Characters butchered in the move from manga to anime

Neo Dead Moon · Post by **Neo Dead Moon** » Sat Jan 17, 2004 9:21 pm

I made this new topif after someone hinted at making a topic like this on the "favorite characters ruined in dubs" topic...

A manga becoming an anime is usually a great thing, but sometimes more than just the art style doesn't make the conversion so well....even in the originial Japanese version. List manga characters who didn't make it into the world of anime with the respect they derserved.

Tendo Akane, Ranma 1/2- it could be just me, but I find her much less irratating in the manga. In the anime, all she ever seemed to do was hit Ranma and throw things at him.

Chii, Chobits- manga Chii is cute and learns things at a decent pace. Anime Chii seems to have the brain of a rock and a voice so monotone and boring it sounds like it's being done by a computer.

Aoyama Motoko, Love Hina- not only does anime Motoko look twice as old, and only one-tenth as cute, as her manga counterpart 90% of the time, but she seems to have a problem with Keitaro every time she sees him. If Keitaro is there, Motoko will try to kill him. This stops being funny after the first 50 attempts at killing Keitaro, mind you.

Narusegawa Naru, Love Hina- same formula the anime writers followed with Motoko: make her a violent, unlikable bitch.

KoiNoVash · Post by **KoiNoVash** » Sat Jan 17, 2004 9:55 pm

Usagi Tsukino; BSSM- In the manga Usagi matures alot more as the story progresses where as in the anime she matures slowly and nearly takes a nose dive in Supers where she has become nearly as immature and selfish as she had started out as. Stars anime Usagi was a bit too whimpy too [spoiler]in the manga she was ready to kill Galaxia at first in order to get her friends back, but changed her mind once she realized that Galaxia was just as lonely as Usagi. In the anime she was even afraid to kill the animates.[/spoiler]

Mamoru Chiba; BSSM-He became such a jerk in the anime.

Chu-chu; Utena- I loved Chu-chu's mischeif in the manga! In the anime he just sorta became... there.

Post by **Tiff** » Sat Jan 17, 2004 10:31 pm

KoiNoVash wrote:
Mamoru Chiba; BSSM-He became such a jerk in the anime.

Chu-chu; Utena- I loved Chu-chu's mischeif in the manga! In the anime he just sorta became... there.

I agree about Mamoru. I like him much better int he manga. He's not an idiot like he is in the anime.

Umino · Post by **Umino** » Sat Jan 17, 2004 10:41 pm

Hideki Motosuwa-

OH MY GOD. What the hell did you do to Hideki?!

Manga Hideki is a really nice guy, but anime Hideki is a worthless, stupid piece of shit. Seriously the word 'crap' don'st do enough to describe what anime Hideki is. He can't do anything right. And he gets TOO horny when it comes to Chi. Like in one episode, he imagines Chi in place of a porno model. Bastard.

LadyFlameSniper · Post by **LadyFlameSniper** » Sun Jan 18, 2004 12:32 am

I third Mamoru. I like him a lot in the manga. In the anime him teasing Usagi and their bickering was cute in the earlier episodes. But after they hooked up, I couldn't stand him. >_<

In Sailormoon most of the senshi's characters are better in the manga IMO but I don't think they were butchered in the anime. Well maybe Setsuna a bit... Like I've said many times before I think her manga character is much better an developed. ^_^;

Hmm so far Yui in Fushigi Yuugi manga seems a lot more sensible and smarter (as in common sense not book smart) than the anime Yui. I only read one volume but I hope I'm right.

Post by **Tiff** » Sun Jan 18, 2004 1:46 am

Umino wrote:Hideki Motosuwa-

OH MY GOD. What the hell did you do to Hideki?!

Manga Hideki is a really nice guy, but anime Hideki is a worthless, stupid piece of shit. Seriously the word 'crap' don'st do enough to describe what anime Hideki is. He can't do anything right. And he gets TOO horny when it comes to Chi. Like in one episode, he imagines Chi in place of a porno model. Bastard.

