Light Novel to Manga comparisons?

[Chiibi]

First, forgive me if this thread is in the wrong place (if it is, please move it) but...I really wanted to discuss this transition.

Is it me or does it seem that almost EVERY time a light novel gets turned into a manga, the artwork is crap? Yes, like with anything there are exceptions but I've noticed a disturbing amount of series that follow this pattern. Why is this such a huge problem?! Can't they find someone who can actually draw? Or do the original authors have no control over that?

Off the top of my head, here are some examples of mediocre to very disappointing manga adaptations from very attractive light novels:

Kamisama No Inai No Nichiyoubi (mediocre)

Itsuka Tenma No Kuro Usagi (BAD. Seriously detest this character artwork. I cannot get over how ugly it is! It is so ugly I'm barely motivated to read it...even though I really loved the anime and want to know the story's conclusion!)

The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi (don't think anyone here will disagree that it's bad lol)

Kore Wa Zombie Desuka? (mediocre)

Spice And Wolf (I don't like it, honestly)

Sword Art Online (shocking the art's this bad considering the popularity, no!?)

One I find all right is Shakugan No Shana. Again, the manga art isn't quite as good as the novel's art...but it's not terrible either.

I hope I'm not the only one who feels this way. I would love to hear your opinions if you agree....(or disagree too, that's fine. ) And if you have any examples that are good manga adaptations, please feel free to share.

[setsuna86]

Originally Posted by Chiibi

First, forgive me if this thread is in the wrong place (if it is, please move it) but...I really wanted to discuss this transition.

Is it me or does it seem that almost EVERY time a light novel gets turned into a manga, the artwork is crap? Yes, like with anything there are exceptions but I've noticed a disturbing amount of series that follow this pattern. Why is this such a huge problem?! Can't they find someone who can actually draw? Or do the original authors have no control over that?

Off the top of my head, here are some examples of mediocre to very disappointing manga adaptations from very attractive light novels:

Kamisama No Inai No Nichiyoubi (mediocre)

Itsuka Tenma No Kuro Usagi (BAD. Seriously detest this character artwork. I cannot get over how ugly it is! It is so ugly I'm barely motivated to read it...even though I really loved the anime and want to know the story's conclusion!)

The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi (don't think anyone here will disagree that it's bad lol)

Kore Wa Zombie Desuka? (mediocre)

Spice And Wolf (I don't like it, honestly)

Sword Art Online (shocking the art's this bad considering the popularity, no!?)

One I find all right is Shakugan No Shana. Again, the manga art isn't quite as good as the novel's art...but it's not terrible either.

I hope I'm not the only one who feels this way. I would love to hear your opinions if you agree....(or disagree too, that's fine. ) And if you have any examples that are good manga adaptations, please feel free to share.

I agree on that Point with you. There are LN I had read, and when I read the manga, it was it was another Story, completely. So I left it (and I don't even remember the title anymore).
I don't know why, but maybe artists find it to draw what has been described to LN with all the Details.

[Magin]

Or the short version: different artists, and manga artists can't put in the quality a LN might due to the fact that they have far more pages to draw than a LN does

[Vahanar]

It would be easier to list mangas that are actually better looking than their LN versions.

For example, I enjoy art in Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance much more than in the novel.

[Chiibi]

Originally Posted by Magin

Or the short version: different artists, and manga artists can't put in the quality a LN might due to the fact that they have far more pages to draw than a LN does

No, that's not a good excuse. Many manga artists (Arina Tanemura is one) draw thirty-to forty page chapters in one week.
And HER artwork looks like THIS.
Of course she has assistants...but that linework is all hers. The funny thing is with light novel-to-manga artists-their backgrounds and proportions aren't bad-the things they screw up the most are the characters themselves!
That's the most important part! So I'm drawing a big blank here...

It would be easier to list mangas that are actually better looking than their LN versions.

Yes, seems that way....

[rantaid]

well.. the problem is paying someone count as investment. anf it's not like the likes of LN are appreciating assets. they are just trends that somedays will be abandoned by their fans.

manga retell the story in static, while anime is more dynamic. that is why like SAO with all it's flaw is better as anime than as manga.

not all LN is haruhi.

[Utsuro no Hako]

Originally Posted by Vahanar

It would be easier to list mangas that are actually better looking than their LN versions.

For example, I enjoy art in Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance much more than in the novel.

The Toradora manga's a mixed bag, but I think the artist does a much better job of making Ryuuji appear menacing and Minori sexy than the novel artist ever did.

Hmm, does Railgun count? It's not really an adaptation, but I know lots of people prefer it to Index.

