Would you read the manga adaption of a Light Novel?

Drone205

A very basic question with a lot of complexities. There are so many reasons why you would or would not read the manga adaption. Basically just would you and why or why not and in what way?

Rahul Balaggan

I would read it under the following circumstance

*the art is good (example Ragnarok manga)
*the manga does not leave a large amount out from what was in the LN (example Infinite Dedogram)

An example of a manga adaptation that breaks both of these for me is Grimgar manga.

Oh and of course if the Light Nobel is not licensed by anyone and only the manga is, well I pretty much have no choice in that situation (example Saekano, Testament of Sister New Devil, Haganai, etc)

Drone205

@rahul-balaggan said in Would you read the manga adaption of a Light Novel?:

I would read it under the following circumstance
*the art is good (example Ragnarok manga)
*the manga does not leave a large amount out from what was in the LN (example Infinite Dedogram)

You have pretty similar reasons why I would read the manga adaption. Assuming I have read the LN the reasons I would read the manga are as follows.

I like the art
It is faithful and keeps most to almost everything in
I really like the story
There are a great flow to it that would work great for manga, especially from volume to volume. You can read vol 1, 2, 3 etc. As if it's one continuous story

Reasons I would not.

Don't like the art
Not faithful or skips or leaves out lot of stuff
I don't like story
Flow would not work well as manga
The LN is just really really good with its prose etc. That experiencing it as a visual medium will take away the experience.

I may read the manga to get a taste of the LN to help decide if I want to get it as it's just easier to do so both at the book store and at home through a scanlation or something. Though I have no problems just "impulse" buying a book so this only really applies to LN that are not licensed.

Timmaaah

I don't really, but that is because i don't really read manga anymore. I don't really find it satisfying anymore since it takes less than an hour to read an entire volume, I would rather spend the time reading LNs.
I was still reading them though, it would probably only be the manga only stories as I would rather spend the time getting a new story rather then just another version of something I have already read.
The only reason I would go out of my way to read a LN adaption manga would just be to check one out that I haven't read yet to see if it was worth reading.

Bromit

Ragnarok- after anime, even i know ln is not bad then also my anime memories wont allow me to read even 1 page of its light novel. But it took less time in manga so i will go with manga and if i like it very much then maybe i would try light novel again. (But no light novel till i reach the part where anime has left in manga)

Animeta- my taste. So i will read it

I shall survive using portion- has read till where fan translation was before jnc picked it (i think fan translation has droped it). I liked the art but it seem story is somewhat rushed. Can someone tell me how much it has left. I might read light novel and manga both (light novel 1st)

A very fairy apertment- not for me

Infinite dendrogarm- will try both LN and manga after anime. By ch 1 of manga, it seem weird. Well it was only ch 1 so i cant say anything so lets wait for anime

The magic in this world is too far behind- great story till now. Manga seems very good. Again can someone tell how close manga is to LN.

How to love elf bride- waiting for vol 1 to see how it is. Have high hope from it. Art was good.

How a realistic hero build a kingdom- what is wrong with me??
Till now (before writting this comment) i dont know why but after reading its title i thought it is -I am a hero (a zombie manga). I thought i will try it in future. But while writing this comment i noticed it is not I am a hero, it is realistic hero. Hasent tryped its LN but has seen many positive reviews. Will read it after writing this comment.

Ascendance of bookworm- ch 1 was good. Nice art. Again same ques- can someone tell me how closely its to LN. If its only somewhat off then i will only read its manga. As i think for these kind of story, manga is better.

Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles- will try later

Timmaaah

@bromit For Ragnarok, you're going to be waiting for a long time, since the anime did something like 7 volumes of the LN, so that will be quite far into the manga. Personally, I put off reading the next volume that came out after the anime (vol.3) because the anime wasn't that flash. But then i read it and remembered how much better the LN was powered through the book in a few hours because it was so entertaining. Now I just ignore what was in the anime because the stories are so different, and have so much more content in the LN that wasn't in the anime.

Jaquobus

I consider reading them when they come at no additional cost for me, as it is the case for the ones published by J-Novel. But unless the art is especially stellar, I would not pay extra just to try them out. I'd rather read some original manga; or some other books.

Raitoiro

Most of the time if i can read the LN i will read the LN and ignore the rest.
But i would read the manga if:

the art is really really good
the story change, like Shinsekai yori which despite being the inferior version did introduce some really interesting stuff (and i'm not speaking of the yuri loli porn)
It's better than the LN, that the case with Overlord, i find the manga way better with the characters and rythme than the anime or LN.
I love the LN, but Overlap are evil and they choose the same guy for both Grimgar and The Faraway paladin so neither is good.
It's an error but it's good, i brought Mushoku Tensei vol 1 thinking it was the LN, but since the manga is good and i hate having unfinished serie i keep buying it.

