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