When reading is better than watching.
Do you know the feeling when you really love a manga or novel, and the news about it receiving an anime adaptation becomes one of the most exciting? But then the anime comes out, and you’re not even sure that you’re watching the right series.
Unfortunately, it happens, and more often than you might think. And we’ve collected a few such upsetting examples.
- The Promised Neverland (Yakusoku no Neverland)
If you’re not an anime newbie, you definitely saw this one coming, and it’s true: the manga was better.
The first season of the anime is spectacular, though, and a lot of fans usually mention The Promised Neverland when it’s time to name their favorite series because of it. However, Season 2 decided to deviate from the manga a lot, and the entire thing ended up being very disappointing.
- Lunar Legend Tsukihime (Shingetsutan Tsukihime)
Fans love saying “but there isn’t a Tsukihime anime” because of how weak the adaptation was. It’s based on a Japanese adult visual novel game by Type-Moon, and some viewers say that the animation studio either didn’t play the game at all or made the anime as a way to make fun of the fans.
They still do love the visual novel, though, and even hope for another anime adaptation in the future. A faithful one this time.
- A Certain Magical Index III (Toaru Majutsu no Index III)
This anime is based on a light novel series by Kazuma Kamachi, and fans say that it seems Kamachi’s novels will never get a good adaptation, and that’s upsetting.
They compare the Index III anime to torture and say that it’s like watching hours of a series that you can’t make sense of. It’s difficult to understand what is going on in the anime even if you’ve read the light novels. But if you haven’t, the entire thing just makes zero sense.
- The Fruit of Grisaia (Grisaia no Kajitsu)
Fans don’t necessarily say that this adaptation is terrible, but it’s certainly rushed. 70 hours of the original visual novel were summarized in 13 episodes, which made the entire anime feel like a compilation series instead of an actual story.
It can still be quite enjoyable if you don’t know much about the visual novel, but if you do, you’ll definitely be upset by the lack of content and will think of the anime as a missed opportunity.
- The God of High School
And again, a huge number of webtoon chapters are fit into 13 episodes. And again, we can’t say that you won’t enjoy the anime, but the webtoon can give you much more than the adaptation.
Fans say that the best thing this anime did to them is make them interested in The God of High School and compel them to read the source material.