Forum - View topicCheck out the original source material before watching the anime?
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momthemeatloaf
 Posts: 47 |
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It's no secret that anime series are frequently adapted from already successful properties: haruhi suzumiya was a best selling light novel, steins;gate a popular visual novel for the 360, and numerous shounen series (bleach/naruto/one piece/etc) all started as manga. Assuming you have no preference for one medium over the other (that is, you wouldn't automatically prefer watching an anime to reading a light novel), do you ever try to read the original source material before watching an anime adaptation?
Let me provide an example. I'm a fan of HBO's Game of Thrones series, but I'd read the books before watching any of the episodes. A lot of the enjoyment and appreciation of the series, for me, is in watching visual representations of stories I know and love, given that I already know how the story plays out (with a few exceptions due to changes in the TV series). Because I already know most of the story and characters, I have a distinctly different experience watching the series than someone without the same familiarity. I'm leaning towards just watching the Spice & Wolf, and later reading the novels to continue the story. What do you generally prefer? Do you tend to read the source material if it continues beyond the anime? |
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CrowLia
 Posts: 5572 Location: Mexico |
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I don't give it that much thought, I guess. When I was younger there was a buckload of manga coming legally to my country, so it was really easy to pick up the manga and if I liked it, start watching the anime -which never came in legally- This is how I started series like Death Note, Karekano, Bleach and D. Gray Man.
But the company that held those licenses crashed a good 4 years ago, and since then, I usually pick up the anime first (since it's a lot faster to watch 12 episodes for a complete story rather than god-knows-how-many manga volumes). If I like it a lot and feel like I want to know more of it, then I go to the source (I've done this with Kuroshitsuji, Magi, Ao no Exorcist and Sekaiichi Hatsukoi, and even A Game of Thrones). Some other times I just get interested in a particular manga or get recommendations for it and start reading it (usually on vacation, when I have more time to marathon hundred-chapter-long mangas in a couple of days) and if I like it, I go to the anime (done this with Reborn, Bakuman and Fairy Tail) I guess it just depends, though admittedly, I don't read as much source materials as I'd wish to (I'd love to read the S&W novels, or the Hikaru no Go manga, for instance) |
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Kelly
Posts: 868 Location: New York City |
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The problem with your Game of Thrones examples, and other stories which we know will (or probably will) be fully realized on screen, is that they aren't equivalent to what often happens with anime and manga. Sometimes the anime act as virtual teasers for the mangas, ending at really frustrating points.
This is what happened to me with Fruits Baskets. So many storylines were left up in the air, and I was already too sucked in to not buy the manga. I'm glad I did, because the stories of many of the characters got even deeper, issues got wrapped up to the point that we had a pretty good idea of where everyone was ultimately headed, and the drama got even more powerful as the main and primary supporting characters grew up before our eyes. I'm glad I didn't miss the 2/3 of the story which was never and probably never will be animated. I guess it's a toss-up. Book firsters just have to be prepared if the whole story doesn't end up on screen and the anime ends before events that they really wanted to see animated are depicted. |
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momthemeatloaf
Posts: 47 |
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This is a good point. There's a big difference between knowing that, if you just wait, you'll be able to see more of the story you love compared to having no assurances of this. Although I'm encouraged by reboots liked HunterxHunter and Fullmetal Alchemist, these cases are still rather rare. |
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Alan45
 Village Elder Posts: 10369 Location: Virginia |
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For me, this sort of thing goes on a case by case basis. A lot depends on which version comes out first here and what is available. If I like a series, I will usually try to track down any additional version available. Unfortunately, often the original source, especially light novels or games, is not available here.
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Galap
Moderator
 Posts: 2354 |
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Well, I do inherently have a strong preference for anime because I primarily am a fan of animation and don't really find much appeal in the non moving mostly black and white art of manga.
If it's a novel and film pair, if I care about it, I'll probably go for the novel because films are almost always too short to portray a novel well. If it's a series, then I might go for that. Definitely will if the series is animated. If I don't care however (i.e. I don't really have high expectations for it), I'll probably do the film because it's shorter and less of a time investment. Also, if it's a japanese novel, those tend not to get translated professionally, and I find a lot of fan translations to be kind of shitty if the material is complex. I don't like things about professional translations, and there are great and terrible examples of both, but professional translations have a better record for me. If I REALLY like something, I may look into other versions of it. I only really do so for my absolute favorites. As an aside, as a general statement, I find that anime originals are on average better than adaptations from any source medium. |
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Redbeard 101
Oscar the Grouch
Forums Superstar  Posts: 16983 |
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I'm like Alan where it's a case by case basis. If I come across a show I like and I find out it has more extensive source material I often will check it out. I however do not feel the need to HAVE to do so. Likewise I don't feel I have to read any of the source material before I start a show. If I happen to then that's fine, but I don't purposefully go out of my way to make sure I check out the source material first unless I was already planning to do so. Likewise I don't feel I HAVE to check out the source material after I watch a show either. As I said I often will if I really enjoyed the show and I know the material goes beyond whatever the show had in it. This is also when the source material is available. As Alan also said often times that is not the case over here in the states.
