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[Cruxador]

Print novels and web novels would follow entirely different economic constraints, so it's not really possible to compare their plot structures.

It's definitely possible. You could argue that it's not meaningful, but with how many LNs these days are just WN adaptations (most? Certainly most that get translated these days) I think it's a perfectly germane comparison to make.

None of that matters for web novels at all: however, web novels that are successful will be optioned to go into print, and then you'll have print novels but where the original series was written with a freer structure allowed by web novels. (however the possibility remains for a novel that started as a web novel, but which shifted into print having subsequent volumes pressured to follow the constraints of print novels in order to maximize sales).

It seems to me that the only stories which, in LN form, have an episodic or per-volume story structure are those which already did in WN form.

[JoshuaFH]

Speaking of manga's translated into animation that had to cut out most of the story: I'm sure most people are aware of Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. I checked out the manga, and was stunned that the movie only covers MAYBE the first 1 and a half books, out of 7 total. I guess you could say the movie was such a success because the source material was just that strong, but also that the people making it knew to orientate the movie to make it concise and to tell a complete story with it's own theme and resolution.

You can only hope that the people making Alita were that wise. "Hope" is the key word here.

[Reelya]

Uh, the chronology is wrong to make that assumption. It's covered in wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nausica%C3%A4_of_the_Valley_of_the_Wind_(manga)#Film

Miyazaki started the manga in 1982, it was in a monthly magazine (with some hiatuses) and he published chapters 1-16 then put the manga back on hiatus while he made the movie. Anything from chapter 17 and onwards was written after the movie was out, so i imagine he adapted the first 16 chapters into the movie, added a bit more plot to round the movie out, then back-adapted it into the manga, and carried the story forward from that point onwards. The last chapter of the manga didn't come out until 1994, a good 10 years after the movie.

The manga and the anime influenced each other. It's not a matter of a great adaptation, it's the fact that Miyazaki had complete creative control of both versions, so he could produce the story how he liked without having to compromise.

[JoshuaFH]

Heh, I didn't even notice that detail.

[Reelya]

Hey I was just looking up my local cinema's times for Alita, and noticed a decidedly familiar anime-looking thumbnail for another movie:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Yep, Masaaki Yuasa's latest film which is the spiritual successor to The Tatami Galaxy is playing in the cinema. I guess it's Alita tonight then that one tomorrow.

BTW I'm more hopeful for Alita being planned as part of a series after thinking about the reason that they would change the title from "Battle Angel Alita" to "Alita: Battle Angel". It gives them a naming convention to use as a series.

[Tack]

And I'm curious who and what you predicted about the bad guy. It's obvious to me since I already read the story, but beyond what's already been revealed I would be surprised if anyone not familiar with the series had predicted much, even with the additional bit of foreshadowing that wasn't in the books.

Spoiler: Even though it's literally speculation, I haven't read the manga (click to show/hide)

'Chaos Mode' is a thing which happens to sad heroes. Spear hero is currently turning into a big loser.
Ergo that'll likely happen at some point.

Also I just watched the first episode of redhead harem party tutor anime quintuplets. Can't remember the japanese name.
Pretty cute all told

[scriver]

I think big eyed Alita looks super ridiculous in the trailers.

[Reelya]

After a minute or so watching the film you forget about it.

Also: western action movies and the brightly colored spandex outfits = super ridiculous. It's like Mexican wrestlers are the only people who can save the world.

[scriver]

Has there been any action movie with spandex since... Green Lantern? If anything it's leather that's ridiculous. Even the first X-Men movie made fun of spandex.

[Cruxador]

And I'm curious who and what you predicted about the bad guy. It's obvious to me since I already read the story, but beyond what's already been revealed I would be surprised if anyone not familiar with the series had predicted much, even with the additional bit of foreshadowing that wasn't in the books.

Spoiler: Even though it's literally speculation, I haven't read the manga (click to show/hide)

'Chaos Mode' is a thing which happens to sad heroes. Spear hero is currently turning into a big loser.
Ergo that'll likely happen at some point.

Well, there's definitely something along those lines but from the context in which you're saying it, I think you may be supposing it will have a way different role in the story than it actually will.

After a minute or so watching the film you forget about it.

Also: western action movies and the brightly colored spandex outfits = super ridiculous. It's like Mexican wrestlers are the only people who can save the world.

Mexican wrestlers saving the world would be a great movie though.

[Reelya]

While they might not use actual spandex, Captain Marvel's outfit is garish enough to count. It's not really the material, it's the fact that she's wearing a bright blue and red jumpsuit of some sort. saying "spandex" is just a shorthand way to criticize the comic-book Super Hero aesthetic in general, which was originally (with Superman) based on carnival strong men.

The Japanese equivalent of the aesthetic actually fares better, because it's based on traditional warrior arts : samurais, ninjas and martial arts experts. Goku for example looks like someone dressed for hand-to-hand combat, not like Superman who's dressed like he's about to go on stage as a circus performer. (EDIT google reveals this was unexpectedly accurate: many circus performers used to wear the trunks-over-tights like Superman, and wore capes but tended to take them off before performing).

Superman's iconic cape is especially redundant, since (1) he doesn't need a cape and (2) even if he needed a cape, it's not a very good cape.

[Reelya]

I'm at the cinema right now before the Yuasa Masaki movie.

It struck me as funny how opposite the pre movie adverts are from Alita. Last night the ads were all about the world ending with monsters and or robot apocalypse

Now its all ads for shoujo  romcom and british drama

[Reelya]

Double post, but i want to plug the Alita movie. This Youtube video makes a case why anime fans should go see it. However, the video includes a ton of shots from the movie so if you want to go in blind you'd be better off skipping the video - or watch up to about the 2 minute mark. He's made most of the important points by then. They say it's one worth watching in 3D btw.

tl;dr is that Alita is definitely not "perfect" but it's still hands-down the best manga adaptation Hollywood has ever produced, and "gets" the source material / anime / manga thing better than any previous effort. Fans are picking up on that (read the video's comments: almost all praising the film) but many critics are panning it. listen to the fans not the critics on this. If this succeeds then it opens the door for sequels, cementing the idea of a serialized seinen manga live action film series as a profitable thing. And ... if Hollywood executives can be shown that they can get a successful series out of a lesser known (to general public) manga instead of a single "pump-and-dump" film based purely on name recognition, then they might start greenlighting more things and paying more attention to detail on them, with the Alita adaptation as a blueprint.

[Cruxador]

Double post, but i want to plug the Alita movie.

Triple, but who's counting?

many critics are panning it.

I don't follow critics in general, but what I heard from someone who does, and isn't invested in anime or manga in any way, is that it's getting good reviews. It seems to me that the general public is pretty on board with this movie, although the fact that it's typing the weekend is also probably thanks to no big blockbusters to compete with - I don't think it could beat a major Marvel movie, but that's just the world we live in.

[Jopax]

Thing is, it looks so utterly and completely uninteresting from the trailers, and I'm not entirely sure why. It's got pedigree in both actors and directors and the visuals look pretty good, but as a whole it's just doesn't trigger any sort of excitement for me :S

Unrelated, I found out the other day pretty much every ghibli movie made has an artbook, and they're all 200+ page deals and I'm having trouble deciding which one I'd like more, goddamn.