Can I talk for a moment about visual storytelling, cause, I feel like it’s something that a lot of adaptations forget about in lieu of trying to replicate their source material.
It’s a problem you see most often in anime derived from manga or light novels, but it’s also present in movies based on YA novels, and you gotta know what I’m talking about, start on black, opening narration, fade in as the main character explains the world and environment. This works in a book since the reader can’t see anything, they need the specifics of the world explained, but it feels like the movies are just like “well it worked for the book, it’ll work for us right?
I’d say it’s worse in anime, where characters will go on long internal soliloquies trying to explain their thought processes and complex emotions, which again, works for the manga, in a manga movement is very expensive, every single motion requires it’s own panel, which takes up the artist’s time, printed space, and a moment in the narrative, so it’s important to only show what absolutely needs to be shown. But animation is different, it’s all movement and the details are what sells it more than the dialogue.
The reason I wanted to make this post is because of one scene in One Punch Man that perfectly exemplifies how to translate a written thought process into visual storytelling. After getting punched to the moon (err, spoilers), Saitama has this thought process
and it’d be easy to translate that entirely literally in the anime, Saitama crouches, has an internal monologue as he tries to figure out how much force he needs to put into his jump, and then he launches. Instead though, the scene is done completely silently, to sell the fact that he’s in space, but the thought process isn’t removed, it’s just show visually.
He throws a bit of moon rock to gauge the moon’s gravity, then launches, it’s a much more thoughtful approach to the scene and the audience’s ability to interpret visual information.
I just, really wish more adaptations realized the inherent strength of the visual medium instead of relying entirely on the source material’s structure and reliance on its own medium.
You guys… Fubuki comments on Saitama living near a bunch of toxic waste in the webcomic. Even Genos comments on it being an abandoned industrial area.
….what if Saitama thinks all he did was train to get powers but really it was living next to a bunch of chemical run off from some lab or the monster association lmfao. Like the training literally did nothing he just thinks it did
*Saitama takes Genos down to the industrial waste site*
“Sensei there are warnings posted…”
“lol that’s why we’re jumping the fence, come on, it’s fun”
“…”
“Here it is! The pond I used to go swimming in all the time. Let’s go skinnydipping, Genos.”
“SENSEI THIS WATER IS LITERALLY GLOWING GREEN.”
“Yeah, isn’t it pretty?! It’s a shame, it used to be brighter.”
“Help me catch some fish Genos! We’ll fix em for dinner!”
“Sensei, these fish have six eyes…”
“Yeah weird huh? But they taste great!”
“They have four legs!!”
“Those are the best part!!”
“Sensei, since you’ve started swimming in that.. um… ‘pond’ again, I’ve become concerned for your health…”
“Why, Genos? It’s good exercise.”
“Yes, but you’re growing gills.”
“What’s wrong with that? They help me swim!”
“It isn’t normal, Sensei!”
“Genos…” -tsk, tsk- “I thought I told you before… The greatest thing about human beings is the ability to change ourselves!”
“MUTATIONS. YOU’RE THINKING OF MUTATIONS.”
“If this is the key to senseis power… Yes I too then will… *goes into pond* *sinks* *has no effect on him because he is a cyborg and made of metal*”
Remember when we were joking about Saitama getting his powers from swimming in radioactive water?
(ﾉ´ヮ´)ﾉ✧ 