by Will the anime version erase the author’s regrets?
In TV anime based on manga, original elements may be included, or the setting may be changed due to “adult circumstances” such as composition. As a result, some works have received high praise for adding depth to the original work, while others have been criticized as “unsatisfactory.”
This time, we will look back at three controversial TV anime works due to changes that differed from the original. “Attack on Titan”
The TV anime series “Attack on Titan,” which reached its grand finale on November 4, 2023, also had changes that became a hot topic. This is the expression on the face of Annie Leonhart, the protagonist Eren Jaeger’s colleague in the Survey Corps when she discovers that she is the female titan that attacked the corps in episode 23.
In the original anime, she was smiling, but in the TV anime, the scene was changed to show her cheeks turning red and laughing like crazy. Fans were surprised to see the different facial expressions from the original and the sudden change in Annie, who is usually excellent and taciturn, asking, “What does that expression mean?” and “What’s going on with Annie?” There are also voices supporting Ani’s unique production, with some commenting that the ecstatic expression on her face was “more sexy than you would normally imagine.”
Perhaps because there were so many reactions, the author, Hajime Isayama, later revealed the reason for the changes on his blog. Mr. Isayama himself had some regrets after the book’s publication, saying, “I wanted to do more of this,” He suggested this scene for the TV anime. Isayama-sensei stated on the same blog, “I wanted to make it feel like the monster.
who did so much was not just a bad guy, but a normal human being.” Mr. Isayama depicts the moment of relief when Annie, a spy for an enemy country who has lived in a mentally repressed emotional state, has her true identity known as a burst of laughter, similar to the TV anime version. He wanted to express it.
Regarding the anime that aired, Mr. Isayama highly praised the drawing, direction, and acting, saying, “It was super good!!” Fans who learned about Isayama-sensei’s intentions commented, “Ani must have been trapped by remorse and loneliness,” and “I was convinced that she had worked hard to create that cool personality.”
This is a more profound change.” Parasyte” Hitoshi Iwaaki’s masterpiece “Parasyte” won the 17th Kodansha Manga Award in 1993 and the Seiun Award Comic Award in 1996, and a live-action movie was released in the 1990s. It is one of the representative masterpieces. When it was made into a TV anime in 2014 under the title “Parasyte: Sei’s Maxim,” it received mixed reviews from fans of the original work as the characters and worldview changed from the original 90’s setting to a more modern setting.
It has expanded. An article in the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, published on December 25, 2014, during the anime broadcast, “Manga-based film adaptation: A new theory to maximize hits,” stated that this change was influenced by the strategic structure of the film and broadcasting industry at the time. It has been analyzed that this may be the case.
This work, whose TV anime series and live-action film adaptation were announced simultaneously, has been produced under a strategic framework in which the TV anime version would appeal to younger generations, and the live-action film version would spread the word even further.
The TV anime version is based on “adult circumstances,” with Mr. Iwaaki’s approval, detailed depictions of the historical background, characters’ appearance, and use of the Internet and smartphones have been arranged. On the other hand, the overall storyline and themes were expressed almost precisely as the original.
In “Parasyte: Sei’s Maxim,” some people initially pointed out that the changes in the appearances of familiar characters, such as the hero and heroine, made them feel strange when they first saw them, but the underlying theme was In the end, it was said that it was a “good change,” with comments such as “The depiction that should be emphasized is quite thorough” and “the final episode is almost faithful to the original,” as there were no changes made.
