Transitioning From One Medium to Another

Good day blog visitors,

It's Sunday evening as I post this but this time I started writing my post earlier in the week (despite posting it up so late). I hope it's more well thought out in doing so but if not...oh well, I guess that is something I'll have to work on =p

So today, my post will be about when we transition a story from one medium to another. What I'm referring to is like how you transition or transport (however you want to put it or if there is a more official term, do tell) a story from the original medium such as a manga to another medium such as an anime or drama.

For me, I've never but been in favor of mangas that become animes/dramas and vice versa. Why? Well there's the whole factor of how the story line or original plot is altered like for mangas to animes, things are often censored no? At least that's what happens when things get to America but I'd never watch anything now that's dubbed (unless it's maybe Sailor Moon, Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh~animes I grew up watching, yu-gi-oh being the last one I think). BUT I DIGRESS.

Back to the topic, so I used to have this huge massively strict rule for myself where I do not, absolutely do not watch anything that I've already read in the form of an anime or drama/movie and absolutely nothing I've watched in the form of a manga/hwa/hua/web comic. The reason has always been the same, because the story line is different, because it's not the same, because sometimes/often times ruined in the transition from one medium to the other.

As for why I never actually liked to watch anime that was adapted from a manga, here is the reason. Similar to when you see one of your favorite books being turned into a movie, you have high expectations. When you read something, it is you and your imagination at play. In a book, you imagine the characters and the landscape based on what you read and there you have an image you conjured up yourself about the characters. Now for books adapted into movies, the image and appearance is key. However when reading mangas, since images are readily present, what is left for a reader to imagine is the voice and I believe the voice is also very representative of the character themselves. It doesn't really occur to me how the voices sound out loud but in my mind, it's like perfection. I'm not sure if I'm making any sense but in any case, often when I see an anime adaptation of manga, the voices don't seem to fit well with the character as imagined. Now note I say often and not always. It kind of just ruins the story for me in some way because now when I read the manga (if it's ongoing) or if I reread the manga, all that pops in my head will be the voice that has been presented to me in the anime because unlike imagination, it's been played out before me so in a sense it's more solid in reality. Because of that, my ideal is somewhat erased and I associate the recorded voice with what I read. Maybe I could forget it but so far, it hasn't really happened for me yet....This actually applies as well if I happen to read the manga first even though it's been adapted from the anime. The story lines are different but I guess which ever I'm exposed to first seems like the original.

Next is the vice versa in which I watch the anime/drama first and then read the manga. The reason is actually more simple. For me, since my first exposure to the story is with the anime/drama, I don't like to reread it as a manga. I'm not entirely sure why but for me, I just don't do that.

Now.I said "used to." so I've actually loosened this rule for myself because there are some exceptions and the exceptions have been worthwhile. For example, I think I may have first watched Gakuen Alice and for those who've read it, the anime seriously doesn't do justice for the manga so I'm quite thankful that I picked up the manga from the beginning. As for an example of a manga, Snow Queen by Wann was turned into a drama and it was absolutely amazing since Wann's story had a quickness with missing parts to the story that did leave it up to imagination, allowing the reader to draw on the clues from the story the drama was more well rounded since it told a more full story. In this case for the Snow Queen, both manhwa and drama were a delight for me. But of course there are some I'll never read because I watched the anime and I think the number one anime would be Air. I watched the anime and the movies and every single time, I cried like there was no tomorrow. The overwhelming sadness and the flood of tears, I don't think I can ever touch on it ever again.

There are many anime adaptation I'll never watch because it seems kind of pointless to when often the story line is lacking when transitioning to the screen from the page as well as the fact that since the stories are very much the same. Why go for motion picture that is 30 minutes long and isn't the original story when I could get the same story in a shorter amount of time as the original story through the manga? That's also another way I put it when I weigh my options. (As well as the fact that I have to read subtitles anyways in order to watch a 30 minute episode of an anime).

Well that's my take on manga to anime adaptations. I have loosened this rule for myself because sometimes I get bored and it's actually pretty hard to find some good animes to watch so I opt for mangas I've read since I do know the story line...So anyways, I'd love feedback and personal opinions as well as maybe some good anime recommendations. However I particularly do not like harems and reverse harems for mangas and animes so if you recommend those, I will absolutely not watch them (unless it's convincingly worth watching).

Cheers!
tohukyo

Restructuring my weekly post

Afternoon,

So it's not Sunday and this is the first time I have kind of skipped the obligated deadline I gave myself in which I said I would publish a blog post every week. However in the last few weeks, I realized that I shouldn't push myself/feel obligated to do this if I want to write a thoughtful post every week so I think I'll change this about my blog. I think most of my posts will be more rambling thoughts that aren't so in-depth as I'd like them to be. If I ever feel like I want to revisit them in depth, I'll write another post for it. That's all really. Maybe it's just me being lazy but I don't want to force eloquence and deep thought. That's all.....

Been so busy and tired lately though....

From the coast,
tohukyo

VS [Versus] Manga

Hi everyone,

I almost forgot about my weekly post because I was busy cleaning up and doing laundry, not to mention it's the weekend of finals week!

Alright so today, I don't have a topic to discuss-it's more like an announcement.

A few days ago, I was reminiscing in some mangas and among them was VS [Versus] by Yamada Keiko. 

I really love this music manga. I especially love the fact that it's not popular culture music but classical music which is probably huge reason why it's a favorite. CONTAINS SPOILERS.

The story is very interesting and intriguing.

