[NEWS] OMORI Manga Adaptation In the Works - My Thoughts

What even.

https://twitter.com/OMORI_GAME/status/1727341175911198780

So, there's apparently going to be an Omori manga adaptation and I'm quite interested in that! What are they gonna be doing? How are they gonna do it? Will this be any good? Am I gonna get my delicious Sunny X Aubrey scenes in grorious nippon styre or will this lean more into Sunny X Basil? Who's writing this thing?

No really, who's writing this thing is an important question.

I'll get back to that, but generally yeah, I'm excited for this. Even if it's bad, it's sure to be interesting. This almost doesn't feel real, are we actually doing this? I mean, cool, yeah, no that's cool but what? Huh? I kinda joked to myself about something like this happening and yet at the same time, I almost felt like it was going to. Omocat originally wanted it to be a graphic novel, but eventually kept having so many good ideas she realized would work best in a game so set out to make one instead. It was also generally inspired by seinen manga, even though the biggest one that people still say it's similar too is something it clearly veered away from at some point in development. So it makes sense we're getting a manga adaptation now, and that it's seinen. We've come full circle. That alone is enough to pique my interest.

But there is a problem. Or, problems.

The first is what my friend pointed out, though this isn't as much of an issue for me. This will inevitably make the fanbase worse, just like anime onlys make the fanbase worse with manga adaptations. I'm sorry btw, I don't read a lot of manga and am usually an anime only, though I don't participate in wider fandom discussion, I rarely even discuss individual episodes. I can assure you I'm not part of the problem... or maybe I am, because more people like me need to discuss it to help the fandom correct itself. But fandoms can't correct themselves, they'll always be shit. It's just a fact of life. This is why this part isn't an issue, the fanbase is already fucking god awful. Ironic that it really is becoming seinen, since so many of the fans are mentally ill teenagers. I fucking hate it, I hate sharing a love for this game with these people, or rather I did and I've just made my peace with this. Omori fans are extremely cringe, if they aren't "headcanoning" characters some form of "LGBT", they're going on puritan crusades like harassing japanese fanartists who draw the cleanest and safest fanart for following some guy who follows some guy that does Omori rule 34. They generally just misunderstand the game and argue with each other over ships too which is, I guess par for the course with fandoms these days... as if the other two things weren't.

So really, they can't get any worse. If anything, this manga stands a higher chance of improving the fanbase of the game honestly, than it does somehow making it worse. Though I wonder if people who've never played it will understand what makes it good, depending on how they adapt it.

That's the second thing I'm worried about, really it's something that friend pointed out too. The part where it says it's "for old fans and new fans" rubs me the wrong way a bit. That either means they're going to make a straight or expanded adaptation that just also has little fanservicey elements, or they're actually making an original story that "pays homage" to the one fans like while trying to cater to a brand new audience. And I really don't want it to be the latter.

The former would work just fine, despite what I've seen some of these Omori fans say. They're vastly overstating how much Omori relies on being a video game to tell it's story. It's not undertale where it's telling a story that not only has elements in the forefront that wouldn't work in something else, but tells a metanarrative underneath that relies on it being a game. And honestly I wouldn't call undertale unadaptable either, I just think there's no point there as the exact story it's telling only really works in a game. Omori on the other hand can really tell the exact story it is, without being a game. It's the experience of Omori that can't be adapted into another medium, the storyline of the game would work in another, what we know as "Omori" would not, but that's true of anything. Books are not films, no matter how 1:1 you adapt one into a movie it can't ever be the same thing, it's a different experience and the story will always feel different as a book than as a movie because they both use different methods of conveyance. Omori uses being a video game to convey it's story in ways other mediums couldn't, but plenty of books do as well. Doing that isn't the same thing as telling a story that could only be told in that medium, that's something quite different though even more impressive. I think the problem is that Omori leverages itself being a game to make it's story more impactful.