SomeOldGuy

Depends.

Spice & Wolf, I started reading the manga after watching the anime. When it took 6 books to get a couple of anime episodes, I switched to reading the novels. The novels covered more per book than the manga, and the wait between books was about the same... More story, less time, LN wins.

Clockwork Planet, I'm reading both as they appear.

Haruhi Suzimiya... After seeing the anime, I started buying the novels. Read a few chapters of the manga fan translation, decided the novels were plenty. But, I also bought all of the Nagato Yuki spin-off manga.

stardf29

As someone who likes seeing how different media tell stories in different ways, I think I'm more apt to read the manga adaptation of an LN I'm already reading than others here. The whole "why bother with the manga when you can read the LN" question can be answered with "to see how a prosaic story changes through the process of becoming a story told through static images" (and then to see how it changes further into dynamic images with audio through anime).

It's also nice for me to see images of all the (adapted) events through manga, so there's that too.

Good art is of course always good.

I also find manga to be a nice way of taking a quick look at series I haven't started yet, to see if I might want to read their LNs. I've been doing this for a number of yet-unlicensed LNs' manga adaptations (don't really have the time to read fan-TLs so it's more for if the LN ever gets licensed).

And of course with JNC's manga it comes with the subscription and only one or two chapters are posted a day so why not?

Drone205

@raitoiro said in Would you read the manga adaption of a Light Novel?:

It's better than the LN, that the case with Overlord, i find the manga way better with the characters and rythme than the anime or LN.

I just cant find myself ever into the manga or Anime when there will be so much that is lot in adaption. Some stuff like how are we ever suppose to believe that Nazarick characters are so much more beautiful them the new world characters when we can actually see them. Or how can I get into an adaption when stuff like the setting and background and stuff will look much much more plain and basic and all that compared to how it is described in the book and with the imagination. Most LN does not have this problem when it comes to the adaptations but most LN don't have great prose and don't enrich their world with such detail that makes he reader really use their imagination.

lighthawk96

I would in that I kind of like to see the characters come to life. So I generally don't have a problem reading pretty much any manga based on a LN.

I will say that I have stumbled upon more LNs do to the fact that I actually started reading the manga first and once I decided that the manga was "worth my time to read" I looked into the seeing if the LN or a WN was available. I know my way of discovery is kind of in the reverse direction but it works for me so I just roll with it.

Raitoiro

@drone205 Usualy i would agree with what you say, but with Overlord, i find the way the characters are present to be better in the manga, like not seeing what Ainz think most of the time make it a little more possible to consider him a bad guy.

In the LN whenever he do something "bad" we allway have him thinking like a good guy just after. I allready have a hard time beliving that he is a bad guy cause all he do is defend himself or attack people who allready threaten or attack him. Like really how can Ainz have the same karma rating as Demiurge when at best he is neutral/bad. May be how he think really change in later volumes but in the first few volumes it's annoying. So the manga, where we don't see what he think, make it a little bit easier to believe it.

Also i think the manga has a better rythme and the graphique medium is more suited for a story about a LV95 taking on LV20.

Plus things like little details on the world and characters or precise descriptions, are cool when you allready like the rest. Since i didn't really like the characters in the LN, thoose details just made the rythme worst.

Drone205

@raitoiro said in Would you read the manga adaption of a Light Novel?:

@drone205 Usualy i would agree with what you say, but with Overlord, i find the way the characters are present to be better in the manga, like not seeing what Ainz think most of the time make it a little more possible to consider him a bad guy.

Ainz is not a "good guy" but that certainly does not make him a "bad guy." He is a very grey character.

In the LN whenever he do something "bad" we allway have him thinking like a good guy just after. I allready have a hard time beliving that he is a bad guy cause all he do is defend himself or attack people who allready threaten or attack him.

Ok, I have a question for you. Do you think real living, breathing human people are just black and white? Ainz should be treated as a human because he was human. He is a human that has his emotions being dampened because he was turned into an undead. Ainz is a selfish and self centered character who only cares about himself and Nazarick. I imagine most people will kill another human being if it mean that they will live and survive. Does this make those people "bad" or "evil?" No it does not.

Like really how can Ainz have the same karma rating as Demiurge when at best he is neutral/bad.

Ok Ainz was a real living and breathing human being that had a role players build, while Demiurge was an NPC who was made with a certain themes and background and lore behind him. Who do you think will be more "classically evil?" Ainz who was human or Demiurge who was made to be the embodiment of "evil." Ainz lacks empathy because of a combination of his undead nature and his karma, it does not mean that he is "evil."

May be how he think really change in later volumes but in the first few volumes it's annoying. So the manga, where we don't see what he think, make it a little bit easier to believe it.

