Isn’t it strange that I didn’t have a post about the anime vs. manga debacle when I already have a post about manga vs. light novel on my blog? Well, I also find it strange too since I talk about manga a lot on this blog, with many of them is non-mainstream titles. And if you’ve been reading my blog for a long time, I’m sure that you also notice how much I love anime. I even have a dedicated blog post on what anime I’m watching for every season. That brings us to our debacle of the day which is anime vs. manga. Which one do you think is a much better option when it comes to understanding the story?

Anime vs. manga: Which one I tend to favor the most

It’s not surprising at all that I tend to favor the manga more than the anime. Does it have anything to do with me having a blog that recommends interesting manga, light novels, and nonfiction books to read? Of course, the answer is no. Even if I don’t have a blog, I still prefer manga over anime for many different reasons. Here are some of them.

Anime tends to skimp on so many details

For the majority of the anime, missing a few minor details from the story may not affect the flow of the story that much. But that doesn’t seem to be the case at all for Dr. STONE. Remember the scene where Taiju just got revived after being petrified for thousands of years? In the manga, Taiju wandered around in the forest after he got himself out of the petrification. That was when he stumbled upon the petrified Tsukasa, saying that even someone like him couldn’t escape the petrification too. But here’s the kicker – the anime doesn’t show him coming across Tsukasa when he was wandering around in the forest. He just went straight to check on Yuzuriha and later on reunite with Senku. The reason why I mentioned this scene is that the scene in the anime doesn’t make much sense when he suggested Senku revive Tsukasa when a wild beast was chasing after them. Sure, Taiju knows who Tsukasa is. But the question is how in the world he knows about Tsukasa’s exact location when he didn’t bump into him in the first place? This scene makes sense if Senku was the one who suggested it. But the suggestion came from Taiju, not Senku. My memory could be fooling me. But as far as I recall, I don’t remember seeing Taiju coming across the petrified Tsukasa in the anime. At that time, I didn’t find anything strange about the scene at first. But after reading the manga, I find that the particular scene doesn’t add up.

Some anime adaptations aren’t the same as the original source

Back in the old days, it’s not unusual for the anime version to be completely different than the original source. Just take a look at Sorcerous Stabber Orphen. The anime version is nothing like the light novel version. It feels like you’re watching an anime adaptation with the same characters but with a brand new story. I’m not sure why they chose to make a different story instead of being faithful to the original source. Perhaps it has a lot to do with wanting to give people who already read the light novel a reason to watch the anime? To be honest, I’m fine if the brand new story is just as good as the original source. But the problem is, the brand new story isn’t interesting at all. Sure, you can say that my judgment about the anime was clouded by the light novel. But then again, I will still find that the story for the anime version isn’t that interesting even if I never read the light novel before. If you think that the old version of the anime is better than the new one, then the answer is no. The story in the old version isn’t that good either.

The anime adaptation isn’t even close to half of the story

I’m sure that you’ve seen this a lot where some of the anime will get an adaptation for one season only. Sure, the anime will get more adaptations if they become popular. But that’s only applicable for the select few. The rest of them will only get one season and never be seen again. If you enjoy the story, then you need to get your hands on the original source. It’s fine to do that if the original source is available in English or in any language that you can understand. But the problem is not all of them get licensed for the international market. Sure, that’s not a problem if you can understand Japanese. But that’s not the case for the rest of us.

It doesn’t cost as much

I admit that this point has nothing to do with which medium is the best when it comes to understanding the story. But it’s worth mentioning here that buying manga doesn’t cost as much when you compare it with buying anime DVDs and Blu-ray. Sure, you can say that subscription services make watching anime accessible at an affordable price. But when you add them up with multiple places that you have to subscribe to just to watch your favorite anime, the cost itself will add up. And let’s not forget that you also have to pay for a VPN subscription too if you want to bypass the region restriction. A good VPN subscription will certainly cost more than the mediocre one. You certainly don’t want the VPN causing your Internet connection to slow down.

What anime is good for

If there’s one good thing about the anime adaptation, I will say that it’s the discoverability process. I don’t know about you. But I tend to discover so many new manga and light novels to read because of the anime. Of course, doing random browsing on Amazon and Bookwalker also helps with the discoverability process. But anime makes up the most bulk of my discovery process.

I’m still going to watch the anime like I always do

Just because the anime adaptations aren’t meeting my expectation, it doesn’t mean that I will stop watching anime altogether. After all, that’s how I discover which manga I want to read next. Sure, I can still discover which manga to read by doing random browsing on Amazon and Bookwalker. But I will say that I tend to discover new series the fastest when I watch anime. I can’t say for sure if that’s how people discover their next manga to me. But for me, that’s how I discover my next read apart from the random browsing on Amazon and Bookwalker. P.S Okay, I know that light novel isn’t the main focus in this anime vs. manga debacle. But I thought that I should let you know about my thriller and suspense light novel, Trigger Locked. If you love reading light novels and you enjoy a story that blends facts and fiction, then you may find that the Trigger Locked an interesting read. Interested in giving my light novel series a try? You can buy the light novels directly from me through Payhip. Here are the links to the first two books from the series: Trigger Locked Book 1: The Mind Control Assassins Trigger Locked Book 2: A Silent Killer Don’t forget to use the coupon code SEKINAMAYUBLOG to receive 25% off on your total order.