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4750G
 Posts: 546 |
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I never check out the original source material before I watch an anime. For one, I don't have access to almost half of the source materials used. The easiest source material within reach is of course manga. But I always make it a point to finish the anime first before I read the manga. This is very helpful for me because my level of interest in the anime determines my level of interest in pursuing reading the manga. I also normally do not read the manga if it's already completed, because most probably the anime has already covered the whole story (albeit with some tweaks here in there), so there's nothing more to see.
But if the manga covers material not covered in the original animation, if I can, I will always at least browse through some of the chapters missed in the original animation. But I'm a lazy person, so that is not always the case. However, if I really liked an anime, and I meant really liked it, and I knew that the manga is still ongoing, I will most probably read through the manga. |
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yoshiyukiblade
Posts: 305 |
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I did that just once for fall season with BTOOM! and it was extremely distracting. I probably won't do that again. Instead of absorbing the story as it unraveled each episode, I kept thinking things like "Oh, they left that part out," or "Oh, they did this scene differently," or "Oh, they did this part in a different order." At this point, it's impossible for me to flip a switch in my head and watch it for its own merits. I don't mind reading the original material *after* watching the adaptation though.
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EireformContinent
 Posts: 977 Location: Łódź/Poland (The Promised Land) |
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Back to Game of The Thrones example- when it comes to Western series and movies based on books the source example is usually well known and available in human language, so there's a chance to check it in gap between promotion and release of the show. In case of mangas, lots of them get professional or fan translation when anime get a share of popularity. Plus for Western showbiz that they usually don't invest money in adaptation when the end of the original isn't already established.
I'd love to read mangas and light novels, but sadly I rarely have a possibility. I'm not interested in games, since this medium as a whole isn't for me. 
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Touma
 Posts: 2651 Location: Colorado, USA |
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I seldom, if ever, make an effort to check out the source material for the purpose of making a decision about the anime.
I have no interest in games of any type so the source would have to be a manga or novel for me to check it. I cannot think of any other significant sources. So far I have never bought a novel unless I have already tried and enjoyed the anime or manga. So for me the source would have to be manga. If I have any interest in the manga and it has been licensed and published in North America then I will probably have read it already. If I am not interested in the manga then I will probably not be interested in the anime. Also, I have learned that liking the manga does not necessarily mean that I will like the anime. So there is not much incentive for me to buy manga for the purpose of making a decision about anime. It could happen, especially if my library has the manga so I do not have to pay for it, but so far as I can remember it has not. |
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DuskyPredator
 Posts: 15877 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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I tend to not look up the source material because I don't like to have it inflience my opinion on the anime. I do like to read people who are familiar with the source material though so I can get broader idea of the series, but getting spoilers is deffinetly not something I want. Guess my favourite bit is just having the new revelations come through anime.
The few anime I own have been series that have really differed from their anime if they had one, and my love of the anime is what drove me to pick it up: Rozario Vampire, Hellsing, Yotsuba (Azumanga), Chibi Vampire, and Hayate. Though truth is that I actually get a little frustrated when Hayate has matched some of what I have read when I saw latest season, and I am not sure what I might think when I finally watch Hellsing Ultimate 5. On a rare occasion I will do some background searching for an anime by searching the web, though it is usually minimal, and likely in the middle when introduction of different elements are already done. |
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rheiders
 Posts: 1137 Location: Colorful Colorado :) |
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I don't usually make the choice to read the source material just because some manga/LN/VN/whatever gets an anime. I'll just watch the anime and then if it interests me enough I'll gladly read the source material, because I love manga and I love to read^^ I want to read the source manga for Magi, for instance, but I will wait until the anime has ended since I don't want to be spoiled. But I didn't go "Oh, some manga called Magi is getting an anime and it sounds a bit interesting; I should read the manga first." I'm used to the adaptation being the inferior version, so I like to watch it first and then read the version that is even better.
 And in the rare case where the adaptation turns out to be just as good or even better than the source, the source just allows me to spend even more time with the characters I've come to love and watch them in new scenarios!  I loved Baccano! and thought it was perfectly fine just covering the arcs it did, but when I learned that it was based off an ongoing light novel series and that the material covered in the anime barely scratched the surface, I went so far as to start collecting the Japanese LNs! xD
I do get excited when a series I like gets an anime though, both because I love to see the characters and scenes I love animated, and because it provides an opening for a lot of new people into the fandom^^ I think the last time this happened for me was Usagi Drop, since I was already in love with the first four volumes of the manga. I don't think this is what the OP was talking about, though, since in these cases I don't actively hunt out the source material when an anime is announced, but rather had already read the source material by chance before the announcement was made. |
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Skullface
 Posts: 86 |
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I usually look up the original for a Visual Novels adaptation since in my experience I've found most are adapted very poorly. (examples being Fate/Stay Night, Umineko(reading now), Tsukihime, etc.) Also if I hear a lot of people complaining about an adaptation then I'll usually try to hear the reasons why and decide based on that whether or not to go read the original. |
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Kruszer
 Posts: 8016 Location: Minnesota, USA |
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Before watching the anime? No, I usually watch the anime first. If I read the source material at all it's because there was more story that wasn't adapted into anime or because it was drastically different from the anime.
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