Each major anime studio in Japan has at least one or two mega-hit anime they can boast about, such as Toei Animation making Dragon Ball Z, Studio Pierrot making Naruto, and Studio UFOtable with Demon Slayer. Then there is Studio Bones, a reputable and well-regarded anime studio responsible for making action/adventure hits like My Hero Academia. The question is how Studio Bones will top all that.

Every year, there are plenty of manga series and light novels ripe for anime adaptations, and certain manga are mega-hits in the making if they can get a terrific anime adaptation. That was what happened to the likes of Jujutsu Kaisen and Demon Slayer, so it’s up to Studio Bones to find another strong manga to turn into an even stronger anime. After all, the long-running My Hero Academia is almost over, and Studio Bones can’t drop the ball now — it needs a proper follow-up for Kohei Horikoshi’s superhero story.

What Makes a Good Studio Bones Anime Series?

Studio Bones Shines With Exciting, Action-Packed Anime

If anime fans review the roster of Studio Bones anime series, they may pick up on a few patterns, most of all the trend toward action and adventure anime. Four of Studio Bones’ biggest anime titles are exactly that, those being Mob Psycho 100, Noragami, My Hero Academia, and even the best anime of all time, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. There are a few ways anime fans can interpret this trend, including the idea that Studio Bones has excellent taste and discretion when choosing an anime to adapt.

The anime studio selects the most popular shonen and seinen action anime to make sure the studio has its place in the anime landscape. The full list of Studio Bones’ anime titles is of middling length by industry standards, so having four mega-hit action anime like that is a big deal and suggests quality over quantity.

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10 Best Anime From Studio Bones

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Also, while action and adventure are not the only genres Studio Bones will tackle with its anime adaptations, those genres are clearly where Studio Bones shines. The anime produced by Studio Bones, most of all Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and My Hero Academia, rival the best series of legendary studios like Studio Wit and Studio MAPPA. The latter had a hand in animating both Jujutsu Kaisen and parts of Attack on Titan, and all anime fans know how incredible those anime series’ visuals are.

Being in the same league as Jujutsu Kaisen with the dazzling animation for their fight scenes in My Hero Academia is a big deal. Bones can make any fight scene in My Hero Academia look incredible while also having lush, charming animation for the non-action scenes too, all while providing wonderful backdrops for everything.

The main takeaway here is, if Studio Bones needs another mega-hit anime to keep the momentum going after My Hero Academia Season 8, then it may be a good idea for the anime studio to strongly consider adapting an action/adventure manga or light novel. Studio Bones clearly has the production values to make any action story look great, and it would feel familiar to fans of their earlier works.

Studio Bones Should Mix Other Genres Into its Next Hit Anime

Good Action Needs Drama, Mystery, or Thriller Elements to Feel Fresh

Overall, it’s a clear case why Studio Bones should look for an action/adventure manga or light novel to adapt when looking for My Hero Academia‘s successor. It also helps how action is one of the most popular genres of anime in today’s landscape, with fans of all demographics adoring action/adventure anime even if they also enjoy other genres, like slice-of-life or romance.

That said, Studio Bones might do itself a disservice if it focuses entirely on action when it plans to make an anime as good as or better than My Hero Academia. If Bones’ next production feels too similar to My Hero Academia, then it might feel somewhat same-y, and that might actually disappoint fans a little. Action is often a sure bet of a genre when making anime, but it can still go stale.

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Time and Resource Management Sets Studio Bones’ Mob Psycho 100 Apart From MHA

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That is why Studio Bones may do itself a favor by mixing other strong genres into its next anime, all so it can at least equal My Hero Academia. It may be no surprise that some of the best anime deftly juggled several genres at once, and Studio Bones would know about that. Aside from the pure action titles like My Hero Academia and Noragami, the anime studio also produced Bungou Stray Dogs and Snow White With the Red Hair. That proves Bones’ flexibility with genres and storytelling styles, ensuring Studio Bones isn’t just “the action anime studio.”

Bungou Stray Dogs is popular thanks to its winning combination of action, the supernatural, mysteries, drama, and various worldviews and philosophies through the eyes of several real-world authors who were turned into characters for the anime. Snow White With the Red Hair, meanwhile, is a fantasy romance anime that is bound to appeal to fans of Disney movies, which are quite different from My Hero Academia. While neither Bungou Stray Dogs nor Snow White With the Red Hair has the same level of fame and popularity as My Hero Academia and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, they are still strong enough to prove Studio Bones is comfortable with different genres.

What Manga Series Should Studio Bones Adapt Next?

The Next Bones Anime Should Have Refreshing Action and an Engaging Plot

There are a few popular manga series that could have become the next mega-hit for Studio Bones, given Bones’ style and quality of animation, those being Kagurabachi and Witch Watch. Either of them had the potential to equal My Hero Academia if the anime studio handled them well, but it’s too late, with Kagurabachi‘s anime being adapted by CygamesPictures, and Witch Watch being adapted by Bibury Animation Studios. Perhaps Studio Bones needs to branch out a little more than that, and adapt something different from My Hero Academia or Kagurabachi while still playing to its apparent strengths.

If Studio Bones needs to take a minor risk by branching out and making its next anime only loosely similar to My Hero Academia at best, then there are some appealing picks among action manga series lacking an anime. One of them is the grim action series I Am a Hero, a somewhat underrated zombie survival manga that combines zombie genre conventions with deep comments on human nature. Studio Bones could easily make the zombie-infested fights in I Am a Hero look thrilling with smooth and crisp animation, all while shaking up the formula with an action anime different from My Hero Academia.

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The best path for Studio Bones is Naoki Urasawa’s 20th Century Boys. This manga has an excellent reputation in the manga community, but it’s somewhat overshadowed by Urasawa’s true masterpiece Monster, which also has the benefit of an anime adaptation. Fans of 20th Century Boys may say the manga deserves a chance to catch up with Monster, and 20th Century Boys is also a cerebral, off-beat action/thriller manga perfect for Studio Bones’ needs.

Manga like I Am a Hero and 20th Century Boys are absolutely ripe for an anime adaptation, and they are only obscure because anime acts like a huge advertisement campaign for the source material while also adding amazing color, sound, and animation to the mix. To make a good action anime without repeating itself too much, and to exercise its familiarity with different genres, Studio Bones should be the one to adapt I Am a Hero, 20th Century Boys, or something similar, so it can remain an industry favorite long after Deku’s story ends.

20th Century Boys

Author

Naoki Urasawa

Artist

Naoki Urasawa

Release Date

October 4, 1999