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Watching Anime vs. Reading Mangas

LadyYunaFFX2

LadyYunaFFX2

Pulsar
Joined
Nov 1, 2012
Location
Boone, NC
Apologies if this is in the wrong section ahead of time. If so, feel free to move it.

Anyways .... I've always wondered for a while why some people prefer to watch anime over just simply reading the manga.

For myself, I almost always read over watch for a few good reasons. Mind the bold and underlined, okay? I have watched some of the fandoms listed in my threads like - for instance - Sword Art Online and Hellsing Ultimate. But I usually end up reading most things as opposed to watching.

1. To avoid bad voice acting. 9/10 times, it'll happen, especially in dubbed episodes. That being said, if I do resort to watching, it is always subbed.

2. I'm naturally a fast reader so it's easier for me to catch up via reading as opposed to watching 20-30 minute episodes.

3. For some odd reason, I have an easier time keeping up with the plots ... probably because I can go back and reread if I almost misunderstand or misinterpret something.

So ... feel free to give your reasons as to why you choose your respective preference over the other.

Also, Merry Christmas Eve and Happy Holidays all~

-LadyYunaFFX2
 
I do both. I read the manga first - usually - and then watch the anime to see if it meets my expectations. But not always. It's like reading a book to me: sometimes the movie actually trumps out the book but usually the book is 10x better. Just depends on the movie/book aka manga/anime.
 
I've honestly never read a manga unless the anime really interested me and it cut off before all arcs were finished. I know I'm backwards on this as opposed to most people, but I've never been able to appreciate a good scene, especially action heavy scenes, if they're black and white with a big zigzag box and the words BOOM covering half the page to simulate an explosion.
It just seems lifeless, un-entertaining as opposed to watching an anime where there are so many elements to make the scene exciting and full of life. The music, the animation, the flawless sequence and transition from one action to the next. Things like that you can't get in a manga.

To summarize: Mangas bore me.
 
If an anime has great animation and direction, then I'll watch it over a manga any day. That being said, it's far easier to find good manga than it is good anime. It's no secret that many anime are created with a limited budget, so there are consistency issues from episode to episode; this does not really apply to OVA, however. Manga "tends" to be more consistent in it's quality from chapter to chapter, and the medium itself allows for more complex story telling-- there's no worry about fitting the story into so many minutes and episodes. I do read more manga than anime; I'm usually keeping up with around ten manga.
 
Anime generally, why? Its free and if dubbed i dont need to focus on it to watch it

I could easily read the manga online for free and sometimes I do but I prefer the physical books and at $15+ each I generally pass on buying them, I would prefer the physical dvd's too but many do not get lisensed here
 
After my experience with Rosario + Vampire, I generally stick to reading manga/light novels and only watch a given anime if the manga was just that cool or, in the case of things like Dog Days, the anime came before the books. I'm a peculiar reader, though, in that I can pretty easily visualize what I'm reading in an animated form.
 
One thing I can say on this there are many animes and manga which are very different from each other, especially anime that were finished before the manga was finished. The best example of this would be something like Trigun where the manga is extremely different then the anime, to the point where Vash is very different between the two of them.
 
For me, it really comes down to the voice acting. If I can't stand the voice acting, then I'll go manga all the way. If the voice acting is decent, though, I prefer anime.
 
You know what...

I don't read any manga I'm watching.

I rarely watch any manga I've read.

I'm an anime fiend and rarely read manga. Manga makes me want to draw and I stop reading to draw. If I do settle for a manga it's always something short because I have this OCD about being able to finish it within a short period of time...same thing with anime too actually.

When I read manga its usually horror.

I read manga when I wanna read a book with pictures.... >.< If I find out that this cool anime I finished has left me with questions and there's a manga for it that isn't too long I might read it to see what the anime missed. I usually watch all my anime in Japanese so, voice acting isn't a problem for me.
 
I prefer to read manga because I´m a bookworm. I watch some anime movies or anime from time to time too, but I prefer manga. I don´t like fillers and instead of skipping them I just stop to watch the anime.
 
