Midori no Hibi [Anime Discussion]

[dojoo]

I wonder what ep the professor will appear...

[snoopy]

They'll probably give Kouta all of episode 5, so I'd think Nao would come up in episode six.

[Mcdonalds]

Just been watching Midori no hibi, and i must say that its caught me by surprise how much i am enjoying this anime. I saw the preview for it and i was like, wtf, this looks shitty and my sister thought the same but since there have been loads of people saying how great this is, i am actually glad i gave it an opportunity. Just read the first 2 chapters of the manga, and the story has actually been pretty close. Actually, first time that i've read a manga of an anime and i actually prefer anime to manga, i guess its more real to watch. Manga isn't like a book or like watching something to me i guess. I think they jokes have been better presented in the manga, just i find it more funny seeing it come to life i guess.

However, i do have to agree with Snoopy, the last ep was too fanboy for an anime

Spoiler:

was there any need for them to show rins breasts in the hot spring, i thought they would have hid them under steam or underwater, i think her open character was shown by her presence of bathing with her brother regardless of the rest of the scene with her in the hot spring

. Unfortunately, due to this etchiness i guess i would be fazed about telling my friends of this anime.

About character designs, i've read lots of people moaning about them, well i don't really find the character designs that bothering, but then again i don't really notice about character designs but i wonder how many viewers actually notice e.g. for naruto everyone always whinge about the designs and changing of scales for the characters although neither have all the people i been watching anime with noticed them.

To GHDpro, you wrote

As for how much less good the anime will be compared to the manga: I don't know.
IMHO, based on statistics, I think there is more anime where the manga is better
than manga where the anime is better (supposedly Chobits, but I've not completed
either the manga or the anime of Chobits yet, also the comment I read may only
extend itself to the ending of both, not the "whole ride").

Funny you should mention this, as stated before i prefer anime, although when i read up in the forums, most people prefer manga. However, by taking only manga viewers, that would be a biased view assuming that the statistics were based upon asking regular manga viewers. Reason being, people who prefer anime rarely read manga (i think)

[snoopy]

Originally Posted by Mcdonalds

Funny you should mention this, as stated before i prefer anime, although when i read up in the forums, most people prefer manga. However, by taking only manga viewers, that would be a biased view assuming that the statistics were based upon asking regular manga viewers. Reason being, people who prefer anime rarely read manga (i think)

You know, many people who like anime don't even know that Japanese is read from right to left. If you tell the average Ippo fanboy that he can read the rest of the story in the manga he'd rather have you tell him what happens than actually giving the manga a try. Most people who say the animes better simply say 'the anime's better' minus any facts whatsoever and when asked either refuse to give concrete reasons, say 'because it's animated', or admit that they've never actually read the manga. The fact that the Japanese public, who have grown up with both mediums and are comfortable in both, generally prefer mangas to animes, and only watch the animes for mangas they like, is a far better representation of which medium is thought of more fondly than any poll done of American anime fans.

[Gold_Rogers]

I think of Anime as being 'total entertainment' much like 'total soccer' (Okay, that might be a bit of a stretch heh). Not only do I get a plot with character development, but I get to see things animated (of course this can be a bad thing, but when it's well done it's very pleasurable), I get to treated to background music, catchy (or disturbing, whacky, or plain bad) OP/ED sequences complete with sometimes famous musicians' songs, color (sometimes the black and white of manga makes me long for color), and just an entire inexplicable mesh of all these elements together. When they all mesh together I feel a different power than when reading manga (much as it is different watching a movie from reading a book). Some people may prefer books while others may prefer movies, and when books get adapted into movies a lot of times they flop. But like with the LoTR series of films, sometimes they can be successful and just as (if not more) pleasurable of an experience as the source material. Anime and manga are very different mediums and I don't think it really warrants a comparison of which is 'better' or 'worse.' Of course, I feel like anime needs to distinguish itself more as an independent medium of manga by breaking from the literary tradition of manga, much like film departed from the ways of literature and theater (plays) by revolutionizing itself and becoming a strong medium in and of itself.

