Visual Novels and their Adaptations

I'm not the only person who's liked a number of Anime adapted from Visual Novels even though I've never played/read a single one of them.

However unlike many others in that situation I am interested in them.  I respect them as an artform, my inability to consume them directly is if anything a result of my own laziness (though my ADD is probably also a factor) and not at all an indictment of the medium.  I've been trying to understand their history more, a YouTube channel named Bowl of Lentils has a couple videos I recently watched on the subject I recommend.  I also made a blog post where I advocated for Visual Novels by comparing them to The Stage.

Thing is being a fan of Anime adapted from Visual Novels can actually lead to conflict with Visual Novel fans, because inevitably they will have criticisms of those Anime that an Anime only viewer is less likely to care about as much if at all.

That problem exists with all Adaptions of course, but it's more pervasive in certain contexts then others.  No one cares that Jurassic Park isn't like the book, I would argue the moral of the story is different in Spielberg's Version and still no one cares, in fact much of what people hate about Jurassic Park sequels happens to be things they are bringing back from the original book.  But Peter Jackson adds stuff to the Hobbit and everyone loses their mind.

Within the Anime community however while the Manga and Light Novel fans complain sometimes the memes about them are more just how they're ahead of us.  It's VN fans who almost seem like they resent the Anime versions even existing.  And frankly it might be because their medium doesn't get the respect it deserves, and in that area I'm on your side.

The big four Visual Novel based Anime are Clannad (and Clannad After Story), Higurashi When They Cry (plus it's second half Kai), Steins;Gate and the UFO Table Adaptations of Fate/Stay Night.  In all four cases the visual novels are important and influential within that medium while also those TV Anime adaptations are considered top tier Anime, probably the best of their genres.

Now I'm not gonna claim all four of those are equal in VN purest complaints.  Heck with Fate/ the complaint is almost more just that Anime fans aren't starting in the right place.  And apparently Steins;Gate is considered the Gold Standard among VN fans as an adaptation, but there's still cut content they miss.

Higurashi is the one that gets the most complaints.  It is almsot universally considered the best Horror Anime, and yet is also criticized as a completely garbage adaption by fans of it's source material, how does that happen?  Well the thing is the VN fans don't even like it being classified as horror, complaining that too much time is taken away from slice of life fun and character bonding moments in exchange for all that shocking horror.

Thing is Ryukishi07 said the initial mission statement of Higurashi was to create fear where VNs like Clannad were focused on sadness, so that artistic intent makes it by definition Horror, at least the Question Arcs.  So you kind of just have to accept that adaption to a more fully dramatized medium with less screen time and different rules is going to cut things.  No Dracula movie is even close to exactly like the book and some details still haven't shown up in any of the 20some films that have been made.

The complaints about the Higurashi Anime are mostly in the execution, even when they arguably do have more they could mention.  I've spent a lot of time now watching Higurahsi VN fans complain about the Anime but still never seen anyone mention that it has a Filler Arc that begins Kai, a scourge that normally only long running Manga Adaptations are supposed to face.  I of course am a defender of filler arcs, just see this Twitter thread or any time the Doom Tree Saga comes up.  And in this case an arc from Satako's POV about her noticing Rika's odd behavior was a fitting parenthesis between the semi Answer arcs and full answer arcs.

I of course am someone who likes more then just what's nearly universally praised, I'm notorious for liking things that don't get good IMDB scores.  And when it comes to Visual Novel based Anime the ones you're supposed to consider good Anime aren't the only ones I enjoy.  Plenty that get labeled bad both as adaptations and as stand alone Anime I will unapologetically say I like, and I've also seen some rarely talked about at all.  

However I do not put all of those in the same category.  Tsukihime, Deen/Stay Night and Umineko are shows that I understand why they aren't considered Masterpieces and would generally not want to be anyone's first impression of Anime unless I had really good reasons for thinking they'd be to that person's interest.

Robotics;Notes is currently the most recent Anime I've completed.  It's generally considered okay rather then Bad but I personally think it is equal to Steins;Gate maybe even better in some areas.  I talked about it more on the SFDebris forum.

It's technically in the same universe as Steins;Gate, called the Science Adventure or SciADV series.  One generally considered bad VN Adaptation that I did indeed fail to get into is another from this series, Chaso;Head.  However I don't think my issues with that Anime have much to do with why VN fans don't like it as an adaptation, rather I think they'd be the same for an Anime equally as well executed as those two shows.

Steins;Gate and Robotics;Notes are pretty clearly based on a specific SciFi premise, one that is common in SciFi but adding their unique Otaku approach to it.  Chaso;Head however doesn't have as clear of a focus, and for that reason I as a viewer couldn't figure out what to latch onto.  There are some other Anime from this series I haven't tried yet, one could prove relevant to another subject I want to talk about (a subject Umineko would also be relevant to).

Then there is YU-NO an Anime I've talked about a few times already, but only me it seems, I don't know what fans of that VN think of the 2019 Anime because none of them make YouTube videos.  It's source material is one of the first VNs with a truly Epic and Ambitious story to it, it was influential yet the West never got the memo on it.