A little take on Nabari no Ou
Because I've been obsessed with this series for almost six months now, it's time I write something about it. Especially given a few recent events, and before the ending comes.
The anime is very different from the manga.
I realized that when I started reading the manga back in episode 12 or something along those lines. Yae's traumatic experience with that guy with glasses that I can't remember for the life of me felt much more original and painful in the manga than it did in the anime. A former classmate that doesn't stop to help? You can't blame him, it's not like he had any sort of obligation. He was an asshole, yes, but that doesn't make him a villain. He didn't deceit Yae or played some generic antagonist role - he was at the wrong place at the wrong time, and Yae went nuts because she had to blame someone. But she wasn't innocent - she didn't have a beautiful, honest revenge. She was an extremely bitter woman. And that made her interesting the manga, and just another character in the anime.
There's also Hattori's past. The lack of Kasa, and once again, and over-simplification of the Alya Academy arc. The lack of explanation about Yoite's trauma with his parents, and Kouichi's connection with Shijima.
A number of flaws that are so upsetting to those that are avid fans of the manga. Changes that make the anime so much more generic, unoriginal, boring. To those that are new to it, and to those that already were into the fandom.
I'll be honest - I didn't start watching Nabari no Ou because of it's amazing, intriguing story-line. I barely knew anything about it when I picked it up. I started it because I saw an image from the manga in a guy's signature at MyAnimeList.net and thought "Hey, that is one beautiful piece of artwork. I'd love to read that manga." Not long after that, I saw that it was going to turn into an anime, and started antecipating it.
Up to this day, I'm not sure what drew me into it. And no, although many of you would love to scream "BL Undertones!", that was not it. Yoite didn't appear until episode 3, and he didn't become relevant until episode 6. If anything, I was interested in him because he had powers that destroyed people from the inside out, and that was something. No, the BL undertones was not the reason why I was so interested in Nabari. Maybe it was seeing Rie Kugimiya in such a brilliant male role - I sure missed it. Maybe it was the soundtrack - the scene where Thobari kneels before Miharu and swears loyalty to him is still very vivid in my memory. Hell, even the eyecatches were fascinating to me. While everyone else was whining about lack of action in a ninja series, I was thinking "This is pretty damn entertaining." A good plot, interesting characters - although mainly Miharu, I wasn't interested in any other character until some time later -, and a focus on building those two elements up instead of focusing on battles that you couldn't even remember why they were happening in the first place.
Even after I picked the manga up and noticed the blatant differences, I couldn't bring myself to think bad of the anime. If anything, I was happy when some scene I was antecipating happened - the infamous "I don't want to die" scene from the Alya Academy Arc, for instance, and on a less BL-licious stance, Kouichi's "Death" from the same arc. The pacing didn't bother me. It wasn't too slow because that's how the manga basically went, and it wasn't too fast, because it's not like they skipped a whole arc or anything. Changes are welcome, because if I wanted a carbon copy of the manga, I'd just, you know, read the manga. Although some times were quite annoying - Miharu not having any ninja skills whatsoever was quite upsetting - it wasn't anything drastic.
The bigger problem came when the producers were "running out of original material". To build up their own ending, they'd have to take their own route - that was acceptable. I wasn't drastically annoyed when the Tategami showed up instead of Kasa - Kasa didn't appear when they were supposed to, it'd feel like a plothole for them to appear suddenly. The way the Tategami were introduced actually gave them an aura of their own; they weren't Kasa, but they still carried out special missions, and the scene with the "twins" and the guy in the bathtub was particularly disturbing. I also wasn't incredibly pissed off when Yoite and Miharu went after Yae - a character that was supposed to never happen again -, because really, it makes sense. Izuna Shingan can look into people's heart, what better technique to try and understand the essence of Shinrabanshou?
The real problem lied within the main characters, and what they did to them. Or what they didn't.