YES! YES YES YES!
I always say that, and nobody seems to agree with me! God, he's the reason I don't watch the anime. He just annoys me too damn much. In the manga, I can tolerate him,a nd he's really sweet at times. In the anime...*shiver*

Vagabond · Post by **Vagabond** » Sun Jan 18, 2004 2:49 am

Aoyama Motoko, Love Hina- not only does anime Motoko look twice as old, and only one-tenth as cute, as her manga counterpart 90% of the time, but she seems to have a problem with Keitaro every time she sees him. If Keitaro is there, Motoko will try to kill him. This stops being funny after the first 50 attempts at killing Keitaro, mind you.

Glad I'm not the only one who noticed that. Motoko in the anime looks like she's in her late twenties or something, which is just plain wrong. Then again there's something wrong with the way they draw the Love Hina girsl in anime that just makes them less cute than their manga counterparts.

Dinozore · Post by **Dinozore** » Sun Jan 18, 2004 3:27 am

I think the Excel Saga manga as a whole was butchered when it was animated. I'm not saying that the anime is bad, mind you, but it barely resembles the original work at all in many places. The manga has no Great Will of the Macrocosm (Unless she appears later in the manga. I'm only up to volume 3), for example (which means much less death, Hyatt excepted).

Video Girl Ai and I"s both got butchered, too. Video Girl Ai is 13 volumes long and I"s is 15 (both are excellent manga, btw), and both were turned into OAVs. Yes, you heard me, OAVs. Not many of them, at that. I've seen a few of the VGA OAVs, and they did stick fairly close to the story from the early volumes (>_< But Ai's hair is supposed to be blonde, dammit, not some wierd grayish-brown color!) but they would need a TV series to fit the full story into.

Love Hina got a pretty bad treatment when animated, too. Some of the best stories were never animated, and a lot of good character development was lost because of it. A lot of the anime-only characters kinda sucked, too (Except Amalla Su. She was awesome). Not to mention that the last two volumes (including the ending) weren't animated...

Post by **Tiff** » Sun Jan 18, 2004 4:28 am

Dinozore wrote:I think the Excel Saga manga as a whole was butchered when it was animated. I'm not saying that the anime is bad, mind you, but it barely resembles the original work at all in many places. The manga has no Great Will of the Macrocosm (Unless she appears later in the manga. I'm only up to volume 3), for example (which means much less death, Hyatt excepted).

*Nods* completely agree. Now I fully see why throughout the anime, poor Koshi Rikdo is so pissed off at the director...but, really, I don't care for the anime. It's just...blah in my opinion. Other than the art, I cannot get into it. There's also no Pedro, and I adore Pedro. (VERY NOOOOOOOOO!)

Rainbow · Post by **Rainbow** » Sun Jan 18, 2004 11:10 am

I noticed that many of you are noting that characters become meaner when animated from manga. I wonder if this has to do with the difference in the mediums or does it have to do with who's creating the manga and who generally animates the TV shows?

I would have to say that Ami got butchered in the anime. She got turned from a strong-willed, intellectual girl into a shy, insecure girl who wishes for a man to protect her (in the anime she said she might give up being a doctor when she got married!!.) In the manga she was less insecure and she seemed to not care much about romance. With Rei I think it was funny, but I really prefer manga Ami.

Now that might have something to do with the anime being made by men and the manga being written by a woman, huh?

Obsessive Touga Fan · Post by **Obsessive Touga Fan** » Sun Jan 18, 2004 3:25 pm

I agree with the people who say Mamoru. He's a better character in the manga in every way. (Not that I especially dislike anime Mamoru.)

I'm not sure I agree about Excel Saga though. Don't get me wrong, the anime is a very unfaithful adaptation of the manga (and the manga is MUCH better) - but the characters who are in both seem to act the same way in both. I can't say specifically that Excel was butchered, or Hyatt was butchered, or Ilpalazzo was butchered...

KoiNoVash wrote:Chu-chu; Utena- I loved Chu-chu's mischeif in the manga! In the anime he just sorta became... there.

I'm not sure this counts, because the Utena anime isn't based on the manga. Neither really came "first" - once the concept was sorted out, both an anime and a manga were made.

