You know, I can't stand people who judge an alternative work against what the original provided for us. For example, the people who don't accept the Evangelion manga because it's not the same as the anime. Or, people who don't accept the (first) Full Metal Alchemist anime because it doesn't EXACTLY follow the manga. I just don't get these people. Why would you want to see the same characters do the same thing? Just accept the ADAPTATION as a different medium and move on. You should be happy you get to see the characters you love do something different, so long as they act as you think they should act in those altered situations.
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Note: This spoiler has nothing to do with the Haruhi series. Rather it is an example from 'Full Metal Panic!' of a charcter acting out of character. If you have seen up to episode three of the anime AND read volume one of the FMP! novel, then you can read this in confidence that nothing will be spoiled.
A perfect example of a character acting as they normally wouldn't is in the 'Full Metal Panic!' anime. In episode two of the anime, Sosuke is tracking someone in a cafe who, to him, appears to be a terrorist bent on killing Kaname (Kaname is also in the cafe). The man he is tracking is sitting at on a bar stool and has a briefcase at his feet. Being overly paranoid, Sosuke believes the briefcase is a bomb. And yet, when the man gets up to exit the cafe, it's Kaname who first notices that the "terrorist" left his briefcase behind. ...what the hell? The anime was the first adaptation of FMP! that I was exposed to... but even then, this tripped my 'this is obvious bullshit' radar immediatly. I mean, Sosuke was tracking the guy and EVEN MADE NOTE OF HIS BRIEFCASE! Wouldn't you think that'd be the FIRST thing he noticed!? ... ... ...
Ughhh...
I'm sorry you had to deal with my random FMP! rant, but this really is one of the best "character acting out of character" examples I've got...(obviously, things happen differently in the novel).
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...I hate this manga. I don't hate it because it's plot deviates from the light novels. I hate it because Kyon doesn't act like Kyon.
Let me explain. To the Haruhi series, Kyon is the genre breaker. This series is billed as "Comedy, Romance, School Life, and Shounen" (plus more and shounen isn't really a genre, but we'll stick to these). As the main character, Kyon simply does not fit these genres. He breaks them. With his sarcastic demeanor and passive take on the absurd abnormalities around him, he makes these genres new and fresh. Why do you think the Haruhi series is so damn popular? All the other characters are more than interesting, but Kyon is the only true genre breaker; the one that adds something we don't normally see.
And yet this manga changes Kyon into a stereotypical Shounen character. After I read the first three chapters, it almost made me want to puke. It wasn't because the story was different, like I said, I welcome an alternate take on things. However, if a character doesn't act like I think they should in this alternate reality, it'll piss me off.
Now, maybe I'm being short-sighted. I'll try to re-read volume one and see if I can accept this alternate story. If someone can throw me a bone and tell me if Kyon starts to act like Kyon again, that'd be great. In the meantime, I will not rate this manga, as I feel my opinion of it may be slightly bias. And as I said, there's nothing worse than those who judge something based on the expectations of the original work.
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