ADVERTISEMENT

Top 10 Anime Adaptations That Didn’t Get The Original

The amount of original anime has been decreasing over time. Rarely will anime studios risk their funds and time to animate wholly original ideas, characters, and storylines. It is much more common for anime to adapt manga, light novels, and visual novels or to reboot an existing show. Many of these adaptations are incredibly faithful to the source material. They capture the themes, mood, art style and writing of the characters very well. Although, there are outliers.

RELATED: 10 Advantages Of The Anime Adaptation

An anime could adapt as much as it could and be forced to create an original ending. These shows still try to be as true to the feel of the story, even if they miss their point. Other times, the anime doesn’t really understand what its source material is about. Creative differences, challenge, monetary constraints, or misguided marketing strategies can affect how an anime translates its original work. Sometimes it just isn’t the right fit.

10 The Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These gives up some nuances for its retelling


There may be a visceral reaction to compare the 2018 version of legend of galactic heroes to the 1988 OVA series. It is important to recognize that they are both different versions of the original novels. Both take creative liberties to overcome differences in media, such as the inclusion of Dusty Attenborough, giving Yang someone to share his ideas with.

the new thesis It’s not the same length as the 1988 OVA series, so it will often streamline characterization, dialogue, and events, making the plot more impactful, but losing the nuances that made the series truly special. Modern character designs also have a hard time conveying age, leading to a strange homogeneity within the cast.

9 Beck needed to dazzle with his music and fell short


beck mongolian chop squad anime performance

Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad does a lot of good. It captures the mood of the manga’s sleepy town, the characters are written just as well, the voice acting lands in an understated way, and the art is true to Harold Sakuishi’s style. It’s a shame it doesn’t live up to his musical promise.

One of the most stressed elements of the manga is the amazing Stream how a band sounds, especially Yukio’s voice. He is not framed to be just good, but so amazing that he can steal crowds of other artists due to the hype. Beat Crusaders is a fun band and Beck’s opening theme is great but it doesn’t quite match what was needed and the anime didn’t get that.


8 Bokurano didn’t want to be as gloomy as his source


The cast of Bokurano from the anime

when comparing bokuranomanga and its anime, it’s easy to get the feeling that there were disagreements here. To some extent, it’s possible to say that the team behind the anime didn’t understand the manga’s characterizations or goals, but it’s also fair to say that the team probably didn’t like the original. They are so different.

In the manga, everyone dies. No child pilot survives the horrors of history. The morality of the original is also not as simplistic as that of the anime. The adults aren’t incompetent, Dung Beetle isn’t a clear villain, and the kids’ actions aren’t all that clean. The anime’s director might have wanted a simpler, less somber narrative.


7 The early adaptation of Planetes changed its genre and tone


The Waste Section handles garbage at Planetes

In 2003, Studio Sunrise adapted the award-winning science fiction manga planets. At that time, 3 of its 4 volumes were already finished and published. To maximize the runtime, the studio adapted the manga with a twist of life and shifted the focus towards internal and relationship dramas.

RELATED: 10 Best Science-Based Anime

The final volume emphasized how different the two really were. The anime missed that the manga is much more interested in human drama and existential philosophy. While the adaptation has its own merits, it fails to adapt the true strength of the manga.


6 The intense fall of his and her circumstances


Circumstances of his and hers

Manga creator Masami Tsuda doesn’t like the anime adaptation of her work Circumstances of him and her. Picked up by Studio Gainax and directed by Hideaki Anno, the anime adaptation showcases the studio’s strengths over the heart of the manga. This would result in Tsuda leaving the show’s production midway through.

Anno’s approach to anime was to focus more on comedy, with a strong penchant for breaking the fourth wall. He is very aware of the tropes of the romantic comedy genre and will play with them. However, he neglects to give so much attention to the romance and drama of the characters, which make up the soul of the source material.


5 Film was too limiting a format for Children Of The Sea


ruka swimming

From the beginning, Daisuke Igarashi’s adaptation children of the sea as a film it showed a lack of understanding when it came to the scope and ideologies of the original. The narrative of the manga is neither simplistic nor linear. It is framed around indigenous and popular stories about the sea to build examples of how nature is much larger than we humans can comprehend.

A movie allowed the visuals to be as striking as Igarashi’s artwork, but greatly simplified the story and drastically altered the ending. It’s a shame, how children of the seaThe manga by has one of the most impressive climaxes in the medium.


4 Berserk wanted to leave the golden age arc at all costs


Berserk 2016 Guts

For a long time, the only recognized and beloved adaptation of the work of Kentaro Miura crazed was his 1997 anime. While its visuals weren’t as polished or detailed as Miura’s art, it was a faithful and charming adaptation of the Golden Age arc. The same can’t be said for the 2016 sequel.

The new anime is stiff and jarring to watch. don’t understand that crazedStorytelling is strongly tied to his art. So many emotions, themes, and characterizations in the manga were realized through Miura’s skillful pen work. The new anime takes viewers past the Golden Age, but forgets about itself in the process.




3 Cipher is a cute music video that explains and communicates very little


animated cipher

The Cipher manga is a 12-volume shojo story about an American high school student named Anise and her relationship with twin brothers Cipher and Siva. It goes through a lot of ups and downs, one of the twins’ love interests dies, and it’s all very emotional.

RELATED: 10 Shojo Anime With An (Almost) Exclusively Male Cast

None of that appears in the 1989 anime adaptation. It’s a 26-minute long video made up mostly of musical montages. When it’s not a montage to the sound of Mercilesslyis an interview with Cipher in English that has no context.


two Negima!? Has almost no relation to the original


Yue, Nodoka, and Asuna from Negima!?

the manga Magic Master Negima! received two anime adaptations: one in 2005 that faithfully covered the first few volumes, and another in 2006. Understandably, it would have been boring to retrace the ground that the 2005 anime already covered. Under the direction of Studio SHAFT and Akiyuki Shinbo, the new anime would use NegimaThe premise is a framework, but they fill it with weird original gags and confusing direction.

This movement did not understand the direction that the manga was beginning to take. At the time, the manga’s narrative was changing from a comedy harem to a shonen action series. If the team behind the 2006 port understood that, they might have done something more in line with the source.


1 The second season of Promised Neverland had no patience


Emma from Promised Neverland season 2

Many fans are upset with the second season of The promised neverland. She has horrible rhythm; each episode feels more rushed than the last. The original content it adds is confusing, and the ending has many viewers groaning in frustration. The biggest problem is how little you value your source material. The second season skipped dozens of episodes, including some of the series’ standout arcs.

This removes the themes and narrative of the original. It fails to capture how important it was to adapt certain elements like the Royal Family or Factory Farms. You lower your overall strength by doing this and what you add to make up for it doesn’t click.

NEXT: 10 Manga That Will Never Get An Anime Adaptation (And Why)

Eren Yaeger (left);  Sasuke Uchiha in Boruto (right)


Next
10 Popular Anime Characters That Fans Came To Hate


About the Author