branchandroot | Yami no Matsuei, anime versus manga

So, I was re-reading and re-watching the first arc of Yami no Matsuei, and I have to say the differences are interesting.

For one thing, the manga actually has a totally different introduction: the pilot issue before the first arc. That introduces Tsuzuki in a considerably more serious and responsible light than the anime does. It doesn't play up his sweets-craving nearly as much, and it's made clear that it isn't just that no one wants to partner with a slacker like Tsuzuki--he's also the training wheels and counselor of the division, and all the new or unsteady transfers get sent to him.

It's also made clear that Tsuzuki, not Hisoka, is the one who's most willing to bend rules, to break into locked archives, to save people who should be dying, even if this involves lying through his teeth. And the division chief knows this good and well and condones it. Hisoka himself is presented in a businesslike and competent light from the start. The manga also did without the silly maneuvering the anime had to go through to make him drink one glass of alcohol by accident; the original drinking contest makes his resultant passing out and hangover far more reasonable.

The things that most caught my attention, though, were the differences in Muraki, and Hisoka in relation to him. The anime implies very strongly, right from the start, that a) Muraki wants to seduce Tsuzuki and b) Muraki raped Hisoka. The manga, by contrast, does not have any seduce-Tsuzuki moments in the first arc and states particularly that Muraki chose to use a wasting curse on Hisoka instead of "merely" killing him right then and raping him to make it look like a garden variety sex crime.

I actually have to wonder whether Muraki was intended to be a one-time-appearance villain. His madness is certainly presented in a straightforward fashion, far more simply than the eventual concatenation of his obsessions becomes; he is simply a doctor who despairs in the face of death and cracks. The mechanism by which he becomes able to absorb the spiritual energy and abilities of those he kills is never addressed, and there are no suggestions of the past he eventually acquires or that Hisoka has any particular fixation on his killer. Indeed, the manga presents Hisoka as already knowing he was murdered and fairly calm about knowing the one who did it.

All of which simply reinforces what I've always thought about the anime, which is that it's pretty and colorful, and the voices are nice, but it really isn't a patch on the manga.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I couldn't agree more. I view the anime as a completely different story from the manga. I much prefer the manga, and not just because it makes more sense. I appreciate the slightly darker manga over the 'let's have a happy ending' anime.

Yeah, I think it's a stronger story without the watering down the anime was obliged to do.

I actually like them both in entirely different ways. The anime is pretty much distilled pretty angstfluff, and sometimes I am in the mood for that, but the manga's generally got enough more substance to it that it's generally what I prefer.

Yeah, I keep the anime around for when I want dessert shenanigans and Tsuzuki's puppy ears.

I won't have gone on to you about this the way I have to poor Rana, but I'm sure I've told you at least once how thoroughly I agree. The manga is wildly internally inconsistent, but it's interesting, interesting in a way the anime never manages. And the characters are way darker and more complicated: there's all this pure strangeness there for a writer to work with.

I'm fond of the anime, but mostly because it's given fandom such great base material for vids. If it weren't for that, I'd probably dislike it more than otherwise for the nice, well-meaning child whom it inexplicably substituted for my beloved Hisoka.

*grins* Yeah, you've mentioned it once or twice.

And, seriously, the anime Hisoka is so un-edgy. Whereas the manga Hisoka, well, you know, it never surprised me that he'd be perfectly ready to throw down with Muraki for Tsuzuki's sake.

The manga is wildly internally inconsistent, but it's interesting, interesting in a way the anime never manages. And the characters are way darker and more complicated: there's all this pure strangeness there for a writer to work with.

You said it perfectly! I couldn't agree more.

Um, yeah. It's no secret that I'm a tad obsessed with the YnM manga, right? Despite the inconsistences and all. And now that I have vol. 12 in my greedy hands I've been waiting for my vacation to finally re-read and re-watch the whole series.

I loved that introduction chapter, and I fell in love with Tsuzuki right away. But compared to the rest it's so short that I often forget it even existed (and I'm sure I'm not the only one) - especially once I'm totally distracted by Tsuzuki's shikigami. Who are another reason why I like the manga a lot more than the anime. ♥

I actually have to wonder whether Muraki was intended to be a one-time-appearance villain.

That was my thought, too, when I read YnM for the first time, and I'm glad you mentioned it here. Because after I started reading fanfic and encountered all those numerous Muraki fangirls I began to doubt my first impression - I started thinking that maybe it had been some kind of wishful thinking on my part, because I've never been as obsessed with Muraki as some fans are.

As for the anime, at least they did something right - they only took a portion of the series and concentrated on that. Concentrated on one villain and his story arcs from the manga. That way they didn't have to rush through it and leave more things out, and we actually get a feeling of completeness from the anime. That way it turned out better than many other anime, despite the changes to the characters.

Yeah, Tsuki's shikigami are definitely the flashiest. *grins* What interested me about that pilot was that it establishes Tsuzuki's own personal magic as the strongest in the division, even aside from who he can summon, which sets up the demon issue nicely.

Heh. Indeed. *g* Definitely need to re-read. And write again.

If I'm remembering correctly -- and I may well not be, since I have no strong recollection of my source -- Matsushita herself mentions that she'd originally intended Muraki to be a one-off villain. (She'd originally intended him to have dark hair, too, and to be ancient and/or ugly -- again, if I haven't just hallucinated the existence of whatever source I'm getting this from.) Only then she kind of fell in love with him, and her plans changed.

I suspect that this approach is behind a lot of what makes the series interesting. She pretty clearly was making things up as she went along, and without a lot of sense that what she'd already done should constrain what she was going to do next. So she comes up with stuff that never gets fleshed out, that could mean a dozen different things, and then she forgets all about it and goes flying off in a completely different direction. It makes for a big, big universe, and in that sense I think it's actually more realistic than a tidier and less internally incoherent backdrop and storyline would be: after all, the real world is too big and too weird for us ever to fully wrap our minds around it.

Oh, now that you say it...I think I vaguely remember something like that, too. Could that have been in some of the artbooks? I think there were some sketches with notes where she said that? Argh. Now I have to go looking for my saved copies.

It makes for a big, big universe, and in that sense I think it's actually more realistic than a tidier and less internally incoherent backdrop and storyline would be: after all, the real world is too big and too weird for us ever to fully wrap our minds around it.

It also makes writing fanfiction in her universe all the more interesting. *g*

Yami no Matsuei, anime versus manga

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject