Talking about adaptations

This is basically going to be me going over the adaptations of my favorite series (all the series I gave an 8 or higher out of 10) and giving my thoughts. Why? I don't know.

Note: these are specifically only adaptations, ie theoretically covering the same events. This is not including sequels or prequels or side stories. Just adaptations. Also only doing ones I've seen.

You'll find in general I prefer reading things (novel/manga/comics) to watching things (television series/films/etc.) though there are obviously exceptions.

Axis Powers Hetalia:
The anime is pretty similar to the manga though expanded and to be totally honest the anime has notably better art. I'm not much of an aesthetics person, I'm more of an abstract person, but it is pretty notably, possibly because of the series origin. The adaptation ie the anime is better in this case. The manga's fine but it doesn't really have anything the anime doesn't.

Bayonetta:
Bloody Fate was a great adaptation of Bayonetta 1 and I will fight you on that :P really capturing the spirit of the over the top exaggerated stylistic-ness of the game. I also hear that has a manga but haven't gotten to it yet.

Cardcaptor Sakura:
Mixed feelings on the CCS anime. On the one hand it suffers from it's new cards being often either redundant or being blatantly overpowered to create conflict. It also removes some of the intricacies of the world-building of the manga and simplifies things. Mei Ling is also a bit annoying when she first appears, claiming Syaoran as her future husband and jealously getting into conflict with Sakura. That said the new cards are fun and create the full deck of 52, and it adds a lot of cute interacts. Also if you're including the movies CCS Movie 2 is one of the three movies I've ever given a 10/10 score too, I absolutely adore it. It really does show that it was written by CLAMP who wrote the original manga.

Cutie Honey:
Cutie Honey has a LOT of adaptations so buckle up.

The 70s anime adaptation keeps probably the most spirit of the original in that strikes the same strange balance of goofy 60s science fiction and dark noir 70s crime fiction that makes up Cutie Honey, especially the original manga. It expands things greatly and some of it works, some of it doesn't. It's nice the characters aren't quite as one-note but the new characters don't quite fit as well.

Cutie Honey Flash is the series made for girls after the original series had an unexpected number of female fans. It's the series I watched growing up and is still my favorite. Maybe it's just nostalgia, and I will admit it does deviate from the dangerous eroticism and brutality of the original manga, that said it has the most emotional depth, the best romance and it even introduced Misty Honey! Cutie Honey's dark magical girl rival. I also think this is my favorite version of Honey herself, being more relatable and having the cutest forms.

Re: Cutie Honey I like the controversial artstyle. It's exaggerated energetic bouciness fits the series well imo, that said while I don't mind the ultra-heavy fanservice (I don't mind a little yuri), I don't like how Honey was made so airheaded in this series. In the other series Honey was smart and often tricked her enemies. She was at worst, a little naive.

Cutie Honey Universe the 2018 adaptation celebrating 50 years of Go Nagai. 0/10 they changed the opening theme. :P Ok if you aren't aware, all the cutey honey series share the same opening theme remixed....except Cutey Honey Universe which angered the majority of the Cutey Honey fanbase right off.  It's good, and I do like how the civilians are being treated as more important and helpful then previous interations. That said it's a rather serious version so if you're looking for something more comical this is probably not the right one.

I haven't seen any of the live-action versions outside of small clips though I hear Cutie Honey: The Live is just nuts so that should be fun.

Danny Phantom: 
No adaptations as far as I know.

DC Comics:
Bit tricky because it's hard to tell what exactly qualifies as an "adaptation". A lot of the DC universes outside the comics are inspired by some events in the comics and I think you could clearly say that something like the animated film "Death of Superman" is clearly an adaptation of the Superman event of the same name in the comics. That said a lot of the DC alternate universes like the Super Friends or the DCAU or the DCEU or the Injustice universe etc. are not so much adaptations as just parallel universes.

