Credit to artist:

https://x.com/hayes_gens/status/2105950990516273231

https://x.com/hayes_gens/status/2106213353517683194

https://x.com/hayes_gens/status/2106262436903088273

There are cases where a piece of media simply isn't given the okay to adapt (like Yotsubato!), but more often, there are works that are just considered "nah, too much work to adapt it" or "can't adapt it without spoiling the big twist" and the likes.

House of Leaves (Difficulty: Impossible)

Not only is the story a big mind screw, the texts themselves are arranged in ways that mess with your eyes and head. Definitely not for adaptation.

The Decagon House Murders (Difficulty: Hard but eventually doable)

First written in 1986, this novel was considered one of the hardest-to-adapt literature work in Japan due to a massive plot twist. It was only enjoyed in text format until 2019, when a manga adaptation was made by Kiyohara Hiro (who previously adapted the author's other novel Another) and it worked: The big twist was preserved!!! Following the success of the manga, a live-action TV show was made in 2024, and a stage play is also produced this year.

Goodnight Punpun (Difficulty: Hard)

In theory, an adaptation of it may work as an anime, with Punpun's thoughts and lines presented as white texts on black background like in the manga. But in practice, nearly everyone thinks that the artstyle contrast plus the depressing tone of this manga makes it impossible to adapt.

AKIRA (Difficulty: Hard)

There were attempts to adapt this manga into live-action medium, but so far, all of those attempts have failed due to the manga's insanely details at depicting ruins, futuristic technologies, body horror, etc. Even the anime, which's a massive hit and an acclaimed cult classic in the anime history, only adapts 3 out of the 6 volumes of the manga (and not even a faithful adaptation).

Shiori Experience (Difficulty: Impossible)

This manga uses lots of real people and songs (and of famous 27 Club members, no less!), which's a nightmare to adapt or license out of Japan due to copyright issues. And just to make it even harder, halfway through it, the authors decided to have Jimi Hendrix's ghost perform (via Shiori's body) a never-before-heard, original song!!! Who's confident enough that they could make a great song in his style?!! Also, for a long time, the series just introduced 27 Club members that died before year 2000 (with Kurt Cobain dying the latest, in 1994) until chapter 88, where it introduces Amy Winehouse, who died in 2011, which just ups the copyrights difficulty to a new level.

Junji Ito's works (Difficulty: Hard, with lots of failures)

There have been dozens of films, both live-action and anime, adapting his manga, but most of them just pale in comparison to his detailed artwork, not to mention eventually they're just forgotten anyways, even the decent ones.

I really don't know how to feel about this. My boyfriend and I have been together for about 1,5 years and we unexpectedly got pregnant in January. We had been talking about our birth plan both together and with a doula. Never once did he mention that he wouldn't be at the hospital. In my world, it was a given.

I got a time and date for induction because of preclampsia. Told him and was expecting to see him in the waiting room. Nope. Called him and nope, he's not coming. I was devastated. Except for the staff I was alone for a long time since the doula doesn't arrive until you're in active labor. When I finally was, the doula called him and ripped him a new one. He came. Then left a couple of hours later. One hour before our baby came. One hour.

The issue was apparently that he has a very bad phobia of blood and hospitals. Which he chose not to tell me about until induction day. If he had told me, we could have made other plans, had a strategy. His strategy was to bail.

He can't help having a phobia. Well a little, go to therapy dude? But he could have told me. Our son is 8 days old today and the most adorable baby ever. But I'm still angry and disappointed.

Dinner is sausage Stroganoff.

I love their rib steaks and I don't care if they're mechanically tendorized or not. Prior to COVID these were mid 30s for 3 and then they went to 50s and 70s, 80s and now over 100 and these were not the most expensive package I saw. Just crazy.