Anime adaptations can often breathe life into a manga series, but sometimes, keeping the series original is the best way to enjoy them.
Anime series are mostly based on pre-existing novels or manga series, with only a few exceptions. An anime usually replicates the original manga series in black-and-white or sometimes improves it. Anime adaptations can provide thrilling music, impressive visuals, and heartfelt voice acting to enhance the immersion. While most anime successfully create perfect adaptations of their source material, others fail to recreate the aspects that made the series great in the first place. Below are five manga series that are better than their anime adaptations.
One Piece
One Piece is one of the most fun and imaginative manga ever written and hands down, one of the most incredible stories ever conceived. Apart from the plot, the composition and the way the artwork conveys the information is simply wonderful. The anime begins as a perfect adaptation of the epic tale, but in the later arcs, the quality of the show severely drops. The anime series greatly suffers from slow pacing and abundant filler.
Berserk
This dark fantasy manga follows the story of Guts, a mercenary swordsman. While the manga series is replete with violent and grim moments, it also has a tender and stubbornly hopeful side. Berserk, combined with its jaw-dropping art, is a timeless classic for graphic novel and manga fans. But sadly, the anime adaptation of 1997 was limited in scope, and the 2016’s series used an awkward style of 3-D animation that failed to match the standards of the manga’s impeccable art style.
Tokyo Ghoul
Tokyo Ghoul is best known for its graphical content, opening theme, and memes. But the anime adaptation of the iconic manga series has been heavily criticized for ravaging the original narrative. Furthermore, the anime altered several key details and steadily goes downhill after seasons 1 and 2.
Blue Period
In 2020, Netflix produced an exclusive anime on Blue Period, pushing the series into the spotlight. But the anime did not cover many details that were lost in the process, and it barely managed to convey the nuances that the manga had painstakingly integrated into the narrative.
Bleach
Bleach is one of the best titles of shonen anime. But sadly, the anime adaptation is extensively inconsistent, riddled, and full of filler episodes. The anime series did not age well, and the image quality is poorly made and looks fuzzy compared to the recently-made titles with H.D. quality.
These manga titles suffered terribly and are better reads because their anime adaptations could not live up to the expectations of the source material.
