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Even if a manga series and anime tell the same story, the presentation may differ a great deal. Aside from tweaks like censoring graphic content or adding a few extra lines of dialogue, an anime series might look either much better or much worse than the source manga, which may inspire fans to prefer one version or the other. In certain cases, the anime version may look worse due to dated and clunky production values from the time, or the anime might be incapable of capturing the manga's unique art style no matter the budget.

Such is the case for plenty of high-profile anime series, which told the same story as the source manga but could never recapture the same look. At best, these anime series are just an introduction to the original manga, which will treat fans with the definitive version of the story with the perfect art to...

While watching Japanese anime is great fun, adding color and movement to the original manga's material, something may be lost along the way. A surprising number of anime series will fail to adapt all the material, either by skipping some scenes or arcs to reach the ending sooner, or by stopping before the ending even happens. In either case, anime-only fans aren't getting the whole story, which may lead to an unsatisfying watch.

A combination of complete and ongoing anime series fit this category, and in the former case, reading the source manga is the only way to finish the whole story. In the latter case, an anime might get future season to continue or finish the story, but fans might not want to wait that long. Whether or not future seasons of the anime are confirmed, it may still be a good idea to complete the story in manga...

There are few traditions in media that are as well-known and frequent as Christmas specials. Not only are they easy ways to draw in viewers when an episode of something airs around Christmas, but with how universal Christmas’ themes of love, family, and peace are, a good Christmas special can resonate with countless people worldwide, and many of them have long since become some of the most iconic stories in entertainment.

Christmas episodes or specials are a common occurrence in media, and anime is no exception. While Japan doesn’t necessarily treat Christmas the same way as the United States or other countries in the Western world, the themes of love, family, and peace are still readily apparent, and because of that, there are plenty of great anime specials or movies that use the idea of Christmas to tell emotional and all-around great stories from start to finish. A few...

In a groundbreaking moment for the world of manga, Ken Akamatsu, the acclaimed author of the fan-favorite series Love Hina, has been appointed to a leadership role in Japan's Parliament, the governing body responsible for overseeing the nation. Drawing from his extensive background in the arts, entertainment, and creative industries, Akamatsu will serve as the Vice-Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology. This position aligns with his expertise and passion for promoting cultural and artistic freedom while addressing key issues in Japan's educational and cultural sectors.

As Vice-Minister and an accomplished mangaka, Akamatsu will be ideally positioned to advise the government on manga and anime-related matters. For over a decade, Japan has actively promoted these industries as a cornerstone of cultural diplomacy. However, initiatives like "Cool Japan" have fallen short of capitalizing on the global manga and anime phenomenon. Akamatsu brings a fresh perspective, energy, and expertise to revitalize these efforts,...

The introduction of AI-generated content has created serious obstacles for professional manga artists. According to JoJo's Bizarre Adventure creator Hirohiko Araki, AI-generated artwork is now so "sophisticated" that, in some cases, it is virtually impossible to distinguish it from works created by human artists.

Araki discusses AI and its potential effects on the manga industry in-depth in his new book, New Manga Techniques. Recently, a chilling excerpt from the book began circulating on X (formerly Twitter). In one chapter, Araki recounts a situation where he genuinely mistook a piece of AI artwork as his own. "I came across a drawing and thought, 'this is something I drew, right?' I was shocked to find out that it was actually created by AI." This disturbing anecdote prefaces Araki's main argument, which asserts that, if left unchecked, AI will pose a major existential threat to the next generation of manga artists.

Related...

A draft of the United Nations Cybercrime Convention, a landmark effort to frame international legislation to combat cybercrime, was unanimously approved by Un members at the end of a two-week session in New York on Aug 9, 2024.

The treaty, now headed to the United Nations General Assembly (Unga) for a vote, is quite significant regarding its implications for freedom of expression, especially in the context of anime and manga.

