Ask John: Are Original Anime Inherently More Creative?

Question:
Do you think that anime shows that are completely original (as in, not based off of any pre-existing work) show more creativity than anime based off of pre-existing works like manga, novels, or videogames?

Answer:
There’s probably an instinctive tendency to assume that original works are inherently more creative or artistic than adaptations, but personal experience has forced me to avoid relying on that presumption. I’ve encountered uninspired original anime productions as well as magnificent ones. There are undeniably anime adaptations that make little effort to develop their own artistic credibility, just as I’ve seen adaptations that have excelled at developing an independent identity and integrity.

Despite being enjoyable, the Dragon Ball anime is far from original. The Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z anime are both virtual shot for shot renditions of Akira Toriyama’s original manga. So most of the entertaining qualities of the Dragon Ball anime come from the original manga rather than from the animation itself. The Dragon Ball anime is enjoyable because the original Dragon Ball manga was enjoyable.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, the adorable and charming Risky Safety anime was based on an original manga by Rei Omishi, but the anime has almost no similarity the original manga. For the Risky Safety anime, director Kouji Masunari took the primary three characters from Rei Omishi’s manga then created his own themes and story around them. Even the most fundamental concepts of the Risky Safety anime – that Risky and Safety share a single body, and that they’re both only a few inches tall, are concepts which anime director Kouji Masunari devised. A more familiar example is director Mamoru Oshii’s theatrical film adaptations of Masamune Shirow’s Ghost in the Shell manga. Ghost in the Shell and Innocence may be based on Shirow’s original concept, but both films are clearly Oshii’s.

Other Mamoru Oshii created anime including Angel’s Egg and Twilight Q Part 2, Gainax’s Wings of Honneamise, Gunbuster, FLCL, and Gurren Lagann, director Makoto Shinkai’s Voices of a Distant Star, Place Promised in Our Early Days, and Byosoku 5cm, and anime series including Tenchi Muyo, Nadesico, Noein, Samurai Champloo, Kurau ~Phantom Memory~, and Eureka Seven provide ample evidence of excellent artistic productions created specifically as anime.

However, there are also original anime productions like Onegai Teacher, Code-E, Ultimate Girls, Madlax, and El Cazador that substantiate the principle that not all original anime productions are especially artistic, unique, or even good. The theory that original works are inherently more creative than adaptations can be a useful guideline used in approaching new works, but it shouldn’t be allowed to dominate or replace legitimate critique of new works on a case-by-case basis. All anime involves some degree of artistic creativity, so originality should be evaluated not on a title’s pedigree, but rather on the innate characteristics of the show itself. There’s no singular rule about the artistic content of anime that applies universally to all anime. There are original titles that make little effort to distinguish themselves or avoid cliché. There are adaptations of earlier works that exhibit a great deal of the animation staff’s personal interpretation of the work.