Arcane studio wants to adapt “masterpiece” manga

In a recent interview, Fortiche, the studio behind Arcane, shared their interest in adapting a particular manga at some point.

Arcane successfully united video games and animated series lovers under the same roof upon its premiere in 2021. Set in the League of Legends universe, the Netflix series is produced by Fortiche, a French animation studio.

After a critically acclaimed first season, Arcane is coming back with a second and last season in November 2024. We got an official teaser in June, after a first look back in January.

Ahead of the upcoming season premiere, Fortiche attended the Annecy International Animation Film Festival 2024. There the studio’s co-founder, Pascal Charrue, shared with Crunchyroll how anime has influenced their lauded steampunk animated series.

When asked if there was a manga they wanted to adapt from the page to the screen, Charrue revealed, “That’s a tough question. The first adaptation that comes to mind would be Vagabond by Takehiko Inoue.”

Takehiko Inoue/Kodansha

He shared further, “It’s a masterpiece with incredible depth and stunning artwork that would be fascinating to bring to life in animation. Although Naoki Urasawa’s works have already seen multiple adaptations, they remain a significant source of inspiration for us.”

Charrue’s answer has excited a lot of manga fans. Takehiko Inoue’s Vagabond is one of the most iconic manga out there, fictionalizing the life of samurai Musashi Miyamoto, known for brilliant writing and jaw-droppingly detailed art. These are also some of the reasons why this acclaimed manga hasn’t received an anime adaptation yet.

For many years, anime studios have shied away from adapting Vagabond, fearing they wouldn’t do it justice. It’s a reasonable worry, given the anime adaptations of a few other iconic manga. (Yes, we’re talking about Berserk!)

But now that Fortiche has expressed an interest, seeing Vagabond on screen might not be too far-fetched anymore. And if the studio does end up adapting it, we can hope to see an intriguing amalgamation of the manga’s eastern spirit and the studio’s western techniques.

For more, find out who Warwick in LoL is. You can also check out some best anime that technically aren’t anime. And if you’re an anime fan, you can give our list of the best upcoming anime a go.