User blog comment:B214/Season 3 confirmed!!!!!!/@comment-24549585-20150404182009/@comment-4829046-20150405030031

And like I said, sometimes you get something that follows the book pretty much chapter by chapter. Of course you can't get 'everything', like someone's telephone conversation with their mother regarding a Turtle for example(random), but keeping everything else pretty much the same is possible. Just that weighing the profit and loss comes in, which is where having good people is important. If it's a long book, then obviously condensing needs to be done, but we've had plenty of movies that were dragged on more than necessary, simply for profit and those don't always meet the margin they expected.

The problem with anime is that they are rushed. Movies can be delayed and whatnot, but not anime. Broadcasting companies need a set number of anime per season and they need it regardless of whether the anime brings a buck. This often results in a series getting an anime way too early or with such a pathetic budget that it becomes shit on toast. I get your argument, but there is a big difference from general adapting when it comes to anime, especially anime based on ongoing light novels and manga. In anime, there have been many cases where a season ended on a cliffhanger and then got resolved through a series of OVAs or extensions via Blueray/DVD. This is a smart tactic, but even then, they sometimes run out. They just needed to make 'at least' 2 more such OVAs but they don't, instead they insist that the viewers go and read the original source.....R u kidding man? Not all of us have that kind of cash and time on us. The need to fill plotholes is strong.

One thing about Light Novels and novels is that they convey the story via character perspective and description, meaning, the moment you visually portray it, you don't need that particular perspective since it is obvious to the audience. You don't need to talk of the beauty of a tree when it is in plain sight to the viewer, for example. This is the number one way of condensing things and sadly this results in slightly less depth to characters, but this is problematic to only people like me who take Characterization > plot. When it comes to plot, it really depends. Sometimes you have a minor character omitted or sidelined and give his lines to someone else to make things go faster which isn't much issue either unless you count immersion and world-building but that's petty. My problem is when you omit something extremely vital. They sometimes fix this in the blueray release but many a time you get plotholes that only say "Oh, this 'probably' happened during this time period", which really screws the story up since you saw nothing concrete to convince you.

Bottom line, of course you can't expect two media to be identical, but you can expect them to have the same pattern in terms of storytelling. My issue is when this pattern is not followed and they decide to wing it and omit or misplace things that enriched the experience.

Here's an example from a recent anime. This event at maximum takes about 5 minutes but here's the difference.

Original - Girl is possessed, MC is forced to shoot her. Girl's clothes get partially torn. Girl regains senses. Girl gets embarrassed. MC apologizes. Girl shows no problem because of trust towards MC.

Anime- Girl is possessed. MC is forced to shoot her. Girl's clothes get fully torn off. Girl regains senses. Girl starts to breakdown crying with possible chance of trauma and trust issues.

^See that? In hindsight, it could be called an 'improvement' in the fan service and condensing department, but see how the effect was effed up? I don't get bent out of shape for just any changes, it is 'these' kinds of changes that piss me off. Sometimes the original does it so well that you get the 'perfect' effect that possibly made you love it in the first place. Not having that in an adaptation is a bummer. HOWEVER there are cases where an anime has indeed done a far better job than the original. The really good screenwriters can weave a story so that it lacks the problems that the author had. This is beautiful and I can accept the change is it makes my experience better and less annoying. BUT, this is only IF the original is problematic. If it's a masterpiece, then by golly dammit, I expect a quality adaptation, not a crapfest that makes me want to just stop watching and go hug the original.