Remakes have been a plague infesting movie making in recent years. Hollywood, exhausted of ideas (or too afraid to test new ones) has grown content to just snatch up an old property, change it slightly, and shovel it out again with a new coat of paint. Remakes have been cropping up fairly often in gaming too. Some remakes and remasters are completely useless like the highly criticized Skyrim and The Last of Us subsequent editions, and yet others are praised immensely for their dedication to revamping an old series like the recent Resident Evil remakes. Today though, I want to narrow down that focus to anime. Honestly, before this season I thought anime was still a safe medium that rarely invokes the “remake” card. That was before realizing that two of my shows this season are in fact remakes.
Spice and Wolf was obvious to me. People were chattering when the remake got announced and fans were excited to see this older property get a fresh coat of paint. I wish I had seen the original to see how it compares and contrasts as so far I’m really appreciating its unique focus on economics, but I’m having some trouble following the specific details of our heroes’ objectives. I’m not sure if that’s a new issue confined to the remake, a persistent problem across both versions, or just a me issue. Regardless, what really took me by surprise was Bartender: Glass of God. With a budget of $25 for animation and a writing team dedicated to saving this project, Bartender rose to the top of my list this season. I appreciate it every week and was really proud of this series for accomplishing so much in the character development and edutainment departments. Imagine my shock when I learned this shit was a remake. I didn’t even know enough people cared about alcohol production and bartending to bother giving this series a (honestly slight) visual upgrade.
Who the fuck greenlit this remake I don't know, but I thank them.
It’s crazy to think about remakes in anime as since I wasn’t around for many of the first releases, they don’t bother me as much or stick out as apparently as remakes of Western properties. Recently I had a friend turn down trying out Spice and Wolf solely because it was a remake which I didn’t expect. He works in the film industry though so he’s far more fatigued by remake fever than your average Joe. He says he’d rather just watch some new anime considering how many mangaka are out there trying to get their story told, rather than see some upgraded visuals for something that already has an adaptation. My remake fatigue isn’t bad enough with anime to hold this opinion, but after thinking about it a while I understood where he came from more.
Love it or hate it, utilizing remakes to bring back older series is happening across multiple different mediums. Anime is no exception. Sometimes it can feel like a lazy cash grab, yet great renditions may pull in a whole new audience to support a property. Are you watching Spice and Wolf this season? Do you mind the surge of remakes? Do you expect more anime remakes to come down the pipeline? Buy low, sell high, and trade pepper in the comments below!
