Many Anime fans may not be aware of this, but a vast majority of anime aren’t original creations – they’re actually adapted from their source material, known as manga. Since it’s impossible for a manga with hundreds of chapters to be adapted into a 12 or 24-episode anime, studio directors often take liberties with the content they have on hand. Sometimes, they present an anime that is uncannily similar to its manga, while other times, they come up with original storylines that have nothing to do with its source material.
Here are 5 best anime that stayed close to manga or based upon the Comic
10) Stayed Close To Manga: The Disastrous Life Of Saiki K
Storyline: To the average person, psychic abilities might seem a blessing; for Kusuo Saiki, however, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Gifted with a wide assortment of supernatural abilities ranging from telepathy to x-ray vision, he finds this so-called blessing to be nothing but a curse. As all the inconveniences his powers cause constantly pile up, all Kusuo aims for is an ordinary, hassle-free life—a life where ignorance is bliss.
Unfortunately, the life of a psychic is far from quiet. Though Kusuo tries to stay out of the spotlight by keeping his powers a secret from his classmates, he ends up inadvertently attracting the attention of many odd characters, such as the empty-headed Riki Nendou and the delusional Shun Kaidou. Forced to deal with the craziness of the people around him, Kusuo comes to learn that the ordinary life he has been striving for is a lot more difficult to achieve than expected.
Genre: Comedy, Animation, Fantasy
The Disastrous Life Of Saiki K can be streamed on : Netflix
9) Was Totally Different: One Punch Man
Storyline: In a world of superhuman beings, Saitama is a unique hero, he can defeat enemies with a single punch. But being just one hero in a world filled with them, his life is empty and hollow: he gets no respect from anyone, he displays a laidback attitude to everything and for the most part, he finds his overall hero life pointless and worst of all, he lost his hair due to intense training. These are the adventures of an ordinary yet extraordinary hero.
One Punch Man was totally different from the original manga story, for example in episode 4 of the OPM anime introduces Mumen Rider, the Class C bicyclist hero, with a flashback to a classic cat-in-a-tree scenario — a scenario which doesn’t show up in the manga.
Genre: Fantasy, Comedy, Action, Animation, Sci-Fic
One Punch Man can be streamed on Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Hulu
8) Stayed Close To Manga: Demon Slayer
Storyline: In Taisho-era Japan, Tanjiro Kamado is a kind hearted boy who makes living selling charcoal. However, his peaceful life is shattered when a demon slaughters his entire family. His younger sister is the only survivor but she has also been transformed into a demon herself. Tanjiro sets out a dangerous journey to find a way to return to normal and slay the demon who slaughtered his family.
Genre: Fantasy, Animation, Action
Demon Slayer can be streamed on Netflix, Hulu, Crunchyroll and Funimation.
7) Was Totally Different: Tokyo Ghoul √A
Storyline: The suspense horror/dark fantasy story is set in Tokyo, which is haunted by mysterious “ghouls” who are devouring humans. People are gripped by the fear of these ghouls whose identities are masked in mystery. An ordinary college student named Kaneki encounters Rize, a girl who is an avid reader like him, at the café he frequents. Little does he realize that his fate will change overnight.
While the first season of Tokyo Ghoul was fairly faithful to its manga, fans were shocked at how drastically its sequel had been changed. Massive changes were made that not only contradicted character motivations and decisions, but also altered massive plot points. For example in anime, Kaneki joins the Aogiri Tree while in the manga he created his own group to fight Aoigiri.
Genre: Horror, Fantasy, Animation, Thriller
Tokyo Ghoul can be streamed on Netflix, 9 Anime
6) Stayed Close To Manga: Jujutsu Kaisen
Storyline: Yuji Itadori, a kind-hearted teenager, joins his school’s Occult Club for fun, but discovers that its members are actual sorcerers who can manipulate the energy between beings for their own use. He hears about a cursed talisman – the finger of Sukuna, a demon – and its being targeted by other cursed beings. Yuji eats the finger to protect his friends, and ends up becoming Sukuna’s host. However, Yuji discovers that he has inherited magic and is able to control this power without interference from Sukuna. He joins the Tokyo Metropolitan Magic Technical College to consumes all of Sukuna’s fingers, which will enable a full exorcism to take place that will free him.
