General

Anybody ever feel that reading the source material first sometimes times ruins the experience with the adaptation?

196

Many times have I read the source material first, and then watched the anime and considered it an awful adaptation just because I know the source material, and it always bugged me because it feels like if I did it the other way around I might have enjoyed both. Some personal examples (ignore the fact that they are mostly unpopular opinions tehe):

Bakemonogatari/Kizumonogatari included both because of the same reasons. Different art style, questionable pacing, and changed character relationships.
A Silent Voice, read the manga first and then watched the movie and thought it was enjoyable but mediocre. Seeing how much they changed from the manga just didn't do this one justice for me. This is definitely a golden contender for "would probably be better if i had watched the movie first".
Fate/stay night, watched the anime first, enjoyed it, basically forgot about it then read the visual novel. Came back to the adaptation and didn't enjoy quite as much because, well, it's not a VN. There's literally no other way to describe it.

Anybody else ever experience this effect and would like to share their examples?

VeritasAniki 7y
I can't bring myself to watch promised neverland after read the manga. I just know it wont be as good as that. I also know the twists already.

I can confirm from my friend if you read one piece you simply cannot enjoy anime anymore. The one thing you should return to is voice acting. Maybe, just maybe the action scenes. But nothing else, really.
CtrlZED 7y
Absolutely yes. SnK and Gintama anime just doesn't get me as excited anymore. But I find that reading the manga after watching the anime is still enjoyable for some reason.
- MrSneaky 7y
  I can't really tell about Gintama as I didn't see the anime or read the manga, but with SNK I watched the first season and jump straight to the manga.
  
  The first season I truly enjoyed watching but with the second and the third I feel like I know the plot, but the action scenes are truly well driven and exciting. So I will say that a mystery theme story is probably better to watch it first rather than dive into the manga/novel.
  
  Another thing that comes into my mind is that when you read the story you actually imagine it, so it is not tied to someone else's work, it is as u wish it would be.
  
  (Sorry if my english is rough, not my main language :P)
ladyfreyja 7y
The adaptation anime being better than the original manga is a rare occurrence. And most of the time, it's when the anime was made as an unfaithful adaptation on purpose.

So when I want to both watch and read a title, it's usually better by starting watching the anime first, then read the manga second. But most of the time I don't bother doing both…
SageEvan 7y
That's pretty true but not always the case. Also it does depend on the kind of adaptation they are going for. They don't have to stick to the source material. Also it can be very difficult translating manga or light novels (literally boxes with pictures and words on paper) into a fluid animation. But, I do agree with you for the most part. However, even though it isn't as good as the original, you can get shows like the original fullmetal alchemist that are different but still very enjoyable.
- 4digitmen 7y
  
  Also it can be very difficult translating manga or light novels (literally boxes with pictures and words on paper) into a fluid animation.
  
  This is especially true to pure light novel adaptations. Most times after having read the LN first, the picture you drew yourself of the events and the visuals in your head is not what the anime offers (my case with Bake and Kizu) so there's a weird "disconnect", even though the adaptation is basically perfect dialogue and story wise.
frootpai 7y
Tried this with Happy Sugar Life. Read the manga first, but the anime felt a little off for me somehow and never got to finish it. Its really weird huh. I know I'd enjoy the anime if I hadn't read first.
bleunette 7y
that's almost always the case, actually. i still read the manga first before jumping into the anime out of habit tho, but at this point i have a mindset of never expecting anything from anime adaptation. just enjoy both the manga and anime as two separate existence.
Riyuu 7y
Yea, I've noticed it a lot xD

I think its cause we expect the anime adaptation to be perfect and with no flaws, so then when theres one thing wrong with it our brain pretty much tells us "no, its bad stop watching" or along those lines
nitoki 7y
Eh, depends. If it's improving the experience then yeah I'll still watch it even if it strays away from the source material. That doesn't mean I don't get peeved when something I find awesome isn't well incorporated into the anime though, it's just because I want the others who never read the source to be just as hyped as I am and when it's not seen that way I get bummed.
cadelol 7y
experiencing this with domestic na kanojo right now. I really enjoyed the manga but it's kind of difficult to finish an episode of the anime.
KuriGohanTrash 7y
I typically watch more anime than I read manga. So just by that, I tend to see the anime adaption before I read the manga (which seems to be a fairly common consensus among this thread). Now granted, I think an adaptation should stand on its own regardless if you are aware of the source material. Even if it deviates from the material it is adapting, it should still at least try and maintain its own continuity even if the events differ greatly from the source.

