Jul 7, 2022
They butchered it. Scenes in the Manga which hit like a truck, hit like a light breeze in this Anime adaptation. Everything is made "cleaner", the dark and gritty aspects and mental battles that Will faces are dumbed down, glossed over and overall unimpactful. The fights are just slideshows, the CGI sucks, the character designs were changed for the worse. As a major fan of the Manga, I honestly wish this anime was never made.
They butchered my boy Will's entire character design, both visually and personality wise. Will straight up looks and feels like an entirely different character to the point that I had (and
...
still have) a hard time believing it's even him. It's not just Will either, they butchered most of the other characters as well, especially Gracefeel.
Spoiler paragraph:
The Manga had one of my most favorite manga scenes of all time, and the anime completely butchered it. When Menel is injured by the Chimera, Will wakes up and is depressed because he realizes he is simply too strong compared to his companions and has been putting too much on them. After that he walks outside to go see Menel and runs into Anna. This is where the Manga and Anime and completely different. In the Anime, Anna is all smiles and congratulates Will for defeating so many monsters and saving Menel's life, then Will walks away looking slightly depressed. In the Manga, Anna is in tears and completely distraught, she yells and hits Will for not saving Menel and letting him get so close to death. She outright blames him for what happened, and says it was his fault, despite him being so strong. This completely mind breaks Will. The art in these few pages is phenomenal and really shows how destroyed Will is mentally. Will becomes crazed and suddenly he has a look on his face that makes him seem like a villain. This scares Anna who starts to apologize profusely but Will just says its ok and walks off with that crazed look. After that he walks into Menels room to see his injuries. This is also where the Anime changes. In the Anime, Menel hardly has a scratch on him, just a few bandages around his torso and head. No cuts, no burns. Nothing. In the Manga, Menel truly looks like he is on the brink of death, all his hair in singed off, his skin is completely burnt and covered in scars. At that point you understand why Anna was so distraught and even angry at Will after seeing Menel in that condition. This scene was so impactful and emotional in the manga, I've read that chapter at least a dozen times and I love it to death. In the Anime it simply feels like nothing, Will doesn't experience or go through that mind breaking experience with Anna and so his motivation and reasoning for wanting to leave on his own just comes across as childish and unthoughtful.
:Spoilers over
Please just read the manga, I promise Will is an extremely well written and likeable character. He is an absolute badass while still being the most humble and realistic "overpowered" isekai character I've ever seen. I even hesitate to call him part of the "overpowered" isekai character trope because in later arcs, his limitations and struggles are very apparent. Will was trained by hero's so he's about as strong as a hero himself, but not all powerful. The hero's in Saihate no Paladin have limits, as seen by Blood/Mary/Gus's backstories and Will can only do what he does because of their training.
As others have pointed out, the opening arc is still the absolute peak of the series but the rest is FAR from being bad. Without getting into spoilers, there are several scenes in the Manga in which it comes very close to its peak. Unlike the Anime, which is all downhill after episode 5.
Reviewer’s Rating: 1
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