[Cosmic Eagle]

Railgun manga is an original source though...so of course it has to be good...I mean just compare its art with the Index manga <__<

[florza]

Last I recalled 棺姫のチャイカ had pretty decent art, but yes, generally. Adaptations tend to be somewhat inferior to the average manga.

[bakapervert]

I'm wondering, does this kind of adaptation from LN to manga is discontinued sometime? I can't recall any manga adaptation ever catch up to the LN.

And LN with good drawing that I like is Boku wa Tomodachi ga SUkunai and Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei.

[Zefyris]

Lot of popular novels have crappy illustrations even in the novels themselves. Take Toradora as it was said earlier. Or the beginning of the Index novels; or Haruhi as well.

Although most of them tend to get better with time (Index in particular really get a lot better...Well the illustrator had a lot of volumes in between to get better, though). Toradora get a bit better, but Yasu is still in the end of the novels doing a far worse job than the manga artist from Toradora.
In Index, we had from the start of the manga a far better art than in the beginning of the novel.

I don't know the manga of Haruhi, but I'm not sure that it can be worse than what we had at the beginning of the novels, again.

In gosick, we have gorgeous illustrations in the novels right from the start. The level in the manga is a bit lower (probably because it would take too much time to the illustrator to do illustrations as detailed as they are in the novels) but it's still fairly good.

In spice & wolf, the illustrations at the beginning are really crappy as well imo. The manga is doing a far better job for what I remember.

Baccano, the illustrator really become a LOT better than he was at first. Now he's good. And if you look at the manga version, it's definitely better than the novel illustrator was at the beginning of baccano.


...In the end, it all depends of how good is the novel illustrator. When the novel illustrator isn't that good, the mangaka will do a better job than him; but when the novel illustrator has a lot of skill, there are huge chances that the mangaka will not do as good. Case like gosick, and rokka no yuusha (although in those two manga's case the art in the manga is still fairly good) come to mind on this one.
Well, it's quite logical. If the standards are low from the start, you have more chance that the adaptation will have a better level than the contrary, right. And the contrary is also true.

So someone who choose which novel he's reading depending of how attractive are the illustrations for example, will almost always get disappointed by the manga adaptation.
I'm surprised that you cited spice & wolf and Haruhi in your post. Where did you look at in the first few volumes of each of those two novels seriously. We can't even distinguish properly who is who on haruhi's black and white illustrations, ther eis no consistencies in how each character is drawn...

[Utsuro no Hako]

Originally Posted by bakapervert

I'm wondering, does this kind of adaptation from LN to manga is discontinued sometime? I can't recall any manga adaptation ever catch up to the LN.

Hasn't the Haruhi manga caught up now? Of course it helps that the author is on the George R.R. Martin writing plan.

[RRW]

original always superior than adaption

[Chaos2Frozen]

Originally Posted by rantaid

well.. the problem is paying someone count as investment. anf it's not like the likes of LN are appreciating assets. they are just trends that somedays will be abandoned by their fans.

manga retell the story in static, while anime is more dynamic. that is why like SAO with all it's flaw is better as anime than as manga.

not all LN is haruhi.

LN is just a trend? What makes them any different than Manga or Anime as a form of story telling?

[Bakaizer]

I may dislike some manga because of the drawing but i will only complain if I am really buying this manga

i am satisfied because these are free to read

[chaotix37]

Originally Posted by RRW

original always superior than adaption

Technically this is true... It's losing the essence when the adaptation has shown especially in the manga or the anime.

[rantaid]

Originally Posted by Chaos2Frozen

LN is just a trend? What makes them any different than Manga or Anime as a form of story telling?

what i mean is the worth of investment. anime can atrract a lot of sponsor to share the cost production.

long runner LN seldom attract new customer because their attracting point is only the story telling except haruhi . while manga aside from the plot, we can still attracted to their drawing, while anime has voice acting, animation, music and any other accessory that allowed them to become source of profit.

did not even the likes of Bandai invested lot of money to anime (i.e. Gundam) because they sees them as promotional / advertisement medium to sell their toys?

but what about LN? i rarely heard of product that get boosted from the sales of LN, but on the contrary, the good selling of anime boosted the sales for LN, not vice versa. and how many product get introduced from vague description from LN except after they receive visual interpretation; for example after they get another adaptation like anime, manga, visual novel (higanbana, when they cries).

for now i think the role of LN is just as the source for plot story idea for another media adaptation, and one of them is to introduce newly found talent that did not cost too much compared to ask old experienced talent, which one of them is manga artist.

let's admit it. how many of you ever heard of shaft prior to Full Metal Panic fumoffu and Bakemonogatari? and did you know the LN bakemonogatari first or the anime first?

for now the LN creative industry is still seen as potential to grow talent, not a stable dependable source for income

[Chaos2Frozen]

That's just silly, I could also make that claim for Manga and Visual novels and even some video games that their Anime help promote the original source- Without the Anime many of them wouldn't have grown in popularity and so by your logic makes them only a 'trend'.

