History Main / OvertookTheManga

* The 2001 anime adaptation of ''Manga/FruitsBasket'' narrowly averted this. It originally aired five years before the manga ended; as a result, it only covers about a third of the manga's story (barely seven books' worth of material). The final episodes are about an arc from the beginning of volume 6 that was shifted back for narrative purposes – Kyo's inner struggle with his true form, and Tohru learning to accept him for who he is. Another reason ''Fruits Basket'' only had 26 episodes is because Creator/NatsukiTakaya broke her drawing hand while working on the eighth book, leading to her taking a break from it. If the anime had gone past 26 episodes, then it's likely that it would've overtaken the manga, though Takaya being [[DisownedAdaptation deeply disappointed with how it turned out]] and having major CreativeDifferences with the director prevented it from ever continuing. In 2019, the manga would get a new anime adaptation that aims to be [[TruerToTheText more faithful]] than the 2001 anime, and it covers most of the manga's story at 63 episodes.

* ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}'''s first anime went a completely different direction with characterization in its second half, the "Incognito Arc", due to catching up with Kohta Hirano's manga '''''extremely''''' early on (as in, ''before the BigBad was even introduced''). This was made worse by the fact that (1) Hellsing was a monthly series, and (2) Hirano is famously {{lazy|Artist}}, regularly turning in chapters only 10 pages long in a magazine where the average is 25-30. Hirano was extremely unhappy with the anime, and further adaptation of the comic was postponed for years. ''Hellsing Ultimate'', an {{OVA}} series ''much'' more in line with the original, was then made.

Another popular option is to just [[{{Padding}} pad the episodes out]] and [[InactionSequence slow the story down]]. This was common in the ''Manga/DragonBall'' series, which unfortunately meant that many people thought the manga was exactly the same or that Creator/AkiraToriyama's writing was at fault, when in reality the pace of the anime was out of his hands (his manga is a much breezier experience, but unfortunately nowhere near as famous).

* The ''Anime/BeybladeX'' anime tries desperately to stay behind the manga, the latter being a monthly series. To that end, after the first few episodes stayed (mostly) consistent to the manga, many individual manga chapters were later on [[AdaptationalExpansion divided into semi-canon mini-arcs]], with certain events like the intruduction of [[TheAce Burn]] [[WakeUpCallBoss Fujiwara]] being delayed as a result. On the flipside, the semi-filler episodes avoid making anime-only characters and instead use the opportunity to flesh out the side-characters that got much less focus in the manga version.

* The anime version of ''Manga/CodeBreaker'' is a different case. With the manga released back in 2003, the anime version, which was released on 2012, only has ''12 episodes'' and only focused on the Hitomi Arc. What's even worse is that anime brought in three characters (Yuuki, Rui, and Yukihina) who aren't supposed to appear after the Hitomi Arc.

* The anime version of ''Manga/GreatTeacherOnizuka'' followed the manga for the most part right up the trip to Okinawa.

* The 2015 anime of ''Literature/TheHeroicLegendOfArslan'' was based on the Arakawa manga version of the novel. However, the anime ran out of manga material, so the staff decided to follow the novel story route instead. For now, the anime is ahead of the manga that it was originally based on, but it's fine because they are both based from the novel. It also helps that said novel had been ongoing since 1986 and later finished in 2017.

* Because the anime version of ''Manga/SgtFrog'' frequently ran ahead of the manga (particularly in more recent years) a number of episodes and plots are present in the former that are not in the latter, such Karara's repeated appearances to marry one of the members of the platoon and the timer counting down to the invasion in season 3.

* The anime version of ''Manga/ZatchBell'' ran at the same time as the manga version it was based on. Unfortunately, Makoto Raiku, the author of the manga, broke his hand, forcing the manga version to go on hiatus while the author's hand healed enough to allow him to draw again. The anime overtook the manga as a result, so the anime diverged from the manga for its final episodes. Some aspects of the anime made it into the manga once Raiku resumed drawing, the most notable being [[spoiler:Zeon's ultimate spell and the location of the final battle between Sherry and Gash]].

