Manga Would you rather a manga receive a bad anime adaption but have potentially more fans, or no anime and remain obscure?

[KaiserMk7]

What shouldn't exist however is film adaptations. I have yet to find a decent film adaptation that did better than anime due to overperformance of emotion and having to make plausible the improbable storyline or situation.

I think I've seen a youtube anime reviewer praise the Erased film.

 

[X y b e r - S k u ll]

I'd rather a manga remain obscure with no adaptation any day over it getting a bad anime with more fans. This weird idea I see from people nowadays that a series is only really 'valid' if it has a sizable or notable fan base is so bizarre to me. If you like something, like it! Why do you need other people to give you some sense of validation that it's okay to like something?

I will say though that I am a bit more open to anime adaptations if I know for a fact they'll be done well and serve to enhance or (Very rarely but it does happen sometimes) even surpass the original manga. Take that upcoming Ghost in the Shell anime for example. The studio and team involved in it have a fantastic track record, so I have full confidence it'll be worth watching.

So yeah, I'll always prefer a manga remain obscure over getting a bad anime adaptation but getting more popular, BUT, like many things in life, there are always exceptions.

 

[downloadingshit]

No anime, a bad adaptation will spread farther than the manga and color the perception of it for years to come unless it ends up forgotten or tellingly bad. I'm already a Toaru fan and the Index adaptation has done horrible damage on the main series' reputation for anime-onlies with the amount of issues it has. Not helping is that Railgun got a good adaptation, leading some people to think it's the only one worth watching.

It hurts everytime I see people say the Sisters Arc is the peak of the series, like yes I fucking love that arc but it's volume 3 , if you told me a series that's ran since 2004 hit its peak with vol 3 out of 22 that would sound horrid.

 

[CardcaptorEd2019]

The latter. If people only knew of the anime adaptation, then they would be put off from the original source material.

Even if the original source material is obscure, it will still be good and it being obscure is in a way a nice surprise for people who can find it. Lots of people may not care for obscure stuff and it's a shame, because there are some really good finds out there if you're willing to look for it.

 

[RetroMule]

Maybe a manga that has no anime adaptation and remain obscure? I'm not sure really.

I have a manga like that, been debating buying a second set and scanner to preserve it.

 

[Amakuchi]

A nice niche manga that has a small to medium dedicated following despite no anime adaptations is infinitely better in my opinion.

 

[aru.aru]

Not to be too gatekeepy, but with the way Fandom is now, I actually prefer a work stay a bit more niche. The only caveat to a smaller fanbase is potential cancellation due to lack of readership if it's serialized.

A bad adaptation could also completely misrepresent the original work and characters and potentially ruin how general audiences see them. As a big Superman fan, seeing your GOAT get slandered for upwards of years blows chunks hard af

 

[CheesyExplosive]

AVGN anime...

 

[RebelofDaNeonGod]

I'd rather no anime if it meant it was dogshit. I already don't care about the fact that anime-onlys are talking about a manga I like when it gets an anime because they can't read

 

[shadowcat]

Remain obscure, the Western manga community at large is notoriously terrible to anything that isn't on the Barnes and Noble best selling manga list.

 

[Ezri_Muldoon]

Remain obscure, every time.
50% because most modern fans won't ever read the manga/light novels, heck they won't even watch something if it hasn't got a dub on netflix.
50% because in this era of censorship, fan translations can be better than what ends up being officially localised.

Although I think my concerns are only relegated to EN.
Fr & Es (Both Euro & Latin) have a fantastic history of faithful adaptations.

 

[diet_orange]

I was so incredibly hyped for the semi-recent Shaman King anime but was incredibly disappointed. Yeah, I would have rather it stay a Manga in that sense considering that a lot of why the new anime failed was entirely on Takei

 

[shadowcat]

I was so incredibly hyped for the semi-recent Shaman King anime but was incredibly disappointed. Yeah, I would have rather it stay a Manga in that sense considering that a lot of why the new anime failed was entirely on Takei

OMG I remember that! I grew up reading the manga and was so excited for the new adaptation and then it didn't really live up to that excitement sadly. Oh well, we always have the manga.