An example is that when Sunny attacks Aubrey with his knife, in the game it has a lot of weight because you've been playing for so long, mindlessly swinging that knife at enemies in his dreams just as he has. You do the same to Aubrey, not even considering it, and she reacts realistically to being attacked with a knife. You're no longer in the dream world but you're so used to it you didn't think about it, just like he did. You realize, oh shit, the real world doesn't work like that at the same time the character does. There's a big contrast to how dream world battles and real world battles work, which is an interesting and notable thing that kind of highlights one of the points it's trying to make. This is something that's easy to do in a different medium, it'd be easy to show the contrast between real world and dream world fights by having the former be more grounded, and showing Sunny's out of it and his realization he really is back in the real world by simply showing him thoughtlessly attack Aubrey and be shocked by his own actions. It works perfectly fine, same thing is conveyed, but something is definitely lost there. You're understanding that for him, but you aren't getting any of it for you. That's where Omori's strengths lie, the fusion of Sunny and the Player, his story becoming yours. Sunny isn't a blank slate self-insert, but the line is blurred and you are meant to step into his shows. That's the reason the game's narrated in second person. And a lot of the story's impact, and whether or not you accept or even care about it's good ending, hinges on you properly placing yourself in his shoes and being immersed. The story works without the player, but it just doesn't work as well. 

That's something I'm concerned for if it's a straight adaptation, that people reading the manga won't understand what makes the game good. Then again, like half of Omori fans clearly only watched a let's play or something. Hell maybe not even that, wouldn't be surprised if they were those "read the wiki" types. So who knows? 

I do want it to be a straight adaptation though. An expanded one, rather. Omori, by it's design and structure, needs to stick to Sunny like glue. He needs to be the perspective character the entire time, because you need to become him and feel like this is happening to you for the story to work as well as it does. But that's out the window in a manga adaptation. Not to mention, much of the gameplay segments can be cut out because it's gameplay, meaning there is now way more room to flesh out the characters more. So what I think they should do, is take advantage of the new medium by cutting away from Sunny sometimes and showing the other characters when not dealing the scenes they're in during the game. It's notable that Hero is a little underdeveloped because he's only there for 1.5 of the 3 real world days, and while I think Basil is quite well developed for his amount of screen time... he doesn't have enough screen time, I think. Some people feel Aubrey's arc is a little rushed, and I do kind of agree it skipped a couple steps, so we could actually alleviate that by showing her when she isn't on screen in the original game. I'm of the mind that what's being said to her is actually getting to her despite what she's saying. I think her wall was getting broken down with each encounter and she was simply too stubborn and keeping up an act, I could be reading too much into it or it could be too subtle. So let's either make that more overt or add it in wholesale by showing her thoughts when for example, she's throwing away the photo album. An improvement whether I'm right or not, I'd say. That's how I see her, but I admit the game has a bit of rough way of showing that, which could be smoothed out in an adaptation. And you can show more of her relationship with her new friends, which is primarily a tell instead of show situation in-game. In fact, it's an opportunity to fix all tell instead of show issues with the game, which there are a few of. And the expanded stuff from post-release can be added, like we could see the events in the calendar art at some point for example. Work in that Aubrey birthday celebration comic, for example, that works really well for showing Aubrey's relationship with her new friends. Show more of Hero, maybe what he's doing when he's coming to Faraway Town on the days he's not there. Add in some more scenes with Basil, it might be tough since he's keeping spoilers contained within him but you could find a way. There's tons of stuff you could do to make up for what's lost in impact with the medium switch, that'd be a good way to give old fans what they want while making it work for new fans too!

But what I'm most worried about is if it does the other thing. Hey look, I like Final Fantasy VII Remake and all that but I don't want everything to do the same kind of thing. I think in this era of endless remakes and sequels, FF7R being a combination of both actually justifies it's existence. It's doing something actually interesting and I don't know where it's gonna go and what it's gonna do. And the FF7 storyline was already fucked beyond belief by the Compilation, this is the best stuff to come out of it basically ever so I don't care. The sanctity of the original game was dead for a long time, I actually think this one's more respectful of it. So I obviously don't think everything should be this meta reimagining that plays around with fan expectations. Recently, the Scott Pilgrim anime turned out to be The Ramona Flowers Show. Scott dies(turns out he was not dead) and Ramona becomes the protagonist for the whole show and then at the end Scott has seen what she's been through and spontaneously grew as a person so that's his character arc. If I was a fan of Scott Pilgrim, which I'm not because I have taste, I'd be pissed. Someone with a transgender flag in their name on twitter said they hope it does something like that, and then I blocked that person. I would be so fucking pissed if that's what this was. I can't even imagine how bullshit it'd be if Sunny got sidelined so that the story could be about Aubrey the whole time and him just watching from off screen or some shit is what causes him to [spoilers] at the end. Like I can see how you'd do that and it'd be even worse.