Genre: Adventure fiction, Dark fantasy
Jujutsu Kaisen can be streamed on Netflix and Crunchyroll
5) Was Totally Different: Blue Exorcist
This story revolves around a the lives of the twin boys of Satan, both of whom swear to kill him because of all the innocent lives he’d taken. Since the manga hadn’t published enough chapters, the studio was forced to come up with an original story for the second half of the first season.
Genre: Adventure Fiction, Dark Fantasy
Blue Exorcist can be streamed on Crunchyroll.
4) Stayed Close To Manga: Monster
Storyline: Dr. Kenzou Tenma, an elite neurosurgeon recently engaged to his hospital director’s daughter, is well on his way to ascending the hospital hierarchy. That is until one night, a seemingly small event changes Dr. Tenma’s life forever. While preparing to perform surgery on someone, he gets a call from the hospital director telling him to switch patients and instead perform life-saving brain surgery on a famous performer. His fellow doctors, fiancée, and the hospital director applaud his accomplishment; but because of the switch, a poor immigrant worker is dead, causing Dr. Tenma to have a crisis of conscience.
So when a similar situation arises, Dr. Tenma stands his ground and chooses to perform surgery on the young boy Johan Liebert instead of the town’s mayor. Unfortunately, this choice leads to serious ramifications for Dr. Tenma—losing his social standing being one of them. However, with the mysterious death of the director and two other doctors, Dr. Tenma’s position is restored. With no evidence to convict him, he is released and goes on to attain the position of hospital director.Nine years later when Dr. Tenma saves the life of a criminal, his past comes back to haunt him—once again, he comes face to face with the monster he operated on. He must now embark on a quest of pursuit to make amends for the havoc spread by the one he saved.
Genre: Mystery, Crime
3) Was Totally Different: Bunny drop
storyline: Daikichi is a 30-year-old man who is in charge of taking care of a little girl called Rin. The anime was praised for the manner in which the duo’s father-daughter relationship was handled, without compromising the slice-of-life feel of the show.
Genre: Comedy, Coming-of-age-story, Slice of life
Bunny Drop can be streamed on Crunchyroll
2) Stayed Close To Manga: Parasyte
Storyline: One fine day, parasitic aliens invaded the earth, taking over human bodies by controlling their brains. Teenager Shinichi Izumi finds himself in the middle of this invasion, when a parasite (later on named Migi) is unable to take over his brain, so it ends up taking over his right hand.
Both are now anomalies in a world where two apex species are secretly waging a war against each other, with each side hoping to win this blood-filled battle.
Genre: Horror, Thriller, Sci-Fic
Parasyte can be streamed on Prime video
1) Was Totally Different : Naruto
Storyline: On the day of Naruto Uzamaki’s birth the village of Konoha was attacked by the 9-tailed fox demon. In order to protect the village Naruto’s father the 4th hokage sacrificed his life and sealed the demon in his new born son. 13 years later Naruto graduates the ninja academy and becomes a shinobi with goal to be the hokage of the village. Joining him are rival Sasuke Uchiha who attempts to gain power to avenge his clan after they were murdered by his older brother Itachi. And Sakura Haruno who is Naruto’s love interest who of course loves his rival Sasuke. But when itachi returns to the village after the chunnin exams and Sasuke proves to be powerless against him. Sasuke will fall to the villainous Orochimaru to gain power. Naruto must do everything in his power to stop his friend from loosing himself to darkness even if it means losing himself.
Naruto was different from the manga story. for example, Many people have differing opinions on Hinata as a character. Some love her, while others are less fond of her. The main driving force of Hinata’s characterization is her love for Naruto. In the anime, she is given a little more development because Hinata gets attention in several filler arcs. Whereas in the manga, you miss out on some of that development.
