One Piece Forum

There are two incarnations of the common denominator here on the site:  Manga and Anime.   

Usually an anime will be brought to life (or as lively as 2D animation can get) based off the manga books previously made with the same plot. Manga is written, drawn, then published in magazines and volumes for the reader's appreciation. Since some are less literate-aficionados than others, most people prefer to sit and watch the same printed stories translated into animation.   

If you are like me, then you might favor manga. Not only because it has "pretty pictures" and it is fun to read, but because it's portable. I can take the books with me on any trip. You might contradict me by saying that with today's technology you are also able to take a portable version of the anime anywhere.  Yes. This is true, but let's face it, anime is a lot more fun to watch in the comfort of your HD television with some snacks next to you.  

Then again, that is my opinion. There are some who are more versatile by accepting to read/watch one or the other, and some who prefer to do both. Read the manga and watch the anime. 
Now it  is the moment for this discussion to be passed on to you. Which do you prefer anime or manga? (and tell us why)

-- Geo (sora_thekey) 24/7 geek! -- Follow me on Twitter: @sora_thekey

I am reading the first volume of Bamboo Blade right now and I just realized that most of the kendo battles don't translate well on page and would probably be better in animated form.
 
Mystery, romantic and informative might be better suited for the pages while epic battle scenes need to be animated.

This depends on the series. Some anime shows (compared to the manga that they are based on) are awful, and this annoys me when I enjoy the manga so much that I give the anime a shot, with the hopes that it would be more epic in motion and in color. 
 
For example, the Kampfer manga (which is still ongoing) was a good read, but when it was made into the anime show that I watched and later reviewed, most of the story and things that made the manga good had been replaced with more fan-service and less focus on characters. Natsuru, the main male character is much better character-wise in regards to the plot and his overall development in the manga than the anime, where he comes across as a one-dimensional airhead who bumbles though situations and only seeks the love of a girl that he will never have.  
 
Hopefully, in the upcoming 2nd season of Kampfer, the studio will put more effort into the characters and the story, not just getting carried away with fan-service and ecchi moments.

In the end, I still perfer anime to manga, but only by a slim margin. Most anime series get it right in one way or another in regards to the change from manga to anime, but sometimes it just never works out.

I mostly go for the anime version since by giving a voice for a characters helps with their development and story-telling. 

It's really a case-by-case thing. Some series are censored when adapted to anime, like X/1999, and so some of the impact of, for example... 
is lost in the change.

I suppose all things the same I'd prefer to watch an anime, but with anime adaptations of manga, it seems rare that the anime lives up to the source material (the same is true for manga adaptations of anime). There's not a chance in hell I'd pick the Bleach anime over the manga. Series like High School of the Dead, which are actually fantastic adaptations, seem to be rare.

I like both formats, each one haves it advantages... 
 
In One Piece, for example, the funny moments looks funnier to me in Manga, and the sad moments, like : 
 
are gold on Anime, in the manga I was heavily affected by te first, and almost untouched in the second, but once I heard Luffy voice it kick me in the nuts like a sledgehammer of drama

"Usually an anime will be brought to life (or as lively as 2D animation can get) based off the manga books previously made with the same plot."
 
Yes, "usually," but sometimes the manga happens after the anime is complete or in some cases, the anime is complete before a manga that started before the anime. Sometimes you might even have situations of conclusive anime or conclusive manga for where its counterpart fell short.
 
I have tried to follow manga as much as anime, but for a long time what I wanted had a very limited availability. It has been interesting to compare the two, specifically title for title, but it isn't always a retelling, for various reasons determined by the creators of said works.  Sometimes one doesn't have much to do with the other at all; I have found myself disappointed when one wasn't more like the other- more so than being bored that one would be a retelling or alternate telling of the other.
 
I think portability is a bad argument for either format (manga or anime), because one may wish to enjoy either on the road or in the comfort of his/her home. I think it boils down to a more basic argument based less on technology and more on the viewer's preferred method of experience: Do you wish to read pages of still-framed art and imagine the action and voices or do you wish to view a fluid motion presentation, complete with voices? Under such comparative terms, I prefer anime over manga. Portability has nothing to do with it because I prefer to enjoy both at home even though I do have portable manga (including digital media manga) and anime. You may say that makes me less literate, but I do enjoy reading quite a bit- not just manga, but digital and hard-copy media as well.

For me it sepans on the manga for instnce I prefer watching Rosaio Vampire manga than the anime cause the censors a be little even in Season 2.

@zero3 said:

" I like both, but the manga takes the first place, just because it doesn't have filler episodes (I'm talking about you Naruto). That being the case, I also watch the anime just to see how they re-recreate the fights and such.   "

+1
 
Naruto fillers are awful and the manga is miles ahead but at the same time I could never see myself reading Ghost in the Shell over watching it (if in the case that the different versions as depicted became one).