Rushed Manga to Anime Adaptions - Why!?

[DragoZERO]

I tried to search to find a similar topic but had no luck, so I apologize if this is a duplicate.

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I would like to present a question that either has a simple or complex answer:

Why are manga to anime adaptations rushed when there is not enough source material?

There are countless mangas that are better than animes, but there are good anime adaptations simply because they followed the manga when it had enough material. It seems like when they 'jump the gun' they have to make original material to fill in the gaps or if the series is still ongoing, make their own conclusion - both of which often fail.

A good example of failures are Claymore and the first series of Fullmetal Alchemist. A good example of success is Kimi no Todoke & Suzuka.

I'm not here to talk about why they fail (ie: Rosario+Vampire), but why they attempt. Why not wait for the series to either finish or for there to be a good point to stop? If you know the manga is popular, then you know the anime will be as well. Is it financial because they have the money they'll use it or maybe they can't wait.

Or is it because of something I don't know because I am being ignorant about it and am alone here.

[C.A.]

Simple answer: The anime is an advertisement for people to buy the manga.

[Spectacular_Insanity]

Also crappy anime makes the manga seem that much better by comparison.

[Slice of Life]

Originally Posted by C.A.

Simple answer: The anime is an advertisement for people to buy the manga.

This. Also, even if you just wanted to sell DVDs it wouldn't be wise to wait until the manga itself has outstayed its welcome.

[roriconfan]

So you will buy both, make comparisons, and promote the mythos of the series.

[Arabesque]

Originally Posted by C.A.

Simple answer: The anime is an advertisement for people to buy the manga.

Pretty much. I remember reading about this sometime ago on how having an anime improves the sales of a manga series(can't find the article now though)

Originally Posted by DragoZERO

There are countless mangas that are better than animes, but there are good anime adaptations simply because they followed the manga when it had enough material.

I disagree. Just making a carbon copy of something does not automatically make it good. By changing things in a scene, it could end up being better. Also, the same can be true; I could say that there are better animes than their manga counterparts (e.g. Hayate 1st anime, Hunter X Hunter) and that they became better because they changed things and expanded on the original's idea.

Originally Posted by DragoZERO

A good example of failures are Claymore and the first series of Fullmetal Alchemist. A good example of success is Kimi no Todoke & Suzuka.

I'm not here to talk about why they fail (ie: Rosario+Vampire), but why they attempt. Why not wait for the series to either finish or for there to be a good point to stop? If you know the manga is popular, then you know the anime will be as well. Is it financial because they have the money they'll use it or maybe they can't wait.

The examples that you cited for failures are monthly adaptations, which is why they had to alter the direction of the show at the end (for better or for worse, it depends). Unlike weekly manga adaptations, where 1 episode airs = one chapter is published every week, the monthly ones get 3-4 episodes airing in a month = 1 chapter published. There is no way the series wouldn't catch up to the manga. And waiting for the manga to finish would mean that it missed out on being better known. As for why they dont stop at a good point, that really depends on how successful was the show during its run/how much material is left/or for whatever if it just doesn't look like there will be a chance to continue.

(though I question at using the first FMA as a failure when it was both a commercial and critical success but I guess you mean it failed as a faithful adaptation of the original sources)

[tyranuus]

A) Companies want to make money
B) Licenses are not always flexible, and companies cannot always wait til an appropriate time to use them before their license would expire, if they've paid money for a license, and the writers realise theres no decent stopping point in what they have, they have to make one of thier own, they're not going to waste what they paid for the license. They will use it wherever possible, and tied into this point, licenses are probably eagerly sought out by some of the big parties, if they don't grab a popular license while they can, someone else may do so, this then ends up in the cycle again of can they wait long enough for the manga to provide all they need.
C) Some stuff just does not translate well to a 13/26 episode series; the manga is too long or the sub arcs below the main plot go on too long or are too complex to flesh out properly (I'd argue R+V probably falls into this category, even part of the vampire transformation sub-arc covers quite a few chapters of the manga, how do they split that up and put it into a 13 episode show without absolutely shredding the idea/impact?), especially in the world of anime where it seems second/further seasons are rarely guaranteed early on during production until ratings are seen/merchandise is sold.
D) If the Manga is popular, they usually know the anime will be anyway, regardless of how they do it.
E) Sometimes, the anime creators may have ideas they want to follow or expand upon, that the original manga does not.

