It's a real shame that Animorphs never really took off in Japan, because we missed out on the awesomeness that would have been but never was nor will be
Satoshi Kon's Animorphs.
Think about it.
Damn it!
But, that's not possible anymore, so I submit my B-list dream team.
Art Director: Mitsuo Iso.
An up-and-coming animator-turned-director, Iso is already a master of the new medium of digital 2D animation--particularly using it to convey
emotion and not just as a gee-whiz technical effect.
[spoiler]
Stills don't really capture the magic, but here's what he looks like.
[/spoiler]
Animation: Studio Madhouse.
Music Direction/Composition: Joe Hisaishi.
Spirited Away.
Castle in the Sky. I rest my case.
Script: Chiaki J. Konaka.
You need someone crazy to deal with this crazy story. And just look at this guy: he's pretty much the only non-foreigner in Japan to go around with a middle initial. People younger than me might recognize
Digimon Tamers--the crazy idea that a dumb weekend boys' cartoon could be about grief and forgiveness
and include an expy of Trinity from The Matrix. People older than me might recognize
Serial Experiments Lain (the first anime to require Cliff Notes) or
RahXephon (where he also worked with Iso).
But the biggest argument for Konaka Animorphs is that he wrote that horribly, horribly violent
Shadow Star Naru Taru. While it is one of my least favorite shows
ever (ugh, I had enough of mean kids in real life), we certainly know he can make ambiguously psychopathic preteens sound believable. And scare the piss out of you.
Series Director: Hideaki Anno
Speaking of crazy, here's the man himself, founder of the studio that gave us
Gurren Lagann and whose personal brainchild is the ultimate mind-screw anime
Neon Genesis Evangelion. With Anno at the helm, morphing will be suitably gross, morals suitably gray, and fans suitably serviced. Whilst not perfect, as long as the budget doesn't run out, someone's around to veto the most egregious panty-shots, and he doesn't decide to make a fifth version of
NGE (probably our biggest hurdle) it'll probably work out.
Would have to, 'cuz we ain't got Kon no more...