(Image taken from the manga Bakuman) 

There are many anime adaptations taken from anime or light novels, many of them meeting lukewarm reviews. However, there are far more manga out there, truly great ones, that have never seen an anime adaptation. They rightfully deserve one, a season at least, to show off their stuff. Below is a list of some woefully underappreciated manga or manwha (Korean manga) that deserve an animated adaptation. This list is in no particular order.

1. Love / Death by Kuzushiro

This is a cute yuri love story following two yandere girls in love with each other. If you know what a yandere is, you can tell where this is going. They get jealous or angry with one another, and have a short epic battle before clearing things up and getting cute with one another. It's a short story you may want to read a few times. It's funny, romantic, short, and definitely worth an animated adaptation.

2. Yandere Kanojo by Shinobi

This is not another yandere manga, despite what the title says. In this instances, yandere is a combination of the words 'yankee' and 'dere', with a yankee being a violent thug, which the main female character is. She, a known strong and violent girl, is in a relationship with a plain-looking guy, and tries to hide this fact, but it becomes a secret to everyone. She acts sweet and kind with him, taking the 'dere' word here. It's a long series with plenty of comedy and drama, but the status quo of love comedy is upheld to the fullest. Why there is no anime version of this not even Reina can understand.

3. Kono Onee-san wa Fiction Desu!?  by Mutsuki Tsutomu

I really, really, hesitate to put this manga here. For many, the ending is paramount, and this manga has a rushed and nonsensical ending. The series follows the son of a famous mangaka finding his mother's new assistant drunk in a ditch. He helps her become a good assistant and end her drinking habits, since she often gets drunk and crawls into his bed almost naked. They form a strong bond, and it looks like they fall in love. However, a childhood friend girl has feelings for him, and he uncharacteristically chooses her instead of the hot older woman. This ending has been a point of contention for the fans. It is my hope that if this does get an anime adaptation, they fix this terrible ending.

4. Liar Game by Kaitani Shinobu

This is a really good psychological manga. It follows an innocent and honest woman pulled into the dark world of the Liar Game, where contestants lie and cheat their way to victory, or be burdened with a massive debt. Once she's been forcibly entered into this game by the Liar Game Committee, her first opponent is a former teacher she always used to think is nice. However, after losing his job, he becomes a mean person who tricks the woman into a losing situation. The woman seeks out a con artist who took down a massive company after it cheated his mother and lead to her death. At first, he tricks her into waiting for his return, so being the trusting sort, she waits a full day, much to his surprise. He saves her from a group of guys who mistake her for a street girl, and he hears her out. Together, they win the first round and save her teacher from debt by turning over their winnings to him.

The rest of the manga follows a similar formula with different, very tricky games, and the secrets of the Liar Game are made apparent. That this manga has no anime adaptation is a crime.

5. Oh, My God! by Hyun Yeh-ji / Kang Ji-young

In this world, Heaven is a company run by God as the CEO and Shiva, Odin, Buddha, Vishnu, Dangun, and Moses as board members. After God's hard work over a period of years is deleted by his friend computer, he decides to start up the Apocalypse. During a heated argument by the board members using their godly power, a human girl from South Korea is accidentally summed to Heaven Corp. Gabriel is unable to send her back, so they take care of her while they hold a meeting to determine how to end the world. They soon discover that they can't due to the human girl, so she becomes a priority, and a target by their enemies from Olympus Corp, run by Zeus and the other gods of Olympus.

6. Ore ga Akuma de, Aitsu ga Yome de by Aruma Rumi

An orphan girl makes a wish to God to deliver her a good person to take care of her. Instead, a demon from Hell arrives and enters into a contract with her, becoming her husband. Despite their situation, she couldn't be happier, and makes attempts to make him fall in love with her. He comes to genuinely care for her. Her kindness wins over even other demons from Hell, her husband's co-workers who demean him often due to his low score on obtaining souls. The demon learns why the girl is an orphan living in a church with a kind, yet somehow malevolent priest when he meets her awful family. His own origin is revealed later, and he decides to stay with her. Though no romantic connection is really seen, hopefully an anime handles that in a time skip when she becomes an adult.

7. Transfer Student Storm Bringer by Gangnengyi

 A rough and scary-looking guy transfers to a school where there are many strong students. In reality, he's a weak coward who gets beat up by bullies. When he transfers, he accidentally defeats a grade leader on his first day, gaining unwelcome attention from the other students. As he gets more involved with the school and its fights, his lucky faults see him defeat or otherwise weaken much stronger students and even a teacher. There is no joke to be found here, there must be an anime version of this.

There is a spinoff where the main character is the complete opposite way: really strong with terrible luck. This version is recommended.

8. Immortal Rain by Ozaki Kaori

This story follows a powerful and indestructible immortal named Rain as he travels the world seeking the one who made him immortal. He meets, befriends, and falls in love with a bounty hunter girl, who decides to help him in his quest. The one who made him who and what he is is discovered to be another sort of immortal who is constantly reborn, and is many thousands of years old.

9. Shadow by Yunuji

This manwha follows the story of an organization that handles clean-up after great superhero and supervillain battles. If My Hero Academia can get an anime about superhero students, Shadow deserves one.

10. Stray Little Devil by Mori Kotaro

A girl becomes very interested in demons and magic. She and her friends try to summon a good demon, but it fails. She is instead sent to another world where demons and angels co-exist, but not quite peacefully. There, she meets an angel girl who looks like her best friend, but she has never heard of this human. She meets and befriends many other strange people, and even falls in love with the angel girl. She must learn to survive in this new world if she intends to return home.

There you have it, ten solid manga series that definitely deserve more recognition and an anime adaptation. Do you know of other manga series that deserve more time in the spotlight? Tell us in the comments below!