My husband and I just finished the second episode of the anime version of High School of the Dead, a series about the zombie apocalypse starting in downtown Tokyo.

It was originally a manga that my husband adores and is still reading as new chapters come out.

So far the adaptation from manga to anime is spot on.

I watched my first anime before I read my first manga, Weiss Kreuz, an older series about assassins posing as flower shop workers during the day. It is not a great anime, but it has a special place in my heart, and like many of its fellows it also has an accompanying manga.

The manga for Weiss Kreuz is not typical, but tells the story of how the main characters ended up working together, a prequel to better understand the events in the anime.

Manga and Anime relations for a single series can develop in a number of different ways. Most people assume that the norm is to have a manga that existed first that they then translated into an anime to see the stationary pictures come alive with movement and voice actors.

Sometimes it is that clean cut, but not always.


Take some of the more abnormally popular series right now, like Naruto and Bleach. Both of those anime series have manga versions that came first, true. They also both started making the anime version long before their manga counterparts were nearing an end so that they could bank more quickly on the popularity.

The problem with that method comes when the anime catches up. The first thought from creators isn’t to sit back and wait it out until the manga creator writes more and then they’ll continue the anime. Usually, the anime creators decide to just fill in some other aspects of the story, whether that fits with the plot or not.

Why else to do you think Naruto and Bleach are so mind-numbingly frustrating and long? They are filled with superfluous material to keep fans hooked rather than risk losing their captive audience.

Now, there are exceptions. Some anime based off of incomplete manga take a particular aspect of the story, tell it, and call it good so that they do not write something beyond the manga’s story. Like Fruits Basket and Ouran Host Club. Both of those series are very good and very popular series that took a different path from the never-ending Naruto and Bleach.

The Fruits Basket anime series covered about the first 8 books of the manga. The story didn’t end until volume 23.

I wouldn’t turn up my nose if they decided to continue the anime now that the manga is long done, but overall I think Fruits Basket as an anime series is one of the better ones. It knew when to stop and not try and get ahead of the actual story while still feeling complete.

Ouran Host club is a very similar example from manga to anime. There is much more manga still ongoing, while the anime ended at a seemingly good stopping point along the way. I think here in America we too often think we need to milk shows for all they are worth instead of just letting them tell their story well and be done.

There are a few adaptation examples where a large manga series has only part of the story told in a single OVA instead of a whole anime series.

Angel Sanctuary, one of my favorite mangas, has only ever had an OVA (Original Video Animation). It tells the first 3 and a half volumes of a 20 volume story that is so much more interesting and engaging once you get through book 4 and beyond.

I hold no hopes for a continuation of Angel Sanctuary in animated form, it has been too many years now, but I still like the OVA even though it covers only the very beginning of a great story.

Other OVAs for manga can tell part of the story in media res, assuming you should have at least some understanding of the story already, or have at least read the manga.

My favorite ‘yaoi’ manga, Fake, has an OVA like that. The story is about two partnered detectives and their cases, so an OVA works well here with the often episodic feel of the story. The fact that the undercurrent of the story is that one of the partners is I love with the other and constantly trying to get into his pants, is just icing on the cake.

Of course I cannot count out one of the most unique adaptation situations where an anime proceeds the manga.

Saiyuki is a long time favorite series of mine. The original manga came first, then the very similarly told anime. The second and third series of the anime, however, with fresh artwork and a new angle came out before the manga continued into that same storyline.

I don’t really care for the second and third anime series for Saiyuki, but the still being written manga versions of the same part of the story are amazing. The author had a rare opportunity by having the anime come first. She got to see where the plot holes were, what didn’t work, what did, and changed what needed to be changed to make a much more compelling story.

There is one anime and manga series that stands out to me as truly unique, even more so than Saiyuki for how the adaptations came about.

Death Note.

Now, I can claim being a fan of the Death Note manga before there were even plans to make an anime, and long before fangirls and other psychos ruined it for the rest of us.

What makes Death Note unique is that the anime, manga, and live action movie all have a different and yet equally fitting ending, while still telling the same overall story.

Changing the endings in small but evocative ways made each experience more exciting for me as a viewer/reader, wondering what was going to happen since it was not the same story verbatim, but different interpretations.

Death Note is an example of how adaptation can engage in all mediums with the same story, but can also find ways to make that story just as entertaining for people first looking at it as it is for people who know the original story well.

I’m not going to choose one medium over the other here. Manga and anime both have their place, just as much as comic books and comic book movies do. But where adaptation is concerned, telling the same story does not mean you have to make a carbon copy adaptation to tell that story well.

However, I would like to advise storytellers of all kinds not to get into that same trap that anime writer’s often do when taking their stories from long running manga series. If the manga is on a break or going slowly to pump out new chapters, let the anime slow down too, don’t just add in filler episodes until even the characters don’t know what is going on.

I have mentioned the Scott Pilgrim vs the World movie in previous blogs, set to come out in September, AFTER the final volume of its graphic novel is released this August.

Fans don’t know how close to the final book the ending of the movie is going to be, because the author himself admitted he might change things when writing the final book from how he explained how the story should end to the movie creators.

We could have another Death Note on our hands, two awesome versions of the same story just with slightly different endings. At least that is what I am hoping for. I might hate one of the endings if they are vastly different. Maybe I’ll hate both. I’m glad though that I will get to read the final volume before the movie comes out.

For me it’s not whether or not one medium is better than the other, but that I read or watch the source material first and then its adaptation to make the most informed decision on which is better for any one particular story.

My advice for the rest of you when looking at anime and manga for your entertainment, if you discover one that you like in either medium, don’t count out the opposing medium just because you can’t imagine it living up to the original. Maybe it will be better. Maybe it will be equally good and just as enjoyable. It might even tell the story you already love in a way that will only make you love it more.

So at the very least, if both exist, and you know you like one of them for a particular story, give the other one a chance too.

~G³

Next time I’m going to take a look at the growing trend toward “Idiocracy” and branch a little beyond just our geek culture, because frankly, if Walmart is giving out college credits for working there, we should be worried.

Thanks for tuning in.

 

Images taken from:
http://img.animenewsi.com/g/generated/Figurines/Viz/Bleach/Bleach-Anime-GroupShot__scaled_300.jpg
http://www.insidesocal.com/anime/death_note.jpg
http://electricityandlust.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/scott-pilgrim.jpg
http://tnaron.files.wordpress.com/2007/05/idiocracy.jpg
http://free-photo-download.info/anime/angel-sanctuary/angel_sanctuary_pictures_3.jpg