Here’s a column I contributed to MAL, highlighting some of the adaptations that actually improved on the manga (or novel). Despite all the complaints, there are actually quite a few of them.
Better Than the Original – Anime That Improved on the Source Material
reddevilotaku
April 14, 2016 at 8:37 pmI’ve always thinking, is it possible that eastern media (LN,Manga,Anime) can reach mainstream status as western counterpart? I don’t know about their level of writing, but I really want this sector to gain more foothold,money and recognition.
Guardian Enzo
April 14, 2016 at 8:42 pmIn Japan, or in the West?
reddevilotaku
April 15, 2016 at 12:17 amgenerally all over the world. like hollywood kind of popular..
Paul von Oberstein
April 15, 2016 at 7:21 amMiyazaki tried hard.
Flower
April 14, 2016 at 11:04 pmI would add a few more: Engaged to the Unidentified, Gugure Kokuri-san nd Koufuku Graffiti.
Mysterious Girlfriend X is an absolute yes, though.
elianthos
April 15, 2016 at 12:34 amGood examples. Personally I would add Kurenai ( the TV series only) and Usagi Drop – I’ve had these two on my mind since our Super Lovers discussion but hey they also fit here 😀 – as improvement on their respective sources either by adaptation remix or by stopping before the story jumped the shark.
Earthling Zing
April 15, 2016 at 3:41 amI’m curious, would Boku Dake ga Inai Machi make your list?
Guardian Enzo
April 15, 2016 at 4:04 amIf you’d asked after 9 episodes or so, yes. But while I liked the anime ending, the manga ending had a lot of texture that the anime cut for time purposes and that makes it hard to say the anime was better as a whole.
Earthling Zing
April 18, 2016 at 4:29 amLooks like I better get on to reading the manga then…
Keter
April 15, 2016 at 8:52 amOff the top of my head, I would add:
Oniisama e
Urusei Yatsura, Ghost in the Shell (Oshii)
Ikuhara-directed seasons of Sailor Moon
Rurouni Kenshin: Tsuioku-hen (definitely not Seisou-hen)
Also, Gungrave the anime is much better than Gungrave the video game.
More recently: Junketsu no Maria, Grimgar
I still don’t know what to think of the infernal haiku that was Mochizuki’s Pupa…
Chrysostomus
April 15, 2016 at 10:13 amIt’s certainly true that, as an experience, marathoning the 2011 anime is dozens of leagues better than the quasi-masochistic endeavor that is putting up with Togashi’s years of hiatuses.
Yet strictly speaking, as an adaptation, the 2011 anime has a few glaring missteps that impede any claim of superiority over the manga, for example:
-Completely erasing Kite from the beginning, which hurts his introduction later on. Why did they do that?
-Also eliminating Killua’s great-great-grandfather Maha, which is stupid given that the anime retained Zeno’s lines about him in the CA arc.
-Making Kurapika a head shorter than he actually is. (Bad character design)
-Yorkshin’s tone and atmosphere were conveyed better in the ’99 adaptation. (Not to say that 2011’s Yorkshin was bad, but it was a step back)
-They left out the part where it said that Gon and Gyro would meet one day.
-They also left out the part where Mito-san tells Gon that Ging didn’t really abandon him as he was told, and that she went to family court and was granted parental rights over him.
And the one thing that really gets me is that the anime also omitted the part where it was stated that the Phantom Troupe killed the Kurta children first, and made their parents watch, so as to elicit the change in their eyes.
Chippo
April 16, 2016 at 10:49 amI consider the anime adaptation of Usagi Drop to be better than the source material, just because the anime didn’t reach the time skip and everything that entailed. The anime, I felt, better encapsulated what made the series great.
Soliloquy
April 17, 2016 at 1:35 amHow about Cross Game? From what I heard anime had more content with what happens with Aoba which manga doesn’t cover. Also Shinryaku Ika Musume?
bob mcmanus
April 17, 2016 at 5:59 pmCross Game is an example of what a good anime director, along with two others I have read closely, Maison Ikkoku and Bokura ga Ita. All three are very very faithful frame by frame to the original, but in a simple way just add space/time (and color) to the original, turning one manga frame into ten anime frames according to the director’s art. In other words, not all frames are extended, and studying the rhythms and emphases is rewarding. Nana is another one, where the character’s on page thoughts had to be translated to a visual medium.
Yes, Aoba’s story was extended a little in Cross Game, and it helped a lot.
kid1421
April 19, 2016 at 10:53 pmsome kid anime, even don’t have good score in MAL but if you read original source material, you will find that anime is masterpiece…
– Duel Masters
– Crush Gear Turbo
btw why you don’t mention older series like Saint Seiya, Chibi Maruko-chan, etc?