There are too many factors that go into the equation here. It varies from series to series, as the anime/manga almost never line up completely, but there's much more than that. There's the voice acting to consider, which is atrocious in some series', the amount of filler that the animators decide to shove into the anime, and the music choices that is put into the animated product. Also, since I only speak English, I have to look at the quality of the translations in the Japanese rendition of an anime vs the DUB voice acting.​
 
I don't watch so much anime, I am a bookworm and love to read manga. I used to watch a lot of anime and stopped as soon as I read the manga. Now I don't watch anime when I read the manga because I don't like filler episodes. Also, I love anime movies like my neighbour Totoro.
 
Personally, I think it depends on the series. I do read a lot of manga, especially since there's a lot of downtime at work, but I also watch a lot of anime. There's some anime that ends on a cliffhanger, where the manga continues even further and ends with a complete story. In those cases, I just transfer over to the manga and continue the series. There's some anime that can be pretty rough due to filler. Bleach had some rough filler, although looking at Bleach now, I'd much prefer the filler. One Piece was kind of ruined for me because of the filler, with seven episodes of recap back to back and lots of filler, meaning I have to see more of Usopp in his whiney bitch faze. However, a series like Fairy Tail does a pretty good job in the anime department. Things that weren't explained well in the manga get explained better in the anime, the filler is typically two episodes in between each arc, maybe a three episode story arc, and there's supposedly a pretty long filler arc later on that puts more development in some characters you didn't get to know much about when they were first introduced (haven't reached that point in the series yet to confirm). So, in the end, it's pretty much based on opinion, both manga and anime have their strong and weak points. I don't really prefer one over the other.
 
I both enjoy static, B&W manga art AND animation and storytelling, so I can happily enjoy both. But with anime it becomes pickier as bad/lazy animation can ruin it for me
 
Like several others have pointed out, there is a lot that can go into this.

For me, I actually got into anime and manga from watching the anime first. Thank you Sailor Moon and the original Toonami. Animes, of course, drew me on line to nerd out over them and that's when I learned what manga was, lol.

I live in a pretty small town. We literally have two bookstores. One of them is a college bookstore that sells a few popular titles on the side. The other is a disgrace to the Barnes and Nobel name. It is mainly young adult novels, a few classics, and the really popular manga. The way I find a new manga/visual novel is purely by going on the cover and a quick skim through. I've found quite a bit of really good but pretty vague titles that way.

Most of the time though, it is the anime that will get me interested enough to go hunting for the manga scans online. That and referrals from friends. But I don't really equate them on the same level. Most of the time anime series only last a few seasons and if it does last more than one and doesn't end on a cliffhanger, they are usually vastly different from the manga. To me, it is like watching the original Star Trek series and then looking at the new movies. Same sort of concept, same basic characters and good for an introduction but different enough to enjoy them both.

It has been a very, very rare circumstance that I'll just watch an anime without at least giving the manga a good go. Sometimes the longer a manga goes on, the more convoluted it gets. Naruto is a good case but there are enough filler episodes of it to make it where I despised both for awhile. There are a few cases where the anime has been better to me because of the visuals, songs, etc. But those usually follow the story pretty closely up to a certain point and then end. Guilty Crown was a GREAT anime that I actually liked more than the manga. Danganronpa was based on a video game first, but then became a manga, and then an anime and in that one, I preferred the anime.
 
Hmm, I thought this would come with a poll.

Alright, I will be a hypocrite and say I prefer anime. I know I said I prefer books over movies because I'd like to have a physical copy that I can touch as well as imagine the scenes, characters, etc. However, for anime, I just like to laze off and watch, particularly bbecause of the cuddly graphics and pretty voices and music. ^_^ So I suppose watching can be fun too!
 
Both! However it depends heavily upon the animation and visual styles....

Often enough however, since both Anime/Manga often share art styles, I'll watch Anime when I get the chance, and read the Manga when I get the chance. I always try to read both because I usually miss important plot details/moments in Anime as I watch because I get caught up in the animations themselves. (As an animation fantatic its hard!! When I see a beautifully animated scene the animation itself is like porn to me haha). In Manga I can follow along with the the plots and dialogue much more nicely; it just takes longer to read so I usually read when I'm in public or on the go~

Overall I think both have their strengths/differences!
 
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