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Adaptation Expansion / Anime & Manga

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Adaptation Expansion in Anime & Manga.

  • Accel World
    • The anime, in addition to adapting the story from Volume 10 in which Haru meets Aqua Current, also touches on the time near the end of Volume 1 in which Chiyu was still angry with Haru and Taku.
    • The manga occasionally features extra scenes, such as Chiyu and Kuroyukihime having a doubles tennis match against Haru and Taku in order to test how suitable Chiyu is to become a Burst Linker, as well as Rust Jigsaw meeting with Black Vise before the Hermes Cord race.
  • Ace Attorney (2016) is mostly a Compressed Adaptation, several details are expanded upon more than in the games:
    • The first "Turnabout Sisters" episode slightly expands the way Grossberg refuses to defend Maya: he initially agrees to defend her, but he gets a call from Redd White shortly afterwards and is forced to give up.
    • While in the game Phoenix directly goes to Maya after Grossberg refuses to defend her, in the anime, he spends hours trying to find someone willing to take Maya's case. The result is just a notebook with all but two names crossed out; it really helps to bring across a feeling of hopelessness. This act of kindness touches Maya so much that she asks Phoenix to defend her.
    • The list of White's blackmail victims that Mia writes to take him down is more or less expanded in this adaptation. While the detail about his victims committing suicide is removed, the list is shown and stated to be the same piece of evidence that was inside The Thinker. This way, Mia writing that list has slightly more context than in the game, where it came across as a Deus ex Machina to most players.
    • Cody's encounter with Jack Hammer in Steel Samurai suit is a bit different this time around: Instead of Cody's stalking without a word, he eventually appeared and asked for a photo. Hammer actually complied, but got the pose wrong since he was so used to playing the Evil Magistrate. This becomes one of the pieces of evidence Wright uses to deduce that it was Hammer instead of Powers.
    • The anime-original episode "Turnabout Promise" details how the classroom trial started. On the day of the trial, Edgeworth unknowingly dropped his lunch money after Phoenix bumped into him. Larry later found the money in the mouth of a stray dog and, not knowing who it belonged to, gave it to the police. Later that day, while skipping PE due to a cold, Phoenix picked Edgeworth's empty money envelope right when a classmate walked in on him. Ironically, once he gained legal ownership of the money after a three-month waiting period, Larry later used that same money to get himself, Phoenix and Edgeworth the Signal Samurai keychains that symbolized their friendship. The series also goes into detail on how much Edgeworth's actions shaped Phoenix.
  • Angelic Layer adapts a 27-chapter manga into a 26-episode anime, which means that at least half of the stuff that happens in the Anime didn't actually happen in the manga. Several changes include: the reason for Shuko's absence (Anime!Shuko is crippled and wheelchair bound, and avoids seeing Misaki because she sees herself as a useless mother. She and Icchan developed the Angelic Layer to fund the research to build prosthetic legs for herself and others like her. In the manga, Shuko is just an employee under Icchan's company, and apart from her crippling shyness has no real good reason for leaving Misaki), added new rules in the National tournament (i.e. getting a "Second" for each Deus to form a Combat and Support team) and included more rounds. The anime also adds more scenes to develop the characters' relationships during the tournament breaks, including a Beach Episode, which leads to a different pairing of the Official Couple. Overall, these changes seems to be viewed as an improvement, and most fanfic goes with the Anime couples than the manga version.
  • The Assassination Classroom anime rearranges a few of the manga's arcs in order to streamline the flow of the story. It also throws in a few small scenes to give the cast some extra tidbits of characterization. Several of these extra scenes were inspired by the extra bonus content included within the series' volume releases.
  • As the Attack on Titan anime reaches the end of its first season, there is far more scenes original to the anime (some of which Isayama wanted to put in the manga but cut for pacing reasons). These better develop minor characters, add more action and increase the emotional intensity of various events (for example, Episode 22 is almost entirely original content focusing on the aftermath of the Special Ops Squad's deaths). These scenes have been generally well received.
  • Subtly done with Azumanga Daioh, which expands every joke from the original yonkoma-style manga. In many cases, the extra length between setup and punchline actually makes the joke funnier (a key example: the famous "Osaka with a knife" incident is infinitely funnier in the anime because of how long passes before you see the weapon.)
  • The 1960s Batman manga based all of its stories on comics Batman stories of the era, but the increase in length from one or two American comics issues to three or four manga chapters meant that they received significant plot complication as well as decompression.
  • While BlazBlue: Alter Memory is largely a Compressed Adaptation, one episode features Ragna looking after Lambda-11. The episode itself is a modified version of Lambda's gag reel from the second game. Some fans argue that's it one of the (arguably few) good changes in the anime adaptation, as it develops a relationship between Ragna and Lambda and Ragna's reaction when Lambda is killed later on in the story is better justified compared to the games.
  • In addition to a great deal of straight-up filler, the Bleach anime expanded many manga scenes, particularly in flashback sequences. Some of these may have been included to ensure that episodes started and ended at suitable plot points.
    • The flashback episode dealing with Ikkaku and Yumichika's history in the Rukongai before they became Shinigami covers how they first met Kenpachi. The expansion of only a couple of canon manga panels into a full episode has caught out some parts of the fandom who don't realise almost the entire episode is filler and not Canon.
    • This is also especially prevalent in the Turn Back the Pendulum Arc, where over half of each of the first two episodes were new material.
    • The anime also added an episode to finally give 3rd Espada Tia Harribel a backstory and motivations, something the manga did not do.
    • There's also Episode 293, whose second half is the animated rendition of Chapter 392's Wham Episode with Hitsugaya almost killing Momo, thinking she was Aizen while under the influence of Kyouka Suigetsu. Not only is it beautifully animated, but after the deed is done and the viewer sees the Oh, Crap! expressions on the captains' faces once they realize what truly happened, there's an extra scene where Hitsugaya, having withdrawn his sword from Momo's body, gently carries her in his arms to a nearby terrace, which is when she asks him why he hurt her before passing out. Then he screams and attacks Aizen in a blind fury. For all the faults the anime has, this was really well-done.
    • The last episode of the anime add scenes to wrap up the end of the Lost Agent arc, particularly a talk between Ichigo, Renji and Rukia after Ichigo goes retrieve Ginjo's corpse (Rukia didn't show up, only Renji) and a whole epilogue that shows both the Shinigami going with their lives ( i.e, it shows that Momo and Hitsugaya ultimately recovered from the horrible incident described above) and Ichigo happily returning home to his family and friends ( this includes Yuzu, his little sister who still can't see spirits — her spiritually aware twin Karin points out where Ichigo's coming from so she can wave hello to him.)
    • In the manga version of the Thousand-Year Blood War arc, Rukia barely appears at all during the initial Seireitei invasion, with her Sternritter fight taking place entirely offscreen. While the anime doesn't show much of this fight either, it at least shows that it was Meninas she fought, and that she was defeated right after Byakuya's bankai was used against him.
  • The manga adaptation of Breath of Fire IV in Comic Blade Avarus manages to be simultaneously an example of this trope and Adaptation Distillation. The manga is a distillation of a 40+ hour JRPG with Multiple Endings, Multiple Plots, and which has been legitimately described in parts as Fetch Quest Hell; however, the manga also added a fair amount of material from the official artbook that was never included in the game.
  • Brigadoon: Marin and Melan had only two manga volumes, while the anime went well over 20 episodes and introduced several new characters.
  • The manga series B't X ran from 1992 to 2001. Unlike the author's previous series Saint Seiya, the show's anime didn't start until 1997, possibly with the assumption that a five-year head start would avoid the problem of filler. The good news? To an extent. The bad news? A number of fights in the manga had to be cut out and the final battle is entirely different, simply because they couldn't go at a slow enough pace to match the manga.
