Manga Notes: Harukana Receive 1-2

With "I like the way it looks" a simple explanation (at least at first glance) for why I've stayed interested in anime and manga for so long, there's some significance to a belief I've developed that when looking at manga series and the anime adapted from them, the manga will have better-looking character artwork. Colour, motion, and sound in all forms do add something to the experience for me, but most often if I start reading a manga before hearing it's to be turned into anime I'll stick with that version in print, and if I do start with the anime I'll keep from looking at the manga until its adaptation is over and I have to continue the story in a new media, so as to "not diminish that first experience while I'm having it."

Having admitted a big part of why I took interest in the beach volleyball anime Harukana Receive was "beach volleyball seems a better excuse than many to have its young female characters in swimsuits" (although I wouldn't say that wound up the only reason I kept watching it), knowing the manga it had been based on was starting to be published over here in synchronicity with the "simulcasts" stuck in my mind. When the first volume didn't show up in the local bookstore right when I was expecting it to, I made a special order; however, once I had the volume I put it aside to wait until the anime was finished. As I waited, though, I happened to see a review of the manga on Anime News Network, and then one in Otaku USA magazine, that both criticized the manga's art and suggested the anime looked better in this case.
( Forming my own opinions )