Currently Running Manga Discussion

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I thought the Magi anime was supposed to be fairly different from the manga.

Season 1 cuts out a fair amount of stuff, but it doesn't change anything too significant, from what I recall. Season 2 is basically a straighter adaptation of the manga.

But yeah, you can blame the internet for how most modern adaptations either play it safe or amp up the fanservice. Anime fans are quick to anger at the slightest alteration to the source material... unless it lets them see more bouncing boobs, of course.

I remember I once had the "bright idea" of trying to reason with people on MAL of why HXH '99 was a better adaptation, but no matter what my points were, the argument they literally always gave me was that the new anime was better simply because it was just like the manga and didn't dare to change anything. When I pointed out that the old anime actually did a great job of expanding on the characters, and improving on some aspects of Togashi's writing, they said that I simply didn't understand that Togashi is an "eccentric" writer and didn't really have any flaws in his writing. Apparently I just couldn't understand that....

As the self-proclaimed biggest Togashi fan in the West, I can say with absolute certainty that anyone who thinks that he's perfect is full of shit. It's around that time that it truly hit me how horridly narrowminded that site's userbase is, and needless to say, I've never gone back there since then.

[Foggle]

  That sounds horrible. It reminds me of the time I positively compared a picture of Revy being crazy to an image of Ash from Evil Dead 2. No one there knew who Bruce Campbell was and some folks bashed me for insulting their waifu.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I also miss it when adaptations could greatly be altered from their source material and still be hailed as great. While I'm not a huge fan of them, stuff like the first FMA anime and Ghost in the Shell were really different from the manga, but still considered great by many.

The same goes for stuff like Akira and Trigun. Very different, but still classics in their own right.

Granted that, only one of those is a shonen, but my point still stands.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is another good adaptation, but it'd have to be since it was only made because the people who are behind it really wanted to make it and actually give a shit about doing the original material justice, considering that the early parts of the manga are decades old, now.

[VLordGTZ]

Yeah, the David Productions staff is apparently comprised of hardcore JoJo's fans.

On a completely different note, The Silver Spoon manga is returning to its regular release schedule this month.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Season 1 cuts out a fair amount of stuff, but it doesn't change anything too significant, from what I recall. Season 2 is basically a straighter adaptation of the manga.

The most significant changes the first season made were abridging the chapters before Aladdin and Alibaba enter the first dungeon they visit and reworking them into a single episode, Ithnan replacing the unnamed weapons dealer from the manga in the Balbadd arc (when he originally didn't appear in the manga until the Zazan arc), and completely changing the ending to the Zazan arc with the Alma Thoran members attacking Sindria and fighting Sinbad's generals while the gang is still in Zazan as opposed to ambushing them after they left it and their mentors coming to their rescue in the manga, and of course Alibaba transforming into a dark djinn and that whole business, including moving Aladdin's meeting with Ithnan to the aftermath of that sequence, and in Alibaba's mind and not Dunya's like in the manga. All changes that were for the better, imo. But also changes that, of course, were bashed by die-hard fans of the manga on the MAL forums. 

While I'm not a huge fan of them, stuff like the first FMA anime and Ghost in the Shell were really different from the manga, but still considered great by many.

The GITS movie actually follows the main plot of the manga pretty faithfully, just abridging it to fit in the most essential elements in a 90-minute movie. Subsequent iterations of the franchise are re-interpretations like the various Lupin anime.

[LumRanmaYasha]

On a completely different note, The Silver Spoon manga is returning to its regular release schedule this month.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Wow, I actually liked all those things in the Magi anime.

Guess I'm not a proper fan.

[Foggle]

The GITS movie actually follows the main plot of the manga pretty faithfully,

It's sooooooo much better though. The manga is just bleh.

[LumRanmaYasha]

I thought the first volume (which the movie adapts) was a good read, but yeah, I agree the movie (and all of the other anime interpretations) are definitely superior, which is true of basically all of Shirow's manga, tbh. And the less said about the second volume of the GITS manga, the better.

[Foggle]

I really wish Rikdo wasn't wasting his talent on drawing Shirow's loli ecchi for him.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I wish we could have had a longer Tank Police anime.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

While we're at it, why not list good adaptations that either improve on their source material or at least do something to stand out from it, as well as the mediocre to bad adaptations:

Good:
Ashita no Joe/2
Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid
Trigun
Hunter X Hunter '99
Ghost in the Shell
Akira
Dragon Ball
Haikyuu
Slam Dunk
Yu Yu Hakusho
Magi (Season 1)
Rurouni Kenshin (Kyoto and Trust & Betrayal)
Fullmetal Alchemist
Hajime no Ippo (Season 1)
Death Note
Great Teacher Onizuka
Black Lagoon
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
Level E
Kids on the Slope
Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works

Acceptable:
Monster
Hunter X Hunter '11
Space Brothers
Magi (season 2)
Sinbad OVAs
Hikaru no Go

Bad:
Bakuman
World Trigger
Sailor Moon Crystal
Kuroko no Basket
Baby Steps
Eyeshield 21

[Spark Of Spirit]

Trigun reminds me. Has anyone been keeping up with Blood Blockade Battlefront? I haven't heard anything much about it.

[Foggle]

Worse Than Bad:
Umineko

[LumRanmaYasha]

Trigun reminds me. Has anyone been keeping up with Blood Blockade Battlefront? I haven't heard anything much about it.

I've heard mixed things about the manga, myself. I know Markness is keeping up with it and likes it, though. I plan to check it out for myself at some point, and I plan to keep up with the anime for at least the first few episodes.