  • The Cardcaptor Sakura manga had nineteen cards, the anime had 52 — which is appropriately serialized for a 52-episode anime setup (and even then, the anime got 70 episodes plus two movies). There were also new plot threads and several characters who were created solely for the anime, such as Syaoran's cousin Meiling.
  • Case Closed:
    • Some cases adapted from manga to anime, the anime adds all kinds of details to the basic layouts already given, and sometimes these work really well. A great example is the resolution of the Detectives Koshien case: the manga makes The Reveal that Koshimizu killed Tokitsu to punish him for driving her best friend Kana to suicide, upon wrongfully getting her accused of killing her boss (who actually commited suicide) rather straightforward and short, but the anime expands this via adding flashbacks of Kana crossing the Despair Event Horizon due to the false accusation and of her throwing herself off a cliff (one of them almost at the start of the special), alongside another that shows the boss herself falling in madness, and concluding with Koshimizu crying as she explains her reasons.
    • The animated special Episode One expands on the first two episodes of the series, adding LOTS of anime-original material (and those were episodes that already added scenes to the original manga's rendition): a cameo of Sherry/Shiho/Ai finding out that the fatal drug can be a Fountain of Youth a scene where Hina Wada apprehends a thief on her own, several scenes with Ran and Shinichi interacting on their own, another where the culprit of the first case is seen visiting Sonoko's parents and panicking when Shinichi shows up, Gin and Vodka disposing of an apparent traitor, the karate tournament that Ran wins and leads to Shinichi taking her to Tropical Land to celebrate and showcases the time when Makoto fell in Love at First Sight with Sonoko, Shinichi's parents in disguises, tiny apparitions of Kir (as Rena Mizuhashi), Korn and Chianti, a change in how the Detective Boys first appeared, more details about Gin and Vodka's blackmail operation that led to Shinichi being shrunk into Conan, etc. The very final sequence also includes quite a change: it showcases Akemi Miyano's death... but following the manga rendition, as her first and last intervention had been changed in the anime to make her survive for some time: here, such a modification is probably retconned.
  • When the Common Cold arc of Cells at Work! was animated, it expands on the number of pranks the Rhinovirus-infected cell and Ordinary Cell play on other cells: directing AE3803 to an alley with a long drop, switching the Macrophages' weapons with sports equipment, confusing the hell out of the Neutrophil squad by setting off their signals, and stealing Basophil's umbrella while it rains histamine. This has the effect of making the immune cells look less competent, though it gives Basophil an opportunity to remark about negligence in one's conduct that turns a utopia to a dystopia (i.e. "you'll be sorry").
  • A Certain Scientific Railgun's anime adaptation includes a lot of material that wasn't in the manga, including an entire new story arc which gave some more satisfying closure to the "Level Upper" arc and foreshadowing several events in the Index novels.
  • Dear Brother is a three-volume manga adapted into a 39 episodes anime, so logically it had quite a lot of this. Fukiko and Rei's past is more expanded on, Fukiko gets a whole episode to herself and so do Aya and her Girl Posse, the Sorority members get bigger roles in the Dissolution arc (specially "Borgia" Ogiwara), Mariko's problems with her parents are more focused on towards the end, Tomoko becomes an Ascended Extra and re-befriends Nanako almost immediately after their fight rather than at the end, the Downer Ending becomes a Bittersweet Ending, etc.
  • Death Note is actually an expansion of the original Death Note story, which was a one-shot chapter. It featured a junior high student who finds the titular notebook which was accidentally dropped by Ryuk, but since he can't read English well, he uses it as a diary and ends up killing people. Ryuk eventually finds him and gives him the Death Eraser, which allows him to bring the people whose names he had written into the notebook back to life. The much more well-known manga is an expansion on the idea, turning the junior high student into a high school student with a god complex and the Film Noir detective a mega genius with an extreme sweet tooth. And lots and lots of I Know You Know I Know.
  • In Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, the anime expands many events from the manga, minimal information sometimes presented in one narrator text box or just a single manga panel get expanded into full scenes in the anime; some of these are:
    • Tanjiro's tragedy from losing his family is given more breathing room to show how peaceful his life was before they all, except his sister, died; the following scuffle with his demon-turned sister and the slayer that came to kill her is expanded as well.
    • Zenitsu's reminiscing of his master Jigoro, the anime didn't just expand the master's devotion to training Zenitsu, it actually made original scenes for them as well.
    • Zenitsu's message sparrow Chuntaro is given much more focus than it originally had in the manga, mere single extra volume illustrations were made into full scenes in the anime.
    • Rui's make-believe family system was only given a single manga panel detailing how larger it used to be in the past, the anime made a whole flashback scene to it.
    • The anime added an original scene in which Kagaya discusses the current situation regarding Muzan and the future of the slayers with the Pillars after the situation with Tanjiro and Nezuko’s judgement is settled.
  • At least a third of the many movies from the Doraemon franchise, from the Doraemon's Long Tales spin-off to the post-reboot movies, are expanded from manga shorts. To the point where examples are enough to fit on a different sub-page on its own.
  • A Dog of Flanders (1975): There's more focus on Nello and Alois' friends across the village here, and they help define their social lives. Nello even gets a best friend in George who helps him communicate to Alois when her father forbids them from seeing each other.
  • Dragon Ball
    • Dragon Ball does this with a few episodes. A notable example; in the manga, there's a scene where a female Red Ribbon officer (and apparently the only one in the whole army) known as Colonel Violet presents Commander Red with a Dragon Ball. In the anime adaptation of that episode, not only does the audience see Violet retrieve it, but later, upon realizing that Goku's attack is going to spell the end of the Army, she loots Red's riches and gets out of Dodge.
    • The search for the six-star Dragon Ball in the Red Ribbon Army Saga is also expanded greatly. In the manga, Goku swoops in, beats up two mooks, beats up Colonel Silver, and leaves with the Dragon Ball. In the anime, this storyline is expanded to include the Pilaf Gang, Chi-Chi, the Ox King, and a shifty antique shop owner.
  • Dragon Ball GT is an anime-only continuation of the series after Akira Toriyama ended the Dragon Ball manga.
    • Dragon Ball Z: Gohan's training in preparation for the fight with the Saiyans. In the manga, all we see is Gohan going off after discovering the new clothes Piccolo gave him while he was sleeping, and then in the next chapter they skip ahead six months to his training with Piccolo. However, in the anime, a good amount of Gohan's adventures on the island Piccolo left him on for those six months are shown, plus he's seen gradually developing from a sheltered and scared little kid to a gentle, yet confident and self-sufficient fighter.
    • As well as giving some actual screentime to Tenshinhan, Yamcha, and Chaotzu before the Nappa fight. The latter three heroes also got a well-deserved moment of awesome when they thrashed the Ginyu Force as part of the training they received from Kaio-sama.
    • The TV special Dragon Ball Z: The History of Trunks is an expanded re-telling of the bonus manga chapter "Trunks: The Story". Unlike the manga, the TV special shows how Future Gohan lost his arm, and shows Future Gohan and Trunks being defeated by Androids 17 and 18 while the manga cut from the start of the fights to the aftermath.
    • Another DBZ example involving Gohan was the Great Saiyaman arc, in which Gohan adopts a (very silly) superhero persona. In the manga this is treated almost as a one-off joke and Videl deduces Saiyaman's identity in approximately two minutes. In the anime, more of Saiyaman's exploits are shown, as well as how Gohan tries to balance his school life and superhero roles, and Videl is shown gradually catching on to all this over the course of several episodes.
    • The Dragon Ball Super: Broly movie does this to infamous Generic Doomsday Villain Broly, expanding on his history and characterization.
    • When the series was brought back in the 2010s in the form of Dragon Ball Super, after the TV series ended, the tie in manga Dragon Ball Super continued with its own original storylines.