Divine Comedy:
I've already talked before about how Dante's Inferno the video game is the worst adaptation of all time, though a fairly decent game taken separately. The only adaptation I can think of possibly more in thematic contrast with it's original is the film I Robot compared to the Asimov novel, though that is possibly because I'm not sure if I Robot is in fact an adaptation of the Asimov novel.

In terms of translations of the original for English I generally use the Longfellow and for Japanese I use the Hirawaka (call me boring that way). I hear the Clive translation is a very good mimicking of the original literal meaning and rhyme style but I haven't gotten to it yet. I tried the Ciardi translation and I hate to trash talk someone whose made such a big achievement but it just didn't compare to the Longfellow or the Mandelbaum.

Might see the other film adaptations but meh.

Freedom Force:
The comic is just a really abridged version of the game. It's decently drawn and written but it just doesn't have the time to meet the same amount of worldbuilding and events as the game version.

God of War:
I really like the God of War Comics but they're not adaptations. The two greek universe novelizations are both fine, they added some neat bits of world building like the names and stories of the boat master, the twin daughters of Aphrodite where the monsters came from etc., the fight scenes are well written, that said they move at a really fast pace as they kind of have too to the point that it's less enjoyable then it would have been otherwise. I prefer the second novelization over the first.

Haven't actually gotten to the new God of War Novelization for God of War 4 yet.

Magic Knight Rayearth:
Similar to CCS, this was another CLAMP written anime adaptation of a CLAMP manga and I have some similar thoughts. I prefer the manga overall, think the anime loses some of the emotional intensity of the manga near the beginning and dislike how the anime basically cut out the last chapter of the manga which is my favorite part of it. That said Nova and Debonair are both cool characters with a really good moment each (Hikaru remerging with Nova and Debonair's defeat), the side-characters are a bit more fleshed out and I always find the little cutesy chibi gags of the Magic Knights funny and cute. The anime is about the world of Cephiro with the Pillar merely being a detail about it, while the manga is about the Pillar System and what kind of world it would make (Cephiro) merely being the result of that. I prefer the manga's straightfowardness and ending but both versions are good.

Magicka:
Technically does not have an adaptation. The novel is a prequel.

Metroid:
Haven't got into much of the manga versions of the games universe.

Okami:
No adaptations as far as I know.

Ouran High School Host Club:
The anime was a pretty good adaptation up to where it got too....but where's season two already? :P We've been waiting for over a decade. The anime adaptation is a good adaptation of the humor and art of the manga, that said it lacks the development that came from the part of the manga after the anime ended. It also skipped a bunch of stuff that was good for the development and Haruhi and Tamaki also have a cuter relationship in the manga.

Over the Garden Wall:
As far as I know there's no adaptation.

Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt:
Does not have an adaptation. The manga is not an adaptation, instead it's side stories.

Pretty Cure:
I haven't even gotten through the anime yet, I haven't read the manga.

Princess Tutu:
The Princess Tutu manga adaptation of the anime is alright but it loses so much of the Princess Tutu-ness that it just feels off to me. Like Princess Tutu without fairy tales or Drosselmeyer? Meh, I know it's got it's fans for it's simplicity and more traditional storytelling but the PT manga I don't think really holds a candle to the anime for me.

Puella Magi Madoka Magicka:
Much like with DC a few of the things in the Madoka franchise are a bit hard to classify as being an adaptation or an alternate timeline or what. The first two Madoka movies, the ones before Rebellion (IE the ones people forget about because they're busying arguing the merits of Rebellion) are probably the closest thing to a Madoka adaptation. That said like 90% of Beginnings and Eternal are just the anime series. I don't mean the same events, I mean literally the same animation, same voice acting etc. It's just the series, but with a few extra animation bits and moreover takes out a lot of the character rehashing a bunch of information which is appreciated because I definitely don't like series going over the same information over and over again.

Sailor Moon:
Like Cutie Honey, a lot of adaptations here. That said the SM Manga is my favorite series ever so it's a high bar to compare too.

