[rooboy]

Originally Posted by Conan-san

From my understanding, SnS' novel was the base for everything else.

Same way Slayers and Haruhi were Novel Expats in regards to anime.

Correction, I realize now that what I said was ambiguous. I realize that the novels were the source - I'm going to read the novels no matter what (well, unless it turns out I don't like them or something). I only meant that I was going to skip the manga since it seems to be identical to the novel. I'm really only interested in the manga if, like I said, it's different than the novel. If I wanted to see the novel with (more) pictures, I would watch the anime.

I've now finished the first novel, and I actually enjoyed it a fair amount.

Spoiler for No real novel spoilers, but better safe than sorry:

Part of that could be because I've forgotten some of the moments at the beginning of the anime, but I thought it did a pretty good job of representing Yuji and Shana's thoughts better. There seemed to be a good deal less ambiguity involved. Also, Alastor didn't come off quite as stiff as I remembered him in the anime.