  • Entaku No Kishi Monogatari Moero Arthur: Uriens gets more focus here (when in most incarnations of the myth, he's subjected to Chuck Cunningham Syndrome). Here, he is Lancelot's foster father and warns Rothwick about taking the throne from the legitimate heir.
  • The Fairy Tail anime, in addition to giving the supporting cast a bit more attention, will add in little bits of foreshadowing that normally didn't appear in the manga until anywhere twenty to a hundred chapters later, making the story seem a lot more planned. Thus far they've included Laxus' hand sign in one of the very first episodes, turning it into a guild gesture; an early display of Levy's ability to deactivate any form of written spell; a glimpse of the Oración Seis members as child slaves in the Tower of Heaven and a cause for their desires; and the mention that Siegrain and Jellal are twins right of the bat rather than wait until the arc was almost over like Mashima did; and a mildly exasperated sigh from Cana upon hearing Gildarts' name mentioned, very subtly alluding to her daddy issues with him.
    • Story arcs after the first season take an even further step. The Nirvana arc sees the return of Erigor, a minor villain who disappeared from the manga without a trace, even after Lucy speculated he would come back to take revenge, which he does in the anime... But his fight with Natsu doesn't even last five minutes. In fact, he's made the one who Jellal steals his clothes from after reviving, a role given to a nameless mook in the manga. The Edolas arc gives attention to off-screen events only mentioned in the manga, such as Gajeel's adventure in Edolas that leads to Gray and Erza's rescue, teaming up with his anime-exclusive counterpart to do it, and the Edolas version of Fairy Tail's debate over whether or not to stand up against the army after years of running away from them. After the arc ends, they even dedicate half an episode showing Mystogan ruling Edolas as king and giving the villains their proper punishments while the rest of the world adapts to life without magic. It even gives us the suggestion that the main villain of the arc, Faust, was Makarov's counterpart all along. The Tenrou Island arc fleshes out Ultear's backstory where she is apparently abandoned by her mother and experimented on at the research facility, which turns out to be run by Brain, the villain of the Nirvana arc. And while Natsu and Co. are duking it out with Hades, we actually get to see what the rest of the guild is doing as they're holding the fort for their injured (according to the anime, that is fending off already defeated minor villains who are still hanging around the island).
    • The Key of the Starry Sky arc in the anime is pretty much considered canon — the manga even gives it a passing mention. It gives Earthland versions of the Royal Military characters met in Edolas, time skip looks of returning Oracion Seis members, we learn that Dranbalt was Drowning His Sorrows since the previous arc, and Kinana has some needed development concerning her past (which was only mentioned in her profile in the manga).
  • When Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War was adapted into a manga by seinen author Mitsuki Oosawa, she decided to add more content and plot development. As a result, this adaptation covers a lot of characterization of the side characters and goes into more detail on what happens within the countries where the battles happen. For instance, it creates a rather big subplot on the... unique situation between Eldigan and Raquesis... Though at the cost of making Eldigan's wife a jealous bitch and omitting Raquesis's suitor Beowulf so she can have Finn as her Second Love. The Love Triangle between Lewyn, Ferry, and Sylvia develops relatively smoothly, and the losing girl (Sylvia) is given a far more sympathetic role; and it delves rather well in the psyche of the future Chessmaster and Big Bad, Arvis of Velthomer, making him a Jerkass Woobie.
  • For all the omissions and changes they made, the Fist of the North Star: Legends of the True Savior movies and OVAs feature plenty of new story elements as well. The first four installments did so by retelling events from the manga from the perspective of characters other than Kenshiro, while the fifth movie was actually a prequel to the manga.
  • Flying House: Whenever Jesus performs a miracle, the people who are helped by Jesus get a backstory and the miracle occurs at the very end of the episode.
  • With one exception, Junji Ito's manga adaptation of Frankenstein is this. The added scenes detailed Frankenstein having nightmares of Justine, as well as Henry Clerval discovering Frankenstein creating the female wretch, helping him, and then the wretch coming in with a head for the female. Which is Justine's head. An additional theme added to the adaptation is Clerval telling Frankenstein this could resurrect the dead... however she Came Back Wrong and tried to kill the wretch, is then killed in self-defense. From then on, it veers back on track with the novel we know of.
  • Fullmetal Alchemist:
    • Fullmetal Alchemist (2003) deviated from the manga on many points due to a huge case of Overtook the Manga (which was finished in 2010), but even the ones where it stayed the same had additional scenes. The Liore arc, one of the more faithfully adapted ones, has several added scenes expanding on Rose's backstory, and shows Father Cornello and his minions giving the Elric brothers more trouble than they did in the manga. Some minor plots are expanded upon, as in the anime, Ed has a 10-Minute Retirement after Nina's death, during which he and Winry are captured by Barry the Chopper (whom the brothers don't meet in the manga until his soul is bound to a suit of armor) and Ed has to fight him to free himself and Winry and then help arrest him.
    • The Brotherhood anime was more faithful to the manga itself (they finished at the same time!), but it also had some scenes and episodes dedicated to this trope. i.e. the first episode was full-on anime-only material, centered on a Canon Foreigner named Isaac "Freezing Alchemist" McDougal... who turns out to be the first person to ever realize Father's plans to turn Amestris into a giant transmutation circle, which gets him killed by Wrath on-screen (just like the second person, Hughes, was killed by Envy some time later). Twenty episodes later, when Ed also deduces the truth and is horrified at it, his train of thoughts include a flashback to McDougal's words during their fight, which turns from Foreshadowing to wham lines.
  • The second season of Full Metal Panic!'s anime adaptation, The Second Raid, does this, adapting two short novels into 13 episodes. The first four episodes take place before the novels even start, and add a considerable amount of background to the story. This mostly makes things better, by increasing the personal involvement of the characters in the plot. There's also the addition of entirely new characters, specifically, the fact that two forgettable male henchmen of the villain were replaced with beautiful twin sisters who play a fairly major role as rivals to the protagonists. Their first appearance was nude, together in the shower, then gradually getting dressed while being way too intimate. Because KyoAni.
  • In the original Fushigi Yuugi manga, when Suzuno and Tatara die, they simply die. The anime expands on this scene to have Tatara's soul come to Suzuno after he dies and as she dies of old age, so they're Together in Death. The added scene went over so well that Yuu Watase has said they love that detail and regret not having thought of doing it in the manga.
  • Gainax anime are prone to manga expansions due to their limited 26-episode average span budgets:
    • FLCL got a slight expansion that was cleverly added, but a little unsettling concerning when Naota attacked his father.
    • Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann had additional backstory about The Black Siblings tossed in, while at the same time having them introduced at the point where Viral made his debut, while also detailing how Dayakka fell in love with Kiyoh, and, unfortunately, the tearful reactions of Kittan's sisters when they learned of his Heroic Sacrifice. The manga also has a scene that shows Yoko's boobs in full view during a shower scene. Only one problem—it's the shower she took after Kamina died, and she's crying her eyes out.
    • The Neon Genesis Evangelion manga fleshes out a number of characters. Among other things, the manga explores Asuka's family situation in greater detail, provides a Troubled Backstory Flashback for Kaji, and gives a much larger role to Kaworu.
      • The final chapter picks up after Third Impact, showing an alternate Shinji and Asuka's civilian existences, apparently millennia in the future.
    • Kaworu's storyline is similarly expanded in the Rebuild of Evangelion films, despite the fact that he only ever appeared in one episode of the original TV show.
  • The manga adaptation of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex would usually adapt episodes from the TV series, but with the plots expanded to fit the length of a standard manga story arc. For instance, the adaptation of "¥€$," explored Fem's backstory and motivations in far greater detail, and significantly lengthened her fight with the Major.