So you think it is annoying that a person who was human and still holds on to their humanity? I find it much much more entertaining to see him "lose" or disregard his humanity with time because of his current nature then him right away being "oh look I am a complete opposite of the very human character I was in the prologue!" Do you want Ainz to be a boring character? Because there are plenty of series I would reccomend to you if you do.

Also i think the manga has a better rythme and the graphique medium is more suited for a story about a LV95 taking on LV20.

This is not SAO. The fights are not the appeal of the series. Ainz is a very cautious person and that makes it through in almost every aspect of the series. Whether its him investigating the new world or in the fights he's on regardless of how weak the opponent is. Ainz I terms of the fights uses strategy first and foremost, he was a great PVP player after all.

Plus things like little details on the world and characters or precise descriptions, are cool when you allready like the rest. Since i didn't really like the characters in the LN, thoose details just made the rythme worst.

I dont really have much to say here as most LN dont really have great prose and environment building. You only really see that stuff in western books or when a GM is describing the environment the players are in.

Raitoiro

@drone205 said in Would you read the manga adaption of a Light Novel?:

@raitoiro said in Would you read the manga adaption of a Light Novel?:

@drone205 Usualy i would agree with what you say, but with Overlord, i find the way the characters are present to be better in the manga, like not seeing what Ainz think most of the time make it a little more possible to consider him a bad guy.

Ainz is not a "good guy" but that certainly does not make him a "bad guy." He is a very grey character.

Yeah on that i agree, his action make him a grey character, that part of the problem.

In the LN whenever he do something "bad" we allway have him thinking like a good guy just after. I allready have a hard time beliving that he is a bad guy cause all he do is defend himself or attack people who allready threaten or attack him.

Ok, I have a question for you. Do you think real living, breathing human people are just black and white? Ainz should be treated as a human because he was human. He is a human that has his emotions being dampened because he was turned into an undead. Ainz is a selfish and self centered character who only cares about himself and Nazarick. I imagine most people will kill another human being if it mean that they will live and survive. Does this make those people "bad" or "evil?" No it does not.

In our world that not the case, good and bad don't exist i totaly agree. In a D&D like world however there's evil and good and Overlord happend to be a D&D like world with a karma rating. And for a self center selfish characters he sure help a lot of person and care a lot for everyone in Nazarick. Deeply caring for your aquitances is allready good enough you don't need to care for everyone to not be selfish.

Like really how can Ainz have the same karma rating as Demiurge when at best he is neutral/bad.

Ok Ainz was a real living and breathing human being that had a role players build, while Demiurge was an NPC who was made with a certain themes and background and lore behind him. Who do you think will be more "classically evil?" Ainz who was human or Demiurge who was made to be the embodiment of "evil." Ainz lacks empathy because of a combination of his undead nature and his karma, it does not mean that he is "evil."

Then if he isn't evil why is his karma rating the same as Demiurge who is evil incarnated? And lack of empathy ? really ? once again he care a lot for his ally, being empathic doesn’t mean caring for the whole word.

May be how he think really change in later volumes but in the first few volumes it's annoying. So the manga, where we don't see what he think, make it a little bit easier to believe it.

So you think it is annoying that a person who was human and still holds on to their humanity? I find it much much more entertaining to see him "lose" or disregard his humanity with time because of his current nature then him right away being "oh look I am a complete opposite of the very human character I was in the prologue!" Do you want Ainz to be a boring character? Because there are plenty of series I would reccomend to you if you do.

Well that an other problem, it's not interesting since the changement is force, it's not him choising to accept his new life or on the contrary him trying to retain his humanity despite what happend. Most of the time he is just force into his new personality and go with the flow. What's annoying is how the serie try to showcase Ainz as that really evil entity, with the karma, the way other people react to him, the chuunibyou name, the way he speak of himself ... when like you said he is neutral more than anything. Even the way you defend the serie show that problem: in one hand you're telling me that he is a gray characters (which i agree with) but on the other hand you're telling me how he is a selfish self centered monster, that he became the total opposite of a human.
So which is he ?
Cause for me his action are quite normal and for a character who you said is torn apart between being human or becoming a monster, he sure act the same way as any slightly pragmatic person would.
Don't worry for the boring character i allready find one, hopefully the support characters are good.

Also i think the manga has a better rythme and the graphique medium is more suited for a story about a LV95 taking on LV20.

This is not SAO. The fights are not the appeal of the series. Ainz is a very cautious person and that makes it through in almost every aspect of the series. Whether its him investigating the new world or in the fights he's on regardless of how weak the opponent is. Ainz I terms of the fights uses strategy first and foremost, he was a great PVP player after all.

For a serie not focus on fight it sure as a lot of them and it make sure to each time show us how cool Ainz is, how powerfull he is.
"Cautious", well half the time he is, cause the other half he is too "effraid" to ask Demiurge what's happening and only learn of plans when it's allready settle. I know he is effraid of them betraying him, but doesn’t he have wish upon a star? He could just use it and outside of world item effect they would never betrayed him.

