Going at it “Backwards”: From Anime-watching to Manga-reading

(Originally posted 2018-12-16)

Before I started watching anime, I never thought about reading manga or light novels. (Heck, before I got really into anime, I never even *knew* about light novels.) Now I’m gathering a nice little collection, although I’m generally with Hirotaka above on how I buy/read it.

(A reminder: This is part of my 12 Days of AniTAY 2018. Big thanks to Zarnyx for suggesting to go ahead and do it in mainline-TAY, and RedStripe118 for putting me on to the 12 Days of Anime idea in the first place.)

Anyway, I use the word “backwards” up above, in that, on Reddit and various other anime news/discussion sites, I’ve seen many a person who’s excited to hear that such-and-such manga or light novel (LN) is finally going to get an anime adaptation, because they read through it, and it’s great.

I, on the other hand, typically watch an anime, and then if I enjoy it enough, will look to see about purchasing the source manga/LN (in English, I’m not even proficient enough in Japanese to do more than catch a few common spoken words, let alone try to read something). So, in one sense, the idea that “anime are made to sell the books” is certainly true for me. While I’ve considered a few ‘recommended’ series through Amazon, I haven’t yet pulled the trigger on any of them.

As I have an apartment with many bookshelves that are already overflowing with books, and still more books that could use shelves, I generally limit myself to Kindle versions through Amazon. (A major exception being when I had a decently sized gift card to Barnes & Noble, and they were having a manga sale, so I picked up the first 7 volumes of Nisekoi.)

Much as I like real books, and I’ve been working on the physical copies I do have, and have borrowed a few others, I very much enjoy being able to read these on my tablet. Besides removing the physical space constraints in my apartment, it also is so much easier to take them all with me on a trip. Or, often, read them in my darkened bedroom before going to sleep. And additionally, it’s often the case that the ebooks are somewhat cheaper than the dead tree versions.

I’ve read the manga for several of my favorite series (in one case, with New Game!, getting ahead so that I *could* be that guy who’s excited about the next season of the anime),and for several others, the LNs (for Invaders of the Rokujyouma and The Devil is a Part-Timer) providing a much-looked for continuation of the story. In other cases, such as Servant x Service and K-On!, reading the completed manga was fun for comparing and contrasting with the anime versions.

Generally, I’ve found that I enjoy a good light novel story, but I’m definitely a sucker for a fun 4-koma comedy manga.

My biggest problem? I’ve still got the dreaded backlog to read through. And I still want more, and want to be able to afford more. (Okay, so that’s two problems.)

How about you?