  • The anime adaptation of Granblue Fantasy has some story points which differ from the game's, most of which are expanded:
    • From the first two episodes of the anime alone, scenes like Lyria's escape from the Empire and Gran's death and revival, which were bit parts of the tutorial segment, have been significantly expanded.
    • The main cast excluding Rosetta, were given plenty of backstory scenes in the anime that focus on their Character Development even before they formed the crew.
    • The entire arc starting from Lyria's coma (courtesy of Pommern's Break Them by Talking tactic), Rosetta's Big Damn Heroes rescue of the team, up to Lyria's awakening with the help of Yggdrasil acts as the climax of the anime, which took a different turn from the actual sequence of the game's story.
  • Guyver: Inspector Oswald Lisker, the second Guyver, was only around for a couple of chapters, which translated into two episodes of the OVA before dying in one fight against Sho. The 2005 anime expanded on Lisker's role and made him into the series' first Arc Villain that survived up until the collapse of Chronos Japan's headquarters in the eighth episode, which marked the end of the manga's first volume.
  • Haruhi Suzumiya:
    • "Endless Eight" was originally one of three short short stories in the fifth volume of the light novel series, which tells the story of a "Groundhog Day" Loop and its resolution, as seen through the 15,498th and final iteration through the loop. The anime, on the other hand, stretches the story out for eight episodes, which depict: (a) an unnumbered iteration where the protagonists don't realize they're in a time loop; (b) six nearly identical subsequent iterations with only cosmetic differences where the SOS brigade discover the loop but, contrary to the short story, don't manage to solve it; and (c) a final episode—iteration number 15,532—where Kyon finally manages to sever the loop and end the 595 years of repetition upon repetition.
    • The movie, The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya also counts, since it expands a rather short novel into a massive, nearly-three-hours-long feature film.
  • The first six episodes of Hellsing have significantly more character development and material than the two volumes of the manga they are based on.
  • The Hidamari Sketch yonkoma started at around the same time (early 2004) as Lucky Star and both were first animated at roughly the same time (early 2007). Yet, Hidamari Sketch has a much slower pace. It is only through Studio Shaft's expansion (with the insertion of original stories) that it can sustain the 42 episodes it has or will air. Major expansion points: Chika was ascended from a referenced unnamed character to arguably one of the major characters. The anime played up the manga's relatively normal Pseudo-Romantic Friendship content, to the level that Hiro and Sae can be said as platonically married in the anime. Natsume's tsundere tendencies are magnified in the anime.
  • In the Higurashi: When They Cry manga. Some scenes expand on their sound novel counterparts and new scenes are added, in contrast to the anime's Compressed Adaptation.
    • The ending of Tsumihoroboshi-hen in the anime makes more sense. And it devotes an episode to it. But they do end up screwing the beginning to the associated next arc.
  • Hunter × Hunter:
    • The 1999 anime added a lot of filler scenes and episodes to slow down the pace and try to avert an Overtook the Manga situation, especially in the earlier parts of the show. I.e, episode 1 expands on Kite and Gon's meeting, showing how Gon learns about his father and how they had developed a bond. Also, the Hunter Exam has one more stage added to it that gives shine on some minor characters before their deaths in the next part of the exam.
    • The 2011 adaptation is more faithful to the manga than the 1999 version, but it also added some scenes not present from the source materials equivalent to the ones they cut out for some reason, i.e. Kite and Gon's meeting. A few examples are the 50 hours spent Gon and his friends spent in a room in the trick tower, half of episode 76, where Kite's past is expanded on, and Pokkle and Ponzu's scenes in episodes 78 and 79.
  • The original Inuyasha series could be prone to this. One notable example is the defeat of Toukijin whose creation was commissioned by Sesshoumaru from the fangs of a powerful youkai that had hated Inuyasha. The sword takes over its creator Kaijinbou as soon as its made and hunts down Inuyasha whom it hates. Kaijinbou, unable to cope with his own creation's sheer power, explodes and the sword lands in the ground. Not even Toutousai can approach the sword, so powerful is its evil aura. In the manga, Sesshoumaru immediately arrives and defeats and masters Toukijin the second he touches it. In the anime, Adaptation Expansion has the sword begin the corrupt its surrounding area as soon as it lands in the shrine and, since no-one can approach it, Miroku begins to organize the construction of a shrine to try and contain the evil. Only after this Adaptation Expansion does Sesshoumaru finally arrive to defeat and master the sword.
  • I Want to Eat Your Pancreas: A very small case, but the animated film contains an extended scene of Sakura and the protagonist watching a fireworks display shortly before her discharge from the hospital that is not present in any other adaptation.
  • The JoJo's Bizarre Adventure anime was made well into the Manga's run, and as such it can add and alter scenes to better fit the direction of the story on account of it being available in its entirety.
    • When the anime has time to slow down the pace, it fleshes out various scenes which were only briefly mentioned or resolved quickly in the manga, such as Caesar's battle with Wamuu in Part 2, Lisa Lisa's backstory, and the entire Battle Tendency epilogue. Stardust Crusaders has included some of this as well, such as Polnareff being interrogated by police after the battle with Devo, and Jotaro getting a replica of his uniform jacket and Anne getting on the plane back home after the Wheel of Fortune fight (both of which happened off-panel in the manga with a off-handed mention).
    • To a lesser extent, the anime also smooths over Araki's tendency to bring out major developments with little foreshadowing. Jotaro's future career in marine biology is hinted at when he's shown reading books on it in an anime only scene. Most notably, the Birthmark of Destiny in the manga was brought up only in Part 3 as a hasty retcon to show how all of the Joestars are related, while the anime draws it onto the protagonists of the early Parts, to show that it was there all along. Even Josuke was given a small scene in Part 4 showing his mark in an episode that more strongly tied him into the family.
  • Kaguya-sama: Love Is War:
    • During the scene where the entire school ends up mistaking Shirogane's intentions to ask Kaguya to help with his reelection for a Love Confession, there's a brief segment of Karen and Erika doing a piece on it for the Mass Media Club. They are also shown trying to interview Hayato after Kaguya coerces him in to dropping out of the election.
    • During Kaguya's visit to the hospital, Dr Tanuma has a brief flashback of himself and his wife (who is never seen it the manga) when they were teenagers.
    • Episode 35 adds a scene of several characters reading the article Karen and Erika wrote on the balloon thief while foreshadowing Momo's involvement. It also changes what was a single panel of a nondescript band performing while Kaguya and Shirogane were wandering around the festival with Haysasaka singing The Spring Pink Lipstick as part of an idol routine with Mirin and Subaru as backup dancers.
    • Hayasaka's plans on Christmas Eve were never specified at any point in the manga, but the movie has a brief shot of her Subaru, and Mirin doing karaoke together.
  • Kamen Rider Spirits is essentially an alternate retelling of a 45-minute TV special. It started in 2001, and is still running (though currently on hiatus). Mostly this is because ZX's origin special was focused solely on Murasame/ZX's battle with Badan; Spirits shows what the other nine Showa Kamen Riders were doing after their series, as well as tying everything together by having the remnants of their old enemies joining forces with Badan.
  • Kiniro Mosaic has a similar case to Kotoura-san below, in which the backstory of Shinobu's homestay at the Carteret—which also took the first 10 minutes of the anime—was expanded from exactly one strip, when Shinobu recalled at the time, the only English she knew was "Hello" and the only Japanese Alice knew was "Arigato."
  • The Kodomo no Jikan anime often expands conversations, moves things around occasionally and changes some character development.
  • The K-On! anime is well over half new material, which was a given, with it being based on a 4-panel manga.