As for suggestions of my own... I'm looking across my shelves, and coming up blank

I'm sorry I keep posting in these threads and only replying to what other people say

Vagabond · Post by **Vagabond** » Sun Jan 18, 2004 3:56 pm

I would have to say that Ami got butchered in the anime. She got turned from a strong-willed, intellectual girl into a shy, insecure girl who wishes for a man to protect her (in the anime she said she might give up being a doctor when she got married!!.)

What episode did she say that in?

Post by **Tiff** » Sun Jan 18, 2004 3:57 pm

Vagabond wrote:
I would have to say that Ami got butchered in the anime. She got turned from a strong-willed, intellectual girl into a shy, insecure girl who wishes for a man to protect her (in the anime she said she might give up being a doctor when she got married!!.)
What episode did she that in?

o__O; i don't remember that, either.

Rainbow · Post by **Rainbow** » Sun Jan 18, 2004 4:15 pm

In this one SuperS episode. Read this:
http://www.tcp.com/doi/smoon/episodes/smss144.html

It's mentioned in there that she might sacrifice her dream to have a family.

(of course, I would view that in a negative light because of my own beliefs and preferences, but the Japanese would see it as a good thing)

Post by **Tiff** » Sun Jan 18, 2004 4:18 pm

Rainbow wrote:In this one SuperS episode. Read this:
http://www.tcp.com/doi/smoon/episodes/smss144.html

It's mentioned in there that she might sacrifice her dream to have a family.

(of course, I would view that in a negative light because of my own beliefs and preferences, but the Japanese would see it as a good thing)

*shrug* haven't seen SuperS, so didn't know.
But let me ask you this: if a girl's dream was to be a housewife and not get a job, would that be wrong, too? It's someone's (in this case, a character's) personal choice to have a family over being a doctor. there's no harm in that, and there's nothing wrong with that.

Vagabond · Post by **Vagabond** » Sun Jan 18, 2004 4:22 pm

But let me ask you this: if a girl's dream was to be a housewife and not get a job, would that be wrong, too? It's someone's (in this case, a character's) personal choice to have a family over being a doctor. there's no harm in that, and there's nothing wrong with that.

I agree, deciding whether to focus on raising a family or having a full time profession is a pretty normal consideration for anybody. I don't think it necessarily makes a person insecure or weak to choose either choice.

Rainbow · Post by **Rainbow** » Sun Jan 18, 2004 4:34 pm

Yes, and I don't mind Usagi just wanting to be a bride, for example. But can't Ami have a family AND a job at the same time? Her family might NEED the extra money! And Rei seems to chase boys, but she also has a lot of career choices in mind. It seems weak to me because Ami is smart enough to know that she can have both.

marspeach · Post by **marspeach** » Sun Jan 18, 2004 4:37 pm

Mamoru from BSSM- His teasing was not as cruel in the manga. It really was just playful teasing, but in the anime I would call some of it insults. Why did they have to make him so mean? He and Usagi didn't even show feelings for each other until they learned about the past in the anime. Even later on I didn't like him. Like in the SuperS ballet episode where he told Sailor Moon that maybe she should go on a diet. WHAT was up with that?? Does he want her to develop an eating disorder? If I were Usagi I would have dumped him on the spot.

Rainbow · Post by **Rainbow** » Sun Jan 18, 2004 4:42 pm

I prefer anime Mamoru because he's too perfect in the manga. He actually has faults in the anime, and Usagi deserves some of his strictness sometimes.

KoiNoVash · Post by **KoiNoVash** » Sun Jan 18, 2004 5:29 pm

Rainbow wrote:I prefer anime Mamoru because he's too perfect in the manga. He actually has faults in the anime, and Usagi deserves some of his strictness sometimes.

I'd hardly call that strict. I just call that cold. If my boyfriend stared at a fight while I was hanging on for dear life so I wouldn't fall into oblivian like Mamoru to Usagi did in Ami's SuperS special, I would be pretty angry. Mamoru seems pretty normal to me in the manga.