Anime/Manga Franchise

Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, known in Japan as , was an anime series in the mecha genre, and is one of the alternate universe Gundam series, taking place in the After Colony timeline. It is the second alternate universe in the Gundam media franchise, following Mobile...

is a Japanese cyberpunk manga created by Masamune Shirow, and first published in 1989 in Young Magazine. A sequel, Ghost in the Shell 2: Man/Machine Interface, was released in 2002. Over the years, the manga series has been adapted into the following: three anime...

Serial Experiments Lain is an anime series directed by Ryutaro Nakamura, original character design by Yoshitoshi ABe, screenplay written by Chiaki J. Konaka, and produced by Yasuyuki Ueda (credited as production 2nd) for Triangle Staff. It was broadcast on TV Tokyo...

is one of the longest running series of Japan anime, featuring giant robots or mecha, created by Sunrise. Currently(as of 21 Janurary 2008), the Gundam Franchise is a 50 billion yen trademark. Gundam is the collective term for the Universal Century (UC) series, like...

, also known as Ah! My Goddess!, is a seinen manga series by Kosuke Fujishima currently serialised in Kodansha's monthly Afternoon magazine. It was first published in 1988-08-25 (the September issue). Originally a typical magical girlfriend romantic comedy, over time...

, sometimes abbreviated , is a Japan manga series by Natsuki Takaya. It was serialized in the semi-monthly Japanese magazine Hana to Yume, published by Hakusensha, from 1999 to 2006. The series was also adapted into a 26-episode anime series, directed by Akitaro Daichi...

The Amazing 3 (Japanese title:W3 - Wonder 3) is an Osamu Tezuka manga and a black and white anime series. It involved the adventures of three agents from outer space who were sent to Earth to determine whether the planet, a potential threat to the universe, should be...

(often shortened to Nadesico) is a science fiction comedy anime TV series, and a later manga series created by Kia Asamiya. The manga, published in English by CPM Manga, is significantly different from the anime. The series takes place in the year 2196, where the...

, known in the United States as Kimba the White Lion, is a Japan anime series from the 1960s, created by Osamu Tezuka, and based on his manga of the same title which began publication in 1950. It was the first color TV animation series created in Japan. The entire...

is a Japan manga series written and illustrated by Nobuhiro Watsuki with an anime adaptation. The fictional setting takes place during the early Meiji period in Japan. The English-language versions of the OVAs as well the film is released as Samurai X, although the...

is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto with an anime adaptation. The main character, Naruto Uzumaki, is a loud, hyperactive, unpredictable, adolescent ninja who constantly searches for recognition and aspires to become a Hokage, the...

Speed Racer is the title of an English adaptation of the Japan anime which centered on automobile racing. The series is an early example of an anime becoming a successful franchise in the United States. The characters and storylines originated in Japan as the manga...

is a Japan animated television series directed by Yasuhiro Imagawa (Giant Robo, Getter Robo Armageddon). G Gundam is the first of three Gundam series created to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the franchise in 1994. The series takes place in an alternate...

is a 50 episode anime series that aired between 1999 and 2000 on Japan's FNN networks and the anime satellite television network, Animax, created for the Gundam Big Bang 20th Anniversary celebration. It was also compiled into two feature-length movies titled ∀ Gundam I...

is a manga written by Osamu Tezuka in the 1970s, dealing with the medical adventures of the eponymous doctor Black Jack. Black Jack consists of hundreds of short, self-contained episodes, on the order of 20 pages of manga each. Two volumes have been translated into...

is a popular movie that spun off 3 OVA movies and later two alternate-universe OVA (the "Vs." series) were released. This parody series references and a number of other works of anime from the 1970s and 1980s. The title itself is a reference to a Jackie Chan movie,...

is a Japan manga created by Kazuki Takahashi, which has spawned a franchise including multiple anime series, a trading card game, and numerous video games. Most of the incarnations of the franchise involve the card game called Duel Monsters (originally known as Magic &...

, also known as Knights of the Zodiac, is a manga series authored by Masami Kurumada, and later adapted to anime. The story follows five mystical warriors called the "Saints" (or "Knights"; the kanji is properly read as sei-tōshi "holy fighter" but the furigana has it...

is a Japan eroge dōjin visual novel game created by Type-Moon, which was originally released in December 2000. A remake of Tsukihime is planned by Type-Moon for a future release with updated art and story. It was adapted in 2003 into an anime series, Shingetsutan...

is a Japan anime TV series set in the Ghost in the Shell universe created by Masamune Shirow. It is often referred to by its acronym GitS:SAC. It however, has no connection to the movies or manga, and is considered as an alternate universe. Production of the show was...

is a 31-volume, 24-Kanzenban manga and anime series written by Takehiko Inoue about a basketball team from Shohoku (Shōhoku) High School. It was first published in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump in Japan and has sold over 100 million copies in Japan alone. In 1995, it...

is a manga series from the well-known Japan mangaka Osamu Tezuka in the late 1960s. The anime television series (1969) based on the manga consists of 26 half-hour episodes. During the late 1960s, manga featuring hobgoblins was popular among kids. Dororo was...

La Blue Girl (淫獣学園) is a hentai anime and manga series. Based on the manga by Toshio Maeda, the La Blue Girl anime, like his other hentai series (e.g., Urotsukidoji), features a large amount of tentacle rape. It departs somewhat from its predecessors, however, by...

Patlabor (a portmanteau of "patrol" and "labor") refers to , a manga franchise created by Headgear, a group consisting of director Mamoru Oshii, writer Kazunori Ito, mecha designer Yutaka Izubuchi, character designer Akemi Takada, and manga artist Masami Yūki. The...

is a popular Japan bishōjo series authored by Sakurako Kimino and illustrated by Naoto Tenhiro. It began as a serialized manga in 1999. In 2001, it was turned into a bishōjo game for the Sony PlayStation. Sequels to the game were released for the PlayStation and Game...

is a shōnen manga series written and illustrated by Yoshihiro Togashi with an anime adaptation. The first chapter of the Hunter × Hunter manga series began was published in March of 1998, in the Japanese magazine Weekly Shonen Jump. The manga has continued its...

, also known as Lady Oscar, is one of the best-known titles in shōjo and a media franchise created by Riyoko Ikeda. It has been adapted into several Takarazuka Revue musicals, as well an anime television series, produced by Tokyo Movie Shinsha and broadcast by the...

, created by Akira Toriyama in 1984, is an internationally famous media franchise. It consists primarily of one manga series, three different anime, seventeen animated feature films, an unofficial live-action movie, a collectible trading card game, a large number of...

, known as Tranzor Z in North America, is a manga series by Go Nagai, serialized in Shueisha Shonen Jump from October 1972. December of the same year, an anime adaptation premiered on Fuji Television. The TV series ended September 1, 1974, outliving its manga...

is a Japan manga series created by writer Tsugumi Ohba and illustrator Takeshi Obata. The series centers around a high school student who discovers a supernatural notebook that allows him to kill anyone by writing the victim's name and picturing his face. The plot...