[scififan]

Originally Posted by Moeterum

How are the characters different anyway?

The characters stay the same. The story are similar. The manga covers more story about Reiko. The story is very similar. If we interpret the story by 6 part

Originally Posted by Part 1: Season of Leaves

Saki and friends graduated from the elementary school. They set sail on the field study.
They learn the forbidden knowledge from Panasonic's electronic archive. The electronic archive tells them that PK(pyschokinesis) users killed most of humanity. Since, the humanity is divided into four groups. Due to the unstable mind of teenagers, the PK society encourages the same sex play among PK teens. The PK society also wants to suppress the child birth at early age.
They are captured and escorted by a monk.

Saki is 12 years old. The manga covers Saki's group. 3 boys and 3 girls. After Reiko's death, they forget the girl. On their field study, they are pursued by the invaders.

Originally Posted by Part 2: Summer Darkness

Saki and Shun are captured by the invaders. They escaped and saved by encounter Squealor. They are trapped inside the colony with poison gas. Saki recovers Shun's psychic power. They make the escape.

The manga cover's the team of 5 trapped in the colony with the poison gas. They work toeger to escape. Squealor orders his soldiers to ambush and kill Saki's group. Instead, his soldiers are eaten by the mutated trees nearby. Saki remembers the textbook information. The textbook says a proud psyhic users will turn into a demon.

Originally Posted by Part 3: Autumn

Saki is 14 years old. The group returns to the village. They recover their psychic power. Shun is absent from the school. Saki visits Shun and learns Shun becoming a demon. Shun sinks into the Earth.

The manga tells that adults find Saki's group and send them home, but they leaves Shun behind.
Saki overhear that their memory about Shun will be erased. Saki goes back to find Shun. Shun tells her he becomes a demon. Due to malfunction of his brain, he can no longer control his psychic power. The psychic power is leaking from his brain. All things around him become mutated. Shun flies into the sky and says farewell to Saki.

Originally Posted by Part 4: Winter Thunder

Tomiko tells Saki that Saki will becomes her successor.
Saki and friends finds out they are forgetting an important peer.
Mamoru finds out he becomes the target of execution. Mamoru and Maria leave the village. Tomiko tells Saki to find them.

In the manga, Mamoru makes love confession to Maria. She rejects him.
Saki and friends find out they no longer remember Shun. Trying to find the adult's secret, they go out to find the Panasonic electronic archive. The archive can freeze their movement. After freeing from its control, Saki's group uses PK to capture the arhive. The archive informs them by hologram that how PK users killed humanity. The PK users didn't trust each other and killed each other. They finally find the new social system. The socieity tries to identify the children who have certain tendency. The potential students who cannot control their PK will be killed. The potential students who get joy from killing other will also be killed at the early age. The PK users also change their children's genes. If the children is aware they are killing another human, their gene will active PK and kill themseves. In anime, the monk stabs himself to test if Saki's gene is at work.

After studying ape society, the new PK society also encourages the foundling among teeanagers. Their reason is that touching can release stress and reduce thekilling intention. Due to the finding, Maria starts doubt her relationship and feeling with Saki is manipulated by adults' power. Maria and Saki has some argument.

Saki and Satoru try investigate the cats and was captured by adults. Tomiko interrogate Saki personally. Afterward, Tomiko announces that Saki will become her successor. Tomiko says they have similar trait. She trains Saki to repair her own DNA.
Maria tries to make up with Saki. She is looking for Saki, but she finds that she is the target of the cats. She realizes adults try to kill her. Mamoru saves Maria and suggests they should elope. Tomiko tells Saki to find them.

The Twitter comment fills the story gap. It describes that Squealor finds Mamoru and Maria with their child. Squealor befriends them at first. After two years, Squealor betrays them according to Twitter.

Originally Posted by Part 5: Catastophic Fire

Saki is 26 years old. Saki's district is attacked by Squealor's army. Saki is convinced that Mamoru and Maria are dead. Saki is assigned to animal control department.

Squealor's army is winning a major battle. As a librarian, Saki's other believes Squealor finds the ancient weapon. The head of defence deducts Squealor has PK user's aide. From the meeting, Saki learns Maria and Mamoru are dead. Her hope for their survival is finally lost. The committee feels the threat and sends people to eliminate Squalor's colony.
Saki sings up for the animal control department. Satoru signs up for the biology research department. Everyone else encourages Satoru to propose to Saki. When Satoru proposes to Saki, Squealor's army attack the village. During the festival, many people were shot by gunfire.
Squealor sends the "evil demon" to slaughter town people. Tomiko suffers the fatal wound from the previous attack. She tells Saki to run awy.
As a former nurse, she witnessed how the doctor killed "evil demon" with poison. Tomiko challenges the "evil demon" by throwing the poison. However, her attack is failed.

Originally Posted by Part 6: Camp Fire

Saki and Satoru go to Tokyo, while they are chased by the enemy.
The boy is dead. Squealor is punished.

Saki is 36 years old. Saki and Satoru are married. Due to the Squealor's attack on the district, many people live in fear. Many babies are born with higher potential to become demons. More cases are reported to Saki. Saki's group raises more cats for the kill. Saki still
has optimistic hope for the future and her child's future.

Overall, the manga's drawing is well done. The anime's drawing suffered due to not enough budget. They are telling same story basically.