The 41-page draft proposes a legislative framework designed to enhance international cooperation among law enforcement agencies and provide technical assistance to countries with inadequate infrastructure to combat cybercrime.

It addresses various issues, and among them is online child sexual abuse material (Csam).

A critical aspect of the treaty is its requirement for member States to criminalize activities involving Csam, defined broadly to include any material that depicts or describes sexual activity involving minors.

The Treaty’s provisions and what it means for...

Several major companies, including manga publisher Shogakukan (Shueisha's original founder), will invest in a startup aiming to bring roughly 50,000 manga translated by AI to overseas markets.

Via a new Nikkei report, a group comprising Shogakukan, the Japanese government's Japan Industrial Innovation Investment Corporation and eight other companies will invest 2.92 billion yen (~US$19 million) in an AI startup that aims to translate over 50,000 manga titles using AI over the next five years. The manga startup, Orange, was founded in 2021 and is made up of manga editors, AI generators, game developers and more.

Related 711,700 Titles From Japan's Biggest Light Novel Publishing Site Get Scraped by AI Developer 711,700 titles from Japan's biggest novel publishing site, Shosetsuka ni Narou, have been scraped by an AI developer, sparking controversy online. Manga Startup 'Orange' Claims to Be Able to Translate One Manga Volume in Only a Few Days

Orange claims its AI can...

711,700 titles from Japan's largest novel publishing website, Shosetsuka ni Narou, have been scraped by an AI developer, sparking much controversy online among users and fans.

Via X (formerly Twitter), the developers of the RyokoAI project have scraped 711,700 works from Japan's biggest novel self-publishing site, Shosetsuka ni Narou (also known as Syosetu or Narou), making the dataset publicly available for text generation models, text classification and text generation. The "Syosetu711k" dataset includes most novels published on the site, adding that Syosetu's popularity and tendency for anime to be adapted from works on the site provide "a large corpus of high-quality, creative content in the Japanese language." Readers can check out Cbr's 10 Anime Adapted From Shousetsuka Ni Narou! (& When They Aired) for high-profile examples.

Related Crunchyroll CEO Says A.I. Generated Subtitles Are "Definitely an Area We're Focused On" Crunchyroll CEO Rahul Purini says AI-generated subtitles are an area of focused testing for the streaming service,...

While the anime industry remains divided on how best to use A.I., or if it should even be used, those already developing ethical A.I. solutions warn that it will "fall into a crisis overnight" if Big Tech seizes the initiative for A.I. development.

The online outlet Magmix released a recent interview aiming to bridge the views of the anime association Nafca and the ethical A.I. developer committee Anime Chain. Both Nafca and Anime Chain reps were open to A.I., but Anime Chain member Shuhei Mise explained how failure to act quickly could lead to irreparable consequences. "Basically, Big Tech first makes large investments to create standards, then offers them at low usage fees to capture a large market share, and then tightens the controls," Mise explained. "If things continue like this, there will be no other options even with A.I. In order to prevent this from happening,...

Three years after the end of the Attack on Titan manga -- and 15 years since it began -- series creator Hajime Isayama is ready to work on a new project. This time, he's working closely with Yuki Kaji, the voice actor of Eren Yeager.

The @/AttackOnFans social media account on X (formerly Twitter) recently shared a preview page of Soyogi Fractal, a new spinoff manga inspired by Kaji's singing avatar, Soyogi Soyogi. The character of Soyogi uses voice synthesis software that's similar to Vocaloid-based performers to replicate and manipulate Kaji's voice. The Soyogi Fractal project was created to celebrate Kaji's 20th anniversary as a voice actor.

Related Attack on Titan Anime Studio President: High Quality Is Impossible at Current Pace The president of Wit Studio, responsible for the first three seasons of Attack on Titan, forecasts a worrying future for the anime industry. A new one-shot spin-off manga â...

According to Love Hina creator and Japanese politician Ken Akamatsu, the Japanese Government is debating whether A.I. image generators automatically violate manga artist copyright protections in Japan.

