One Piece, Mobile Suit Gundam, Yu Yu Hakusho, Cowboy Bebop, and many more anime franchises have either released live-action adaptations or have Hollywood projects in the works to bring them to life. However, while the rise of anime is giving far more series that chance to enter “the real world,” there was a time when “live-action anime adaptations” were dirty words in the business. Luckily, not all of the offerings were destined for failure, and the classic anime streaming service known as RetroCrush has added some live-action films to its library. Whether you’re a fan of bio-booster armor or samurai lore, the platform has some streaming surprises for anime enthusiasts.
RetroCrush has its fair share of anime heavy hitters since it first arrived online in 2020. At present, the likes of Yu-Gi-Oh!, Hajime no Ippo, Ghost Stories, Urusei Yatsura, and more have populated its platform. In terms of exclusives, the streaming service is the only place to watch the likes of Future Boy Conan, Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water, Kite: Liberator, The Ultraman, and more. Earlier this month, the anime-centric streamer released the original Guyver OVA series, a twelve-episode brutal story that was difficult to find before now. On top of this, RetroCrush has also added the live-action anime adaptations of Lone Wolf and Cub’s television series and Dororo’s movie. You can see the major anime releases that dropped earlier this month, and what is to come for the rest of the month on RetroCrush by clicking here.
While Crunchyroll is currently housing the latest Guyver series, which first debuted in 2005, the anime adaptation that first introduced many viewers to the “Bio-Boosted Armor” arrived in 1989. Running for twelve episodes, the brutal anime adaptation was quite a difficult task to track down if you wanted to stream it. For years, many anime fans weren’t able to see the anime that was brought to life by Studio Visual 80 and Hero Communications, but luckily, RetroCrush now houses the Guyver OVA. If you’re a fan of hardcore, gruesome anime adventures, the Guyver series might be right up your alley.
As for the live-action fare, the Dororo movie and the live-action Lone Wolf and Cub television series were also bouncing around the streaming world in past years. Dororo released its live-action movie in 2007, adapting the manga that was released all the way back in the 1960s. While this samurai tale received its own anime adaptation in both 1969 and 2019, the same couldn’t be said for Lone Wolf and Cub. The classic manga spawned several live-action films, with the television series landing in 2002, and while the story of the wandering samurai and his infant son has been a legend in its history, it has never received an anime of its own.
