Back before Game of Thrones became the surprise juggernaut hit of the decade on HBO, fans of the books used to debate what format would serve best for an adaptation. Beyond those that used to say it just couldn’t be done, a popular suggestion used to be turning it into an anime. Japanese cartoons tend to have less of an issue with violence, nudity, or a show that requires 50+ episodes of brooding characters questioning their life choices. Plus you can have as much dragon and direwolf action as you want without breaking the bank!
The idea never got further than internet forums (unless one of the five upcoming spin-offs is going to surprise us), so we’ll have to settle for this instead: a fan-made imagining of the opening credits, done in the style of classic over the top animes like Naruto and Bleach. This video captures the best and worst from anime’s often overwrought delivery, from the pensive shots of all your favorite Game of Thrones characters to shoehorned English like ‘Winter hating love!’ and ‘Sex is free!’
The work is the brainchild of French animator Malec, who has a series of cartoon rap battles between characters like Adventure Time‘s Finn and Zelda‘s Link. You’ll need to understand French to get the gist of most of them though, a feature that his work with Game of Thrones fortunately doesn’t require.
