To read or not to read? - the decision which affects whether you enjoy adapted dramas or movies

Whether you are new to watching Japanese dramas or movies, you will have noticed that the number of dramas and movies adapted from novels and movies is on the rise. And due to this trend, it always makes me wonder: should I read the novel or manga before watching the adaptation?

What led me to write this was due to my viewing of "Aku no Kyoden" in the cinema yesterday. Boy, that was one horrible rollercoaster ride with lots of gore and pardon me for saying this, senseless violence which made me weak and my stomach churning. On hindsight, I should have known that Miike Takashi's movies have a reputation for being generous with gore and stay away from his films because I'm not one who likes and can tolerate such stuff. Then again, hearing good reviews of the original novel by Kishi Yusuke made me curious over how Ito Hideaki can shed his Umizaru-style righteous image to be a psychopath. Bad decision, I must say. More on my review of this movie in another post.

Another instance was a couple of months ago when I watch "Platina Data" in the cinema. This time, I had finished the novel before the screening and was so impressed with it that I hoped that the movie would at least be on par. Sadly, it went the other way but the saving grace was the acting which prevented the movie from being a complete flop. Again, more about this movie in the review which I'm still stuck at because I am having a hard time trying not to bash the movie until I sound like a hysterical freak. I think you can imagine how disappointed I was because I had the urge to leave the cinema when the so-called climax came about.

Of late, I keep wondering. If I had not read the novel/manga prior to watching the adaptation, would it have helped? If this is a situation which can be easily solved by not reading first, I would have done it readily. Unfortunately, that's not the case. If the original is well-structured and engaging, viewers would expect the adaptation to live up to the original's reputation. If the adaptation is going to be largely different from the original, the production crew should have marketed it as "loosely based on" rather than adaptation. When you say "adaptation", people who have read the original and /or are fans will be scrutinising the adaptation to make sure that it gives them the same vibe they got when they read the original. That's why people complain when actors and actresses selected to play roles of such adaptations do not match what's being projected in the original material. That's why they make noise if the execution of the material is slipshod. That's why people kick up a fuss if the ending is different from the original. To put it simply, most fans would want to see a close representation of the original material rather than seek major deviations. If it isn't broken, don't fix it. And if you are going to do a vastly different piece of work but using the same set of characters or background setting, perhaps it will be better to manage expectations by saying that it is merely a loose adaptation.

On the other hand, what if I go in blindly to watch an adaptation and know nothing about the original story? Well, the drama or movie is supposed to be a standalone production in the first place. If there is a prerequisite of the viewers needing to read the original before watching the adaptation, say so earlier. Otherwise, there is no excuse for the adaptation to cut out essential background introductions or information and expect viewers to make sense of the story. I get terribly annoyed when the production crew assumes that people should know what is going on and cuts corners here and there so that they can focus on the parts that they think are important. It alienates between those who are in the know and those who aren't which is totally unfair.

Conversely, there are times when I watched an adaptation first and read the original later. Somehow, I find that this approach works better in a sense because the original usually turns out to be better-structured and engaging. Given that an author can have hundreds of pages to develop his/her story which is squeezed into 2 hours for a movie or 11 or less hours for a drama, the novel/manga has an advantage in winning over viewers than the other way round. However, it just so happens that at times, the adaptation is based on something which I read well before the adaptation was announced e.g. Death Note, Nodame Cantabile and Hachimitsu to Clover, I can't reverse the clock and do anything about it.

Of course, there are times when I think the adaptations are on par with their originals e.g. the movie "Yogisha X no Kenshin" because of Tsutsumi Shinichi and Matsuyuki Yasuko's brilliant acting, Death Note (except for the ending, it is a pretty faithful adaptation), Nodame Cantabile's drama series (very enjoyable for fans of the manga because minor details or seemingly not so important scenes were also included) and Byakuyakou. At least I didn't feel like bashing the adaptations after watching them. It is with the hope of discovering more gems like these that I continue watching adaptations, irregardless of whether I have read the originals or not. I just hope to have better luck in coming across good pieces of work than those which do a huge disservice to their source materials.