Friday, June 1, 2007

Anime vs Manga

The Ranma manga and anime are significantly different. I view them as alternate universes with the manga being the canon version. The reason I view the manga as the canon version is because the creator Rumiko Takahashi wrote it. The anime was written by a production team without Takahashi-sans input.

I am not even going to attempt to list all the differences between the versions but I will list some so you can get a general idea of the differences.
  1. There are cosmetic differences for instance Kuno gives Nabiki a doll to give to Ranma-chan in the anime. In the manga, Kuno gives Nabiki a stuffed panda bear. Doesn't change the story much if at all.

  2. There are anime only characters like Sasuke the Kuno's ninja and Copy cat Ken.

  3. There are manga only characters as well Konatsu and Akari for instance.

  4. The anime ends about half way through the manga.

  5. There are more filler episodes of the anime.

  6. The anime is more formulaic than the manga.

  7. Shampoo was brought in earlier in the anime than the manga because ratings were not high enough and Shampoo was the favorite character in Japan.

  8. Ryoga is displayed in a lighter way and gets more air time in the anime.

  9. Ranma has more fiancées in the anime than the manga - Daikoku Kaori and an unseen one at the end of the episode.

  10. Genma is more likely to sell Ranma in the anime. For instance he sold Ranma to the circus for a barrel of Bamboo.

  11. Ranma makes more of an effort to keep his female form secret in the anime than in the manga and does so for several seasons.

  12. Kuno learns that the principal is his father much sooner in the manga.

  13. Nabiki pours water on Ranma while Ranma is sleeping to take pictures of Ranma in the anime. In the manga, Nabiki takes pictures of Ranma while he is doing normal stuff no pouring water on him for pictures.

  14. Dr Tofu's mother picking out a bride never happened in the manga.

  15. Akane makes a promise to not hit Ranma in anger in the anime, she doesn't in the manga.

  16. The characters are generally nicer in the anime, with the exception of Akane and Ranma who are nicer in the manga.

  17. Akane hits Ranma more often in the anime.

  18. Ranma insults Akane more often in the anime.

  19. Mousse is less competent in the anime.

  20. Gosunkugi has a much larger role in the manga than the anime and isn't in the anime until near the end.

  21. Shampoo and Kodachi are much nicer in the anime than the manga.

  22. Genma is more cowardly in the anime.

  23. Ranma learns the neko-ken at the age of six in the anime, age 10 in the manga.

  24. Nabiki runs a betting pool in the anime, in the manga she doesn't even come to the fights and definitely does not run a betting pool.

  25. Ranma is doing much better at school in the manga, in the anime he requires Akane's help with his school work.

  26. In the anime Ranma misspelled the spirit wards, in the manga the priest misspelled them. Ranma's spelling is much worse in the English version; in the Japanese version he left out one stroke of a complicated kanji written fast, during battle, and in bruises whereas he misspelled buffoon in the VIZ version.

  27. In the anime Ranma is more gullible and easier to trick. In the manga Ranma is suspicious of peoples actions and is one of the least gullible people.

  28. Ranma is a lot more manipulative in the manga than he is in the anime (quite possibly the most manipulative person in the manga). I don't think even one volume occurs in which he doesn't try to manipulate someone in some way, be it Ryoga with a disguise, Shampoo to get a cure, Akane for kicks -like pretending the instant man water was destroyed, or even to help people -used suggestion incense and wrote a play to manipulate Happosai into changing Pantyhose Taro's name.

  29. The characters outfits are a lot more varied in the manga than the anime.

  30. The manga characters are smarter and more witty than their anime counterparts except for Akane who is smarter in the anime (example of more witty - Ranma uses sarcasm in the manga).

  31. The manga has more character development than the anime.

  32. The manga characters physically outclass the anime counterparts in just about every way.

  33. The manga is much darker than the anime for instance Shampoo planned on murdering Akane and having Pantyhose Taro take the blame in the manga, in the koi rod story Ranma was kneeling in a grave praying for Ryoga's happiness, and other not so nice events happen.

  34. Shampoo uses magical items to force Ranma into loving her more often in the anime.

  35. Dr Tofu is around longer and has a larger part in the anime.

  36. Ranma learns at a significantly faster rate in the manga than the anime. For instance he was able to duplicate the Umisenken after only seeing it once.

  37. Using the same trick on Ranma that you used on him in the past will not work against him in the manga. Since he will have either figured out how to duplicate the trick or he would have developed a counter for it before you can use it again, the same trick will work on the anime version.