A.I. artwork is one of the biggest issues facing modern manga artists, who often risk having their work stolen and repurposed by A.I. programs. Since the introduction of A.I., many world governments have started to reassess how they should deal with programs that rely on the existence of copyrighted material to produce images. On X (formerly Twitter), Ken Akamatsu, who serves in Japan's House of Councillors, recently addressed questions regarding an A.I. program called LoRA. Allegedly, this program was used to generate images that closely mirrored works produced by Kishin Higuchi, a popular manga artist in Japan.

Related Crunchyroll CEO Says A.I. Generated Subtitles Are "Definitely an Area We're Focused On" Crunchyroll CEO Rahul Purini says AI-generated...

A health survey that was conducted for the first time by an organization of anime producers shed some light on the mental state of the anime creators who are currently working in the industry.

The results of the survey, which was carried out by the Japanese Animation Creators Association, revealed that 17% of people involved in anime production have experienced or may have experienced depression and other such mental illnesses.

Out of the 429 people who were surveyed, 73 people reported having suffered or experienced possible mental illness like depression.

Additionally, when asked about their degree of fatigue, 291 (68%) individuals reported having felt mentally fatigued and 285 (66%) individuals felt physically fatigued.

According to the organization, despite the popularity of Japanese anime both domestically and internationally, animators experienced health issues due to extremely demanding work schedules and other factors.

And due to this, they had decided to add some health related questions to the survey which...

The anime industry often does a marvelous job bringing light novels and manga series to life, adding color, music, voice acting, and smooth animation for any fan to enjoy. Some anime series improve upon the original manga's pacing or visual style, but other times, the anime will actually subtract from the experience.

Related: 10 Manga That Hit Different After Watching the Anime

Some anime do an iffy job portraying the original manga's characters, so disappointed anime fans can check out the manga to see what those characters are really supposed to be like. Often, the anime tells an incomplete story and gives the characters half-finished story arcs. Or the anime's visual style robs the viewer of important details about those characters only found in the manga.

Guts (Berserk)

Guts is an impressive seinen anime hero from various Berserk anime series and movies, but fans who want to explore his character arc...

The harem subgenre is one of (if not) the most hated and notorious niches in all anime. This stems from how transparently juvenile, male-centric, and wish-fulfilling such series tend to be. The harem protagonist is not just the perfect summary of their anime's faults, but an embodiment of everything inherently wrong with harem fiction.

Related: Best Harem Anime (According to MyAnimeList)

One of the genre's most enduring criticisms is how its protagonists don't resemble real people. Even with anime's suspension of disbelief, harem protagonists act and think so bizarrely that they anger and confuse viewers. As insufferable as they are in their realities, these protagonists would be hated more in the real world.

Sensitive topics will be discussed. Please proceed with caution.

Keitaro Urashima Love Hina

Love Hina's Keitaro Urashima is arguably the original modern harem protagonist. Many such protagonist's traits like their otaku tendencies, perpetual bad luck, timidity,...

Last week, North American anime distributor Viz Media began airing the first episode of the long awaited conclusion to Rumiko Takahashi’s hit series, Inuyasha. Appropriately titled “Inuyasha: The Final Act”, the series will run for 26 episodes, and finally bring the animated version of Takahashi’s beloved feudal fairy tale to a close. The first episode, “Naraku’s Heart”, aired Saturday in Japan and was streamed on Hulu with English subtitles, making this a near simultaneous release. Upcoming episodes will be released the same way, with new installments airing each Saturday.

Loyal fans won’t be disappointed. Right from the start, this looks and feels like vintage Inuyasha, with beautiful opening animation set to the sounds of Do As Infinity’s “Kimi ga Inai Mirai.” Dai are no strangers to Inuyasha soundtracks, having also done the second and fifth ending themes for the show, “Fukai Mori” and “Shinjitsu no Uta” respectively.