[snoopy]

You make it sound like anime doesn't dominate over manga in obsenely grandios fashion in the western market (or that there aren't plenty of straight to anime shows in Japan every season, for that matter). My point was that in a society where comics are thought of as childish and crappy, the comparison between manga and anime's values as an artform is virtually worthless (that would be in America, in case you weren't following me). While in Japan, where each has a strong and classic background, the comparison has far more meaning. Asking a group of Japanese pople which is better would probably give you a whole lotta blank stares and the response "Which anime is better than which manga...? Be more specific...". But in the states you'd get something like "Anime rox0rz!!1".

[7thMethuselah]

Justed finished episode 3, and didn't really like it. The sister is annoying and the entire episode wasn't even funny, I hope the next episode will be better since I really liked the previous ones. First time also that I thought the nudity was misplaced. There was absolutely no need to show Seiji's sister nude during the entire bath scene, they could've left it with just the shot when she entered the bath.
Storywise it still feels like we're just introducing characters since I have no idea at all where the story is headed at this moment.

[snoopy]

Just finished watching the raws for episode 4.

Spoiler for episode 4:

YES! Finally, they made something that I agree with. They played down the nudity perfectly... although they did skip the 3 strike baseball analogy for when Takamizawa describes his perfect girl (which I thought was genius in the manga) and replaced it with some retarded gameshow that was exceedingly unfunny. But as a whole, this is an example of what I believe to be acceptable changes from manga to anime. They added events to make the story flow (obviously, the manga format used for Midori with its episodic chapters needs to be changed when converted to anime, and this is the best they've done it to date), and they added parts for both Ayase and Kouta (who appears to be a character they're building up before the fateful first meeting). Really, this episode brings me new hope that the series won't turn into fanboy cannon fodder. In fact, they fleshed out Takamizawa's character to about the same levels as he is currently in the weeklies... and now that I think about it, that may mean they have barely anywhere left to bring him, but we'll see.

As for the preview to episode 5, it seems that Kouta still isn't making his appearance, as this one looks to be focusing on the rivalry between Seiji and the gym teacher (I'm particularly curious as to how they'll handle the bathroom scenes... those have unlimited potential).

[the_marshal]

It realy seems that there are not many people reading manga in anmerica... well they don't know what they miss !

In France we are really lucky I guess: we have many manga comming out... many editor specialised in manga as well as previous comis editor who dicided to publishes manga as they sell quite well...
Outside from asia, France probably is the country were the most manga are sold (i am sure it was few years ago...)
I think people are more used to comic so it help a lot for manga !

For Midori no Hibi i didn't read the manga.... I hardly ever read scans actually, i don't like it...
For the anime the 3 first eps seems quite good to me.... just hope there will be some kind of plot in the future episode not just comic situation and ecchi, will definitely keep watching if it doesn't turn so

[Lina Inverse]

Well, manga in the US is extremely expensive (whopping $3 for only 32pp), so this doesn't encourage people to buy more manga... and with only very few people buying manga, prices will stay high.

Manga are getting more and more popular in Germany all the time. We've at least catched up to France by now, if not more. Manga are very cheap, and we even have four monthly anthologies running now (Manga Power, Manga Twister, Daisuki and Banzai) whereas the first two have 480pp. each and the other two not much less. Format is not the small tankoubon size, but the same size as the 32pp. manga in the US, for a price of only 5€!
That's only possible because it's selling so well. Also, series are not some antiquated stuff, but very recent and popular series like Chobits, KareKano, Mär, Fruits Basket, Yakitate Japan etc.
Just one of the big editorial houses over here, Ema (Egmont Manga & Anime) is publishing 51 new releases this May alone! (Look at their website if you don't believe me).
Also worth mentioning, since quite some time already, all manga are unmirrored!
I think Midori no Hibi would sell nicely over here as well.

[Slade xTekno]

I just finished ep3.
Why do they have to ruin a perfectly good series with ecchi? I want to spread this around, but I can't show it at my school's anime club. Well, I could...

[cerulfox!]

Slade, I totally agree with you.

From the perspective of someone that actually prefers to read manga over watching anime, I found the first three episodes of MnH somewhat jarring after my experience with the manga. I could deal with it in the first two eps, but ep 3 nearly made me totally drop the anime and just stick with the manga completely. Nudity doesn't typically bother me, but having Rin's nipples showing like that throughout that entire scene regarding Seiji's past was pretty unnerving. Kinda distracting from what the true point (no pun intended) should've been, you know? Bwah, if I wanted to see nipples and huge boobs in a 15 minute bath scene I'd just bring a mirror with me in the shower.