 

[diet_orange]

OMG I remember that! I grew up reading the manga and was so excited for the new adaptation and then it didn't really live up to that excitement sadly. Oh well, we always have the manga.

The original Shaman King manga (I have volumes 1 thru 14 of the VIZ release) was so damn good, I remember reading it in American Shonen Jump when it was still physical and monthly and being totally blown away by Ren and Bason slicing a car completely in half. I also kind of blame Shaman King for being the reason why Stands in Jojo (mostly because of total lack of personality when compared to Amidamaru and the others) did absolutely nothing for me when compared to Ripple

 

[shadowcat]

The original Shaman King manga (I have volumes 1 thru 14 of the VIZ release) was so damn good, I remember reading it in American Shonen Jump when it was still physical and monthly and being totally blown away by Ren and Bason slicing a car completely in half. I also kind of blame Shaman King for being the reason why Stands in Jojo (mostly because of total lack of personality when compared to Amidamaru and the others) did absolutely nothing for me when compared to Ripple

I remember getting the American issues of Jump too. They used to give out little things like a Yugioh card or stickers of Bleach or something with them which was fun as a kid. Ren was my favorite in the whole series, and I can see where you are coming from with Jojo too. I read Shaman King as a kid, didn't get to Jojo until my late 20s and while you can see how Shaman King took inspiration from it, I agree the personalities of the spirits in Shaman King made it way more enjoyable than Jojo's offering.

 

[diet_orange]

I remember getting the American issues of Jump too. They used to give out little things like a Yugioh card or stickers of Bleach or something with them which was fun as a kid. Ren was my favorite in the whole series, and I can see where you are coming from with Jojo too. I read Shaman King as a kid, didn't get to Jojo until my late 20s and while you can see how Shaman King took inspiration from it, I agree the personalities of the spirits in Shaman King made it way more enjoyable than Jojo's offering.

I kind of liked Ryu the most (and if I'm being perfectly honest, the "Ricky Ricardo" voice from the 4kids dub is how I still read the character). But my favorite spirit was Lee Pai Long, loved the concept of Jiangshi

 

[LXXXROMonteVIdEOII]

A good Anime is always better IMHO. I'd a Saint Seiya fan and we haven't had a good Anime from the franchise since Soul of Gold, to some, it's since the Hades Saga even. Now look at the current state of the franchise. We know that the OG Anime and Manga are huge outside of the US but because we can't have a product like say, Gundam Thunderbolt, we can't reach s crytical mass in the US which makes it a cycle of unreliablity and disappointment.

 

[VampireLord1024VampireLord1024's icon]

I have a manga like that, been debating buying a second set and scanner to preserve it.

Oh that's good and that might be a good idea.

 

[redux007]

Me and some friends had this argument on discord. Their points basically boiled down to a bad anime is overall better for a series as more people watch anime than they do read manga. The potential audience from the anime could keep a niche manga from being cancelled. My points were a bad anime would ruin interest in the series and leave a negative stain on the manga as a whole.

I think people in general should try their best. So, anything born from a lack of effort or interest will never be a good thing. Even if it might reach more eyes. What is there to be gained by such a thing? It may as well never have happened.

 

[diet_orange]

Me and some friends had this argument on discord. Their points basically boiled down to a bad anime is overall better for a series as more people watch anime than they do read manga. The potential audience from the anime could keep a niche manga from being cancelled. My points were a bad anime would ruin interest in the series and leave a negative stain on the manga as a whole.

There's also the interesting situation where Leiji Matsumoto completely stopped the original manga for Captain Harlock and focused entirely on the anime, leaving it with a crummy cliff-hanger

 

[FlowersSunRain]

Personally, I'd definitely prefer for it to remain obscure but avoid a bad adaptation.
But the thing that's worse than a straight up bad adaptation is an adaptation that is good only if you haven't read the source material.
This is basically my experience with almost every Visual Novel adaptation, but especially the Fate/Stay Night anime (specifically the Ufotable adaptations).
Trying to recommend someone a manga or vn you really love only for them to not want to and instead go for a weaker but still "popular" anime is so infuriating.

 

[Lee__Kanker]