Fire Emblem is a niche JRPG video game franchise, kept alive through a core of passionately devoted fans. However, the games hold all the elements of a classic shonen anime, but only if done right. There are many ways a Fire Emblem anime could be done poorly, and avoiding these pitfalls would require be a delicate balancing act.
However, in return, Fire Emblem has the potential to be an amazing anime, full of action and endearing characters that could land it among the best. Here are the worst mistakes that could be made -- and one approach to make Fire Emblem a hit anime.
Mistake: Adapting a Route from Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Three Houses is the most recent Fire Emblem game, where the player chooses allegiance to a country at the beginning and sticks with that choice for the rest of the game. The lore is complex, the characters are layered and matters such as racism, imperialism and classism are all addressed by the story. It seems ideal for an anime adaptation.
However, adapting Three Houses would be a mess. It's only by playing all three houses that the player understands the backstories and motivations behind the characters, and it's impossible to have all routes side by side due to differing plot points. An storyline would have to be made for each separate house, but not every one would make a good anime.
Mistake: Adapting an Older Fire Emblem Game
Adapting an older game such as Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance or even going back to the original Fire Emblem, Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light, is an option. However, an older game would likely have trouble drawing a modern audience. Even in 1996, two OVAs based on the third game were released and discontinued, likely due to lack of funding or interest.
Since Marth and the other characters in the OVA had only been introduced in 1990, while the sequel game to Shadow Dragon came out in '96, the fact an OVA in that very same year failed to succeed beyond two episodes says a lot. An attempt to draw on nostalgia by adapting Path of Radiance is possible -- largely due to Ike's popularity as a character -- but it would be a gamble that has been lost before.
Mistake: Adapting a Fire Emblem Game with an Avatar
Choosing to adapt a game with an avatar automatically alienates half of the player base who chose the other gender to use. Games with avatars tend to have romance options as well, both for the avatar and through exercising some control over the characters' pairings as well. Unfortunately, this kicks the newer Fire Emblem games out of the running. It would be impossible to keep viewers happy in terms of shipping when they already have their own preferences. Any anime based on a game with this mechanic is asking for conflict.
Mistake: Sticking to the Game Plot
Fire Emblem games rely a lot on fighting. After all, strategic battle is the only thing a player does. Because of this, there are some rather ridiculous reasons armies end up fighting each other, such as mistaken identity between Ferox and Ylisse in Awakening and because there's too much smoke to tell who the enemy is in Three Houses.
Any game that was to be adapted would need a lot of extra plot to pad the story, but even the most plot-heavy of Fire Emblem games, like Three Houses, rely on the battles for action. In order to write a decent Fire Emblem anime, the conflict needs to contain battles but also be able to reach outside into other forms of conflict.
The Way to Make a Great Fire Emblem Anime
Fire Emblem: Awakening is known as the game that saved the Fire Emblem franchise. Without it, the whole series would likely be gone today, so Awakening is the obvious starting point for any Fire Emblem anime. That doesn't make it immune to any of the problems discussed above. However, just as the introduction of the future children in Awakening aroused new interest, they could be the solution again.
In Awakening, teenagers begin showing up and telling astounded members of the army that they are their children, come back in time to prevent the future they've escaped from. This means there is a good period of time -- completely canon within the game's plot -- where these kids were on their own in the future, fighting a war with only themselves to rely on. Yet nothing much is known about this time period, except that it was filled with conflict and shaped the kids into the battle-hardened teenagers they are after the time-jump. It seems like the perfect opportunity for a Fire Emblem anime to explain just what happened during that time.
An anime about the future children would work because it avoids the problems listed above. It would be an original plot from a newer Fire Emblem game, without an avatar and only having one timeline. With the parents all dead, avoiding shipping conflict would be fairly easy as well. An anime focusing on the future children and their experiences after their parents died would also fill in a blank space fans would love to see, such as some interactions between Severa and Lucina. On top of that, the future children are extremely popular, and for good reason -- they have larger-than-life personalities that manage to be humorous and heartbreaking even in the midst of war. Combine a lovable cast with quality animation and that alone is sure to draw the attention of anyone who enjoys shonen anime. The trick would be to write a plot that then focuses on the strengths of the future children while still maintaining momentum and suspense.
With the future children as the main characters and a completely original plot, the Fire Emblem anime would be friendly for anyone to try with no foreknowledge required. As one of Awakening's possible endings is the future children deciding to leave together once their business in the past is over, the ending could end up being melancholy but meaningful -- a perfect conclusion for a story of battling through loss and of a bunch of lonely children looking to each other to find the support they need. In all honesty, the biggest problem might be distancing the anime from Fire Emblem in order to hook an audience with preconceived notions.
Getting a Fire Emblem anime right wouldn't be easy. Even with the future children as protagonists, there would be a cast of 12 to manage. It's inevitable some of the kids would have to take the spotlight, and writing an original plot -- even within an established setting -- would require a lot of precision and personal care. However, if done correctly, a Fire Emblem anime could turn out as an amazing shonen adventure, funny and bittersweet, with something for fans and for people who have never touched a Fire Emblem game in their life. There is a lot of potential in this series, waiting for the first studio to realize that it's there, simply hiding in a time players never got to see.
