It's incredibly common these days for light novels to be adapted into anime. It happened with 2007's Baccano! and 2010's Durarara (going into the currently-ongoing Durarara!!x2). Even this summer, light novels like Shimoneta to Iu Gainen ga Sonzai Shinai Taikutsu na Sekai and Rokka no Yuusha are getting anime of their own. With all of these light novels adaptations in the works, its natural to wonder what the next adaptation will be.

Recently, a list was compiled counting up some of the most popular light novels between 2008 and 2011; this is the same list used yearly to rank the popularity of light novels. The majority of these titles are light novels that have already been adapted into shows such as Sword Art Online, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and Baka and Test, just to name a few. As one can see, very few titles on this list have not been adapted into anime.

Usotsuki Mii-kun to Kowareta Maa-chan Spice and Wolf Oreimo Kamisama no Memochou Kino's Journey Haruhi Suzumiya series Shakugan no Shana Student Council's Discretion Sword Art Online Sōkyū no Karma Tasogare-iro no Uta Tsukai Durarara The Pilot's Love Song A Certain Magical Index Toradora! Baka to Test to Shōkanjū Bakemonogatari Full Metal Panic Book Girl series Ben-To Haganai Mimizuku to Yoru no Ō

(note: Light novels w/o anime in bold)

There are still a few, however, that have yet to be adapted. For example, Kei Sazane—an author known for winning the 18th Kadokawa Fantasia Novel Award since debuting in 2007—has yet to have works like SIREN or Twilight-Colored Singer (which is placed 11th on this list) adapted in any form. For any studio looking to make a popular light novel series into a new anime, one wouldn't need to look much farther than Sazane's work.

It may sound easy now to look at someone's respected light novel repertoire to try and find a new anime in them, but anything could happen. At the very least, popularity numbers can serve as an excellent indicator for light novels to come to life.

[Via Yaraon]