The most evident piece of Miharu's character development was in a certain chapter 47 that was never, and probably will never, be animated. But was it really absent in the anime? Anime Miharu still shows signs of having a deeper, selfish wish of his own. It's actually more evident, since in episode 20, we see through the eyes of Yae the troubles Miharu is going through. So is this development really missing? I'm not sure. Part of me is still bitter because chapter 47 will never happen in the anime, but the anime tried in its own way to show it. Then we have the most recent episodes, and Miharu showing signs of guilt, and deep sorrow. Maybe people are so lost in their rage towards original material that they missed the fact that that was an original development of its own? Miharu is a completely different character now, and I'm not quite sure it's so bad.
Then there's Yoite. I think J.C.Staff really did screw up here. They never showed his scar, they never bothered touching his past, Tsukasa was never brought up, Yukimi never tried to uncover the truth. And then they make him suicidal, and make him jump off a building. That was screwed up, I admit it. He probably won't be smiling till the end, unless we have some sort of happy ending, and that leaves a bitter taste in all of our mouths. He never quite showed signs of how much Miharu changed him, how he's grown now. And that perhaps was the studio's biggest mistake.
But, looking at everything... Is the anime such a big failure?
It's quite upsetting to read that, and this is probably (most likely) my bias speaking. It was one thing to read those words outside of the fandom, but it is much worse to read them inside the fandom.
Most recent episodes have unexpected events, whole new developments, and even action. The ending of episode 24 left me completely in shock, it was so unexpected. What's gonna happen now? What will be their take on the ending?
I haven't watched a show without subtitles ever since Kyou Kara Maou two or so years ago. I can't remember downloading manga raws out of complete impatience before, either. And I haven't been so active in a fandom since... I don't think I even was that active in the Yu-Gi-Oh fandom four years ago.
So, am I just completely biased towards Nabari and the anime is really taking a turn for the worst? Or perhaps I'm just more accepting of originality than most people?
I don't know, I'm not sure of anything anymore.
All I know is that chapter 51 is coming out on Thursday and I'm antecipating episode 25 like hell.
I love the series, and I think I may be annoying sometimes because of my bias and I won't be so accepting of different opinions that say the anime's been going to hell. I dunno, I may appear rude or something. But I really am getting quite upset over the negativity towards the anime, although there's not much I can do there.
I guess it's just nod, smile, agree to disagree, and hope everyone enjoys the ride.
Because I sure am.
The anime is very different from the manga.
I realized that when I started reading the manga back in episode 12 or something along those lines. Yae's traumatic experience with that guy with glasses that I can't remember for the life of me felt much more original and painful in the manga than it did in the anime. A former classmate that doesn't stop to help? You can't blame him, it's not like he had any sort of obligation. He was an asshole, yes, but that doesn't make him a villain. He didn't deceit Yae or played some generic antagonist role - he was at the wrong place at the wrong time, and Yae went nuts because she had to blame someone. But she wasn't innocent - she didn't have a beautiful, honest revenge. She was an extremely bitter woman. And that made her interesting the manga, and just another character in the anime.
There's also Hattori's past. The lack of Kasa, and once again, and over-simplification of the Alya Academy arc. The lack of explanation about Yoite's trauma with his parents, and Kouichi's connection with Shijima.
A number of flaws that are so upsetting to those that are avid fans of the manga. Changes that make the anime so much more generic, unoriginal, boring. To those that are new to it, and to those that already were into the fandom.
I'll be honest - I didn't start watching Nabari no Ou because of it's amazing, intriguing story-line. I barely knew anything about it when I picked it up. I started it because I saw an image from the manga in a guy's signature at MyAnimeList.net and thought "Hey, that is one beautiful piece of artwork. I'd love to read that manga." Not long after that, I saw that it was going to turn into an anime, and started antecipating it.
Up to this day, I'm not sure what drew me into it. And no, although many of you would love to scream "BL Undertones!", that was not it. Yoite didn't appear until episode 3, and he didn't become relevant until episode 6. If anything, I was interested in him because he had powers that destroyed people from the inside out, and that was something. No, the BL undertones was not the reason why I was so interested in Nabari. Maybe it was seeing Rie Kugimiya in such a brilliant male role - I sure missed it. Maybe it was the soundtrack - the scene where Thobari kneels before Miharu and swears loyalty to him is still very vivid in my memory. Hell, even the eyecatches were fascinating to me. While everyone else was whining about lack of action in a ninja series, I was thinking "This is pretty damn entertaining." A good plot, interesting characters - although mainly Miharu, I wasn't interested in any other character until some time later -, and a focus on building those two elements up instead of focusing on battles that you couldn't even remember why they were happening in the first place.
