10 Manga Whose Creators Helped Make Their Anime

A mangaka usually isn't involved with the making of an anime of their work, but these are 10 creators who made sure to be involved with their anime.

Mangaka are usually uninvolved with the production of their anime, but there are a rare handful of manga whose creators were heavily involved in making their anime. When a manga gets adapted into an anime, the original mangaka tends to have no part in its production outside some very minor areas. Fullmetal Alchemist’s Hiromu Arakawa, for example, permitted Bones to deviate from the manga with the first adaptation, and mangaka will often design original characters for movies and filler arcs, but it’s rare for a creator to be fully involved with making their anime.

As rare as it might be, however, there have been times when a mangaka has helped with the production of their anime. Every example sees creators of the original manga help create their anime in some way, whether it was by writing the script or by having a full hand in the overall production. Naturally, that means some mangaka were more involved than others, but regardless, each anime’s quality was undoubtedly enhanced by the contribution of the original creator.

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10. Takehiko Inoue - Slam Dunk

The first example of a mangaka who helped create their anime is a fairly recent one: Takehiko Inoue’s Slam Dunk. Decades after the end of the manga, Inoue returned to the series to write and direct its new feature film, The First Slam Dunk, and not only did it finally animate the conclusion to the manga, but it did so with incredible style that made the film stand out as one of the best of the year. Inoue has been well-established as one of the biggest names in manga, and it’s clear that he was able to bring all of his talents into directing with The First Slam Dunk.

9. Katsuhiro Otomo - Akira

Another example of a mangaka who helped create their anime is Katsuhiro Otomo with the classic 80s film Akira. Katsuhiro Otomo famously wrote and directed the theatrical adaptation of his manga, and while the original manga wasn’t finished at the time, he still managed to create a movie with an incredible story and visuals to match that’s still held in high regard over 30 years later. Otomo is also reportedly working with Sunrise on a new Akira anime, and if he has the same level of involvement that he had with the film, it’s likely to be just as impressive, if not more so.

8. Cardcaptor Sakura - CLAMP

CLAMP is one of the biggest names in manga, and they’ve also been known to contribute to the adaptations of their various manga, most notably Cardcaptor Sakura. Head writer and leader Nanase Ohkawa was one of the main writers for the anime and wrote 53 of its 70 episodes, and the main artist, Mokona, helped design anime-exclusive outfits and Clow Cards, as well. Ohkawa also helped with the sequel, Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card, where she was the writer for every episode, and that should continue for the recently-announced season 2. Cardcaptor Sakura is an incredibly iconic anime, and CLAMP’s heavy involvement has undoubtedly played a big part in that.

7. Shoji Gatoh - Full Metal Panic!

While Shoji Gatoh had no noteworthy involvement in the production of the original Full Metal Panic! anime, the same can’t be said for the works that followed the original anime. Gatoh penned the spinoff series Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu, which took the comedic side stories of the light novel and expanded them into a farcical parody and was also notably the first anime made by Kyoto Animation. Gatoh also penned seasons 2 and 3, both of which were more canonical than Fumoffu, but regardless of content, each show he was involved with had a level of care in its craft that was undoubtedly thanks to his writing.

6. Hayao Miyazaki - Nausicaä Of The Valley Of The Wind

Hayao Miyazaki’s Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is one of the most famous Studio Ghibli films, but what many people might not know is that it was based on a manga also created by Miyazaki. Since only 16 chapters were written when the film was made, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind cut out a lot of content from the manga and greatly recontextualized many of Miyazakis’ ideas, a major example being how the Giant Warrior was utilized. The film still more than holds up today, and it working so well when there was so little to work with is nothing but a testament to Miyazaki’s abilities.

5. Kazuki Takahashi - Yu-Gi-Oh!

Kazuki Takahashi always had a heavy involvement in Yu-Gi-Oh! beyond the original manga, and that extended to his work with the anime, as well. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the manga, Takahashi wrote Yu-Gi-Oh! The Dark Side of Dimensions, a film set in the continuity of the original manga, and it served as an excellent epilogue to the manga that gave much-needed closure to Yugi and Kaiba’s character arcs. This was the last Yu-Gi-Oh! story Takahashi would write before his tragic death in 2022, and with that in mind, it’s great that he was able to go back to Yu-Gi-Oh! in such a big way one last time.

4. Tite Kubo - Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War

The announcement that the Bleach anime would finally be finished with Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War was met with much fanfare, and a big part of that stemmed from the announcement of Tite Kubo’s involvement. Kubo notedly has full supervision over the production of Thousand-Year Blood War, so in addition to quality control, he’s made sure the anime includes things he didn’t have time for in the original manga like Unohana and Shinji’s Bankai and a greater exploration into the lore of the Soul King. Under Kubo’s supervision, Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War is the ideal way of experiencing Bleach’s final arc, and fans and critics alike have responded to it, accordingly.

3. Masashi Kishimoto - Naruto

While the Naruto manga ended in 2014, Masashi Kishimoto has remained heavily involved in the anime side of the franchise. Not long after the end of the manga, the series was given an epilogue through The Last: Naruto the Movie, which Kishimoto personally wrote, and a year later, he wrote Naruto’s sequel story Boruto: Naruto the Movie, which would eventually form the basis for Boruto: Naruto Next Generations. Everything from the later stages of Naruto and beyond hasn’t been without its faults, but at the very least, it’s great that Kishimoto has spread his involvement through so many areas of the franchise.

2. Eiichiro Oda - One Piece

Eiichiro Oda is the mangaka behind the legendary manga One Piece, but his involvement with the franchise doesn’t stop there. Ever since 2009, Oda has been involved with the production of each new One Piece film; Oda was an executive producer for One Piece Film: Z, One Piece Film: Gold and One Piece: Stampede, supervised the story of One Piece Film: Red, and outright wrote the script for One Piece Film: Strong World. Every One Piece film with Oda’s involvement has been among the best in the franchise for effortlessly capturing the spirit of the original manga, so it will be great to see if that continues in the future.

1. Akira Toriyama - Dragon Ball

The last notable example of a mangaka helping make the anime of their work is Akira Toriyama with the legendary manga Dragon Ball. After the critical and commercial failure of Dragonball Evolution, Toriyama, who also hated it, returned to the franchise with Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods. This led to the series being continued with Dragon Ball Super, in which Toriyama maintained heavy involvement to the point of writing two more movies: Dragon Ball Super: Broly and Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero. For the past decade, Dragon Ball has thrived off of its animated content, and none of that would have happened without Toriyama’s return to the franchise.

Having a great staff is paramount to making a great anime, and as the examples here show, sometimes that comes about from having the creator of the original manga involved. Whether it was from general supervision or full involvement in the production, every anime listed here had the creator of the original manga involved, and that allowed them to make sure the same quality of work that made their manga successful was more than carried over into the anime. An anime doesn’t need to have the creator of the original manga involved to be successful, but the fact that these and others all did certainly says a lot.