The Anime vs The Manga

[sun tzu]

Given how so many (majority? quasi-totality? I haven't run the numbers) of anime and manga end up existing under both formats, I'd thought I'd compare the two for a few series (and ask for further comparisons):


History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi: The anime seems to have stopped with the end of the Ragnarok arc; I don't know when (if?) it'll extend to the Yomi arc. As far as the Ragnarok arc is concerned, however, the anime is pretty close to the manga. Only one (overall unimportant) episode veers away from the manga's story. However, a few non-critical episodes in the manga were cut from the anime, presumably to keep it as short as 50 episodes (such as the training with the kid in the woods, or Kenichi's father visiting Ryozanpaku).
Despite that, the anime had one big advantage over the manga: An awesome soundtrack. Personally, I thought the final battle between Kenichi and Odin looked so much more awesome animated.
So...If you're a big fan of the series, I suppose this is one case where following both the comic and cartoon is worth it.


Sailor Moon: With this series, the anime and manga are entirely different animals. The manga is (relatively) serious, artsy, and gets quickly to the point; the anime is much more humorous, and has a very high filler-to-plot ratio (and quite a lot of Everyplot).
I know some people prefer the manga due to the more serious storytelling (and granted, the ditziness of the anime characters can get annoying). Personally, I loved the anime, whereas the manga bored me out of my skull - the show was fun, and actually gave the villains personalities.
So, based on such anecdotal evidence, I'm going to guess that this is a series where you're not unlikely to vastly prefer either the anime or the manga over the other.


Any others? I'll admit, I'm curious about One Piece (since I've been thinking of getting started on it, and don't know if I should go for the manga or the anime)...

[ChrisIII]

80s-90s anime series such as Dragonball and Ranma also relied heavily on filler while the manga was more to the point. Dragonball Z even created a filler saga between Freeza and Cell, and then of course there's the Dragonball GT series. Also as Ranma went on, the character design strayed further from Rumiko Takahashi(sp?), especially in the movies.


Manga adaptations of anime-the other way around-often change the story around a bit. Neon Genesis Evangelion and the various Mobile suit gundam adaptations are good examples of this.

[testing101]

I think it depends between the manga authors and the anime providers. They are the one who's having negotiations for releasing or not and they have the decision too whether or not they'll put fillers. But in overall I prefer the ANIME (http://www.anime.com) because we can see the action and intense of the story.

[Guy1]

I prefer the Scryed Anime to it's Manga myself.

[Kevinroc]

Recently anime adaptations have taken to being shorter series. 13 to 26 episodes or so. The big, popular shonen stuff like One Piece and Naruto can go on concievably forever but the less popular stuff get shorter adaptations that very often diverge from the manga.

It's rare to see an anime adaptation continue on after several years have passed. Stuff like Slayers, which has gotten a few new seasons, is pretty rare. And stuff left unfinished, like Inuyasha, getting a new season to finish off the story is especially rare.

[Zero Hunter]

Any others? I'll admit, I'm curious about One Piece (since I've been thinking of getting started on it, and don't know if I should go for the manga or the anime)...

The anime follows the manga pretty close except for the ocasional filler arc, and even those are not that bad and are usally not that many episodes. The anime is not like Naruto or Bleach where you get those very long filler arcs. I love both myself. The nice thing about One Piece is that the way the story is set up they can slip in the occasional filler and it doesn't really feel out of place like some other shows. It would be a good time to get into the Manga since starting at the first of the year they are going to be putting out 5 volumes a month to get the American release caught up with Japan. So it should be over 25 volumes in 6 months time. I will say that the first few volumes are not the greatest but once it finds its voice about 5 or 6 it starts getting really good.


As far as being very different from each other goes Full Metal Alchemist has to be right up there. The 1st anime totaly splits off of the manga about half way through. The new Full Metal Alchemist series follows the manga very closely.

[Len Ikari145]

I prefer the Scryed Anime to it's Manga myself.

Well, The Scryed anime was the original, while the manga was more a parody than an adaptation. It's easy to see why anyone would love the anime over that.

As far as Anime vs Manga, the MAR Heaven anime is a great example that the original concept can be improved upon. I definitely enjoyed the anime much more than the manga. Its conclusion also felt more complete compared to what the manga ending gave us.

As for FMA with the (original) anime versus the manga it was based upon, I don't compare them. They're both entirely different beast after the Laboratory 5 incident, and I consider both mediums ingenious in relation to their plot, character development, etc. I will say that I do enjoy the Homunculous origin concept of the anime over the manga.

[MegamiMiko]

Some things do come across better in anime form, like this example from Hayate the Combat Butler...

http://www.sendspace.com/file/emj009

[Grazzt]

Oh, and while it's a faithful adaptation, the only part of the anime of Monster that I would rate as inarguably better than the manga:

"The Monster Without A Name" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nk8Il0gKhig&feature=related)

[Libaax]

Only things thats better in anime form is Mecha,racing stories like Initial D.

[Vidocq]

I have always liked the FMA anime better than the Manga, granted I stopped reading the manga long ago (it bored me).

But in most cases the Manga is better than anime. I think the best example of this is Hellsing. The Original had a Nazi organization the other Incognito. One Explored the Characters almost individually the other showed enemies like Maxwell and Anderson look exremely shallow. This just goes beyond fillers and becomes a 13 episode crapfest.