The Appeal of Manga (vs Anime)

[Shoggoth2588]

I know of several manga that don't exist as anime like with Petshop of Horrors. Another factor is overall art design. Like this:

Spoiler: Fist of the North Star manga-then-anime

Other than that, it seems like 99% of the manga I've read were all in black-n-white whereas I don't know of a single black-n-white anime from before the 60's...or...whenever...

I like both honestly. I like how I don't have to put up with bad voice acting from the one and I like how I can just sit and watch with the other.

 

[Some_weirdGuy]

Your avatar is frozen on the girl's butt for some reason. I think I'm the only one experiencing this.

Or maybe your brain is so focused on that particular aspect that you're blotting out the rest of the animation from your conciousness...

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I think they should make more 'brotherhood' animes
Make a first run and do whatever, it's fine if you run out of source material and embellish for a different ending,

then make a second one later which follows the manga properly, and everyone is happy and fans get double the material. (and are free to discount the first one if they don't like it, or even vice versa)

 

[[Kira Must Die]]

When it comes to anime adaptations of manga, I tend to judge it as both an adaptation and on its own merits. Even compared to the original source material, if it works on it's own without having read the manga then I'm fine with the anime. And if it intrigues me enough, then I'll check out the original. Usually reading the manga before or while the anime is airing tend to lessen the impact of the anime for me.

Either way, I tend to look up to original animes more. I'm more of an anime fan than manga. I've read some, but not a whole lot, and I tend to go for much shorter mangas. Same with visual novels. I like to put more of my time watching anime.

For me, my favorite manga genre is horror. Horror seems to work far better in manga form than in anime.

 

[Zeldias]

Manga often just looks better to me. I love Hajime no Ippo, both the manga and the anime, but as time passed, the art in the manga looked better and better to me; more expressive, more exciting, more kinetic. The current season airing, though, tends to look silly and shiny to me, like fluid action figures are fighting it out. Feel the same way about Yu Yu Hakusho.

Otherwise, with a manga, I don't usually have to worry about getting into something only to find that I have to switch to a different medium suddenly, which happened to me with History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi (which is bad, but sometimes I like junk food).

In my experience, manga usually has a wider selection of things I can look at. I recently read this great manga Undercurrent that I strongly doubt has an anime parallel.

Finally, I'm just a more literary person. I can get invested in things that I read, but if I'm watching and listening, it had better be god damn amazing for me to get into it. The remade Battlestar Galactica is one such case; I almost just stopped trying to watch the first episode because I did not give a damn. Thankfully it got in gear. This also stopped me from playing some fully voice-acted games, or even turning most of the VA off in games like I did with Tales of Vesperia (I cannot listen to those bastards. The VA isn't even bad, I just want to read it myself and not hear the chatter).

 

[Rhatar Khurin]

It really depends, anime is obviously easier to watch than reading a book, ever tried reading whilst drunk for instance?

They both have their uses

 

[soren7550]

Two things (for me anyway):
- Manga doesn't have filler arcs
- Manga doesn't overly pad parts out (Ok, this one isn't all that true, but from what I've seen in anime, they'll take a scene/few chapters that should only last an episode or two at the most and stretch it to last five episodes or more, so anime takes the cake)

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

Here's a few reasons:

1) Different visions. Often, the manga and the anime of the same franchise will focus on different aspects of the same idea. This can be by intent - Revolutionary Girl Utena, for instance, was created by Chiho Saito (a mangaka) and Ikuhara (an anime director) as an outline, and then each took that outline and produced their vision of it. Chiho Saito wrote a very tight manga about magical duels at an otherwise normal school. Ikuhara delved into reincarnation, purgatory as a boarding school, and an exploration of how we understand reality. He expanded several characters greatly (including one character who was based on a photo in another character's room). The end result was the same basic story told in vastly different ways, with different characters (who happened to have the same names - Manga Juri is nothing at all like Anime Juri).

Two other less extreme (or planned) examples are Mai Hime and Evangelion.

Mai Hime was a shounen harem manga. However, the anime it was made into was a shoujo with some shonen overtones (mostly some breast-based fan-service that gets (mostly) forgotten after the first four episodes or so). The main character of the manga is the male lead - his part is vastly reduced in the anime, so that he isn't even considered one of the three most major characters in the anime. For this (and other) reason(s), the end of the manga and anime are very different.

