I have a slew of books on my book shelf I would love to see made into movies. Because of Peter Jackson I have three that I’ve already taken off that list but I still have about a shelf or two that are still waiting. Sometimes, though, a director comes along, takes the bare bones concept of a book, and completely hacks it apart then reassembles it into a Frankenstein version of its former self. Then I curse the day Hollywood picked up a copy of my book.
Manga, on the other hand, is very visual and would seem a perfect candidate for an anime upgrade. Why, oh, why, then do some companies still screw it up? On the flip side, there are those instances when a company actually makes a manga better by turning it into their version of an anime. I know that most anime has its own manga, whether it was culled from it or whether it spawned it.
What do you think of manga being made into anime? Is it a trend that should cover most if not all manga or should anime find its own ideas in its own backyard?
Well, one major disadvantage of manga converted from anime is that the manga stories may not fit in an anime format. It’s not always possible to push volumes into 20-minute episodes. Not to mention that more often than not, the ending of the manga never gets the chance to be animated (just take a look at fruits basket for example, which ended rather abruptly).
Still, on the other hand, if a manga has a great idea, then it does deserve to be converted into an anime, as some manga-converted series really were great (just think of Mushishi and Tsubasa Chronicle).
I’m not sure I get the relevance of the ROD image, but it doesn’t particularly bother me if something gets animated or not. Even if the anime version turns out to be awful, its not like the animation staff break into my house and burn all my books of the series…
There are rare instances where crappy manga was turned in to excellent anime, so it isn’t possible to judge the anime just from its original material. There are some mangas I do wish that it would become an anime series. Right now, the #1 is Country of Wind by Kim Jin , #2 is Kiss Zekkou Kiss by FUJIWARA Yoshiko, and #3 is Red Moon by Hwang Mi-na
I’m not that big of a manga reader since A.) I refuse to read scanlations and B.) I’m usually broke. So it doesn’t bother me that an anime isn’t totally true to the manga since I’m not a huge manga reader. There are literally only two instances of manga I’ve read becoming anime. One was dead on (but it was one volume of the frick’n manga!) and the other one was horribly mangled at the end (Hellsing). Both were good ideas and deserved to be made into anime but would I have cared about the endings if I didn’t read the manga? I was disappointed with the endings as endings in themselves but that holds true for a lotta anime for me. Is that what you mean by endings not getting animated, -psgels?
I thought that ROD was a manga or an idea from a manga that became an anime, which is why I used the ROD series image -DiGiKerot. I’ve only seen the ROD movie and have never touched the manga or seen the series.
To some people screwing up an anime that came from a manga they love is a hangable offense. I would think many people get pissed when a manga is treated poorly in the studio. And while no one is going to burn your manga there are some folks who’d like to torch the studios that mishandled their manga.
Bottom line is: Is this a good thing to make beloved manga series into anime? I guess it might only really matter to hard core readers who have serious attachment to the characters. Otherwise, it seems like, “Who cares?”
Am I right? Do people give a damn or is it just “meh.”
I don’t read tons of manga either (that will soon change, actually), but as Rachel said, it’s bad enough when Hollywood screws up a favorite novel. Imagine an anime production studio screwing up your favorite 20 volume series!!!:o
I think most anime series are based on manga or popular novels, but whether they do a good job of it may depend on the episode count and budget they have to work with. For example, if the anime company only has a limited budget to work with and has a limited number of episodes they’re granted (say, 11-26 episodes), then they may do a pretty good job of it, as they can choose the best storylines from the manga to work with. Sometimes if it’s too short, however, they may skip a lot of character development. I think Venus Versus Virus is a an example of this; they’re really jumping around with the anime storylines and they’re taking bits and pieces here and there. So far, I’d say the manga is much better. Midori no Hibi is another example of a short anime series (13 episodes) based loosely on the manga, and they’ve given the anime an end that you can be satisfied with (the manga is still ongoing and unresolved). I think the anime’s artwork is better than the manga’s also, so I think Midori no Hibi was well made.
On the other hand, there are some long running anime series based on really popular manga with lots of volumes, and that can help ruin a good thing because the anime company has to turn to fillers to stretch out the manga or wait for the manga to produce more plotlines. Dragonball Z, Rurouni Kenshin, Naruto, and Bleach are examples of good anime ruined by fillers.
Finally, the budget is a big factor as animation or art quality may fall, giving the show an inconsistent look. Manga, on the other hand, has consistent or ever improving artwork (Ah! Megamisama started out kinda ordinary, but now the artwork is beautiful).
I’d have to say it depends on how they do it – a good manga may provide the basis of a storyline for the anime to follow, and well-defined characters which can be exploited to good effect. HOWEVER, that being said, I do have reservations about the way quite a few manga adaptations in anime have gone; xXxHolic… well, that and Chobits are the two series I tend to think of with a bit of a shudder when imagining adaptations. The storylines sometimes follow the manga, sometimes they don’t… and when they start cutting things out due to episode count, then they can prove problematic.
Ah, Megami-sama is one of those manga which was good to start, got mediocre towards the middle, IMO, and is middling good now; and its anime adaptations aren’t any better. the newer series did keep some of the manga storylines… but at the same time, the adaptation was rather more boring than the original source material, again IMO. While it has plenty of characters to pick from, and a lot of storylines to draw on… well, the adaptation fell down.
