Which is Better? Anime, Manga or Light Novels.

Are you a Anime only fan? a Manga Only fan? a Light Novel Enthusiast? who ever you may be. You already have a different opinion on this topic. What is better? Anime, Manga or Light Novels. I want to share my views on this topic as well. Everyone prefers one over the other, there are only few who like all three anime, manga and light novel. But for some people who have yet to explore any one of the option or are looking to enter the world of anime, manga or light novel. But are unsure which one for the following is a better option. The answer may or may not surprise you.

It is a very difficult question to answer which of the following is a better option. Is Anime better than Manga? Is Manga better than Anime? Are Light Novels better than Manga and Anime? Its very difficult to answer this question as the three are different form of content. Anime is a animated piece of content. Manga is a visual based form of content and Light Novels are textual based content. Though all these three are different forms of content they do share a link between them. And the only people who knows how Anime is made can answer this question.

How is anime made?

Leaving aside the obvious part of making anime which is drawing art even before being able to draw something. The artist should have a reference and a story to begin drawing. The process begins from light novels. Just as a light novels gets illustrations done and if the novel gets popular enough its either picked up for a manga adaptation or directly for an Anime adaptation. Manga and Anime both are adapted from Light novels. So technically light novel is the father of anime and manga.

All Manga are not light novel adaptations. There exist many manga which are directly drawn by the Mangaka (Manga Artist). These manga are then picked up for an Anime adaptation. There doesn't exists a single anime that I know of doesn't have a Manga. This is because of many reasons. Adapting a Manga into an anime is efficient and costs less. A manga also already has viewers and fans who would surely watch the anime so there is no possibility of having no viewership. Such anime projects are harder to fail. But considering the case for an anime which is not an adaptation. It would be much harder to succeed and would also take a lot longer to produce, would cost more, have a no active fans, etc the possibility of such anime failing increases so its not common to see such anime.

Every anime starts from a manga or light novel. So anime will not exist if manga and light novel doesn't exist. But this doesn't decrease the value of anime its actually the opposite. Getting an anime adaptation is the best thing that could happen to an Light novel or manga. The artists and Mangaka aims for this to happen as Anime is still much more valuable than the other two. This is because Anime earns them the most money also its a form of content which has a global visibility.

Not all Light novels get adapted into Anime. For anime its simple, Light novels tend not to get directly adapted into an anime because its easier to adapt manga into anime. Manga can directly be used as key frames this makes it very easier to make the animation. As most of the art already has been drawn and doesn't need to be illustrated this save a ton of time in making a Anime scene.

How do light novels get selected for a manga adaptation?

Below are some elements which are responsible for an Light novel getting Manga adaptation.

1. Publishing.

Light novels needs publishers to first get published. It can either get published by a big company. The author has to send his manuscript to the company and if the company accepts the manuscript the novel will then get published. The other way is to publish the novel on a free publishing platform. The publishing may be free but it lowers the chances of getting adapted into other forms.

The Light Novel which get published by a big company makes sure the novel gets a fair amount of marketing and handles the process of adapting the work if the novel gets popular enough. Novel from a free publishing service may not get adapted, only if it gets very popular then it has a chance of getting adapted even then the chances are low.

2. Popularity of Author.

The process of adapting a light novel into a manga is long and costly. It my takes years for an light novel to get picked up for adaptation for new authors. This process if slower for authors who already have their works adapted. Its easier for popular authors to get their works adapted as the company has more trust in the author and because of the popularity of the author it makes it easier for the novel to get readers and viewers.

If you are a author who is just starting out in the industry. Then its very difficult to get your work published and even more difficult to get a manga adaptation. You can adapt your manga yourself if you are an artist but still to get it printed and distributed it would be a huge challenge.

3. Popularity of the work.

If the light novel is popular then it will quickly get picked up for manga adaptation. 99% of the light novel authors desire their work to get recognition from the public. Public opinion and popularity is a very large factor which plays into the selection of a light novel getting an adaptation. More popular light novels tend to get adapted more quickly as they are prioritized. Many light novels which are published on free platform gets adapted just because of their platform. Rarely its seen that a picks up a work that's not popular. If the work is not popular then its not profitable to adapt a work.

We have already discuss about the ins and outs of Light novels getting a Manga adaptation. But how is a manga selected for anime adaptation.

How do Manga get selected for a Anime Adaptation?

The process for an manga getting adapted into an anime is very similar to light novel getting manga adaptation the main difference in the two is the scale, time and the resources which are required to get the anime adaptation. Getting an manga adaptation is a way lot easier than getting an anime adaptation. The amount of money it takes to make an anime is humongous. It might even take millions of dollars to make a single 20 minute episode for an anime. It also factors in the art style and the style of animation. There also exists marketing, voice acting, publishing, etc. These components costs a lot and takes a long time.

Because of these reasons only the most popular series get anime adaptation. There also exist low budget adaptations which are far in between. The company which owns the rights to the work decides which manga will get adapted into anime. Their decision is mostly derived from popularity and demand. If they conclude that a work is good enough to get adapted then the company gives the project to a animation studio.