Evangelion, on the other hand, was an anime first and a manga second. The manga, written by a different author who worked with the original anime author, chose to make the manga a slower, more character focused piece. He added a lot more character development to the series - and the original creator loved his work so much that he incorporated several parts of it into his remake ten years later.

2) Plot variation. Less drastic than the above, but related. Often, during adaptation, changes will be made. Others have noted this above. Typically, if I like a manga, I seek out it's anime - and vice versa. I then compare the two. In several instances, I've found one version of the story superior to the other. Examples:

Kashi Mashi. The original manga has a wonderful story that is well paced and makes sense. The anime scraps the original plot and instead chooses to be both cowardly to the subject matter and illogical at the same time. It was so awful, I sold the DVDs (which I bought on faith because the manga was so good).

A less horrible example is Love Hina. The manga is all over the place and doesn't really know where it wants to go. The anime, meanwhile, while guilty of some very over-the-top padding, actually paces the story well and ends in just the right place. The movies that follow kinda ruin it (and the less said about Again, the better), but just taken on the anime itself, it has a very tight narrative that doesn't outstay it's welcome.

3) The manga and anime are different parts of one story. Two examples will explain this best: Ghost in the Shell and Gunsmith Cats.

The Gunsmith Cats manga is a specific story that has a beginning, middle, and end. The anime, meanwhile, was specifically designed to fit "in between" manga chapters and not have any affect on the plot. Basically, the anime is nothing more than filler episodes to the manga.

The story of the Ghost in the Shell manga is very complex. The famous movie is actually two chapters out of the middle of the manga, and one chapter from near the end all slapped together. If you ever watched the movie and wondered why the hell they were doing what they were doing, that's why. If you read the manga, you get the introduction of the characters, the slow lead-in to the main antagonist, and then the plot cranks up to where it is in the movie. The manga is paced (and handled) much more like Stand Alone Complex (including the humor).

Stand Alone Complex is an excellent anime, but again it is designed to fit between chapters of the existing manga without making any waves. The beginning, middle, and end of the story have already been written - SAC, while awesome, is essentially a filler arc to the manga.

 

[sethisjimmy]

When I used to read manga it was mostly to find hidden gems that didn't get anime adaptations, like one-shots or finished series. The horror genre also really seems to prosper in manga form compared to anime, imo.

I also used to enjoy putting my own music on while reading.

 

[[Kira Must Die]]

].

Has anyone ever criticized how your avatar looks like two young girls having lesbian fun?

Nope.

I fail to see the problem with that.

Either way, whatever they're doing is adorable.

 

[Gatx]

They're appreciably different if you want look at things other than plot. When you measure one medium against another you have to look at what makes it unique. The issue here vs a comic and a novel and their respective movie/tv show adaptations isn't as simple as books leave the visuals to the imagination, whereas comics don't, there's all kinds of subtle differences in how the story is told. Things like panel layout, the drawings, and even the word bubbles together tell the story in a way that can't be directly translated into anime.

Two things (for me anyway):
- Manga doesn't have filler arcs
- Manga doesn't overly pad parts out (Ok, this one isn't all that true, but from what I've seen in anime, they'll take a scene/few chapters that should only last an episode or two at the most and stretch it to last five episodes or more, so anime takes the cake)

That problem only applies to the longer runners, animes with episode counts of 100+. Anything that's not Naruto/One Piece/Fairy Tail (Bleach is now out of the running, and there's probably more but I don't remember them) nowadays typically are adapted by seasons that are fairly close to the manga in terms of story and pacing because they don't need to wait for the manga to catch up, they'll just a take a season or two off instead.

 

[aba1]

Just wondering...

If you compare a movie to a book, you can say that a book has something a movie can never replace: imagination. With manga that's not so much the case. I reckon you can completely replace a manga with an anime adaption and lose nothing in the process. Well, unless you like to imagine the voices... imaginary voices in my head... wait, that doesn't sound quite right. Oh well, you know what I mean. XD

I know manga serve as the foundation for most anime (excluding visual novels and games). Also basing an anime on a manga is good for the existing fan base. So manga is still needed, but I can't really understand why it remains ever so popular.

