Link: https://old.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/1vrs1bt/anime_adaptations_where_the_mangaka_participated/

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The original was posted on /r/anime by /u/CitizenTony on 2026-08-18 15:14:48+00:00.

I wasn't so active in the sub and I re-started to watch more anime recently, so I know that it might be a recurrent discussion but it's very interesting and for this 2026 edition, maybe we could name lesser know anime and discover new things/share some behind the scenes stories. (We can include anime movies ofc)

I remember people from a forum (MANY years ago) saying that Buichi Terasawa had regular meetings with the crew working on Space Adventure Cobra, and he was giving advices on what was good or not and what should they do to stay true to his manga. Grosso modo, he was supervising his adaptation then. Buichi Terasawa also directed himself the OVA "Cobra the Animation: The Psychogun" (2008)

• Hideaki Sorachi wrote himself the story of "Gintama the Movie: Final Chapter"

• Lupin III movie 6 : Dead Or Alive, Monkey Punch directed the opening and ending of the movie, while Hiroyuki Yano did the rest as a co-director.

Also, Chara-design this time took more influence of MP's initial artstyle and he himself turned this movie into something more similar to his initial version of Lupin (i.e. less humor, more violence, unsettling atmosphere and a surreal plot).

• The movie Phoenix 2772 was co-directed by Osamu Tezuka and Taku Sugiyama, and also written by Osamu Tezuka himself.

• One Piece Strong World. I think that this was probably the first movie which provoked a snap with the previous anime movies and started the trend to call the mangakas to work on their own adaptations. Oda wrote the story and apparently overseen the whole production. You can clearly see the difference, Strong World is pretty different, better animation, more ambition, it felt more like the manga. While just before, we had an era where movies derivated from anime were pretty TV movie-esque, not canon and hit-or-miss. For One Piece Red, Oda is the executive producer, character designer, and also script reviewer of the film.

• Famous example : Katsuhiro Otomo directed himself the Akira movie. This is incredible.

• TMS Entertainment and Toho wanted an animate movie adaptation of Lupin III in 1969. Yasuo Otsuka was hired as chara-designer, Masaaki Osumi was apparently the director since he made a 12 minutes pilot but more important : Monkey Punch was supposed to work also on this but this was way too much work so he left the project at some point.

• Since Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods, Toriyima quite had an influence on the animation side of DB. For Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods, He came when the movie was already into production, he rewrote the script and redesigned Beerus and Super Saiyan God.

He also did various designs for Resurrection of F, wrote the script and the movie itself is his idea. Toriyama also wrote the scripts for Dragon Ball Super: Broly and Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, for Daima he apparently had a huge involvement because this was a passion project.

• Masashi Kishimoto wrote the story of Naruto: Road to Ninja. He also wrote or co-wrote for the movies Naruto The Last and Boruto: Naruto the Movie. He had minimal involvement on Boruto: Naruto Next Generations.

• Shingeki no Kyojin of course. Hajime Isayama was closely involved as a consultant and supervisor for the anime (so much that he gave some clues about future events of the manga and he also did a few corrections that he couldn't made when he was drawing/working on some chapters).