Watching Vs. Reading

I just signed up for Netflix once again, and on the top of my rental list was some of the anime series of whose manga series I've read. First one up was Ai Yori Aoshi, the story of a young couple who were promised to each others as kids and now must sort out their feelings as grownups.

One of the first things that struck me was the seeming slow pace of watching the same stories as I've read. What took me 10 minutes or less to read, takes a half hour on screen. It was startling to realize how much faster I can take in information when in comic form, rather than on video.

A plus for it is that it was nice to hear how the names are actually pronounced, and the music is just beautiful despite not understanding the words. The movement is a plus too, as it lets you know what exactly some scenes that seemed sort of disjointed in comic form, were meant to be about. The cooking scene especially was enjoyable to watch as well for the details behind the making of some of the dishes.

I'm not sure if I would watch more, since it is basically the same story done over. Yet it was certainly an interesting experience. If for nothing else but to realize what a great means comics can be to quickly provide information to a reader.