I doubt it would be that bad but regardless I don't want it to deviate strongly from the original. I want it to tell the same base story even if it expands beyond just what it was in the game. I don't want a different protagonist or for the plot to go in a different direction. I don't want the original ideas for the story adapted either. I wanna see this story translated into the manga medium, for it to utilize the manga medium to tell the story, and to take opportunities to expand on and clarify things about the original story. Maybe this time, no one will get confused about parts of the twist and they can stop misunderstanding things. Half of the arguments for why the twist or the protagonist sucks are built on false premises. Potentially it could be a better told version of the story in some regards, I'm of the mind the game's story works as well as it does because of what I've mentioned, and wouldn't be as good if not a game. 

Which is probably how it's gonna turn out. I imagine it'll just be a good and cool little adaptation of the story at best. Really, the guy doing it's a total newbie and I mean it's not like Omocat's really a master storyteller, like I'm pretty sure the game's only so good due to divine providence as just one thing being off could have unraveled the whole thing in my mind. I don't know if she's writing it, or if the guy is. She probably knows how best to translate her story into another medium, but some third party might not. That's a worry too, will whoever's writing this know how? Do they even understand the story enough? Even straight adaptations can end up fucking bad and bastardizing the source material, obviously.

But I don't think that's going to happen either. I think it's probably just gonna be fine, and worth my time at least. I'm interested in seeing what's done and how it's done, and trying to gauge how good of a job it was. And, just seeing how he draws the other characters and scenes and shit. That's gonna be neat. Also, seriously yeah I hope I get more Sunny X Aubrey fodder here, like I have my reasons for shipping them but the naysayers saying the scenes between them aren't great evidence are correct, like I don't interpret the swingset scene as romantic even if I think it's cute and I like that it shows she really cares about him, so you know maybe you guys could throw us a bone or two and put in some good ship tease scenes? Like absolutely make sure to adapt the part where they glance at each other and then quickly look away when reading the comic books in Hobeez. It's okay if you wanna put in more fujobait scenes between him and Basil like I don't hate that stuff honestly you know I'm just saying don't forget us too, okay?

No but seriously, I'm looking forward to seeing what this is. Maybe if it isn't a straight adaptation it could still be a good story? I don't know, but I hope it is, and if it is, I'm looking forward to seeing it in a new medium and I do think that it could end up being a pretty cool translation. An interesting way to experience the story, at the very least.

And regardless of if it's good or bad or what it does to the fanbase, it's definitely really cool that this is a thing. 

Thanks for reading this rambling mess, if you did!

EDIT:

I just realized the manga's going to have to contend with Sunny being a silent protagonist. He can't simply never say or think anything throughout the whole manga, or rather it'd be a missed opportunity if he did. Him being is a sort of reverse-self insert situation, where normally something like this is so you can project onto him, mold him to yourself, and have the game be your story. But the purpose here is, while still being to put yourself in his place, is to force you to experience his story, as if it were your own. 

But again, since it's not a game and that isn't really going to work, or has no real point in a non-interactive medium(does anyone actually LIKE reading about or watching audience insert characters? I can tell you that's not what the LITERALLY ME pantheon is made up of), there's no reason to go with that an in fact it's a good excuse to not. We can make Sunny a much more defined character than in the game, and really give him a more solid arc than we could have in the game. How Sunny is works well for the experience the game wants, but since you can't get that same experience in a manga, it'd be best to go for a more traditional writing style for his character here and could potentially expand upon it.

Ideally, he should keep his canonical quiet nature, but have a lot of inner monologues. Omocat's said that he's meant to be someone who's always thinking. How I view the Sunny in the game is someone who's thinking about everything that's happening to him and his friends, making decisions and steeling himself, feeling disappointed in himself when he isn't able to do anything, etc. I think it'd be great if they gave him comprehensive reactions to the plot and a more obvious and defined character arc, and I think that would work best for the manga. After all, it's easier to accept things in the game since you and Sunny are one, and the game's trying to lead you to feel and think in a certain vein. You're thinking "Well obviously I gotta tell the truth and redeem myself for this." or "Obviously I gotta save Basil.", but what happens in the game might really miss the mark if it's done by a character who's thoughts and feelings we never see. 

Though again, plenty of people are fine with lets plays... regardless, that's what I want and think would be good for the story. The only worry I have is if my interpretation and the mangaka's interpretation of Sunny are too different, but if it is that could still be interesting and if it isn't then it'll make for a great iteration of the character.