefits to adapting a novel into anime rather than live-action, something he expressed is almost expected when tackling written, non-manga content. He feels there's an 'ease of viewing' in anime, and directors like himself can bring an element unique to the medium and blend it with the source material.
Are Non-Manga Adaptations Becoming a Lost Art?
It cannot be denied that the most popular anime airing today is more often than not based on manga. Fans scrolling through social media will be spoiled by years-old manga panels with shocking frequency, and online communities will urge them to "just read the manga" the moment they express their displeasure with spoilers. It can be argued, however, whether that's always been the case.
From Dragon Ball's dominance of the '80s and early '90s, to the era of the 'Big Three', headlined by Naruto, One Piece, and Bleach, to last year's box office breakthroughs by Demon Slayer and Chainsaw Man, manga adaptations have seemingly always been front and center in the anime industry.
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Posts 10As long as shōnen is the widest demographic, studios will look to Weekly Shōnen Jump for their next big hit. And while certain works, like visual novel adaptations, appear far less frequently than they once did, other non-manga adaptations still enjoy quite a bit of success.
2022's Cyberpunk Edgerunners, based on the 2020 game Cyberpunk 2077, emerged as one of the most popular anime series of the 2020s, while 2018's Violet Evergarden and its highly acclaimed 2020 follow-up film, based on the light novel series of the same name, quickly became a staple in the anime-watching journeys of both new and veteran fans.
Anime culture has always been dominated by whichever Shōnen Jump titles were performing best, and recent trends suggest that isn't changing. However, an increased number of non-manga adaptations, as Tomohiko Ito urged for, wouldn't go unappreciated by fans.
Anime Needs More Non-Manga Adaptations
Rintaro Okabe smiling into the camera in Steins;Gate.
While casual anime fans may not care much about where their favorite stories originated, adaptations of material other than manga do offer a different experience, as Ito suggested in his latest interview. Many of manga's most popular tropes aren't found in other mediums, and working with non-visual art forms allows more freedom for those creating a story's anime counterpart.
Screen Rant Report: Subscribe and never miss what matters
Dive into the world of movies and TV shows with Screen Rant, your source for news, reviews, and exclusive content. Subscribe By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.Visual novel adaptations, though they aren't very common today, can be identified at a glance by their branching narratives and non-linear scenarios. Turning to novels, games, or other mediums helps to diversify the stories being told in anime, and helps to give fans unique viewing experiences with more frequency.
Tomohiko Ito and A-1 Pictures' The Keeper of the Camphor Tree is currently screening in Japan, and fans will want to be on the lookout for an announcement regarding its official international release date.
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9.4/10
Solo Leveling
10 stars 9 stars 8 stars 7 stars 6 stars 5 stars 4 stars 3 stars 2 stars 1 star Like Follow Followed TV-14 Animation Action Fantasy Release Date 2024 - 2025-00-00 Network Tokyo MX, Gunma TV, BS11, Tochigi TV Directors Tatsuya Sasaki, Toru Hamasaki Writers Shigeru Murakoshi, Shingo Irie, Fuka Ishii
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Taito Ban
Sung Jin-woo
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Genta Nakamura
Yoo Jin-ho
Solo Leveling follows Sung Jin-woo, the world's weakest hunter, who gains extraordinary powers through a mysterious program after surviving a brutal monster attack. As he navigates his newfound abilities, Jinwoo embarks on a quest to uncover the secrets of his powers and the dungeon that altered his fate.
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