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

lol I realized this is a novelupdates forum, so the answers are probably biased . But I do agree with most of you. Maybe our imagination is just too good, or the drama just cannot show the internal thoughts of the characters.

Dramas also take so long. I've noticed I lack the patience. Reading a chapter may only take 5-10 minutes, but watching an episode can take 45-1.5hr!!!

 

Definitely reading because it only depends on liking the story/plot, characters, and the writing. Your imagination can fill in whatever is needed or wanted according to your own preference.

Dramas depend on so many more things like script, actors and cast chemistry, production, visuals, pacing, etc. So many ways for it all to go wrong. You’re at the mercy of others’ interpretations and visions.

That said there’s a place for dramas. When I generally like the concept of the story but the writing isn’t up to par then there’s an opportunity for dramas to do better. Or I like most of the novel but there is something major that ruined or tainted the whole story, I would give the drama a chance if there are changes.

 

I don’t really like Chinese dramas because they tend to drag in the middle. Every drama series is around 50-60 episodes, when really it could be cut-down to around 25 episodes. Besides, I read faster than people act.

 

Steps to follow when the novel you read gets a live action
1 . Read the novel
2 . See the drama
3 . Compare

 

I would say, I like both. Sometimes I want to build the world I am becoming a part of. Sometimes I want to see the world. Just depends the events of the story.

 

reading is a way to immerse yourself in it and the imagination you build depends on the situation as personally I think reading is good because human behaviour tends to imagine what it likes and struggles to imagine what it hates so generally people tend to struggle when the anime they like does not match and crosses a certain threshold in betraying your expectations so it would actually be good if the anime
creators understands this but still for them to do this is quite hard (you will understand this if you ever tried animate cc) so i think the anime creators are not bad but personally i love reading please dont take this in a negative way

 

reading, my imagination is more vast than a movie lol, I'm being honest here though, and reading has more details (like facial reaction, detailed emotions, their thoughts, feelings and etc) than a movie, drama or anime counterpart, and yep they don't have cutted scenes.

 

On originally looking at this thread the answer seemed to be that reading was obviously superior to watching the show. But on closer reflection, I don't think that it's so clear cut. I'm watching a show right now that's based on a book, and I think the show is actually superior to it. The book was written over a very long period of time and it has a lot of tonal issues. On the other hand the show fully understands that it's a comedy and this allows it to be much more consistent.

Other things that can affect the equation is that you can have great sets and costumes and performances that elevate the show to being better than source material. Another way to look at it is by posing the question - "would you prefer to watch a Marvel movie or read the comic book it's based on?" Similarly, I've watched the Konosuba anime and it's full of such great touches that I can't imagine it'd be worth the bother to read the book.

There are a few which are super close to the source. Some of them even have the original author as the main writer.

 

All readers are readers only if they can do this I my opinion.

No offense but I surmise your imagination is too low.

 

Wow everyone wants to read only! Shows that it is a novel forum

 

That's a good way of looking at it~

While I personally prefer the original source for most anime/manga/novel, I never touched Marvel Comics, yet I do watch the movies regularly as they are released~

Sometimes the adaptation can really make the original work shine~

 

It is very much an individual thing ( not referring just to people here, but the works themselves).

I have a friend who prefers watching anime while I prefer manga. In his case, he does read a few like One Piece ( instead of the anime where he left off during Marineford War Arc and never continued so far) for example.

I agree with @ToastedRossi on Konosuba. Love the anime, sadly the novel doesn't get me not even near as excited and I didn't get far.

Some things have been just made so much it's not a simple split anymore. Dracula has a novel inspired by a warlord who lived in times of Turkish invasions and was known for cruelty, the novel version was a vampire
( Stoker didn't bother with much "cleaning" his sources and tropes so out comes a cool, but not accurate book be it historically or towards Slavic vampire stories), and later there are movies, games, comics,........

If you ask me to pick which is the best to me, I couldn't do it.

I loved seeing Mel Brooks comedic take by making Leslie Nielsen play Dracula, got scared shitless ( was a kid back then ) seeing the Coppola take, was enormously entertained with Castlevania portrayal ( his prebattle speech to Richter in Symphony of the Night as first contact, the many reimaginings of the titular Castle being a living demonic maze, the story of why Belmonts and other protags like Morris and Shanoa fought him,....), found it ridiculous when Batman somehow met him ( just no), and found it well thought out how Dracula schemed everyone in the Librarian 3: Curse of the Judas Chalice and why he had to do it and what made the titular chalice so important ( more to the point, never seeing the movie made me watch in curiosity cause Judas claim to fame are the 30 pieces of silver ).

And as a character is very much active today because previous takes make content creators want to realize their own ideas.

Then you have things where they would have long fallen into niche or even forgotten status if it were not for stubborn traditionalists keeping them alive. Sufferings of Young Werther should be burnt with how hazardous they are for one's mentality ( especially giving them to teenagers to read. Damn, do you want people to suicide?),
language drifts separating you from works written centuries ago which could have been adjusted for people not keen on reading, but nah, here's 7 dictionaries and a thesaurus, have fun looking up every other word for the next month.

So it's not as simple as reading vs watching. The crucial bit is execution. Book, movie, game,... as long as it evokes a wanted response and the consumer is satisfied with it, that's a win win situation.

 

I prefer reading first because you get more insight and emotionally involved. I don't mind watching dramas if it is done right.

 

It's always reading first before watching for me. Usually, the novel can portray emotions, motivations, and behaviors better than the drama. There are usually some changes in the drama adaptation too, so it's better for me to know the original. Still, if the novel is interesting, I'd probably watch the adaptation too (to later complain about the differences and changes).

 

I prefer reading the novel, but only because I dislike seeing live actions/real people on the TV. If it was an anime vs. novel question... I'd pick the anime!

 

The novel. I can binge read a novel for hours on end, but my attention span is really lacking when it comes to film.

 

True. Also, watching the movies is often a disappointment compared to my imagination.

Reading rules!

 

Definitely reading. It has a lot of more details, depth and I can imagine the characters however I want. Dramas may be ruined because of bad casting, acting, and so on...