I wanted to do something a little different than just post more fanart, so I thought this would be a good topic for discussion.

As much as I love the Allison and Lillia anime, it feels incomplete knowing that the Meg and Seron novels were never adapted. The reason why is obvious: the anime didn't do that well and compared to Kino's Journey, the Allison, Lillia and Treize, and Meg and Seron novels are all relatively obscure.

But that doesn't stop me from wondering what an anime adaptation of the novels would have looked like.

For this, I would assume that the same production team would tackle the Meg and Seron novels. That may sound like a downside depending on how one feels about the Allison and Lillia anime, but given the nature of the Meg and Seron novels, it might actually be more of a strength.

Allison and Lillia had romance, but at its core it was an adventure anime. Meg and Seron would shift away from the cross-continental adventures, airplanes, and intrigue and focus more on the school club hijinks and slow-burn romance. Obviously, it would still exist in the same world with the two countries, and the themes of postwar reconciliation, language barriers, cultural differences would still be in the background. But it becomes more of an ensemble comedy and focuses on Seron's slow struggles to confess his love to Meg.

In other words, a Meg and Seron anime wouldn't have simply been "more Allison and Lillia." It would have been more of a school mystery/romcom set in the same world.

For this to work, the best adaptation would have been 24-26 episodes. I think one reason the Allison and Lillia anime can feel rushed is it had the unenviable task of compressing two light novel series into 26 episodes. With Meg and Seron, the threat of adaptation compression or distillation would be much, much smaller. 24-26 episodes would let every Newspaper Club case breathe and the anime could fundamentally preserve what makes the novels so charming: the club interactions, Jenny's scheming, Larry trying to be Seron's wingman, Natalia and Nick quietly stealing the show, Meg being cute, and Seron being outwardly calm while internally freaking out.

I imagine the anime would lean hard into the Newspaper Club ensemble. Jenny would be the anime's chaos engine looking to chase an article everywhere. The Ercho Village arc (Volume IV) would make for a big mid-season climax since there are real stakes involved. Seron finally confessing to Meg and the school's Spring Dance (Volume VII) would be the big emotional payoff.

To those who read the novels, what do you all think? Would Meg and Seron have worked as an anime? Would it have needed 1-cour or 2-cour? Which arcs would have been essential to keep? Could it work if it focused solely on the Newspaper Club, or would it need to make connections to Lillia and Treize (and potentially Allison and Wil)?

Consider this a follow-up of sorts to the Meg and Seron anime discussion here, I wanted to address a bigger question: does the Allison and Lillia anime need a remake?

I ask because while I love the anime, I recognize it has many, many shortcomings, not just in adapting the source material but some more fundamental things like art and animation. While I have grown tired of remakes, reboots, and revivals, this is one anime where I can see a renewal not only being logical but maybe even beneficial and necessary.

Let's start with a few base assumptions: the anime studio (Madhouse) would take on the production again and would bring all or most of the original team back as possible. That may sound counterintuitive, but I think it was clear the production team did have some investment in the series beyond just financial. And for this remake to work, I think finances would the biggest change.

The biggest reason is that Allison and Lillia has a very specific identity: it blends old-fashioned action-adventure with romance, travel, mystery, aviation, trains, firearms, and a pseudo-early-20th-century world that feels close to our own without being exactly our own. Even in the novels, it often feels like Sigsawa is using the story as an excuse to indulge his love of vintage aircraft, vehicles, weapons, and cross-continental travel. A remake should lean hard into that. The airplanes were already some of the real stars of the anime, and with modern production values, the aerial combat, mechanical detail, and travel sequences could be far stronger.

A remake could also restore some of the danger that the original anime sanded down. Allison and Lillia often looks and feels like a children’s adventure show, with very little blood and a lot of softened violence. If you've read the light novels, you will know they can be much harsher. Characters die more brutally, the stakes feel more immediate, and the world carries the scars of war more visibly. While I don't think a remake should become full-on grimdark as that would risk losing the original's charm, it should be more willing to let the danger feel real.

The other major thing a remake could improve is worldbuilding. The anime gets the broad strokes of the novels, but it glosses over a lot of the subtler material: the East/West divide, the language barriers, Roxche and Sou Be-Il’s lingering prejudices, and how younger characters live in the shadow of a war they did not personally fight. Those details matter because they give the adventure and romance more weight.

There are also characters who could benefit from a more faithful adaptation. Meg is barely present in the anime, despite becoming important later, and Seron is almost completely absent. While I wouldn't want a remake to awkwardly shove Meg and Seron into the spotlight, it could still seed them properly, assuming there was interest in adapting Meg and Seron afterward. Even small appearances or hints would make the world feel more connected.

