Lost in Transition: The Manga and Anime Connection - Manga Life, manga reviews, manga news, manga information, manga comics, manga webcomics, manga artists, Dark Horse, TokyoPop, Viz, Digital Manga Publishing, CMX, CPM, Central Park Manga, Broccoli Books, Del Rey

Lost in Transition: The Manga and Anime Connection
Written by Lisa Anderson

Sometimes the transition problems are nothing more than content issues. What works as a story doesn’t always work as an animation, or vice-versa. A more dialogue and emotion heavy story like Maria-sama ga Miteru is generally more suited to a novel or manga The printed format allows more time for background details and lengthy dialogue scenes. On the flip side, a music-oriented series like Gravitation is better suited to anime, where the animation can bring a concert to life, and an audio track can give a song the extra life it needs.

Transition isn’t always a bad thing though. Often the media-crossover allows more access to the title. Fans of either format can embrace the story, having the option of choosing one form or even both. The extra publicity encourages future projects, allowing even more titles to reach interested fans.

A crossover can also breath new life into an older title. A manga from 20 years ago can always be transitioned to anime, much the way classic stories become movies. Suddenly a story that parents loved is being shared by their children, helping to bridge the ever-increasing generation gap.

Unfortunately, both formats do not always reach western shores. Many times an anime title will long hit shelves before its manga counterpart. Other times only a short OVA anime will appear, while the manga remains behind. Only now are many manga titles being brought back to the public eye, the long-lost relatives of OVA shorts that hit the western world over a decade ago. While this adds a refreshing new look at an older series, the delay leaves many titles arriving long after most fans have moved on.

There is a growing interest in the relation between novel, manga, and anime. Often a single title goes through several changes at each step, morphing it into something different. Sometimes the change is small, such as a bit of animation giving a fight scene extra intensity. Other times the change is drastic, with an important character having their role changed dramatically, if not entirely cut.

The problems work both ways on the transition, as do the benefits. In the end, it all comes down to fan preference. Some will always prefer reading a story, reveling in the extra length and background. Others will cling to animation, thrilling at the sight of characters given a new dimension. The war between books and movies has gone on for ages, with the growing war between anime and manga just another branch off of the bigger issue. Fortunately, many now have the option of trying both.

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