Even after I picked the manga up and noticed the blatant differences, I couldn't bring myself to think bad of the anime. If anything, I was happy when some scene I was antecipating happened - the infamous "I don't want to die" scene from the Alya Academy Arc, for instance, and on a less BL-licious stance, Kouichi's "Death" from the same arc. The pacing didn't bother me. It wasn't too slow because that's how the manga basically went, and it wasn't too fast, because it's not like they skipped a whole arc or anything. Changes are welcome, because if I wanted a carbon copy of the manga, I'd just, you know, read the manga. Although some times were quite annoying - Miharu not having any ninja skills whatsoever was quite upsetting - it wasn't anything drastic.
The bigger problem came when the producers were "running out of original material". To build up their own ending, they'd have to take their own route - that was acceptable. I wasn't drastically annoyed when the Tategami showed up instead of Kasa - Kasa didn't appear when they were supposed to, it'd feel like a plothole for them to appear suddenly. The way the Tategami were introduced actually gave them an aura of their own; they weren't Kasa, but they still carried out special missions, and the scene with the "twins" and the guy in the bathtub was particularly disturbing. I also wasn't incredibly pissed off when Yoite and Miharu went after Yae - a character that was supposed to never happen again -, because really, it makes sense. Izuna Shingan can look into people's heart, what better technique to try and understand the essence of Shinrabanshou?
The real problem lied within the main characters, and what they did to them. Or what they didn't.
The most evident piece of Miharu's character development was in a certain chapter 47 that was never, and probably will never, be animated. But was it really absent in the anime? Anime Miharu still shows signs of having a deeper, selfish wish of his own. It's actually more evident, since in episode 20, we see through the eyes of Yae the troubles Miharu is going through. So is this development really missing? I'm not sure. Part of me is still bitter because chapter 47 will never happen in the anime, but the anime tried in its own way to show it. Then we have the most recent episodes, and Miharu showing signs of guilt, and deep sorrow. Maybe people are so lost in their rage towards original material that they missed the fact that that was an original development of its own? Miharu is a completely different character now, and I'm not quite sure it's so bad.
Then there's Yoite. I think J.C.Staff really did screw up here. They never showed his scar, they never bothered touching his past, Tsukasa was never brought up, Yukimi never tried to uncover the truth. And then they make him suicidal, and make him jump off a building. That was screwed up, I admit it. He probably won't be smiling till the end, unless we have some sort of happy ending, and that leaves a bitter taste in all of our mouths. He never quite showed signs of how much Miharu changed him, how he's grown now. And that perhaps was the studio's biggest mistake.
But, looking at everything... Is the anime such a big failure?
It's quite upsetting to read that, and this is probably (most likely) my bias speaking. It was one thing to read those words outside of the fandom, but it is much worse to read them inside the fandom.
Most recent episodes have unexpected events, whole new developments, and even action. The ending of episode 24 left me completely in shock, it was so unexpected. What's gonna happen now? What will be their take on the ending?
I haven't watched a show without subtitles ever since Kyou Kara Maou two or so years ago. I can't remember downloading manga raws out of complete impatience before, either. And I haven't been so active in a fandom since... I don't think I even was that active in the Yu-Gi-Oh fandom four years ago.
So, am I just completely biased towards Nabari and the anime is really taking a turn for the worst? Or perhaps I'm just more accepting of originality than most people?
I don't know, I'm not sure of anything anymore.
All I know is that chapter 51 is coming out on Thursday and I'm antecipating episode 25 like hell.
I love the series, and I think I may be annoying sometimes because of my bias and I won't be so accepting of different opinions that say the anime's been going to hell. I dunno, I may appear rude or something. But I really am getting quite upset over the negativity towards the anime, although there's not much I can do there.
I guess it's just nod, smile, agree to disagree, and hope everyone enjoys the ride.
Because I sure am.