  • The anime adaptation of Kotoura-san, out of necessity—not only the original was a yonkoma, but that the animators switched the story's perspective from that of Manabe to that of Haruka. Net result: the Downer Beginning that portrays Haruka's Backstory—and the thing that made the series a bit of a Sleeper Hit—can be said to be expanded from the two or three strips where Haruka told Manabe her case of Blessed with Suck.
  • The Legend of Zelda (Akira Himekawa):
    • The extra chapter for the adaptation of Majora's Mask provides an origin story for the titular mask, told in style similar to real-life ancient myths. The tale is of an evil beast named Majora, who was defeated by a traveller who played a bongo for three days straight, causing Majora to go into a trance and dance until it drops dead. The traveller then carved the mask from the beast's armor, sealing the evil spirit away inside said mask forever.
    • The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (2016):
      • Link is given an expanded backstory as a refugee from a town swallowed by the Twilight Realm. Instead of living in Ordon Village his whole life, he only came to try to start a new life for himself.
      • It is revealed that Zelda and Midna communicated with each other for a time through a portal as children and become friends.
      • A flashback shows how Ilia escaped the Bulblins; after losing his first fight with Link, King Bulblin barged into her cabin. Delirous from his wounds, he passed out and gave her a chance to run.
  • The episodes 8 and 10 of the anime Love Hina, which likewise improve upon the manga chapters.
  • Lucky Star had a lot of new material added into the anime. It's especially notable for the many added Shout Outs, including all of the Haruhi Suzumiya references. Also, anybody who watched the first episode remembers, for better or for worse, the "how to eat certain foods" discussion that took up roughly half the episode. The manga's version of the discussion? Four strips, focusing on the choco-cornet.
  • The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess: While both the light novel's and manga's present-day begins when Princess Anisphia tests her witch's broom and crashes into the public announcement of her brother's annulling his engagement to Euphyllia, the anime's first episode features additional scenes beforehand. It features more of Anis being an adventurer to gather material for her research, scenes foreshadowing Euphie's engagement being broken, and Tilty getting an Adaptational Early Appearance.
  • The anime adaptation of Magic Knight Rayearth slows the pacing of both halves and uses much of the time to show the girls' travel in more detail, allowing them to meet some of the ordinary people of Cephiro and learn more about the invading countries in Rayearth II. The game adaptation takes it further by adding multiple towns and new characters who the girls help or learn skills from.
  • MÄR: The manga ending was very rushed bordering on anti-climatic. The anime however, not only expands on the ending but give a completely different final battle with most of the heroes killed (though brought back later) and one of them Snow merging with her real world counterpart Koyuki to be with Ginta when he goes back.
  • Mega Man Megamix takes Mega Man (Classic) — a series known for having pretty threadbare Excuse Plots with only minor supplementary lore to give it some depth — and doing everything it can to flesh out its world, characters, and storylines and then some. Hitoshi Ariga took the basic plot ideas and expanded on their potential for conflicts of much broader scope (Gigamix adapts Mega Man V by turning the fight against eight alien robots named after planets into a near-apocalyptic Alien Invasion across Earth), and characters are given much more depth and allowed more drama and pathos, especially as the series went on and stories became gradually more dramatic and intense. Much care was put into developing the many, many Robot Masters of the games, giving each of them distinct personalities and quirks, and most were given unique redesigns to emphasize worldbuilding and even help justify their weapon weaknesses. As a demonstration of all of the above, Skull Man from Mega Man 4 received one minor manual tidbit of being the sole Robot Master of that game's roster designed specifically for combat, and this was used as a springboard for a story to make him a tragic rogue Anti-Villain with estrangement issues among his creator and brothers.
  • The anime adaptation of Mirai Nikki gives us some background for Marco and Ai, the Battle Couple that make up Seventh, something that wasn't included in the manga. Ai was abandoned by her parents, then taken in by Eighth, and grew very attached to Marco. When Marco tried encouraging her to stop being so clingy, Ai fell prey to a trap concocted by some Alpha Bitch students, and was gangraped as a result; Marco killed the rapists, and swore to protect Ai from then on.
  • An unusual example of this trope is Mobile Suit Gundam when it is adapted into the manga Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin. Being a 43-episode TV series, there's no shortage of source material, but the author, Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, did more than that — he streamlined the original storyline while visiting many background events and character histories. This included Char Aznable and Sayla Mass's childhood and exile, Char's subsequent enrollment in Zeon's military, the path to the One Year War (up to the Battle of Loum, where The Federation's space fleet suffered a devastating defeat) and General Revil's capture and escape. Yasuhiko's adaptation is quite popular in Japan and this expansion is praised by fans, and the manga is still ongoing.
    • There is also an adaptation of Mobile Suit Gundam SEED, Mobile Suit Gundam SEED: Re, which not only expands characterizations and events, but also advances Mobile Suits with new weaponry, some of which hint at other suits. For instance, the Blitz Gundam is given gear that is later seen on the Testament Gundam and the Astray Gold Frame Amatsu, suits from Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Astray.
    • Anime-wise, Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative is this. The original story was "Phenix Hunt", a side story chapter within the original Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn light novel. The anime heavily expands it as well as pushing it a little further up in the story.
    • Cucuruz Doan's Island, an infamously poorly animated episode of the original series, was readapted to a film in 2022. Though the original episode was a standard-length 23 minutes, the film is 108 minutes long, with an appropriate expansion occuring. According to the film's director, he felt the plot could have used time to breathe, and so the film has a number of subplots and significantly more development for the titular Zeon deserter. The film also puts in some work to make the story work as a standalone film, mainly through extra scenes that help to get the audience familiar with the characters of the original.
  • Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun:
    • The anime usually follows the manga strips it chooses to adapt pretty faithfully (especially in the first 2 and a half episodes) while building on the scenes from the manga, and it gives (a little) more plot by further emphasising Sakura and Nozaki's relationship (such as the anime-original ending).
    • An In-Universe example happens in Chapter 89. When Nozaki adapts a novella used in the literature class into manga, he adds a scene of the two protagonists going to the donut store together. Sakura ends up getting it confused with the actual novella content and writes it in her test, confusing the teacher.
  • Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit is a 26 episode adaptation of a 300 page novel. Needless to say, it greatly expands upon the story, giving more focus and characterization to the Hunters. Balsa and Chagum spend the first half of the anime trying to avoid and escape them, while in the original novel, they completely escape for two seasons after their first encounter.
  • My Hero Academia:
    • The anime generally follows the manga pretty faithfully, but the second and third seasons each contain an anime-original episode that shifts the camera away from Deku and shows what his classmates were doing. Season 2's episode shows Asui's experiences during the internship arc, while Season 3's is set during the Provisional License Exams and shows what a group of Class 1-A students was doing after they got separated at the start of the exam.
    • During the Sports Festival Arc, Yaoyorozu was completely shut out and defeated by Tokoyami, which basically shattered her confidence and was a major part of her character arc later on. The manga depicts their battle in a single panel while the anime shows it in full, adding weight to the whole scenario.
    • The 2nd character poll results page (depicting the cast in fantasy clothes) was turned into a full-fledged Alternate Universe in the anime's third ED. One of the light novels went further by giving their fantasy counterparts backstories.
  • Naruto:
    • Episode 133 of stretches out almost everything from the manga chapter it was based on, and the adds a whole bunch of things that were never there in the first place, to the point where it's about fifty percent filler.
    • The anime frequently does this when it wants to add time by ways other than plain old filler. For example, Temari and Tenten's fight (if you can call it that) was off-screen in the manga, but on-screen in the anime. Shippuden has a filler arc that actually gives one character (Asuma) some backstory (although the anime already did that with pre-Time Skip filler to Kurenai, Anko, and Ibiki) and another detailing the capture and sealing of one of the third tailed beast, Isobu when in the manga this we only saw half a chapter of this and most of it took place offscreen (which is a good thing, as many were disappointed that we didn't get to see any of this in the manga.)
