Contains spoilers for K-On! (First season)
If you weren't aware already, the anime adaptation of K-On! (spanning two series', a few OVAs, and a movie) is my favorite anime, and probably my favorite work of art in general. Besides the fact that I have a personal connection to it due to its impact on me as a writer, it's surprisingly got an amazing narrative for slice of life, a genre that is often criticized for generally lacking a real narrative. Pretty much everything about it is just amazing, and I'm a huge fan. I always wanted to read the manga despite hearing somewhat mixed things, since I've always been curious as to the differences, not to mention that it continued past where the anime ended. Recently, I read through the first two volumes, the equivalent to K-On! (the first of the two series'), and I have to say... I'm somewhat disappointed. To explain why, I'll have to go into what made the first series so good. So, without further ado, time to make elitists angry.
The series starts off with a seemingly typical scene where the main character is late for school. This scene is very important, as it displays key elements to Yui's character before the opening even plays. Despite the fact that she thinks that she's late for the first day of high school, she stops at every dog, shop, and cute thing she sees. It's immediately shown that Yui doesn't have much focus, later elaborated on when she talks to Nodoka about how she's never shown any interest in clubs or hobbies. As she joins the light music club, it's shown that she can really excel if she puts her mind to it, as displayed by her 98% improvement on a test after studying and retaking it. She goes from not knowing a thing about music to playing in a band for the entire school.
Her season-long arc comes to a close on the final episode, where Yui forgets her guitar on the day of their second school festival performance. As the rest of the band is playing, she runs back to her house, grabs the guitar, and then starts heading straight back. The scene mirrors the first exposure we had to her in the show, starting with her catching her balance in the area where she fell the first time. The cuts are placed the same, but instead of cutting away to her being distracted, Yui is only stopped by things like trains and cars passing. She then apologizes for all the trouble she's put everybody through for the past two years, in front of the crowd. She climbs up onto the stage, and the group just forget about the audience and plays an encore to each other.
Her season-long arc comes to a close on the final episode, where Yui forgets her guitar on the day of their second school festival performance. As the rest of the band is playing, she runs back to her house, grabs the guitar, and then starts heading straight back. The scene mirrors the first exposure we had to her in the show, starting with her catching her balance in the area where she fell the first time. The cuts are placed the same, but instead of cutting away to her being distracted, Yui is only stopped by things like trains and cars passing. She then apologizes for all the trouble she's put everybody through for the past two years, in front of the crowd. She climbs up onto the stage, and the group just forget about the audience and plays an encore to each other.
~Ai wo komete surasura to ne saa kakidasou~
This in particular is the scene that really made the first season as great as it is, but that's not all. Mio and Azusa have moments where they learn that it's okay to just relax and have fun, and that rigorous training isn't what makes the band work the way it does. Ritsu becomes suspicious of Mio's friendship with Nodoka, and learns that she was just paranoid of being replaced. Even Tsumugi gets a few of her own quirks from being around her new friends. The story isn't just rich with character development; the story is character development. The events of the series aren't just there for funny situations, they all serve a purpose in the characters' growth. So if all of this is the main plot of the series, why am I explaining it?
Well, K-On! (the manga) isn't quite the same. It's a Yonkoma or 4-koma, a comic style in which there are always four equally-sized panels. The main idea of a 4-koma is to make a quick, setup-to-punchline format. From the beginning, the manga is formatted in a way that values comedy over drama. But what about the way it handles all the character development, the ways the group improve together?
It doesn't.
Well, K-On! (the manga) isn't quite the same. It's a Yonkoma or 4-koma, a comic style in which there are always four equally-sized panels. The main idea of a 4-koma is to make a quick, setup-to-punchline format. From the beginning, the manga is formatted in a way that values comedy over drama. But what about the way it handles all the character development, the ways the group improve together?
It doesn't.
The same general events take place, but every single thing that I just described (with the sole exception of the test score) didn't happen in the manga. Yui does happen to forget her guitar just as in the anime, but it's only used for a gag when Ui brings it in for her. It's formatted, written, and drawn as a comedy first. The main focus doesn't seem to be with making interesting characters or a well-rounded story, and that's fine, but it restricts it from being as great as it can be. I know it's not the fault of the manga that the anime adapting was better in nearly every way possible, but it's somewhat disappointing to find out the source of your favorite thing isn't nearly as good. All the things that make the characters so lovable, the narrative so excellent, they're just not there. I want to be clear that I'm not attacking Kakifly's manga, but highlighting what is so amazing by Kyoto Animation's adaptation.
When I first talked about this "art of adaptation", I used a somewhat negative example in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, an anime that didn't capture the earlier parts nearly as well as its original manga, which ended up better as a whole. Now, on the other end of the spectrum, we have a transformative adaptation that creates an entirely new appeal and artistic vision than its original. It takes a simple comedy with likable characters, and turns it into an entirely new work, all about the personal growth of a bunch of girls playing music. What was simple context before was what made the anime into what it is, and by doing so, it far exceeded its origins. This is an example of an adaptation done right. No, more than right. This is an example of a new, greater work being created from the outline of another.