There are two types of well-regarded manga adaptations. Some are 1:1 accurate, but because of that, people can't justify watching it over reading it. Others are faithful to the source material, but add in their own content to propel the concept to greater heights. The To Your Eternity adaption belongs to the second category, especially thanks to that incredible opening music. This adaptation wasn't "hyped-up" that much, but a niche group of people excitedly awaited its release
But, there are still a few minor aspects that the manga manages to do better in this supernatural "slice-of-life" type series. Let’s take a look at them in order to help fans make their own decisions on the best format to experience this story.
10 The Manga Is More "Empty", Which Can Be A Good Thing
With someone like Yoshitoki Oima at the helm (author of A Silent Voice), fans know ahead of time that To Your Eternity will be an emotional roller-coaster. In the manga, Yoshitoki’s paneling style helps push these impactful and emotional moments. She focuses on the characters or a specific action, using minimal detail for backgrounds.
When something big happens, it usually happens in a white void, showing that this moment is the only thing of importance right now. The anime doesn't use this nearly as much.
9 The Manga's Scenery Feels More "At Peace"
Because manga is a silent art form, detail, composition, and paneling are all the mangaka has to illustrate peaceful moments. Yet, these moments tend to feel stronger on paper than they do in motion.
For example, when Fushi travels from the snowy wasteland to Ninannah in the anime, there are the sounds of the blizzard, then sounds of nature once he reaches the forest. Viewers can hear flowing water, birds, or Fushi's footsteps through the grass and snow. In the manga, readers imagine these sounds while taking in Oima’s beautiful environmental illustration. Human imagination almost always beats out being "shown" something.
8 The Manga Plays With Angles & "Camera Lenses" More
To Your Eternity's anime adaptation by Brain’s Base has been fantastic in almost every way, especially in terms of the action. The series is becoming a fantastic gateway for newcomers to the medium. But, the animation team have made some decisions about scene composition that aren’t as impactful as they were in the manga.
For example, when Parona is tied to a tree as Oniguma attacks her captors, the angle in the manga represents the chaos in the scene. There's a bit of proportion distortion in this panel as well, which only further pushes the idea of Oniguma's size and the terror Parona feels. In the anime, the angle of this scene is much more “head-on”, and just shows how big Oniguma is compared to Parona.
7 More Fine Details In The Art
This point applies to almost any anime based on a manga series. For the majority of adaptations, the anime will always be less detailed in the number of lines or overall complexity compared to the manga (though Uzumaki looks pretty accurate so far). Obviously, this is because anime requires drawing an absurd amount of frames, while the mangaka just has to draw the image once.
Because mangaka don’t have to worry about animating illustrations, they can make each drawing as detailed as they want. For the most part, the To Your Eternity adaptation is as close as fans could hope. Yet, there are moments where the gap in detail is noticeable and takes away from the scene's impact.
6 Telling More Of The Story In Less Time & Images
Manga compositional skills and anime compositional skills are two completely different paths. Anime studios usually work with their compositions in a 16:9 ratio, or 4:3. Meanwhile, mangaka have to think about the compositions of multiple images on a page that measures about 353mm by 250mm, or a 1.412 to 1 ratio.
Thus, the way they think about illustrating an event is completely different. A lot of To Your Eternity's manga panels feel claustrophobic or hyper-zoomed in on the characters, especially compared to the anime. That said, the compositions of these panels are fantastic, and the manga can use the actual layout of panels on the page as another method of storytelling.
5 Characters Are Slightly Less "Dolled-Up"
Most of these comparisons have been pretty slight, as most differences between the anime and manga are surprisingly small. This one takes the cake as the slightest change so far. Some of the characters in the manga look “rougher” on average, especially after difficult situations. Meanwhile, these same characters in the anime look "pretty" or "handsome" throughout.
The best example is when Parona breaks everyone out of the Yanome prison. She stayed up all night, almost fell to her death, was assaulted by a soldier, had to kill that soldier, orchestrated a jailbreak, stole a horse-drawn cart, and is now defending against arrows by using body armor like a shield. Seriously, Parona is one of the most capable female characters seen in anime for awhile. Rightfully, in the manga, she looks pretty rough. But in the anime, she looks the same as always.
4 The Violence Has A Bigger Impact
There’s something about the harsh black-and-white contrast in manga that gives more impact to violence and gore. When a character gets messed up in any manga series, the parts of their body covered in blood basically lose all detail, and are hard to differentiate between from their clothes or hair.
This conveys the idea that the person is so hurt, they're starting to look less human. Being able to recreate this in anime is a huge achievement, and something only the best horror anime manage to pull off. But in most other anime, it doesn’t have the same effect. Take the instance where Hayase gets beaten when Fushi is rampaging in Yanome. It's close, but not quite as striking.
3 The Manga Has More Time For Smaller Moments
There haven’t been a lot of instances of the To Your Eternity anime cutting content from the manga. In fact, more often than not, this adaptation actually adds new material. But as time goes on and more characters show up, they have been condensing and cutting little moments to save time. In the printed format, mangaka don't have to worry about cutting these small moments.
For example, in the anime, Fushi tries to cook for everyone while Gugu is gone. He messes up badly, then tries again by adding way too much salt. When it comes to this scene, the manga gives the reader context for why he even thought to add salt. It feels small, but it gives both Fushi and Rean that much more characterization.
2 The Manga Isn't Bound To The Same "Visual Language" Rules
As previously mentioned, the anime adaptation of To Your Eternity does have some slight style changes in terms of character design or visual language. The anime is going for a more “realistic” feel in general. There are no exaggerated smears to show characters swinging their arms fast, and no “empty” iris in a character's eyes when they learn something surprising.
Look at the comparison above from Parona’s flashback when she finds out her sister died for her. In the manga, her pure white eyes give a clear indication of her immediate understanding of what happened. It also conveys her mind literally "going blank" from immediate grief. In the anime, she just shows childish surprise and sadness.
1 There's No "Stimulation" Shiver In The Manga
The animation team made a certain choice in regards to Fushi learning and growing. Throughout the story, the Beholder (Fushi’s creator) talks about how stimulation and new experiences are the most important thing for Fushi’s advancement. In the manga, readers must make their own assumptions about what experiences contribute to Fushi’s advancement, and by how much.
Meanwhile, the anime decided to visually demonstrate when something "stimulates" Fushi, at least in his wolf form. This is shown through Fushi getting a “shiver” throughout his wolf body. It's inoffensive, but it does feel like a change was made under the assumption that the audience wouldn’t understand the concept otherwise.