Oh, btw hi I'm new ^_^ To posting anyway, been lurking forever.

[Spooky-Electric]

Originally Posted by Lina Inverse

Also worth mentioning, since quite some time already, all manga are unmirrored!
I think Midori no Hibi would sell nicely over here as well.

Only the U.S. seems to have a problem with printing manga right-to-left.

I also noticed on that site you linked that in Germany they seem to keep the original coverart for every manga which is not the case with the U.S.

And damn you already Volume 09 of Monster released over there?! Lucky bastards.

[Slade xTekno]

Welcome, cerulfox! Enjoy.
Will it hurt the studio so much to add a towel?! All of Love Hina was tolerable due to the presence of towels. Or they could have done something like ep12 of FMP:Fumoffu? where they covered up all the nudity in the most obvious ways to make it funny.
Maybe the chars in Midori no Hibi could use ping-pong paddles like Sagara...

[Lina Inverse]

Geez... what the heck is your problem, guys? Don't you like nekkid women?
Don't be so prude.

[Lina Inverse]

Originally Posted by Spooky-Electric

Only the U.S. seems to have a problem with printing manga right-to-left.

I also noticed on that site you linked that in Germany they seem to keep the original coverart for every manga which is not the case with the U.S.

And damn you already Volume 09 of Monster released over there?! Lucky bastards.

Yes, normally the original cover art is used, as well as the original names, and the translators actually give their best to produce a translation close to the original, without censorship or americanizing (or germanizing, in this case).

I know how the US manga are, as many comic shops here also have US manga. Always mirrored, often poor retouch work, censorship and americanization along with changed names isn't seldom, translators who do more guesswork than anything else etc. Some are extremely bad there (like Tokyopop, who are absolutely atrocious) while some other (Dark Horse) at least seem to put a little effort in it...

And yes, the actal volume of Monster is #9, and #10 will follow soon.

[K_R]

Don't forget that this show is made for a Japanese audience and in Japan nudity is regarded in a different way than in the West. 更に Japanese people do bathe in the nude, you know. Then think about what kind of person Rin is; she's not exactly overcome with modesty. The Japanese girls that I know, who watch Midori, don't even give the nudity a second thought.

[snoopy]

Originally Posted by Lina Inverse

Yes, normally the original cover art is used, as well as the original names, and the translators actually give their best to produce a translation close to the original, without censorship or americanizing (or germanizing, in this case).

I know how the US manga are, as many comic shops here also have US manga. Always mirrored, often poor retouch work, censorship and americanization along with changed names isn't seldom, translators who do more guesswork than anything else etc. Some are extremely bad there (like Tokyopop, who are absolutely atrocious) while some other (Dark Horse) at least seem to put a little effort in it...

And yes, the actal volume of Monster is #9, and #10 will follow soon.

I'm... not sure you're reading american manga if it's always mirrored and poorly touched up. It's been standard for years now to keep the right to left reading order, and you'd be hard pressed to find anything printed now that still mirrors the pages to match American writing standards. Besides, it's not like you're absolutely sure the German version's a perfect translation, right? You'd have to be fluent in Japanese and look at the original and the German versions in a side-by-side comparison to know for sure. I've personaly bullshitted my way through entire pages in translations because I'm too lazy to look something up and no one's ever called me on it. They simply assume that it's right because it follows the Japanese word pattern and matches the pictures. That said, yeah, the Americanization of most mangas today is pretty bad, but not nearly as bad as you claim it is. Also, we pay 9 to 12 dollars for the 180 page tankouban-sized volumes now. And have been for a few years.

[Slade xTekno]

Originally Posted by Lina Inverse

Geez... what the heck is your problem, guys? Don't you like nekkid women?
Don't be so prude.

I don't mind naked women. It's the reason that it's being used [fanservice] that bothers me. Does it really help ratings in Japan?

[Spooky-Electric]

I don't have a problem with nudity but when it's used stupidly I think it's annoying. Why the hell didn't they put some clothes on Midori's body while she was in a coma? :| Even though it made for a funny scene that situation was just ridiculous.

Anyway, as much as I like this series so far I can't help but feel a little annoyed with Midori's character. I'm not a fan of those anime girl characters that are obsessed and live their life for one guy as someone else pointed out. But in this situation I make an acception because it is funny and Seiji's character is very likeable.