While some anime are 100% original, the vast majority these days are adaptations of light novels, manga, or games—but rarely are these adaptations as loyal as possible. This anime season, I am reviewing The Genius Prince’s Guide to Raising a Nation Out of Debt each week. I’ve greatly enjoyed the show so far but have noticed in the comments that fans of the source material are less than pleased by how the series of novels has been adapted to the small screen.
In general, I understand where the complaints are coming from. If you’re a fan of a show’s source material, it’s always a bit of a letdown when your favorite part is cut out. What’s cut doesn’t have to be something big that changes the entire plot either—it could just be a telling character moment or tiny twist that you really enjoyed. Not wanting to lose any of these moments, you might think that the best approach would be to adapt the source material as closely as possible. However, there are more than a few reasons that such an adaptation would not only be impractical but make for a less than enjoyable anime.
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To start with, anime has a rather ridged framework. Episodes are approximately 22 minutes long. This means there needs to be some kind of resolution or cliffhanger every 22 minutes to give the viewer a reason to come back next week. Beyond that, TV broadcast anime are created in chunks of twelve or thirteen episodes—meaning the maximum amount of time spent telling the story is set from the start.
This effects the pacing dramatically. In novel, manga, or game format, a story arc can last as long as it needs to—as long as the author desires. This can make for obvious problems when it comes to fitting those arcs into a ridged time limit. Often things have to be cut to fit the needed run time. Of course, that’s not the only reason for cuts.
It’s just a fact that many stories take time to get going—they don’t become great until several arcs in. And while there are numerous factors that go into whether an anime gets a second season (mostly dealing with how profitable it is on the merchandise side of things), most anime do not. Thus, the creators often do their best to get to “the good part.” After all, this could very well be the story’s only chance to be animated so if some aspects of the story need to be rushed through and others removed outright, that’s just the price that has to be paid.
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Another reason for changes from the source material is simply the difference in forms of media. The written word delves deeply into the characters’ thought. However, animation is a visual medium so long monologues or voiceovers can often be boring—hence the need to keep them at a minimum in many instances. Luckily, a lot of information can be told through the visuals—through a character’s expressions or body language—in ways that it can’t in writing. It’s a difficult balancing act and one that requires a lot of work to pull off—and something is always lost (or added) in translation.
The last big thing effecting adaptations is a monetary one. While anime may be a work of art, that’s not why companies spend money making them—they want a return on their investment. In other words, they want the anime to be as popular as possible. In general, this means that the show’s focus isn’t on pleasing people who are already fans but rather on drawing in those who are not familiar with the source material. What’s important isn’t being as similar to the source material as possible, it’s making the story easy to follow and get caught up in. After all, if newcomers like the anime, it’s likely they’ll buy the source material as well—a double win as far as investors are concerned.
So when it comes down to it, as a critic, I don’t really care about the source material and what’s ended up on the cutting room floor. All I care about is the quality of the anime itself—how well it tells its story. The source material might very well tell it better but that doesn’t effect how I view the animated work.
Image source: アニプレックス on YouTube
Now, in an ideal world, sure. I’d love for the anime and source material to be as similar as possible (without making it into a mess pacing-wise, anyway). But honestly, what I enjoy even more are the creators that use the anime version of their story to expand and/or update their earlier work—as can be seen in both 86 and Sword Art Online: Alicizaton. Alternately, I love when extra thematic elements are added that elevate a straightforward plot into something greater. Changing mediums is an inherently transformative process after all. It’s important to remember that this can turn out to be a net positive even if it means some things end up on the cutting room floor.
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