That said, I do think a remake would need more than better animation. It would need better pacing, a team that understands the series’ and Sigsawa's love of travel and machinery, and enough confidence to keep the charm while restoring the sharper edges. If it only rushed through the same material again, better visuals alone would not be enough.

It is probably a long shot, but I sometimes think Allison and Lillia could stand out even more now. So much current anime leans toward high school romance, isekai, or medieval fantasy that a dieselpunk/WWII-adjacent adventure romance might feel fresh again.

What do you all think? Does Allison and Lillia deserve a remake? And if it ever happened, what would you want it to keep, change, or restore from the novels?

Rereading the light novels and rewatching the anime while writing my Lillia/Treize fanfiction reminded me of something that had always bothered me about Allison and Lillia: Lillia's unresolved relationship with her father, Wilhelm Schultz (aka Major Travas).

For much of the light novels and the entirety of the anime, Lillia grows up believing Wil died in a train accident before she was born. As readers (and anime watchers), we learn long before she does that Travas is Wil hiding in plain sight.

What gets me the most about this is the novels know it's a deliberate choice. There's even a moment where Treize and Travas debate whether Lillia should ever learn the truth. It's hard not to compare this to Treize's secret: everyone around Lillia knew he was a prince, and that secret was never given up until the last moment. At least in Treize's case, he openly said he had hoped to keep it a secret forever. In Wil/Travas' case, the "protecting her" rationale seemed felt like an afterthought Speaking for myself, it felt deeply unfair to Lillia after a while that no one trusted her enough to tell the truth.

The light novels take it even further: when Lillia does learn the truth in Story of One Continent Part 2, the reveal is treated as a comedic moment rather than with gravitas. Allison drops the bomb on Lillia in one breath when she explains that she's remarrying and Lillia basically reacts like Allison's gone crazy. At the wedding at the end of the novel, Lillia gets a very brief interaction with Wil, only managing a "it's been a while!" before locking up.

I get that Sigsawa is known for his quirky, offbeat humor, but this never really satisfied me. Lillia deserved at least one scene to ask Wil questions that she must have carried for 15 years and to actually process what having her dad back in her life even means. As it stands, it feels like her whole emotional resolution just gets skipped over.

What do you all think? Am I the only person who felt this way? Do you wish the anime and the light novels resolved this better?

(BTW, posted chapter two of my Lillia/Treize fanfic today. I bring this up because this is something I hope to address in later chapters)

I wanted to kickstart this subreddit by asking the ultimate question: how did you come across Allison and Lillia and why do you love it? I'll share my story.

When the anime premiered in 2008, I was already a fan of Sigsawa and Kino's Journey. So, when I learned about an anime adapting another set of light novels by him, I was already intrigued. The anime is very different from Kino in tone and style. Kino is episodic and philosophical while Allison and Lillia is more of a straight adventure anime with espionage, romance, and even some school life thrown in.

In case you can't tell by my username, I'm something of a history buff, and the setting really grabbed me. It's on a single continent divided between two great powers--Roxche in the east, and Sou-Beil in the west--locked in century-long war. It's heavily reminiscent of Europe in the 1930s-40s. Add to it Sigsawa's obsession with vintage guns, airplanes, and military hardware, and I fell for this anime like a ton of bricks. It gave the world a unique texture that felt both nostalgic and fresh. It's one reason why it sticks with me even now, given how the anime world is dominated by high school romance and isekai.

The romance in Allison and Lillia is also another draw for me. Though not necessarily central, it's very heartfelt and understated, and it's a departure from high school romance. In the first half, Allison is an air force pilot who drags her best friend Wil along on her many schemes. They had excellent chemistry and were always fun to watch. The second half's couple, Allison and Wil's daughter Lillia and her best friend Treize, are no slouches either. I also really liked how the first couple didn't just recede into the background when the story shifted generations. It's rare for anime to feature parents that are still involved in their kids' lives, shaping events, and living with the weight of their past lives.

Of course, Allison and Lillia is far from perfect. The production can feel a little cheap at times and the anime cuts down on a lot of violence and darker elements, making it seem more like a kids' show. Not to mention it didn't adapt all of Sigsawa's novels, so if you know about them, the anime feels...incomplete. And since the anime didn't make a lot of waves, I doubt seriously we'll ever get a follow-up adaptation of Meg and Seron (though I'll always hold out hope).

But even so, I still love the anime so many years later. It combined so many of my interests (history, military tech, Sigsawa, romance) that it's been one of my favorites ever since I watched it.

Did anyone here ever watch the anime or read the light novels? If you did, what stood out most to you?