Discussion Do you guys prefer reading the novel or watching the drama?

Hey guys!

Out of curiosity, do you prefer watching a drama based on a novel or do you prefer reading the novel itself?

We have licensed the official translation of Court Lady, and you can read it here if you're interested https://www.wuxiaworld.com/novel/court-lady

The drama is also out and could be watched on youtube with English subs. But personally, I feel like the novel is able to show more emotions that cannot be viewed on the screen.

I may be biased, but if I read the novel first, I always tend to think the novel is better. But if I watched the drama first, reading the novel isn't necessarily better. Maybe the order matters. Does it matter to you?

 

Reading, movies often change or cut out details. I prefer reading as more information is usually given and it feels nicer to me overall.

 

Reading, I can’t stand the story forcibly moving at someone else’s pace (as in, one episode is 30 min to an hour, but the chapters you read depend on your own reading speed) and it’s too easy get distracted while watching a show.

 

Good question. With western series, I would say whatever I get first I enjoy a lot more, but in case of drama, book I would still pick up to see differences and filling on internal narration to better understand characters. Also, on episode time is a lot more flexible, with anywhere between 20ish minites to slightly over an hour making an episode.

With asian dramas, I get fatigued. Obviously, I would like to see more, but each episode is like a movie. An hour is already short and it can be routinely set at over 90 minutes. It's like a movie marathon everytime I wanna see more than 1 episode which causes me to drop them a lot. I finished maybe 3 KR dramas because they had an excellent blend of comedy, drama, serious times,.... and that motivated me enough to push past the mental exhaustion and even enjoy the said dramas till the end.

 

I prefer reading, it just feels like something is always missing when they adapt a novel. Either that or they added too much.

Unless it's an anime, for some reason I like watching the anime first before reading the novel or manhwa

 

I've never been interested in watch live action dramas. I do watch anime or read manga sometimes, and I choose not to read the novel it's adapted from. I prefer reading

 

True.

No matter how good an actor, you just can't read out everything the author wanted to say from someone's face when it comes to more complicated character thinking works, like you can simply read from a book in the first place.

While anime adaptations sometimes do poorly with their screening of the written word, a lot of times they have the intended goal of getting me to read the original manga or novel they were adapted from.

 

I prefer reading because the drama's pacing would be too slow.

 

Dramas tend to cut out a lot of details. Novels on the other hand... Especially all the internal monologuing... And some adaptations did not even respect the source material. Like TKA. Immediately dropped it after ep1... 原汁原味才是最好的

 

Reading. The movies often change things that may become important later in the series...

 

I prefer the original source usually, though there are exceptions.

I prefer Korean Webtoons over Korean Novels for one. I just like the webtoons' pace better... Also, the art is a big deal for me.

I also prefer Madoka Magica's Novel Adaptation over the original Anime, they just did a much better job at it in the novel... But that's more of a specific example over a trend.
On a counterexample, the original Anime of Zombieland Saga was 1000x better than the Manga adaptation. So I think Madoka was more of a unique case than anything.

And I prefer Anime Adaptations over Visual Novels if I haven't played the original VN. Mainly because Animes are short and VNs are long, so watching the anime takes less time... If I already played the VN though, I run away from the anime with all my might.

 

It depends.
Most of the time if I read the novel first, I don’t like the drama adaption that much because they ruin it in a way.. or other multiple reasons like bad cg or makeup.

However when I watch a drama first and enjoy the drama then read novel later I end up enjoying both.

There is one drama I liked and finished but the novel writing style & pacing bored me too, so definitely there are cases where I like drama more than the novel.

But at the moment I push off reading novels if I find out they got a drama adaption. Because at least my expectations are lower that way

 

i prefer reading. i just dont really like watching dramas, i was never the type for that. i watch the drama adaptation for a few episodes, and go back to reading another book because i got bored,,
honestly, i dont really know what i dont like about them,,,

 

I like both, but more often I reading the novel.
But if the story is better than the drama, which is usually most often the case, I do prefer (with any story actually) watching something first and then reading it.

Because it numbs the pain of disappointment a bit after seeing how they messed up in the show and didn't add up to the original story.

 

Oh wow... A big win for reading... I prefer reading because... if the novel mentioned someone to be incredibly good-looking, my mind comes up with a person who fits my definition of incredibly good-looking

 

I prefer reading! For me, the dramas don't always tend to reflect how I imagine the characters are. It also tends to be really time consuming compared to just reading.

 

reading! drama adaptations are honestly hit or miss, and sometimes they add or subtract scenes. you can also pace yourself when reading or binge thru it all in one shot.

i think the best drama adaptations are those who stay true to the source while building on the novel's strengths to make something not quite completely the same, but just as good. hehehe~

 

The day they make a drama true to source, I'll consider changing my vote.

 

Novel~ Cause they can only fit so much detail in the drama

 

I prefer reading because it's have more detail that helps me to understand the story. The drama tends to be different from my imagination or sometimes the drama didn't have a scene that I hope to see.