      • Likewise, a filler arc in the anime actually details a character named Utakata who is actually the Jinchuriki of Saiken, the six-tailed slug. Utakata actually does appear in the manga, but was captured off-screen and along with the other Jinchuriki sans Gaara, Killer Bee, and Naruto, was absent for about a year until he was resurrected along with all the other Jinchuriki who were captured by Akatsuki. As a result, we get to know who Utakata is — and unfortunately, see just how dismal his fate is...
    • Episodes 1 and 3 feature Adaptational Early Appearances by the future members of Team 8 and 10, who don't appear in the manga until the start of the Chuunin Exam arc, possibly to acknowledge their existence as part of Naruto's class.
    • How about the infamous 'Unmask Kakashi' episode? It was just a 3-page manga-special, yet they expanded the story with a much better ending... Which gave birth to the screwiest episode of the original series. and much later, to a retelling from Kakashi's POV.... where at the end, Kakashi's face is actually seen onscreen.
    • In the manga, Kakashi and Might Guy had an alluded battle against Jinpachi and Kushimaru of the Hidden Mist. Now, given the nature of manga writing, some things are bound to get cut out, but this one was a tad too egregious to pass up for fans. The anime, perceptive to their base, adapted this battle into a full episode, making up for the plot element Kishimoto decided was unimportant at the time. Give those folks a medal for their kindness.
    • Episodes 166 and 167 have the most Adaptation Expansion in the entire series. Instead of trying to defeat Pain herself, Hinata decides to distract him in order to free Naruto from the spikes binding him to the ground. She didn't get beat down once, she got beat down multiple times but being a Plucky Girl, she got back to her feet each one. She then tried one last time to remove the spike from Naruto's hands, but Pain does the last attack. Then along came 167, with Naruto doing some fighting in the 4-tailed mode (it only lasted for one panel in the manga,) then unleashing hell on Pain in the 6-tailed mode with a series of attacks, including a rapid-fire mini-Tailed Beast Bomb attack and a Tailed Beast Laser (both attacks were actually imported much later in the manga;) then Naruto goes 8-tailed and creates a meteor shower with a stream of flames igniting the debris flying out of the Chibaku Tensei. To say the animation in both episodes is odd is an understatement; nonetheless, the fluid, fast-paced animation made for action-packed episodes.
    • The village's celebration of Naruto's victory over Pain is also greatly extended, complete with added scenes of characters like Ebisu and Iruka proudly reflecting on how Naruto went from being a pariah to one of the most celebrated heroes in Konohagakure's history.
    • When the anime was in danger of the dreaded manga overlap, it went on a massive flashback tangent bigger than any other form of padding that had been done before. It started at a point in the manga that presented several major flashbacks in a row. This span of flashbacks did not stick for very long in the manga and focused primarily on Obito's past and how Kakashi accidentally became an Unwitting Instigator of Doom. The animation studio, however, decided to keep rolling with the flashbacks and turned the short cutaway into one uninterrupted run of throwback history until they milked it as far as they could. Though it was not by any means boring, it effectively shelved an arc about all-out war to showcase another all-out-war. On the plus side, it depicts the formation of Akatsuki on a deeper level, shows that Tobi and Danzou played a bigger part in the tragedy which befell Nagato and Hanzou, revealed Kakashi's ANBU days, something fans have long desired, and even spotlights Yamato's backstory, including the origin of his second codename, Tenzou. All because Obito revealed how he had survived his brush with death. Holy freaking crap.
    • Similarly done with another filler arc after Naruto's death. Tsunade puts her faith in Sakura assisting Naruto, remembering the Chuunin exams that took place during the Time Skip. Not only does this flashback arc detail Sakura's plight of the exams, it also deals with the fate of the other entrance, notably including Choumei's jinchuuriki Fuu, and it also shows Jiraiya's attempts at getting Naruto to control the Kyuubi that culminated in Naruto going 4-tails and nearly-killing him.
    • One of the most welcome changes to the anime over the manga is the Mizuki Strikes Back arc for the amount of screen time that it bestows upon fan favourite Iruka as well as making Naruto's first ever on-screen enemy Mizuki far more badass than he ever was originally.
    • In yet another major example, episode 460 marks the beginning of one of the few short filler arcs to not only be accepted, but outright regarded as necessary: giving the formerly generic and unexplained Kaguya Otsutsuki some much-needed attention in the form of a greatly-expanded backstory and personality. Whether it worked or not, it's in the eye of the beholder.
    • Sasuke's and Naruto's final fight, like the one before, got a massive revamp in the anime. Highlights include a pre- Super Mode brawl (when the manga had them use their powers from the get-go), the return of Kirin, and a power-boost of Sasuke's Tailed Beast Susanoo (The manga had them on roughly equal grounds, with Sasuke having a slight upper hand, but the anime had Sasuke completely overpower Naruto, to the point where an additional clone was inserted just to be brutally murdered with ease.)
  • One Piece: Instead of relying on filler arcs to provide padding, the anime eventually took to following a 1:1 chapter/episode pacing, expanding on and lengthening the already-present material. Eiichiro Oda has admitted that despite the manga being so long and stuffed with ideas and happenings if he had his way there would be even MORE. His editors tend to make him throw out many ideas that aren't essential to keeping the story moving. These concepts often make it into the anime.
    • The anime also fully covers the fates of the other eight Straw Hats following their defeat by Kuma presented while Luffy was traveling to Impel Down.
    • They also show Rob Lucci's backstory in frightening detail.
    • The anime also adapts the cover illustrations for Chapters 35-37, 39, 42-43, 46-48, and 50-51, which chronicle Buggy after his defeat at the hand of Luffy, from the time he is nearly eaten by a giant bird, to when he meets Gaimon, and the first time he joins forces with Alvida into two full-length episodes.
    • Many of the major fights Post-Time Skip have been expanded, most likely for two reasons: 1. padding, and 2. so that the villains don't suffer under The Worf Effect so badly like they do in the manga.
    • Brook looking for milk before going back to fight Oars in the Thriller Bark Arc.
    • In the manga, Zoro's past is revealed in the form of a brief flashback with a few scenes. The anime expands it into an entire episode just before the start of the Baratie arc and includes additional scenes, such as when Zoro first came to the dojo.
      • In the Alabasta arc, there are a few fillers in the anime of the crew making their way across the desert with Ace tagging along as he tries to find info on Blackbeard's whereabouts. They provide a better explanation of why Ace up and leaves after a while, but also create a conundrum of a bogus Poneglyph appearing where it shouldn't.
  • The manga and anime adaptations of One-Punch Man does this in the Monster Association Saga. In the webcomic, the titular antagonist faction only has 17 members: Black Sperm, Bug God, Devil Long Hair, Evil Natural Water, Fuhrer Ugly, Gale and Hellfire, Goddess Glasses, Gums, Homeless Emperor, Overgrown Rover, Phoenix Man, Gyoro Gyoro who goes by their real name Psykos from the start, Pureblood, Royal Ripper, Senior Centipede and The Great Food Tub. In the manga and anime, however, they have around 500 members, and Goddess Glasses, Gale and Hellfire are replaced by Do-S, Gale Wind and Hellfire Flame because the formers were designed by another mangaka when ONE was still unemployed and thus could not be used in the manga remake. This increased number in turn allows for more battles between the Hero and Monster Association, and the battles in the hideout raid are especially longer; particularly, Phoenix Man, Do-S, Gale Wind and Hellfire Flame, Royal Ripper, Psykos, Evil Natural Water, and Black Sperm have bigger roles and/or backstories than their webcomic counterparts in varying degrees.
  • Persona 4: The Animation has several. The game doesn't show the start of Chie and Yukiko's friendship, but the anime, as well as the manga adaptation, does. We get Yu's (the protagonist) personality because he makes his own choices rather than going with ours. We also get to hear one of Rise's songs.