First of all, the protagonist is male named Reiji who is kind of cynical as well as pretty self-centered. He is a genius prodigy violinist and for that, it's forgivable that he's the way he is. However there is also a personal trauma for his personality and his only weapon to fight (as well as his heaven) is his violin. Reiji belongs to a broken household with an abusive father. Now, with his talent, he could simply run right? No, he can't--his dear angel little sister is the hostage to this trauma and since all he can do is play while knowing she is taking the abuse of their father, all he hopes to do is someday save them both from this terror with the violin. Of course he doesn't get so far with just his talent since the emotional expression isn't something as easily obtained as technique if for a genius like himself. With the help of a once renown violinist, he will find a passion for the violin again instead of the vision of salvation he has to escape his broken home. 

Well I hope I didn't make it sound cheesy but this is a little taste of what I think about this manga. 

Now, why am I saying so much about this manga? Well, I'm considering to work on this manga as a slow personal scanlating project. I have the Chinese raws on hand and I've done some cleaning work for some groups but I've never typeset so maybe this will be personal training of some sort. Anyways, that's my announcement. I hope I will see it through but I won't be starting on it until maybe a week or two from now. 

For more information on this manga:

http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=16259

That's all folks, until next week,

tohukyo

P.S. I have finals this week as well as having to move out of my dorm so I don't know if I'll make it on time for next week's post. I might do it earlier or later. 

Modern Romance Mangas and Sex

Greetings. 

It’s the 2nd of June, the first month of the summer season. It’s also the month in which in two weeks, I’ll be having my final exams for this quarter of the academic year so I haven’t really thought much about what I was going to post for this week (not to mention the terrible timing I have starting this blog). 

But first off, before I go any further in terms of blogging in general, I want to notify readers that I've decided to make my blog a weekly “hobby” I will try to keep up with. It also helps give me time to think and write about a topic. 

Okay so…since I haven’t exactly thought about what I wanted to post for this week so I did this in a short amount of time while multitasking between my final project I'm working on and this so this will be a choppy read.

You see, I’m a shoujo/josei reader. Over the years I’ve read a lot of mangas within these two genres—shoujo more than josei since it’s what I started with. Anyways, I’ve been thinking that there is this constant use of the motif of sex in romance mangas especially within these two genres for modern mangas--21st century. And of course, some utilize it better whereas there are many that just don’t…

Back then, most shoujo mangas didn’t utilize sex as a motif the way more modern mangas do now. In relationships in “old” shoujo mangas, sex was more traditional to the sense of “taking things to the next level (of intimacy).” These days, mangas seem to use sex as some sort of short cut or “quickie” to romance and love. 

….Sorry I’m not sure how to say this since I’m also kind of distracted with trying to finish this asap while trying to explain my opinion well. I’ll try listing again like my last post….

“Old” shoujo mangas-

1) Sex was more of an intimate “taking things to the next level” sort of ritual for a couple. In this sense, it’s much more traditional in terms of relationships of love. 

2) It was usually written in at a moment that was perfection for the manga as a whole and the relationship as well—as readers, we can actually see that there was this true love between the two characters. (eg. Mars, Kare Kano)

3) It wasn't something that was used to draw in more readers, it was more for the development of characters on an intimate level. (I guess this also has to do with the changing reading audience). 

Modern shoujo mangas-

1) In contrast to old shoujo mangas, modern shoujo mangas often use it as a motif (not always the act of sex, sometimes just really obscene smut) to…I guess "sensualize" characters? I’ve read some really dirty mangas that are to the point of not being able to continue on.  I’m not sure how to explain it so I'm going to speak from one of many experiences.I remember this one where they were two little kids, just elementary/grade schoolers—their level of intimacy was just so…UP THERE that it just wasn’t right at all!

2) Sometimes I feel like they use it for this morphed form of “Stockholm syndrome.” I won’t specify any mangas but I think it’s kind of like S&M characters with the M character seriously resisting until the S character sheds some sort of good will (the convenience of mangas). The worse is when they turn out to be childhood friends and it seems to make everything ok!! I guess another way one can put it is like "Gone With the Wind."

3) In effect of the constant sex motif, there are a lot of modern shoujo mangas that are more shallow and superficial. Some make it an object of humor that is frankly disturbing to me (to me) because they have degrading effects on certain genders. 

Not all do this, there are some extremely worthy mangakas that are truly just great artists that utilize it in a more profound way (Sakurada Hina is the only person I can think of at the moment (at the moment!) but she’s just a twisted-ly delightful read) 

….well this is just a touch of what I think it does. This doesn't apply to all mangas though. I know of great mangakas that don’t do this and there is a reason for the smut and mature tags but there are just so many that use sex and make the characters and stories just so very shallow. That’s the main thing I’m getting at actually. The fact that they don’t use it for some deeper meaning for the development of a relationship like old shoujo mangas. I know, if I don’t like it, don’t read it. Well since I get bored sometimes, I read them for the heck of it plus not all smut and mature tags are shallow. I never want to miss out on a good read so it sucks that there is so much hay surrounding the few needles. 

Well anyways, this topic is very incomplete because I have so much more to say and I know that there are many mangas out there too that don’t utilize sex as I’ve stated. I want to touch on this topic at another time in the future especially for josei mangas since I mainly spoke about shoujo here but I’ll stop for now. 

Also forgive me for focusing on negativity. It's quite biased so please state disagreements and maybe I'll use them for the next time I touch on this topic. 

I know this is inadequate, but

Thanks for reading,

tohukyo.