Adaptation are in the sequence Light Novel - Manga - Anime.

Adaptations can also be Manga - Anime and Light Novel - Anime. But these are very rare.

Are Light Novels better than Manga and Anime?

Good points/ pros about Light Novels:

Lights novels are better in some aspects when compared to Anime and Manga. The obvious one would be the amount of content. Light Novel contain more scenes more character description more character interactions and cover the story in depth. The narration of the story is better in the Light novel than in Manga or anime. If you are a light novel reader you would know more about the character than the manga reader or the anime fan. There exists many restrictions in manga and anime which makes it impossible to show ever aspect which the author mentioned in the novel. Many scenes and dialogue are discarded in the adaptations.

Scenes in anime which takes only few seconds (Like in fight scenes) can be more defined in the novel because of which you would get more details about the fight. while in anime it would just come and go in seconds. The same for the manga.

There exists many Light Novel with stories which you have never read. There exists many light novels which are so good and these novels may or may not get adapted into anime or manga. You are missing out on many great stories if you are an anime and manga only fan. The light novels are way ahead in the story of the manga or anime which you may be currently reading. Anime is very hard to produce and it may not be able to complete the story. But the light novel already has the story completed. Instead of waiting for years in which the anime get another season of adaptation. You can just read the novel and complete the story.

Bad Points/ cons about Light Novel:

There exist many unnecessary scenes in light novel which are just fillers. The Anime adaptation can just discard these useless scenes.

The anime/ manga scene may not be as descriptive as the Light novel but it can show the emotion in the scene much better than the novel. Its always feels better to look at the characters from the novel to come to life on the screen. Light novels are not for everyone. Many people would rather wait for the manga or the anime as they might not enjoy reading.

Is Manga Better than Light novels and Anime?

Manga is in between Light novel and Anime. With both visual aspects and textual aspects. Its easier to shift from anime to manga as well as Light novel to manga. While shifting between the two extremes is harder.

Manga has less content than light novel but more than Anime. There are many manga which are not adapted into anime and are very better than the existing anime. Many of these Manga can't be adapted into anime. There are many good manga which gets anime adaptation but it doesn't hold a candle to its Manga version. An example for this would be Berserk, Berserk has gotten an anime adaptation 2 times and every time the adaptation has done this story wrong. Even though being one of the greatest Manga series it doesn't have a good anime.

Is Anime Better than Manga and Light Novels?

Is anime better? yeah kind of. In terms of expression anime would obviously be better. Anime is easily accessible and easy to watch. Unlike manga and light novel Anime is a video form of content which has more popularity. The people who like to read are very less when compare to people who watch video content. Also its harder to get interested in a reading form of content than a video content.

When it comes to popularity and accessibility Anime takes the lead. But when we consider something more than these. Anime starts to lack many things one of which is completion. Majority of the anime are not completed and they may not even be completed. This is a very big negative point of anime and the major factor why anime fans start reading manga. Manga also tends to not get completed and also not get faster updates. But light novel already has the story completed which is the reason why manga readers start reading light Novels.

The art in manga is consistent unlike in anime where some of the episodes will be animated better because it had a bigger budget than the other episodes. This can be clearly seen when the episode covers a key scene like a major fight scene and in episodes which are building up to the fight scene. This inconsistency makes it harder to watch the anime. This problem is not present in manga and light novels as well as in anime which have consistent budget for every episode or a high budget for every episode.

Watching anime take a lot longer than reading manga and light novel. If you are a manga reader you would have noticed this that the same scenes in manga and anime takes different amount of time. You can finish reading a manga in 1 to 2 hours which has an anime adaptation which would take you 6-7 hours to complete watching and even in that amount of time you wouldn't be able to cover the entire plot which you read in the manga.

Anime are hard to make and takes a lot of time. Because of this reason many manga doesn't ever get an anime adaptation. This results into a lot of great potential stories to not get exposure. If you are an anime only fan you are missing out of many great stories.

The release of many anime takes years to come while the manga gets updates weekly (some manga gets updates monthly). Would you wait for 3-4 years for a second season or just read the manga which is consistently going to get updated.

Conclusion:

Be it Anime, Manga or Light Novel all three are good in their own different way as well as bad in other ways. In the end its just your choice which you like. Personally I read more Manga and Light Novels and only watch anime when I think I need to see a manga I read in an animated format. Sometimes manga is better than the anime and sometimes the anime is better. Berserk is better in manga while demon slayer is better in anime. I think that you should be open to all these three forms and enjoy the content in all the three. I read classroom of the elite light novel as it had more to offer in terms of description to the scenes. Classroom of the elite is best to be read (According to me) as it doesn't have intense fight scenes which I wouldn't be able to appreciate only by reading.

Some stories can be appreciated better if read and some better if seen animated. You just need to know which series to watch or read. For me its simple to choose, I just read a manga and if I think I should watch it in animation. Some manga get very slow updates only then I read the Light Novel of that manga.

I hope this article has helped you. For manga recommendations you can click any of the links below.