  • Persona 5: The Day Breakers is a one-episode OVA that expands upon one of the original game's side-missions.
  • Pokémon
    • Pokémon: The Series is a shining example, having perhaps a whole two-thirds of the episodes being content added into the world provided by the games. In fact, they did a 36-episode story arc based outside of the established worlds (The Orange Islands — the second season, no less!)
    • While Pokémon Adventures stays true to the games for the most part, new characterizations and plots do get added on.
  • In Ranking of Kings, Queen Hiling allowing Bojji to go on a little adventure to her parents' home has an extra showing of gratitude on Bojji's part in the anime, he kissing Hiling's cheek is an addition the manga didn't have, originally Bojji just jumped and screamed with joy after Hiling gave him the news.
  • The anime version of Ranma ½ is a weird case of a series doing this and Adaptation Distillation at the same time. Without going into the abundance of extra stories that were made to flesh out the episode roster, many adaptations of manga stories either trimmed things down or expanded them.
    • The Japanese Nanniichuan story, in the manga, ends up a complete bust when Ranma and Ryoga break into a waterline. In the anime, they uncover a strange urn that leads to the next two episodes being an extended Fetch Quest that ultimately ends in... an entirely different Shoot the Shaggy Dog ending.
    • The Martial Arts Tea Ceremony was a particularly weird example. Instead of the manga's version, where Ranma is unwillingly recruited into a farcical battle to save Sentaro Daimonji from being married to a monkey, Ranma is instead recruited to prove Sentaro has the right not to be placed in an Arranged Marriage. He and Akane then run into the Daimonjis in three more episodes; a farcical little encounter, a duel that sees Sentaro engaged to his manga-canon wife and True Love Satsuki, and helping Sentaro and Satsuki out with a problem.
    • The "Curse of the Scribble Panda" episode pads out the version from the manga, which was only a few pages long, by adding two things: firstly, the other Yōkai from the other wall scrolls also come to life, forcing Soun, Genma & Happosai to hold them off. Secondly, when Ranma tries to claim he and the Panda can't be together because they're different species, she promptly turns herself into a beautiful human girl, so Ranma finds himself actually a little attracted to her.
  • Reign of the Seven Spellblades: Volume 3 of the novels just ended on the deaths of Ophelia and Carlos and moved straight to Bokuto Uno's afterword. Episode 15 of the anime adaptation adds an epilogue segment narrated by Oliver, showing the students returning to the surface in the aftermath of Ophelia and Carlos's death and life in the student body getting back to business as usual, with Guy, Katie, and Marco getting Mandatory Lines after they had been mostly absent since episode 12.
  • The official RWBY manga spends the first few chapters going back to the events depicted in the four pre-series character trailers and adding more details so they better connect with the series. The only exception is the "Black" trailer, which just gets extra bits of dialog between Blake and Adam Taurus.
    • The first chapter shows that Ruby was fighting the horde of Grimm in the "Red" trailer because they attacked her while she was visiting her mother's grave. It's also shown that she started wearing her trademark "red riding hood" with her Beacon Academy school uniform after winning a mock battle with Cardin, as a way to try and be more confident in public.
    • The gigantic "knight" that Weiss fights in the "White" trailer is shown to be a suit of armor controlled by a "Possession-Type Grimm" created by the Schnee Dust Company; it was sent after her during a training exercise by an SDC employee who didn't like her attitude. It also establishes that Weiss' desire to get out of her Gilded Cage started when she was fairly young, after her sister Winter made her realize that all the praise people were heaping on her was just hollow brown-nosing.
    • The "Yellow" trailer is turned into a "Shaggy Dog" Story; after Yang kicks his ass, Hei "Junior" Xiong agrees to tell her whatever she wants to know...but it turns out that he actually doesn't have the answers she wants. On the other hand, the manga doesn't reveal exactly for whom or what Yang was searching in the first place.
  • The original Sailor Moon anime expands 12- and 13-chapter manga arcs into entire seasons of 40+ episodes. Enemy generals really benefit from it, seeing their tenure extend over several Monster of the Week episodes and fleshing them out. (For example, the Four Phantom Sisters and the Amazon Trio were MOTWs themselves. Instead, they stay around for quite longer and even get Heel Face Turns. Also, Jadeite was introduced in act one, commanded from behind the scenes in act two, and acted as the villain of the week and got reduced to a skeleton by one blast from the newly-minted Sailor Mars in act three. Animated Jadeite gets thirteen episodes.)
    • In the Death Busters arc, the 90's anime gave a lot more depth to Haruka and Michiru—- their backstory, their bond, what they must sacrifice for their quest.
    • Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon pretty much changed a lot of things and still was able to expand on the original story.
    • Sailor Moon Crystal attempts to expand the roles of the Four Heavenly Kings in its first story arc, keeping them alive past the points of their canon deaths in order to introduce a plot point regarding their romantic involvement with the Sailor Guardians in their past lives. Since Crystal is a Truer to the Text adaptation which otherwise follows the manga scene for scene, this subplot doesn't go much of anywhere before they are killed off in the buildup to the finale.
  • Saiyuki has a lot of built-up bits in the anime (the first series filler being a lot less random than the second and third, the filler tends to focus on backstories of the characters being dragged up in some way). Homura (and his arc) was created for the first anime (by the original author though). He does however feature briefly in the manga but his main story is told in the anime. Hazel was originally the same but Minekura decided she wanted to do her own arc about him (which is why the anime and manga are very different; the anime writers interpreted her directions differently).
  • The School-Live! anime has two main differences from the manga right off the bat. The first is Miki, a character who joins the cast later, is present at the beginning. More in line with this trope is Taroumaru, a puppy that serves as the Team Pet in the anime, but in the manga was a One-Shot Character who appeared in a flashback as a puppy Yuki recovered only after it had been bitten by a zombie.
  • Serendipity the Pink Dragon: The original Serendipity Books were mostly stand-alone stories with different characters and settings (with the exception of a few mini-series here and there). Serendipity herself only appeared in one or two books, the plot of which the anime and movie only follow quite vaguely.
  • Sgt. Frog:
    • Because Giroro, Kururu, and especially Dororo and Koyuki are introduced in the anime much earlier than in the manga, several storylines not featuring them at all were modified to include them.
    • Because of the time difference between the start of the manga and the anime, Angol Mois' backstory is somewhat modified. Everything up to the point of Mois telling Nostradamus about her destroying the earth was true but she ended up being five years too late (2004 instead of 1999, 2009 in the Funimation dub).
    • Mutsumi (623) still has his radio show in the anime, but he is a student in Natsumi's class instead of a high school dropout. Also the fact that he is the host of the 623 radio show seems to be a secret from Natsumi and other listeners of the show.
    • In the manga, Keroro gains access to the Kero Ball early in the plot, but in the anime Fuyuki keeps it. This means that several of the early uses of the Kero Ball in the manga didn't happen in the anime or found other ways to happen. Meanwhile, the anime had its own exclusive story focusing on the Kero Ball.
    • In the manga, Sumomo is a female 'Ahotoran' who appears in a bonus chapter, while in the anime Sumomo is a hit intergalactic popstar who appears in several episodes throughout the early seasons of the show. Even after she stops appearing, her presence can still be seen through merchandising and posters featuring her.
    • Dororo and Koyuki live in a house next to the Hinata's in the manga, whereas in the anime, they live in the woods near Momoka's estate and can see the Nishizawa tower from their home.
    • Many of the Sgt. Frog anime episodes are not found in the manga.
    • In the manga, there's only an impersonal narrator, while the anime uses the narrator as a character who eventually even appears on screen.