Why should LN be singled out?

In addition, Animes are more risky ventures than LNs which are cheaper to produce. Also, I wonder why is it so hard to believe that people read LNs for their story? If manga can be appreciated for just their art, why can't LN be appreciated for their story? Because it's not a masterpiece?

[hyl]

.......
That post has so many flaws, that's not even funny to pick on him

Originally Posted by rantaid

what i mean is the worth of investment. anime can atrract a lot of sponsor to share the cost production.

Worth of investment? Light novels are far less expensive to produce and it's less of a risk compared to big projects such as animes.

Originally Posted by rantaid

long runner LN seldom attract new customer because their attracting point is only the story telling except haruhi . while manga aside from the plot, we can still attracted to their drawing, while anime has voice acting, animation, music and any other accessory that allowed them to become source of profit.

Using your argument, then you can easily say that the only "selling point" music has is the aural entertainment >_>
Seriously, different media exists for a reason. The appeal of a LN is usually that they can be read everywhere because of their small size (like in trains, busses etc.)

Originally Posted by rantaid

did not even the likes of Bandai invested lot of money to anime (i.e. Gundam) because they sees them as promotional / advertisement medium to sell their toys?

Unless it's a children show, most animes are not meant to directly promote merchandise. So i am not sure what you are trying to do by using gundam as an example.

Originally Posted by rantaid

but what about LN? i rarely heard of product that get boosted from the sales of LN, but on the contrary, the good selling of anime boosted the sales for LN, not vice versa. and how many product get introduced from vague description from LN except after they receive visual interpretation; for example after they get another adaptation like anime, manga, visual novel (higanbana, when they cries).

Of course adaptations are going to boost the sales of the adapted series.
The original media didn't boost something, because well.... they were not adapted from something else >_>

Originally Posted by rantaid

for now i think the role of LN is just as the source for plot story idea for another media adaptation, and one of them is to introduce newly found talent that did not cost too much compared to ask old experienced talent, which one of them is manga artist.

Are you implying that there are no new manga talents?

Originally Posted by rantaid

let's admit it. how many of you ever heard of shaft prior to Full Metal Panic fumoffu and Bakemonogatari? and did you know the LN bakemonogatari first or the anime first?

In japan, alot. The anime only increased it's popularity.
If the LN's were not popular, it would not have had an anime in the first place.

The reason why most people here has heard from the anime first, is rather obvious. Because light novels are less easily accessible for most people in the West. Also it did help that these animes gets subtitles in English compared to most LN's staying untranslated (eventhough some of the more popular ones do get translated, but i am not up to date on that subject)

Originally Posted by rantaid

for now the LN creative industry is still seen as potential to grow talent, not a stable dependable source for income

Tell that to the large amount of LN writers in japan. Also like manga's it's not going to be a source of income for everyone, as you still have to be succesfull to earn money.

[Cosmic Eagle]

Originally Posted by rantaid

what i mean is the worth of investment. anime can atrract a lot of sponsor to share the cost production.

long runner LN seldom attract new customer because their attracting point is only the story telling except haruhi . while manga aside from the plot, we can still attracted to their drawing, while anime has voice acting, animation, music and any other accessory that allowed them to become source of profit.

did not even the likes of Bandai invested lot of money to anime (i.e. Gundam) because they sees them as promotional / advertisement medium to sell their toys?

but what about LN? i rarely heard of product that get boosted from the sales of LN, but on the contrary, the good selling of anime boosted the sales for LN, not vice versa. and how many product get introduced from vague description from LN except after they receive visual interpretation; for example after they get another adaptation like anime, manga, visual novel (higanbana, when they cries).

for now i think the role of LN is just as the source for plot story idea for another media adaptation, and one of them is to introduce newly found talent that did not cost too much compared to ask old experienced talent, which one of them is manga artist.

let's admit it. how many of you ever heard of shaft prior to Full Metal Panic fumoffu and Bakemonogatari? and did you know the LN bakemonogatari first or the anime first?

for now the LN creative industry is still seen as potential to grow talent, not a stable dependable source for income

Not for all anime...and what about manga?