That’s right my wonderful werewolf fans, the widely popular live-action TV show Supernatural was made into an anime series! I only recently discovered the anime myself and after checking out the first episode I have to admit I’m pretty geeked about the whole thing.
Supernatural: The Anime Series was released this past July by Madhouse studios, making it the first Western TV series to be adapted into an anime. It was originally only meant to be released in Japan for some reason, but fortunately they decided to release it in the US as well, which is great since the majority of the Supernatural fan base is here. Even better is that a few members of the live-action cast did some voice work for the anime!
The overall storyline for this anime series is the same as it was throughout the live-action show’s first two seasons – Sam and Dean Winchester travel the US hunting and killing supernatural monsters all while looking for the yellow-eyed demon that murdered their mother. However, the anime is not exactly the same as the original show. It contains five episode adaptations from Season 1, seven from Season 2, one comic book adaptation and nine brand new all original stories.
Here are the episodes that were adapted from Seasons 1 and 2:
Season 1
- Skin
- Home
- Nightmare
- Dead Man’s Blood
- Devil’s Trap
Season 2
- Roadkill
- Heart
- In My Time of Dying
- Crossroad Blues
- What Is and What Should Never Be
- All Hell Breaks Loose (two parts)
I absolutely love the episodes they picked to adapt into the anime, Crossroad Blues is one of my favorite Supernatural episodes. As you can see, they included Heart, a werewolf episode! For those that need a refresher, Heart is the episode where the brothers investigate werewolf killings in San Francisco, and Sam falls for the gorgeous Madison. It’s one of the most depressing episodes in the show, but a damned good one.
Ever since I learned of the anime I have been meaning to watch it, however I’ve only seen the first episode. What I saw I liked, it’s a well-made Japanese anime with a touch of American. The anime definitely has a creepier vibe than the live-action, both are packed full of horror, but the anime takes it to a darker level. It’s significantly gorier than the live-action, the live-action doesn’t really have a whole lot of blood and such but the anime sure does. If you have watched a lot of anime, particularly horror, then you’ll have an idea of what Supernatural: The Anime is like – it’s dark, disturbing and graphic.
Have any of you seen the anime yet? If so, what did you think? If you haven’t watched it, do you plan on it now?
– Moonlight
I’m always a bit sceptical of anime adaptations; I’ve watched the Devil May Cry anime and I was incredibly disappointed in how boring it was. However, it seems that the writers and animators who work on these things tend to get horror right, so I may take a look (not expecting much, mind you, but I’m a bit of a cynic). It looks worth a sampling,at least.
Yeah, I look at the Supernatural anime as separate from the live-action show, it lessens any possible disappointment.
True–probably a good philosophy to have. XD