  • Inverted with Slayers and its original source of canon, the Light Novel series. The regular series is fifteen books long, and the first half is the basis for one manga series and two seasons of the anime. The Slayers Special/Smash novels take place before the original series. While four movies and six OVAs cover a good amount of Lina's prequel time, there are over thirty novels. As of this writing, Smash is on hiatus, but definitely not cancelled, so it won't end anytime soon. This creates some serious Fridge Logic when it's revealed that the Special/Smash series takes place over the span of two years, while the regular series spans roughly four.
    • The manga adaptation of the Slayers Premium Non-Serial Movie clarifies a few loose plot points and makes Amelia, Zelgadis, and Xellos more active in the events that go on, whereas in the movie, they (especially Xellos) were moving scenery.
  • The anime of Soul Eater Not! adds new scenes and events that never happened in the manga, and while it still keeps the more important events, it is much differently paced. This has somewhat help to expand on the personalities and the interactions of the characters, and it even allows more of the original Soul Eater cast to have cameos more often.
  • Soul Hunter does this a lot. For example in the manga, we barely spend time with sisters Kashi and Koushi before they commit suicide. The anime spends more time with them.
  • The final episode of Summer Time Rendering adds more meat to the manga's epilogue by including multiple scenes featuring various characters and their lives in a timeline free from the shadows' influence, as well as expanding on the reconciliation between Shinpei and Ushio after they had refused to talk to each other for two whole years.
  • Super Crooks (2021) expands on how each characters know one another, and the events leading to the original storyline of Supercrooks.
  • The Anime version of Supernatural gives us more background on Meg and some of the Special Children. Lily and Jake get an episode of their own each ("Darkness Calling" and "Loser", respectively) in Supernatural: The Animation.
  • Sword Art Online
    • The anime adds a few scenes near the end of the Mother's Rosary arc, such as a montage of Yuuki and Asuna's time together, and Asuna and Kirito having a picnic with their friends.
    • In the Mother's Rosary manga, the omakes show what some of the other characters are doing, such as Kirito and the others dueling with Yuuki, Asuna's friends trying (emphasis on trying) to make food for her and the Sleeping Knights, and Asuna talking with Kirito and Siune after Yuuki's death. It also has a few short scenes showing what happens between Asuna reconciling with her mother and Asuna learning that Yuuki's death is imminent.
  • The Tale of the Princess Kaguya: The film follows the folktale close enough, but adds more Character Development and scenes to flesh out the story more.
  • In the Tokkô manga the main story ends after Ranmaru awakens his powers, with the remainder of the manga being a side story focusing on a different set of characters. The anime expands on the events leading up to Ranmaru's awakening and expands/continues the story after he awakens his powers. It also expands on the backstories of most of the characters.
  • The Tona-Gura! manga chapters that came out well after the anime was done have added depth to the on-screen personalities of the characters. Even militaristic Marie Kagura has a surprisingly sweet if sad motivation for her attacks on her brother Yuuji beyond their father's orders.
  • Touch (1981) goes through this, as might be expected from turning a 26-volume manga into a 101-episode TV series, three theatrical movies, and two TV movies.
  • The anime UFO Warrior Dai Apolon is derived from the manga Galactic Warrior Apolon by Tetsu Kariya and Shigeru Tsuchiyama, but adds in Humongous Mecha and American football aspects.
  • Like the Ranma example, the anime version of Urusei Yatsura tend to extend some stories from the Manga, edited some stories to have a totally different plot, or combine them with original stuff that wasn't in the Manga.
  • The manga for Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun has a bit of a pacing issue, often rushing through the story and having some important events happen completely offscreen, with many plot-important details being revealed right before the moment they're important, the only thing guaranteed focus being the comedy. The anime adaptation slows things down considerably, greatly expanding on content from each chapter, even moving some manga content around to places where they fit into the story better.
  • ANY or ALL anime in the World Masterpiece Theater staple is famous for this, usually for the better (except for Remi: Nobody's Girl, but there are reasons for that).
    • Princess Sarah: While several characters are added or expanded, and the finale is made much more dramatic, the overall story arc is remarkably faithful to the original novel, right down to word-for-word recreations of key scenes — like Becky's final march up to the attic.
    • Other examples are A Dog of Flanders (1975) and Akage no Anne whose stories are not only adapted faithfully, but lots more characters, stories, and conflicts are added, all the way down to really tiny details most people wouldn't even notice thanks to those stories being immensely popular in Japan.
    • The novel Daddy-Long-Legs is long and complicated enough to have supported a short anime series — but when World Masterpiece Theater picked it up, they turned it into a 40-episode series. This required expanding some incidents and adding new arcs and new characters. Opinions may vary as to whether the additions were better or worse.
    • Peter Pan no Bouken massively expanded on the mythos of Peter Pan with all the characters occasionally getting the focus on them for at least an episode each, plus a bunch of new characters — most importantly, the local Dark Magical Girl Princess Luna and her evil grandmother Sinistra.
    • 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother tells the adventures and misadventures of an Italian boy named Marco Rossi, who goes to Argentina to find his mother Anna. The basis for it is a mere chapter of the book Cuore by the Italian writer Edmondo De Amicis, so the series itself takes the basic idea and timeline and builds a whole story from there by inserting Slice of Life episodes with Marco and his remaining family (his father Pietro and older brother Tonio) preparing for the travel, Marco befriending a nearby family and especially the middle daughter Fiorina and finding them again in Argentina), the addition of Marco's pet monkey Amedio, etc.
    • Hector Malot's novel En Famille/Amongst Family begins with the arrival of the protagonist Perrine, her Delicate and Sickly mother Marie and their donkey Palikare to Paris. Its WMT version, The Story of Perrine, shows how they traveled there from Bosnia in the first place, gives Perrine a Canine Companion named Baron, and adds more "meat" to Perrine's travel to the northern village of Maraucourt and her early days there.
  • Aside from the Filler, the World Trigger anime contains various in-between scenes (often Played for Laughs), such as showing what inspired Osamu's strategy in the match against Suwa Squad and Arafune Squad, or Kazama, Izumi, Midorikawa, and Yoneya's visits to the hospital.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh! alters a few plot points when compared to the original manga version, expecially in the Duelist Kingdom arc:
    • After Yugi loses to Kaiba, Mai comes and gives him back the star chips he gave to her earlier in the arc. In the manga he initally refuses them due to him believing is not prideful enough, but ends up accepting the gift after Joey makes him realize that pride is not all that matters. In the anime Yugi still refuses Mai's gift, but she then decides to duel against him for the chips. Tèa then decides to take Yugi's place as he doesn't want to fight after what happened with Kaiba. Mai forfeits after a few turns to let Yugi have the chips.
    • In the Duelist Kingdom finals, the manga has Yugi and Joey decide to not duel so that Pegasus can't learn their strategies before either of them has to face against him, and Joey lets Yugi pass to the final duel against Pegasus. The anime instead has them fight a proper duel, which Yugi ultimately wins.
    • Two duels that happened mostly offscreen in the manga version of Battle City, namely Yugi and Kaiba's first meetup with Umbra and Lumis and Bakura's duel against Bonz, are fully shown in the anime. The former is still pretty short as Kaiba manages to do an FTK against the two, while the latter gets an entire episode devolved to it and the events before, complete with showing how Bakura stole someone else's Duel Disk and location cards to join the tournament while it was already running.
  • YuYu Hakusho has several instances of expansion from the manga, as minor plot points can become mini-subplots. In the anime adaptation of the Yukina arc, part of the pressure is to get to Yukina and prevent Hiei from killing Tarukane out of anger, and Hiei is shown prepared to kill Tarukane before Yukina stops him. In the manga, Botan only mentions that it was good that Hiei did not kill Tarukane, or else they would have to arrest him for killing a human, and Hiei only punches Tarukane once after finding him, saying that Yukina is worth more than he is.

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