I've been reading alot more books these days. I guess that's a good thing, even if these novels are actually official translations of Japanese books of which the anime adaptations rank among my favorites. Some of the stuff I've been reading lately include the Berserk graphic novel, The Twelve Kingdom novel (which I have more to say about in another post), and I'm awaiting for the next Kino no Tabi book scheduled to be released in June. But what I want to mention was some things I've observed in Crest of the Stars 2: A Modest War.

Will at Criminally Weird has already touched on some of the observations I had, especially in the attitudes of the characters. And especially with Lafiel and Jinto being forced into anime cliche early on in the animated series. I guess it's because it's much easier to develop a unique character in print form than in animated or even live-action form, there's seem to be a loss of this element during the adaptation to the screen.

What I really noticed after reading the first three chapters (about a quarter of the way through) of Crest of the Stars 2 is Jinto's ego; essentially, the punishment it endures to be saved by someone who is younger, female, and seemingly unflappable in battle! Never mind that he apparently likes this Lafiel, but would probably, at this point, not admit to that. This is a side of Jinto that never existed in the anime, and it results in some irrational outbursts from him and some back-and-forth bickering between Jinto and Lafiel in the novel. Truthfully, I prefer this Jinto over the "nice-guy" anime Jinto. He's really experiencing a culture shock, and produces one of my favorite scenes that I don't remember ever making it into the anime:

"How are you not freaking out over this?" Jinto demanded. "I mean, you blow a fuse at every little thing I say."

The outer edges of Lafiel's eyebrows rose in perfect unison.

"See? I speak and you get mad!"

"Does my composure really bother you that much?"

"No."

"Then what's your problem?"

"Well, it's . . ." Jinto wasn't really sure. Why did Lafiel's calmness unnerve him so completely? The more he thought about it, the more he realized it was his problem, not hers.

Not only did Lafiel's reaction create an amusing situation where Jinto's statement came true, we are also able to peer into Jinto's thoughts about why he's so agitated. The paragraph after this exchange that I didn't include actually reveals why he is this way.

One other observation was how much a certain scene in the anime was played out. It was the scene where Jinto, after just being forced through the vacuum of space when he and the Lyuk Raika (the old man who was Baron Febdash's lander father) escaped from their prison into Lafiel's shuttle. Here, in the anime, Jinto imagines Lafiel running from the cockpit to embrace him in a rather memorable scene, while in the novel, it only got a single sentence to signify it! I always thought that scene in the anime seemed a bit, sudden and dramatic for a dream sequence, but I realize that Jinto's feelings for Lafiel aren't often played out in the early part of the anime, where as in the novel, since much of it is from the perspective of Jinto, this is expressed in much more smaller and subtler ways throughout the first novel and so far in the second novel (up to chapter 3).

Well, I guess the phrase "the book is better" is indeed true in this case. I guess it shouldn't be so much of a surprise, really.