Classroom of the Elite's Adaptation(2017) of the Light Novel(2015)

 

Hey guys, I welcome you all to my blog. I am writing this blog as part of my Cinematic Adaptation assignment, and I will be writing about one of my favorite Anime (Adaptation of a Light Novel) and talk about it in terms of this course.

 

Let's first discuss fidelity. After watching three episodes and reading an overwhelming 264 pages of the Novel, I would say that the Anime is not entirely loyal to the Novel; for example, Ayanokouji's (protagonist) personality was showed and described differently. In the Novel, Ayanokouji was portrayed as more of an ordinary guy. I'm saying this based on actions like smiling, desperate efforts in making friends, and wiping palms on pants before shaking hands with Kushida. On the contrary, the Anime didn't show any such actions. The narrative position in the Novel was in the first person(Ayanokouji), but the Anime was in the third person view. 

However, in certain ways, the Anime was loyal to the Novel; for example, few scenes like Ayanokouji buying past year papers from a senior, and Kushida distributing them to the class, just the day before mid-term were mostly the same as described in the Novel.

 

Now, let's talk about few differences between adaptation and the source text. I would say the Anime is quite a deviate from the Novel; let me give examples to support my point:

• The fact that Ayanokouji got all 50s in his Entrance test and on the short test was mention by two different people in two different situations. In the Novel, Chiyabashira(homeroom teacher) said this when she called Ayanokouji to the guidance office. This scene was not at all in the Anime, but this point was told by Manabu(Horikita's brother) to Ayanokouji when they encountered each other near the vending machine.

 

• In the Novel, the study group was formed again(it was dissolved initially due to a dispute in the library), and they continued studying every day. But in the Anime, this didn't happen and showed that Horikita gave summarised notes to Sudou. I like the Novel here, as it clearly showed the change in Horikita's personality through these events.

 

• In the Novel, the homeroom teacher forgot to tell the students that the mid-term syllabus changed and, upon asking, informs them just one week before the exam. Nothing about this was shown in the Anime. I think this is a significant change as this event gave Ayanokouji a hint to look for old papers and convinced the readers that mugging up these papers was the only way for everyone to pass mid-term.

Analepsis(events told after the main event) - In the Anime, first they showed the mid-sem result day and then explains how our main character used his wits to help everyone in the class to ace the exams.

That's it for this blog. I will be talking about the next three episodes and few concepts like intertextuality and the Anime's aesthetics in my next blog, so stay tuned!

 

SAI NIKHIL TATI

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