Anime Adaptations of Light Novels and Games

So far, we have discussed various cinematic adaptation concepts like Fidelity, Appropriation, Focalization, and the Chronological Order of events in the SAO anime series. In this post, let's touch upon anime aesthetics and Intertextuality. Different special effects such as different colors to depict different types of magic, darker shades to show evil, etc., were widely used in the anime and LN illustrations. Further, the non-diegetic music overlay , especially during the climax scenes, adds a final layer to the illusions. They help to channel an extra dose of emotions from the viewers. Even the intros of the anime have a very catchy tune . Overall this presents a robust aesthetic presentation. SAO series is based on a video game. Many expeditions or adventures in the series are based on myths and mythological characters . One of the side stories, Sword Art Online Calibur, that's present in both the anime and the LN, is the fight with the Greek god of lightning, Thor. In bot...

As a follow-up to the previous posts where we discussed Fidelity, Appropriation, and Focalization, let's discuss the  Chronological order  of events in Light Novel(LN) and the Anime Adaptation and on the  artwork  involved. One of the critical differences between anime and LN is the chronological order in which the events occur. For example, the  LN sometimes   goes back to past instances and recaps  the reader, that is analeptic account of the past events, unlike the anime, where the events occur sequentially. This is sometimes frustrating to keep track off. Also, there are a lot of  side stories in LNs  compared to the OVAs of Anime. The side stories usually  fill in the times between the main arcs , whereas in the anime adaptations, these are just depicted as flashbacks or are entirely avoided. Coming to the artwork, the original drawings, illustrated by abec, were  brilliantly showcased  in the anime adaptation.  The ...

In the previous post , we discussed concepts such as Focalization and Appropriation. In this post, let's discuss the Fidelity of the Anime Adaptation of Sword Art Online Light Novel (LN) Series.  For the most part, Anime is loyal to the LN . Most of the episodes closely follow the novel. Amongst the few minor differences , scenes like Kirito's Excursion with Knights of Blood having a fourth character in the LN (excluded in the Anime), and scenes following the Gleaming Eyes battle have some tweaks in the Anime. These were mainly done to fit the time restrictions . A considerable amount of lines and phrases were cut. Although both the Light Novel and its anime adaptation have a similar plot , the Light Novel went into a lot more depth into the MMORPG world's aspects, whereas the Anime is more of a fantasy series. Further, LN does a better job of showing Asuna's strengths as a fighter and her stubbornness, compared to the Anime where she comes off as a really fluffy heroi...

Sword Art Online  is a  phenomenal Japanese Novel Series  (first published in 2009) written by Reki Kawahara and illustrated by Abec, which opened up a whole new genre of 'Gaming' to the worlds of 'Light Novel' and 'Anime'. This novel series was later adapted as a manga, as well as an Anime in 2012. The series takes place in a futuristic world, where Virtual Reality MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Players Game) exists and revolves around the protagonist Kazuto "Kirito" and Asuna they play in VR MMORPG Worlds. The novel series and the adaptation gained a lot of popularity thanks to the hard-core gaming and a tech-based adventure story whose depiction was appropriated to match gaming's present trends, thus attracting a broad audience. Both the light novel and the Anime bring out the imagination of the viewers/readers on the concepts of virtual setting like virtual gaming world, etc. In the Light Novel, we get a clearer perspective on the work...