Wuxia Anime - what's next?

[Tom]

Return Of The Condor Heroes
was adapted into an anime a few years back.

Unfortunately, it turned out unsuccessful (right?).

I can't really blame it though,
because the animation company chose the wrong story
and butchered the original story too much.

If you could choose
which novel to adapt into an anime next,
which one would you choose?

If it was up to me,
I would choose
Legend Of The Condor Heroes.

Why?

Because LOCH is packed with plentiful fighting,
action,
adventure,
romance,
and much more.
It is guaranteed to be successful (only if made the right way).

The price probably would be quite cheap too, since LOCH isn't really that long of a story when compared to some of the other current animes (Naruto, Bleach, One Piece). Considering LOCH's 40 chapters, I say 80 to 100 episodes would be enough (25 minutes an episode w/ openings & endings).

So what do you guys think?

[Wellesley]

I've seen a few episodes of the Return of the Condor Heroes anime, I don't like the ROCH novel too much so I got bored after watching 1 episode of the anime.

I like anime very much but I only watch maybe 1 anime per year. My favorites ones are Rurouni Kenshin, Initial D, Hikaru no Go, Naruto, Dragon Ball.

I would personally prefer Smiling Proud Wanderer to be adapted, because the story has a lot of plot twists, the characters aren't clear cut good vs evil. SPW and Demi-Gods Semi-Devils have the best story among Jin Yong novels in my opinion.

Guo Jing is the star of LOCH, but I believe anime fans would prefer a badass like Xiao Feng, a funny and cool hero like Linghu Chong over the patriotic, 100% loyal and completely righteous Guo Jing, whom they might find more boring than the previous two. Zhang Wuji might fall into the same category as Guo Jing.

Anime fans really dig strange and unusual characters, Rurouni Kenshin had many memorable villains such as Shishio, Soujiro, Jinnei, Aoshi, that guy with the glasses and white hair which name escapes me...

So they would also like Compassionate Swordsman Ruthless Sword, but I predict that Ah Fei will gain more fans than Lin XunHuan, as anime fans usually prefer heroes that are more bishonen (long haired, beardless handsome young men).

Ah Fei is also a cool, cold badass, Anime Fans dig Sasuke and Aoshi a lot, so I am sure they will appreciate Ah Fei.

Oh and they will also love Lin Xian Er.

I believe anime fans can enjoy the combat style portrayed in Gu Long novels, as long as they enjoy the characters. Japanese swordfighting is quick and bloody anyway, similar to Ah Fei or Jing WuMing's style, as long as they can view the fight, fans will be happy. Plus fights such as Li XunHuan vs GuoSongYang are good by any standards.

I am not sure they can enjoy the final battles that happened behind the scenes though, which have no visual description, but by then the series is over and it's too late for them to complain (Note I personally did enjoy the final battle since i can imagine what happened thanks to the comments of other members here).

Yu PeiYu's story can make a great anime series too, even with the ending that wasn't written by Gu Long... the early parts will get fans interested.