So, for all you manga fans out there: what is the appeal of manga; especially compared to anime?

Before you answer that, I do have thought of a few points.

- Manga stories are usually longer and expand further than their anime counter part. Okay, if you read the manga besides the anime because you want more and more, that I could understand.

- Manga are better in terms of quality. No, lets assume we talk about faithful anime adaptions here for the sake of this discussion.

- Manga are 'portable' and can be read everywhere. In the old days, yes. Now; smart phones, tablets, etc. No longer a reason.

- Some manga do not have anime versions (yet). True, but that means you are already into manga while there are still many unwatched anime out there. Which leads to my original question

I find it breaks down into two points for myself:

- Manga stories are usually longer and expand further than their anime counter part.
- Manga never has filler while long animes often do.

Those are mainly my two reasons. Also occasionally the manga suits the story better like berserk for example looks better in black and white inks and has detail in the art that just couldn't be animated.

I enjoy both though some are better as animes as well obviously.

 

[Bocaj2000]

There is a superficial reason and a psychological reason:


On a superficial level I like comics better because I have more time to appreciate it. I can appreciate the artwork at my pace and re-read a well written monologue. The art appreciation HUGE reason. Unless the animation is as fluid and eye-melting as Super Jail, I'd rather see the detailed stills.


On a psychological level it's about active media vs passive media. The scale goes like this:

Interactive Media (including but not limited to "video games") -> Words -> Pictures -> Moving Pictures

I prefer comics to animation due to the fact that it is a more active media. With animation, I sit back and let it 'speak' to me. It is enjoyable for what it is. But with comics and books, I have to 'listen' to it. I have to pull it close and read what it has to say because it won't tell me otherwise. That brings the audience closer to the piece. The simple fact that you have to actively engage it makes more of a difference than you might think.

 

[aba1]

].

Has anyone ever criticized how your avatar looks like two young girls having lesbian fun?


On topic: I prefer anime just because I got used to. It has soundtrack which can ennance emotion, but honetly I don't think it5s necessary, I remember reading Harry Potter 4 and the lack of sound wasn't important to feel the dramatic moment of Voldemort meeting Harry.
Only manga I read is Liar game which is always in hiatus, I wonder if it would be better or worse in anime. But it's in my intention to read Berserk and 20th century boys.

Do not for the life of you watch berserk. The animation is terrible in quality and it got cut off half way through. Plus the art in the manga is incredible at times best in a comic series I have ever seen I would say well one of at least.

 

[PrimitiveJudge]

They both of awesome in story, but Anime is a tad more detail in looks, While Mange is more detail in Story. Like comparing "Love Hina" vs "Claymore" Claymore is fucking badass. The Japanese people are a bizzaar folk, but I ultimately adore them to no end

 

[Angie7F]

Manga usually only requires an artist (and their assistants) to create, which means they have less politics to deal with when coming up with a new series.
Anime has restrictions such as time slots, sponsors, political correctness etc.
So I would think that manga is more experimental than anime.

However, it has become more difficult to classify it in just plain anime vs manga these days because we have more mixed media released like Evangelion where manga, anime, pachinko, movie etc all branched out in their own story arch and does not "base" it self off an "original".

 

[Death Carr]

I'm just going to reiterate a few points for myself.
Pros
It's faster
Earlier today I started reading Heart no kuni no Alice. While I was reading it, I had Evangelion playing on my other screen for some background noise. In one 25 minute episode I managed to go through about 3 55 page chapters.

The art
The thing about anime is that it's essentially a lot of panels all playing one after another. You get 1/24th of a second to look at the panel before the next one comes up. In manga however, if I find a particular panel to be nice I can look at that one panel for far longer than 1/24th of a second. A prime example here would be Berserk.

Cons
Manga's more expensive
Manga costs me ~$13 for one tankobon. For a series thats been released in 13 tankobon thats over $160.
Whereas I could buy an entire anime for ~$65

I'll edit this post later with more points should I feel the need

 

[4RM3D]

*snip*

That's an interesting analysis. I understand manga a little better now.