What's the Difference, Anyway?

All too often I hear about how not to do an anime or manga series. I get complaints about too much fanservice, or not enough fanservice in a series. I hear about how an anime series that differs from it's source material is inferior. I hear about how watching too much harem anime can make you go blind. That last one? I always thought it was a joke, like how too much masturbation gives you hairy palms, or whatever. I was a true non-believer that harem anime will make you go blind, until I watched Love Hina. That shit will restore sight to a blind person, only to have them gouge out their eyes moments after glancing at the screen. Regardless, let's take a brief look at some popular titles that were remade, and why they were chosen to be remade.

HELLSING/HELLSING: ULTIMATE
Hellsing: Ultimate is an OVA series consisting of 10 episodes which aired from February 2006 until December 2012. The Hellsing: Ultimate series can often be, but really shouldn't be confused with it's earlier running series of the same name, Hellsing. Both the Hellsing & Hellsing: Ultimate series are based off the manga Hellsing, with the differences between the two anime series being that the running series, Hellsing (October 2001-January 2002) consisted of 13 episodes and contained a different ending than the manga. Hellsing: Ultimate followed more closely to the storyline provided in the manga series. For those of you who are a little less familiar with anime productions and the anime vs. manga arguments, the simplest way to phrase the situation is to say that production of the original anime series, Hellsing, caught up to the manga too fast and ran out of predetermined story. A few things got tweaked towards the tail end that changed how the series ended, and some people got upset. Once the manga had finished it's run, the Hellsing: Ultimate OVA began airing, and since they had an actual written ending this time, it was ended more appropriately. It happens quite frequently, to be honest. I can think of 3 specific and completely opposite examples that instantly come to mind when I think of similar situations; Attack on Titan, Fullmetal Alchemist, and Claymore suffered the same fate. Well... there is still hope for Attack on Titan. Continue reading!

CLAYMORE
Claymore's anime (based off the manga series of the same name) aired from April 2007 - September 2007, and had practically the same scenario as Hellsing's original running anime series (not plot-wise, I mean production-wise). They began the anime series while the manga was still in production, and they simply caught up to the manga storyline too fast. Rather than dragging/delaying the anime series from going forward, they (FUNimation) ended the series prematurely, in what is without a doubt the most sensible way they could have thought possible. In retrospect, however, if FUNimation had (at the time) been aware of how the creators of Claymore were actually going to end the series, they'd have seen how terribly they performed their jobs by prematurely ending the anime series after 26 episodes. The manga itself contains closer to 45 episodes of material, removing unnecessary filler content. I've been praying since the manga wrapped up that we'd have a remake of the series see the light of day, but nothing that I've heard of yet.

FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST/FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST: BROTHERHOOD
Fullmetal Alchemist, one of my favourite manga and anime series to-date, suffered an almost identical crisis when production of the original running anime series caught up with the story of the manga, which was still regularly publishing chapters. Personally, after watching Fullmetal Alchemist, I found that I enjoyed the manga far greater, but as was the case with Claymore, they didn't know how it was going to end... so they made that shit up. Of course, they spoke with the creators and made fairly educated guess-work regarding the ending, but it wasn't as faithful to the characters, and was commonly dismissed by fans as a weak attempt, or even irrational when compared to the ending found in the manga. Once production of the Fullmetal Alchemist manga was finished, production began on Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, a remake of the anime series that held true(r) to the manga than the original series did. Sound familiar? It should, that's precisely what happened with Hellsing and Hellsing: Ultimate.

ATTACK ON TITAN
If I could talk about this series forever, I would. But I won't. I have a point to make, so I'll get right to it: Attack on Titan's manga series was akin to an instant K.O. when it came to how widely received it was by both fans and critics alike. In the rush to capitalize on the series, they allowed production to begin on a TV series of the same name, as well as video game and merchandising rights. The series inevitably caught up to the storyline of the manga, and they were forced to halt production of the anime. They held incredibly true to the story provided in the manga, and I had no real issues with the series compared to the manga. So... why bother including this title? Because the original authors and TV production team who work on Attack on Titan put a little more thought into it than the other companies ever considered. When production of the anime caught up the the manga storyline, they stopped making episodes. They didn't make up an ending or cancel the series, they just stopped airing it. They instead decided to focus on producing the manga, which is still impressive, with each additional chapter getting better and better. Attack on Titan hasn't seen a new episode since it began in 2013 - that's a long time for a series to stop airing, considering that September 2015 will mark 2 years since the series  has released a (non-OVA) episode. For those of you already immersed in Attack on Titan news, you will already know of the animated films Crimson Bow & Arrow, and On Wings of Freedom, which break down the TV series into 2 half seasons and reassembles them as 2 feature-length animated films. Also, the highly anticipated Attack on Titan live-action film is coming to Japanese theatres this summer. There is so much hype surrounding the live-action film, Crimson Bow & Arrow, and On Wings of Freedom that by the time it all subsides, January 2016 will be upon us, and they've already announced the anime series will resume where it left off sometime around February - April, 2016. Now that is how you do it.

Naturally, I'll be posting a proper review on Hellsing: Ultimate later in the week, but thought I'd take a few moments to just... talk.
Forgive any mistakes, I'm typing this up on a tablet and it is being mega difficult with me right now.