You really should see the anime, on which I'm basing the fic. I've read the first volume of the manga, and the tone is very different. In the manga, Miho Obana has blended light drama with a leavening of comedy. In the anime, the mix is the other way around -- it's an almost slapstick comedy through which is occasionally woven a somewhat more dramatic story line. Which is very odd, because the overall plots -- at least as far as the end of volume 1 of the manga, which is all I've seen so far -- are almost identical!
Sana is far, far more hyper in the anime than the manga, and that's a major component in the variance. A large number of almost surreal elements have been blended in, not the least of which is Babbit, the albino bat narrator/greek chorus who takes the place of Miho Obana's authorial notes and ramblings without ever once sounding like her, and who can't seem to decide whether he's inside the story or not. Characters have been broadened or even added -- for example, Mama acts like a major nutcase ("acts" being the pivotal word here), and I don't remember seeing the weeping live-in editor in the manga. Oh, and Miho Obana herself appears in almost every episode, always uttering the immortal line "Uh, um..."
I could go on for a while, but I won't. Don't judge the anime by the manga. They tell the same story, but they tell it in two completely different ways.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
Sana is far, far more hyper in the anime than the manga, and that's a major component in the variance. A large number of almost surreal elements have been blended in, not the least of which is Babbit, the albino bat narrator/greek chorus who takes the place of Miho Obana's authorial notes and ramblings without ever once sounding like her, and who can't seem to decide whether he's inside the story or not. Characters have been broadened or even added -- for example, Mama acts like a major nutcase ("acts" being the pivotal word here), and I don't remember seeing the weeping live-in editor in the manga. Oh, and Miho Obana herself appears in almost every episode, always uttering the immortal line "Uh, um..."
I could go on for a while, but I won't. Don't judge the anime by the manga. They tell the same story, but they tell it in two completely different ways.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.