I love the 90s Sailor Moon Anime adaptation. But I also hate it. But it's the kind of hate you can ONLY have for something you love. The Sailor Moon Manga was a difficult manga, a manga with complex themes, dark imagery and so on. The anime sandpapers down all the rough parts of the manga to make it more of a cutesy series focused on standard 90s Japanese humor and basic wholesome family themes. And it's not bad, there are parts of the 90s anime that are good, even as good as the manga, that said because of it's length and because it takes away a lot of the uniqueness of the SM Manga it's on average a lot worse in my opinion. I could write a whole blog comparing the two if wanted because I have more thoughts on this adaptation then any other. Their are parts of the SM anime that are inspired. The endings to the first and fifth arcs as well as the second nehelenia arc are all amazing, easily good enough to be in the manga and Movie 1 has my absolute favorite moment in fiction. That said it's also got trash like the breakup arc, episode upon countless episode of filler (over half the series is arguably filler), and so forth. What I most dislike about the anime however is the other characters treatment of Usagi. Manga Usagi and Anime Usagi are fairly similar characters save for Anime Usagi being a bit exaggerated (Manga Usagi does a bit poor at her difficult school, Anime Usagi didn't know who Einstein was at all). That said everyone in the manga loves Usagi for being a genuinely nice person who helps them and are oftne talking about her being wonderful and good. I think this is why some people think Manga Usagi is a Mary Sue. The anime tried to reverse this and went too far the other way, leading to everyone being mean to Usagi for no reason including repeatedly calling her on occasion fat and dumb and mocking her for crying which never happens in the manga.

Crystal on the other hand is the newer anime and most SM fans think it's biggest problem (outside potentially of it's controversial animation) is that it stuck TOO close to the manga. The manga while it's my favorite series COULD be improved but Crystal played it really safe and stuck very close to the manga. Crystal did make a few changes though. I liked the expression of Metaria torturing Usagi, as it felt very fitting to both their characters, and I thought Mamoru punching Zoisite in the face was absolutely hilarious. That said I think Crystal's change related to the Four Kings was completely pointless and the constant taking out of tiny little cutesy emotions and that Naoko had to characterize the Senshi left part of it feeling rather generic.

PGSM is a good adaptation of the first arc...but it only does the first arc. I do like how PGSM tries to make the first arc as long as the first arc of the anime but tries to keep filler to a minimum and actually have a constant coherent plot. I liked the Princess Sailor Moon idea and the alternate Princess Serenity idea. That said while I don't dislike Sailor Luna as much as some Moonies, she doesn't fit very often into the plot, and while I liked the Rei/Minako shipping, Minako's subplot and death while it led to an awesome scene of Rei destroying the Metaria Youma didn't really fit for me.

Sera Myu is just awesome. Sure it doesn't have as much details as any of the other versions and some of the villains have less personality due to being a series of a few musicals for each timeline rather then episodes or chapters, it's just got such cool ideas, such strong emotional punches, good music. It's a really good adaptation, though I don't like it more then the manga.

Saint Seiya:
Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, I'm off two minds of the Saint Seiya adaptation. I'm not hugely a music person but the SS music is so cool. Also a lot of the moments in the manga are stretched out and made more emotionally compelling and dramatic like Shiryu blinding himself against Algol. On the other hand the manga's speed and time efficiency does work to it's advantage in places and the anime stretches things out, especially the anime-exclusive stuff like the Asgard arc where fights suddenly take way longer.

Shamanic Princess:
I can't find the manga adaptation anywhere.

The Powerpuff Girls:
Technically I suppose PPGZ and PPG2016 are "adaptations" of the original so I'll get into those.

PPG2016 I haven't actually seen that much of, and I probably have only seen the worse because of what is being brought to my attention, but it seems really gross. Having a prepubescent girl crushing on a male insert, having the girls twerking, the whole transgender/unicorn debacle etc. Then you got incompetent stuff like removing Mrs. Bellum (For being a sexualized female character) as well as Mrs. Keene's breasts because muh current year (something I'd already dislike strongly) but then adding villains that are just gender stereotypes like Man-Boy and a Bianca Bikini is just facepalm inducing.