  38. The chemistry club attacks Ranma in the anime, no chemistry club is even shown in the manga.

  39. For some unknown reason Ranma is faster in female form than he is in his male form in the anime.

  40. Ranma's mothers personality is different in the anime than in the manga.

  41. In the anime there is a Ghost Cat who shows up repeatedly. In the Manga there is also a ghost cat that shows up twice but it is not the same ghost cat. The cats use different means of getting girls, the second cat did not recognize the Tendo's or Ranma, and the second one showed no fear of Ranma which the first one did because Ranma while in the Neko-ken attacked it.
  42. Nabiki in the anime dresses up in a kimono when Ranma arrives, in the manga she just wears what she had been wearing earlier - shorts and a tee-shirt.
  43. The Tendo's of the anime are far poorer than their manga counterparts. The anime Tendo's had their power shut off and had shortages of food, these events did not happen in the manga.
  44. Jusenkyo has anime only characters such as the person with a frog curse and a group which monitors and attempts to punish people for misusing their curses.
  45. Soun and Genma play go and or shogi very often constantly cheating in the anime. They are not shown to do this in the manga.

3 comments:

ToN said...

1. In Nabiki's first appearance in the manga, you can see the 't-shirt' is actually a swimsuit.

2. Ranma does 'misspell' 「馬鹿」 (fool; idiot) in the manga. Look closely at Kunou's forehead: the second kanji is missing a stroke.

antimatterenergy said...

1. Is actually arguable it could be a swimsuit it could also be a Tee shirt (or more accurately an A shirt) like the one Akane tossed off to put her gi on (I still think it is a shirt not a swimsuit).

2. I had forgot to edit this from the list, this is addressed in another post on the blog.

Anonymous said...

This is from TVtropes
1: Ranma and Akane are more prone to juvenile arguments and bickering in the anime; in the manga, they more or less get along with occasional bouts of surprisingly extreme arguing. At least they get plenty of moments of camaradrie, teamwork and generally enjoying being around each other in both media.
2: Shampoo is less violent and more devoted in the anime, getting an episode in which she proves willing to defend Ranma even from her own family, no matter if it takes death (hers or theirs) to do it. Her faith in Ranma and desire to be with him is played up more; for instance, the story where Maomolin attempts to turn her into a cat so he can marry her is changed to include a scene where she threatens to slit her own throat if he won't let her go. She seems to get on better with her rivals, or at least respect them more. Most notably, she saves Akane from a dangerous fall in the Immortal Phoenix OAV — with a zinger about Akane's weight, but she does it.
3: Ukyo is more passionate about martial arts. In one late manga story, she loses a duel to a Forgotten Rival from her childhood and is quite blase about it — she's just glad he'll leave and stop bothering her. In the anime, one episode is centered on her being defeated by a rival in the art of Martial Arts Cookery, which leaves her horrorstruck, guilty and and outraged at her "weakness". She even chews Ranma out for a thoughtless but well-meaning comment that she thought was him saying martial arts shouldn't matter so much to her because she's a woman. She also genuinely values her friendship with him in the anime; though she in the depths of her heart wants him to return her romantic feelings, she is willing to back down from her schemes if they are putting their friendship at risk. (See the "Great Girly-Girl Gambit" episode).
4: The Kuno siblings are treated more sympathetically in the anime. Kodachi grew up without any parental figure except Tatewaki; she is several times implied to be a well-meaning but (very) Strange Girl who is quite lonely and who clings to Ranma because he's the closest thing to a real friend she has. Tatewaki, meanwhile, was cruelly abused by their father before he bogged off to Hawaii; he has been caring for himself, his sister, and their estate on his own ever since.
5: Ryoga's connection to Akane is depicted as more intense in the anime, making him either more sympathetic or more pathetic, depending on your feelings about him. He deliberately tries to save Ranma from being permanently enchanted to love Shampoo with a Red String of Fate because seeing him acting so loving to her is upsetting Akane. Granted, he collapses into an indecisive panic when he realises that letting Shampoo win means he can have Akane by default; but at least he tries. He makes a passionate speech about how he will always love Akane and watch over her from the shadows in the OAV adaptation of the Ryugenzawa story. In an anime-unique OAV, he leaves in the middle of the night because he knows he'll be tempted to sabotage Akane's upcoming battle to win back the rights to be the official Tendo Dojo heir (and Ranma's fiancee), and he can't bear to hurt her by doing that. In one episode, he absently contemplates staying as P-chan all the time to be Akane's pet 24/7. Finally, the an anime episode that introduced Anna Brown, who would be an Expy of Akari if she hadn't come first, he admits that he could fall in love with her and may never be this happy again if he leaves... and yet he is still unable to resist telling her that he can't stay and going back to Akane.
6: In the anime, Mousse is depicted as a very creepy Stalker with a Crush. In the final arc of the manga, Shampoo gets mind controlled, and he gets the opportunity to make her his slave. He instead frees her... only for her to go right back to stalking Ranma. He remarks that he's going to be kicking himself for years.