Wasn't he only a good PvP player before the player base become really low? It said that his set is borderline roleplay and far from min-max. And for a stratege he sure don't use a lot of strategy most of the time it’s either Demiurge doing or him beating low level with hight level technique. The only fight where he use some strategy was against Shaltier but if he is that cautious he should have ask for help once he confirme she was alone.

If we agree that Ainz isn't an evil character but a grey one then is it really that different from SAO or any other op MC is trap in an other world and explore the new world with his harem while beating low level character and "hidding" how powerfull he is for unclear reason since in the end he barrely hide?

Plus things like little details on the world and characters or precise descriptions, are cool when you allready like the rest. Since i didn't really like the characters in the LN, thoose details just made the rythme worst.

I dont really have much to say here as most LN dont really have great prose and environment building. You only really see that stuff in western books or when a GM is describing the environment the players are in.

At least we can agree on that, Overlord world building is better than in most LN. Well there's still LN which are as good or better tho. But that definitly one of the strong point of the serie.

Drone205

@raitoiro said in Would you read the manga adaption of a Light Novel?:

Even the way you defend the serie show that problem: in one hand you're telling me that he is a gray characters (which i agree with) but on the other hand you're telling me how he is a selfish self centered monster, that he became the total opposite of a human.
So which is he ?

Being self centered and only caring about those close to you does not make you evil or a monster (there is a great video about the MC of HxH about this). I mean everyone is like that to some extent, it's just some are less so and some are more so. He helps others when there is something to be gained. Sure in volume 1 he saves the village, but he had very little time in the new world where his characters settings and such started to take noticable, also he thought about TOUCH ME who saved Ainz when he was being harrassed by other players.

Wasn't he only a good PvP player before the player base become really low? It said that his set is borderline roleplay and far from min-max. And for a stratege he sure don't use a lot of strategy most of the time it’s either Demiurge doing or him beating low level with hight level technique. The only fight where he use some strategy was against Shaltier but if he is that cautious he should have ask for help once he confirme she was alone.

Volume 9 states that Ainzs' win-loss ratio is very high, if ignoring first encounter PvPs. When Ainz has info on the opponent he has way more wins then losses. Remember how Ainz says that aside from Pandoras Actor, the NPC he knows the most about os Shaltear, he knew he opponent and had a roleplay build compared to Shalltears min-max build. It does not matter what kind of build you have if you dont know how to utilize it efficiently. Also Ainz was part of the 5% of the playerbase that mastered the timing of spells. When Ainz uses his stop time spell, any spell he uses that takes effect in that spells duration will have no effect, but Ainz mastered the timing so he can have a spell that will take effect just as the time spell expires. I also meant strategy in terms of PvP, as strategy is the most important tool in PvP. I mean what do you do when you go to a gym in pokemon? If you know what Pomemon will be used you can act accordingly. Also think about the raid arc in Log Horizon, where Shiroe and co fight a boss dozens of times, finding out its patterns and stages before they come up with a winning strategy.

Aruseus493

Mostly only when the LN isn't translated or it has something amazing going for it. (Like how the SAO:P manga was written to be more from Asuna's perspective.)

Terrence

I'm sitting here waiting for the novels for Kino's Journey, Ideal Sponger Life, Ascendance of a Bookworm, Polar Bear Reincarnation, and Highschool Prodigies Have It Easy Even In Another World (and I'm sure a few more I'm forgetting). T_T

Why do companies license the manga before / instead of the LN?

On the LN podcast, it was a resounding "no" for most to reading the Manga of an LN we don't have yet (Bookworm), and a maybe to purchasing the manga if the LN were being held hostage until those manga sales did well.

stardf29

@terrence said in Would you read the manga adaption of a Light Novel?:

I'm sitting here waiting for the novels for Kino's Journey, Ideal Sponger Life, Ascendance of a Bookworm, Polar Bear Reincarnation, and Highschool Prodigies Have It Easy Even In Another World (and I'm sure a few more I'm forgetting). T_T

Why do companies license the manga before / instead of the LN?

On the LN podcast, it was a resounding "no" for most to reading the Manga of an LN we don't have yet (Bookworm), and a maybe to purchasing the manga if the LN were being held hostage until those manga sales did well.

I think Sam said somewhere that the publisher's asking price for the Bookworm LN was really high (don't have a specific quote, though). So perhaps in this case, the manga was a cheaper pickup and a way to gauge interest in the title to see how worthwhile an LN license might be.

Can't speak for the other titles, though.

renofury

@stardf29 Normally no, but I could read the first few chapters of the manga to check if it is worth picking up the LN