Thread:BOSS SUKR/@comment-4829046-20140317154111/@comment-4829046-20140318145248

Thanks. But Wraiyf, Well.... that's iffy. While they are the same series, the LN, Manga and anime and sometimes the games are extremely different from each other outside of their core concept. The only actual "truth" you can find, is via the original creator. Some LNs out there are based on manga and some may be based on anime or games. There is no absolute as to where the concept can start. But in this particular topic and in relation to SAO, well yes, the LN is the original. Now here's the thing, and what most people don't really take into consideration since they don't really take it in a Japanese perspective.

Light Novel - A book. Yes, a book a.k.a. a load of words printed on a page with pictures here and there randomly to add some interest. Now a book is supposed to be something that occupies a lot of your time and has the obligation to let you have very good characterization via the narration. It tickles your imagination and the scenarios are all in your head minus[or plus;)]some of the scenes in the illustrations. Now we have all read proper books, so I don't need to elaborate more.

Manga - A comic. It's basically a story told in pictures and dialogue boxes. Emphasis goes to art in this case since we are not expected to imagine anything ourselves since the pictures are already in front of us. A manga however, unlike a light novel, has a sharp deadline. A magazine needs to run on a schedule and does not wait for the author unless he gives early notice that he is going on break. These "deadlines" and the need for the magazine to keep a certain standard, imposes huge limitations on most manga.

Anime - An animated feature. Now an anime, runs very differently. Unlike manga and/or Light Novels, anime are much more complicated in procedure. The beauty of anime comes in the aspects that Light novels and manga are unable to do. An anime allows you to see the world and characters in full colour. You can seen them moving and the animation of everything really makes it enthralling. Coupled with the splendid voice acting and vibrant musical soundtracks and songs, an anime is a wonderful piece of media, greatly surpassing most American shows in all the effort that has been put in. But let me address the key types of anime.

1. Cour anime - A cour, is basically 12 episodes that fit into one season of the year. Not to be confused with second season of a series. This is one of the literal seasons of Spring, Summer, Autumn or Winter. Now a 2-cour anime means it covers two seasons of the year. So 24 episodes. Then there are also 36 and 51 episode seasons(not yearly) for some series. Now the thing with cour anime, is that they need to start and finish on time or else the series that will replace them at the end of the cour period will be affected and thus cause problems to the channels. This restricts most freedom and while it allows more focusing, it forces lots of information to be edited out or changed due to time.

2. Long-running anime - Now these are different from cour anime. They literally have no limits outside of the status of the manga. In this case, the anime will only stop either when it gets too close to the manga and doesn't want to waste resources on fillers or when they are unsure of the manga's popularity and are afraid that animating would be a waste of money. But as stated before, this ability to go on for a long time, allows them to add more info. Sadly, this comes with "excess" info at times since the anime runs too fast for the manga to keep going and thus the anime needs to extend scenes and add fillers.

3. Extras, these are divided further


 * ONAs - These are original net animations that are separate from main anime. These serve as a kind of preview or promotion for the original source and act like a test as well. Usually these ONAs are not done in a rush and may or may not have good animation but serve as a good way of appealing to new fans. Hentai also falls into this btw. They act as a promotion rather than as stand-alones.


 * OVAs - Now these are episodes that are made by the same anime team as the ones that made the cour or long-running anime series. The difference, is that these are not aired on TV. Instead, they are released in the DVD volumes. This is a marketing strategy promoting people to buy the DVDs. The content of OVAs may differ from series to series but it's a general thing to not really have any story in OVAs. You usually just get fanservice or comedy or some information about the series that you didn't already know. OVAs are often random and may not necessarily be in the timeline of the main series. Some could contain events that occurs very late into the story and that only the readers of the manga or light novels or players of the games will actually know about. Likewise, some OVAs could include things that happened somewhere during the main series but it is rarely stated at exactly what point.


 * Crossovers - These are special features that combine characters from different series and have them get involved in an anime-original event. These crossovers tend to have little to no logic in them and are non-canon. That's cause they aren't meant to make sense. Again, it is promotion. It allows new fans to discover a new series while still enjoying their old one and also allows old fans to see characters from their favourite series fight or fight alongside each other.

3.5 Movies - Movies. Now this is a bit different. The reason it is 3.5, is cause while they are separate from extras, at the same time, they are not. Even movies are divided into various categories but for now let's just take movies that belong to an already existing anime. On one hand, a movie can be canon, and a way for the anime team to deliver something great outside of timeslots or any other restrictions. And can be a way of bridging gaps and revitalizing some series. On the other hand, we have non-canon movies like in Naruto. These are not meant to serve as any real necessity for the main anime but serve well as again, promotion and a way to get more audiences. Also a movie is easier to sell than an anime collection anyway, not to even mention the profit from movie tickets.

Visual Novel - A story in the form of a game. These serve as a way for audiences to shape the lives of characters in a story and allows depth and intimacy to be fully explored. The player's choices change the flow of the story and immerses one in the world of the characters. The beautiful scenes and dialogue options, keep a certain sense of realism and it really feels like a story. The good thing is that you can reach the ending you want and be satisfied since it is you that was behind the ending.

And always remember that you need to look at these aspects collectively, not separately. You can't dislike(or like) a series merely going on one aspect of it. We may hate on an anime for its adaptation of story and its lack of info such, but we still love it for the visuals and music and voice acting, this means that we should indeed appreciate the hard work of the staff behind it. They had to do so many things that had nothing to do with the Light Novel or manga. In other words, an anime is an entity all on its own. Similarly, we respect a LN, due to the fact that it lets us imagine and lets us see in the figurative eyes of the characters rather than depending on some images. Same way, we respect a manga for allowing us to see the world in images and easy to read format. Each one has its own charm and characteristic that makes it unique and this is why they can't really "substitute", because how can you substitute two very different things?

Anyways, I tried my best to explain the various aspects of the Japanese media. I hope this can prove educational to other fans out there. Please feel free to share this information with those that wish to know.