[germanturkey]

it depends on if there's a point in the story that's good for the anime to cut off. in claymore's case, they were only a month or two off from getting their conclusion point, but i guess the production crew decided to do their own ending...

Kimi and Suzuka both had fine ending points for their type of story: a point where you can say "they're pretty much together." I expect this will be the same for Kaichou Maid too.

But yes, a good anime usually spurs people to read the manga, so its a huge marketing tool too.

[triskelion]

I actually liked the first season of FMA. Well, that's just me.

Another series I think that was really bad, was Soul Eater. After it split from the manga, it made no sense at all.
I guess companies just want to make money for making more adaptions?

[Socke]

Blame those evil Japanese businessmen and businesswomen for milking anime and manga. We just had too many 12-episode shows right now.

[Tri-ring]

Don't blame the people creating one cour series since most all of them are aired on independent stations stringent on budget. They are doing the best they can within the limited resources they have and they even have to bundle up multiple station replying to most whims of the license holders request which are also the sponsors of the program.

[DragoZERO]

It sounds pretty foolish to spend a ton of money to make an unfaithful adaptation to promote a manga series. It just makes more sense to do a series in cours along with the manga. If it's monthly, you do one cour a year, and you won't catch up if the anime started late. Or am I the only one who is okay waiting a year for another season.

It seems like this really just comes down to money and other stuff that ruins things for the end user. If they want to promote the manga, ending the series mid way would make people want to read the manga to see what happens if they don't want to wait. It just seems stupid to make a poor anime so people read the manga to experience the story correctly.

This is a moot topic since there is nothing we can do, huh.

[janipani]

I think it is all because of underestimating fans. I think whole entertaiment industry does that. Think about game studios for examble, they're pulling our legs all the time. Instead of making decent good game they just add new effects and keep recycling old ideas over and over again. Movies are the same, what else good they've got addition to 3D?

They could do better animes, but they know that bad ones sell good as well. And there is the real problem. There is always enough people that like stupid gags in fillers, even if it does low the quality, it's a good business.

They lack self-respect

[-KarumA-]

Doing one season per year is impossible, each year there are new series including those that can add in on the level of a great show, it would become too much to handle and too much competition.

Each season there is already great competition on the good time slot I think it was Sunday around 5PM. A lot of good shows would not get all too popular if their time slot is at a time when people are either sleeping or at work (and no one likes airing during summer when everyone goes on holiday), this is what happened with Kekkaishi their view ratings went down when they moved to a middle of the night time slot and their sponsors dropped because of it.

No matter how crappy the anime people still want to make a profit otherwise they end up with too much costs and too little income. Per season a selection is made for series that can run a higher budget and get more episodes than others, having only 12 episodes in IMO too little in most cases for a show but not everyone can afford it and there aren't enough time slots to fit it if everyone gets a higher episode number because it becomes a mess then.

Also yes the anime mostly is made to promote the manga but also for the fans so they can give their characters a voice and they love seeing their things animated. Remember the Japanese view things differently than us. But yes it is all for promotion purposes, but not all series are that way. There are original series that get a rushed and crappy manga just to make more money (geass), but also stories that actually work (check studio Bones).

But to come to a closing, it is all about money and budget. You can not make an original ending just like that, in order for that to work you need to hire more people to do that you need approval to do it from the creators and the board and it costs quite some more than following an already written out story and end it somewhere in the middle. And yes tease people into reading the manga to see how it ends

[Socke]

Notice that we had too many 12-episode(and some 24-episode) otaku craps(some are not) from 2006 onwards?

Those businessfolks are just want otakus' money than anything else from DVD sales and other merchandises as well. In fact we had too many 12-episode shows which primarily aimed towards otakus than more mainstream viewers that some Japanese politicians, not just ordinary citizens, start to complain there are too few child-friendly shows in their TVs. To fill that niche the Japanese themselves start to dub some American cartoons instead and Japanese people themselves start to worried that their kids recognize Superman and Spiderman more than their own heroes like Ultraman and Kamen Rider(no wonder why KM was revived in 2001 and still with us today).

[TJR]

Originally Posted by DragoZERO

It seems like this really just comes down to money and other stuff that ruins things for the end user. If they want to promote the manga, ending the series mid way would make people want to read the manga to see what happens if they don't want to wait. It just seems stupid to make a poor anime so people read the manga to experience the story correctly.

Remember that the manga publisher is almost always one of the main sponsors, if not the key player that spearheads the timing of an adaptation (i.e. often, they pitch the manga to the anime companies and not the only way around).

They don't really care how the anime turns out as long as it promotes manga sales. More often than not, there's little money to be made from anime (only the most hardcore collectors buy DVDs and other expensive merchandise. Also, anime is funded by committee, so profits are split among several companies), so they're just financing an advertisement for the real product they want to sell. The profit from increased manga sales can be great.

Originally Posted by DragoZERO

It sounds pretty foolish to spend a ton of money to make an unfaithful adaptation to promote a manga series. It just makes more sense to do a series in cours along with the manga. If it's monthly, you do one cour a year, and you won't catch up if the anime started late. Or am I the only one who is okay waiting a year for another season.

The economics don't work because otaku hype dies fast. A property may be huge one season (characters, anime, manga, etc.), but then otaku lose interest once the next big thing hits. Typically, they flock toward the hot topic of the moment, so companies don't see much long term value in these series.

Just look at DVD sales figures. Popularity tends to drop off drastically over time (usually, the best-selling volume of a second season will only match the worst-selling volume of the first. By the time all second season volumes have been released, the sales figures are too low to justify a third series), which is why most series never extend beyond one or two seasons.

In fact, they don't make even make series with the expectation that they can adapt all volumes of manga. They go for that one-time merchandise run, promote manga sales, and then do a sequel if and only if it's popular enough.

[DragoZERO]

Thank guys. This sure did answer my query and perplexed self. I figured it came down to money, but wasn't sure how or why. It makes plenty of sense now and makes me a little sad because I hate when things are half assed for stupid reasons, but oh well.

[alamarco]

Thought I'd give my opinion.

I don't think it was mentioned, but not everyone reads manga. There are a lot of people out there that only watch anime. Not only that, but not everyone reads the manga first. If an interesting anime is being produced, not everyone goes and reads the manga first.

My point is that for these people who did not read the manga, they have no idea what's filler and what's not. These people definitely have a better appreciate for the anime because every little detail isn't being compared to "what it could be", or "what's different".

Personally, I heard a lot of rumblings that Letter Bee had too much filler content. I didn't read the manga, and I have to say I enjoyed every single episode.

So they key here, would be that the anime may be marketed toward a different crowd. Although manga readers want a 1:1 adaptation, anime watchers won't know any better.

[karice67]

Originally Posted by alamarco

I don't think it was mentioned, but not everyone reads manga. There are a lot of people out there that only watch anime. Not only that, but not everyone reads the manga first. If an interesting anime is being produced, not everyone goes and reads the manga first.

That may be true for overseas fans (or rather, the Western hemisphere), but it's definitely not true in Japan. I'm pretty certain that the manga/novel reading base here is much bigger than the anime watching one, so most people watching an adaptation are likely to already be fans of the original work.

[alamarco]

Good point. I have no doubt that the Japanse readers are much higher than in the Western world. I never thought of the Japanese perspective, I definitely should have. That does make my point invalid if it's true that manga is more popular than anime.

I'm kind of curious of the stats, but like usual that kind of thing is hard to judge. Can't really put accurate numbers to this type of thing.