PPGZ is a perfectly fine magical girl series imo. Some of the eps don't really work and it's nothing that special, that said it's got some cute parts, some funny gags, some eps that really do work (one of my favorites being an ep where the PPGZ fly too fast and accidentally break the moon and so they have to comically walk and take public transit everywhere). It's fine. That said the series has a hatedom that greatly surprises me. I see people saying it's as bad as PPG2016 or that it's "like teen titans go but dumber" which I suppose is the absolute insult of the general animation internet. It seems really overstated. TLDR It's not as good as the original and not as bad as the 2016 series. It's fine.

The Stanley Parable:
I don't there is any adaptations.

Tokyo Mew Mew:
The Tokyo Mew Mew anime does what a lot of MG anime adaptations do, namely it makes it less contemplative, philosophical and emotionally dramatic and makes it more cutesy and gag-centered so it's less for teenage girls and more for children in terms of primary demographics.

Generally speaking the Tokyo Mew Mew anime adaptation is pretty good. I love the episodes where we learn of Pudding's backstory, the episode with Ichigo's dad demanding to fight Masaya and the episode with the Mint and Zakuro confrontation. I feel like the Aliens were more threatening in the manga then in the anime, that Masaya was a bit more fleshed out showing jealousy and possessiveness over Ichigo, that Ichigo was a bit less of a hopeless basket case....that said the other mew mews outside of Ichigo got more attention in the anime and that was good. Really both are good it's just whether you prefer reading or watching to choose one, though I personally prefer manga.

Also while I'm on the topic I heard that the english dub was not exactly faithful to the point it was almost TMM abridged. I saw one episode and wow. Retasu mentions going on a romantic date and discussing DOSTOEVSKY. Look I know she's an anime nerd but that's not the point. That is not date reading material. But anyway the ep was humrorous but I can see why it's controversial. I don't know, could see myself seeing more.

Undertale: 
Does not have any adaptations, I think

Wander over Yonder:
No adaptations that I am aware off

Xiaolin Showdown:
I don't know of any adaptations

xxxHolic:
The Manga only ended recently, the anime is way shorter just because it had to end a lot more abruptly then the manga. Also the anime doesn't quite get the manga's beautiful CLAMP artwork, imo CLAMP's best artwork which is saying something given how beautiful CLAMP's art is generally.

Yu Yu Hakusho:
The anime does a really good job capturing the sheer versatility of the manga's tones and moods, giving up consistency in exchange for the ability to convey an a depth of moods and themes. When you hear Togashi's difficulties with doing the fourth arc, it is rather touching how the anime expands on the last arc while trying to remain faithful to what Togashi would have done. The anime is a great adaptation of the manga.

Yu-gi-oh!:
I know it's said a lot, but the manga really does make a lot more sense then the anime. It's a lot more internally consistent, the first arc of the manga actually makes sense of the manga since duelist kingdom rules were more of a tabletop game where the computer acted as the DM which is why things like fusing mammoth graveyard with Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon or knocking off the flotation ring or destroying the moon made sense. The anime skipped out on the entire first arc of the manga including some forgettable filler but also the amazing Death-T arc. The anime made up a lot of random one-off things to try and get the super over the top things scenarios it wanted as opposed to the more grounded duels in the manga.

That said maybe I'm a sucker for the anime's romanticism but some of the expanded anime duels I love, even if they technically are less sensical and more just pulling the random card you need. The duel between Yami Yugi and Hikaru Yugi, which much more elegant in the manga just gets me emotionally invested so much anime-wise. And especially when anime duels are playing and passionate duelist starts up.

Yuki Yuna is a Hero:
I know the Light Novel is a prequel. I haven't read the manga yet, but not sure if it's an adaptation of the main series or the light novel or both.