At the end of the day, what defines a good adaptation will vary from person to person and from source to adaptation. Sometimes making an adaptation strictly adhere to the source as much as possible can make a great adaption, other times deviating as much as possible can make both a superior adaptation/version and standalone piece. As vague as it sounds, It all just depends.
Avalon 7y
I definitely know what you mean but I think it all depends on the source in particular. I only had that feeling like once or twice I think but I'm not reading that many source materials beforehand. I tend to start reading the source after finishing the adaptation which for the most part feels like a seamless transition to me.
Violet 7y
Oh definitely! Though, I guess the first things that come to mind I actually watched the anime first....

Anyway, Tokyo Ghoul, for sure. I watched the anime, loved it, read the manga, loved it, tried to watch the second season of TG....hated it. I still think the anime is passable, especially because of the voice acting, but you def won't enjoy it as much if you know the adaptation.

The second that comes to mind is Berserk, the 90's series, particularly (never even mind the later stuff, which I haven't seen). Again, I watched the anime first, but...they REALLY leave out some important back story for Guts, and there's just no way to re-experience the Eclipse for the first time. I'm glad I saw it animated first, I think it impacted me more because of that.

Also, still, to this day, I've been unable to watch either Hellsing anime simply because it's too jarring tonally compared to the manga. Not sure if that's just me.
- 4digitmen 7y
  Coincidence, but I'm watching the 90s adaptation of Berserk right now after having read the Golden Age Arc + a little extra, and because of that I'm struggling super hard to go watch an episode since I basically know what's going to happen. Most of what keeps me going is the visuals, it looks so great and IMO looks much better than what the manga has to offer, and because of that I wish I watched the anime first even if they cut a lot of backstory out.
  Violet 7y
  I definitely support the anime as a production in its own right! The music alone, honestly...There's something about the 90's anime that has this sense of serenity and space between the action, and that's something I really liked. It is nicely animated, too, though I have a hard time ever disliking Miura's art, especially knowing what it looks like later. I'm very glad I watched it first, and I made my friend watch it first, too, for those reasons.
Alessandra 7y
Not really...
If I like an anime a lot, especially the newer ones, I proceed to read the manga of that too.

Dr. Stone will air in July and the cover got me really hyped so I began reading the manga and I really like it. I don't think the anime will ruin anything for me, even if it will be bad which i don't think it's possible. I just like knowing both how the manga and anime are, if there are any differences, etc.

PLUS, it feels a lot powerful when you read the manga first and know what's going to happen. ALSO, you can't get spoilers. Ain't that wonderful? There are good parts to it, even if you already know what will happen.

For Dororo and The Promised Neverland I HAD, i repeat, I HAD to read the manga because it was only the first week, episode one, and I already got like 10 spoilers for each of them, which definitely sucked. I wish there would be a way to protect against spoilers. And the reason wasn't AL, it was some other fansub and youtube. I swear, if you go to any Dororo-related video on youtube, you'll find like, the whole manga story in every comment. Some people just don't want to grow a brain:(

But yeah, I understand what you're saying. It can be boring if you know what's going to happen, it happened to me for Neverland, some people said it's amazing because they didn't read the manga and didn't know what's going to happen but I was just,,, almost falling asleep because some episodes were only talk and talk and talk.....
But that was the Studio's fault anyway, they are adapting it in a bad way, and they quit the inner monologue who made it even more boring and confusing. What a bad choice, to be honest. The anime is still ok, but it sucks because it could've been so much better:(