One of the ones I consider to have been done ‘right’ would have to be Ouran Host Club or Azumanga Daioh; while the latter didn’t exactly have a long coherent storyline (which was reflected in the episodes of the anime, broken up by gags), the anime adaptation stayed fairly faithful to the source material… and Ouran itself made only minor changes and cut out some stories (the main exception to this is the Zuka Club musical episode and the Alice in Wonderland story), but by keeping mostly to the source material it satisfied the manga fan (in me) and kept a lot of the humor which made it popular to start.
Sometimes, they may just keep the characters but take great liberties with the story… and in that case, things work out. The AMG movie’s an example of this – that storyline never showed up anywhere in the manga… but they kept true to the characters, both in characterization as well as actions, and in doing so created a very nice adaptation. Other times… well, we end up with Tsukihime, which while not based on the manga, was pretty much completely different from the source material and its art wasn’t the best… so that suffered.
wrex – Great point about maintaining quality in an anime versus manga. Sometimes it happens at the end, or right smack in the middle of a series when the animation gets sloppy.
In manga, usually the more an artist draws, the better they get (so I guess that’s the opposite of some anime series lol)
Sorry, I know it has nothing to do with the topic. But does anyone know where I can find an English translation of Country of Wind by Kim Jin? I tried “Nation of Wind”, “Land of the Wind”, “Country of the Wind”. But I cannot find a copy ANYWHERE. Supposedly its suppose to be one of the BEST manhwa serious of all time. But I can’t seem to find it anywhere.
-Dave, I looked up “Country of Wind” and I looked up Kim Jin, to no avail. I even went on Yahoo Korea to check it out (I used a Korean/ English online dictionary and came up with 바람 êµê°€ 만화책 ).
I looked as best I could…anyone out there have any clue? Carey, your the manga go to guy for the site, have you heard anything about “Country of Wind” by Kim Jin?
@Dave:
What little I could find out…Country of the Wind by Kim Jin Historical saga released Feb. 1992 with at least 21 vol.
There is a reader out there by the handle of wontaek who seems to know more about this manhwa. As far as I know, he/she does not have a blog so contacting him/her may be problematic. However, wontaek appears to be a regular reader of many blogs so you may be able to ask him/her in an off-topic post.
Thanks -Mochi!
-Wontaek, you mention Country of Wind in a comment on this post. Do you know where -Dave can get hooked up with this manhwa?
@Rachel, Mochi
Hey thanks! I really appreciate you guys taking the time to help me out! I spent over 10 hours using google, looking through articles and forums. I found squat. I even tried the manga stores (last resort
). I hear a lot of people say “Yeah it’s pretty good”, But they don’t tell me about it.
Anyway I use to play Nexus: Kingdom of the Winds. It was the first MMORPG I ever played in my life around 2000. Two years after it was released in 1998. All I can say was that the few years I played was totally awesome especially with the roleplay and the lore involved. So recently while looking through a forum after maybe four to five years after I stopped playing that MMORPG. I found out that it was actually based on a manhwa by Kim Jin. So this perked my curiosity and made me to find bits and pieces about it. I heard most K-Drama’s you see on tv are some how related to this manhwa. Its suppose to be the best one of all time. It influenced Korean modern culture as well as drama. Right now I feel like it’s the Da Vinci code. I’m finding bits and pieces about it through the internet. I only have some clues that will finally lead me to the holy blood line (Land of the Wind manhwa of course:P ).
But I just would like to thank everyones time and effort in helping me out. I feel blessed to have run into you guys who are helping me find out about this.
Haha, Dave, who’re your characters?
I just found this place myself, looks like my best lead to ever find the manhwa, and I’d love to read it myself.
Garduque Jujak Ilsan, SunDance Chung ryong Ilsan, TrueShot 99 Ranger, Valcun Baekho Cun2.. almost 3 before purge ;_; . Yeah it’s my best lead too, I can’t find anything else about this manhwa except supposedly from two sources. I’m glad to run into another Nexus Addict!
Land of the Wind in 3 books.
Land of the Wind volumes 1-21.
So I don’t know which is which
@Dave
If this web inquiry turns up dry, you may want to try the “Six Degrees of Separation” approach (aka the Kevin Bacon solution). If there is a college or university where you live, see if there is a Korean Student Union or similar group and contact them. You could also see if there is someone on the faculty like a Korean or Japanese language instructor (it is not uncommon to find Koreans teaching Japanese) or an Asian studies professor who may be of some help. Even if the first person you talk with may have no direct information, they may know of someone who does. You can also see if there is a Korean cultural (or even commerce) organization in your area.
Considering how difficult it has been to find information about this title, don’t get your hopes up too high for an English translation. It’s looking less likely it was licensed by an English language publisher. However, it is possible it has been scanlated by a fan group.
@Dave & Dannicus
By the way, welcome to the world of anime blog sites. You may want to check out:
http://www.animeblogger.net/antenna
http://www.animenano.com
These sites provide thumbnails and links to a variety of blogs. The topics covered by these blogs include anime, manga/manhwa, games, and more.
Happy surfing and, again, welcome.