* Years before Capcom released ''Strider 2'', the official arcade sequel to the original ''VideoGame/StriderArcade'', they handed the ''Strider'' license to U.S. Gold and Tiertex (the companies that produced the European computer ports of the first arcade game) to produce their own sequel titled ''Strider II'' (spelled with a Roman numeral). This sequel was originally made for the same set of European computer formats and then remade for the UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis and UsefulNotes/GameGear, getting a stateside release in the form of ''Journey from Darkness: VideoGame/StriderReturns''.
* When Konami wanted to make a sequel to ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' following the success of the NES port in North America, they commissioned one of their teams to make a sequel specifically for the American market, resulting in the creation of ''VideoGame/SnakesRevenge''. This inspired Hideo Kojima to make his own sequel for the [=MSX2=], ''VideoGame/MetalGear2SolidSnake''. ''Snake's Revenge'' is not considered part of the official ''Metal Gear'' continuity, as the events of the game are incompatible with what occurs in the official sequel. [[spoiler:Namely, the way Big Boss' return is handle in both games. Both games takes place three/four years after the original ''Metal Gear'' and have Big Boss forming a new terrorist organization with a new Metal Gear prototype in his hands. However, in ''Snake's Revenge'' he also turns into a huge cyborg during the final battle.]]
* A sequel to the original ''VideoGame/{{Gradius}}'' (a.k.a. ''Nemesis'') was made for the {{UsefulNotes/MSX}} titled ''Gradius 2'' (a.k.a. ''Nemesis 2'') before the actual arcade sequel, ''Gradius II'' (a.k.a. ''Vulcan Venture''), was even made. While the arcade ''Gradius'' games had {{Excuse Plot}}s that were basically written as afterthoughts, the MSX version of ''Gradius 2'' is known for its elaborate lore. ''Gofer no Yabou Episode II'' (a.k.a. ''Nemesis 3: Eve of Destruction'') was later released as a [[ReformulatedGame reworked port]] of the arcade ''Gradius II'', but continues the story from the MSX ''Gradius 2''.
* ''[[VideoGame/GoldenAxe Golden Axe II]]'' for the UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis was made a year before the proper arcade sequel (''Golden Axe: Revenge of the Death Adder'') was released.

However, if a series is especially popular (and/or marketable), its anime version will begin before the manga even ends. Because of medium conventions, it takes longer for events to unfold in manga than it does in anime -- the average conversion being roughly 2 (weekly) manga chapters to make 1 anime episode -- and this often means that before long an anime will simply run out of source material. While some manga series are published weekly (e.g., ''Shonen Magazine''/''Sunday''/''Jump'', etc), others are published on a monthly schedule (e.g., ''Magazine/{{Nakayoshi}}'', ''Shonen Ace''). However, most anime are aired weekly, which only makes it worse, especially for manga that have just started recently. The producers of the anime are then in a fix: they can't just wait for the creator to produce more material because they have a broadcast schedule to meet. Japanese shows are almost always broadcast solely as original episodes without re-runs, so no new episodes is akin to being cancelled. This is something that is frequently lost in translation outside of Japan, with the result being that, unlike Western shows, television shows aren't really made in the form of "seasons", with breaks written into the production schedule. They just keep going and going and going until they finish/get cancelled, or stop at a predesignated point. This is also why lots of anime are only [[TwelveEpisodeAnime 12/13]] or 24/26 episodes long, because that's all they were scheduled for, regardless of popularity. However, there are shows that are starting to break this tradition by adopting the "seasons" model, such as ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia''.

* The ''Literature/NikkiHeat'' novels are a strange example, being a {{defictionalization}} of an [[ShowWithinAShow in-universe novel series]] from the ''Series/{{Castle}}'' TV show. In the show, the fictional ''Nikki Heat'' novels gradually stop being mentioned by about season 5; the series itself was ScrewedByTheNetwork at the end of season 8 in 2016. The real-world ''Nikki Heat'' novels ran for ''ten'' volumes through 2019, the second-to-last of which crossed over with Castle's earlier ''Derrick Storm'' novel series, which itself had been given [[ComicBook/DeadlyStorm a defictionalized comic book adaptation]] by this point.

* A similar example occurred with the SNES adaptation of ''VideoGame/JurassicPark''. Ocean couldn't wait for the sequel (or even the novel it would be loosely based on) and created their own, ''VideoGame/JurassicPark2TheChaosContinues''. It had a vaguely similar plot to the eventual sequel--a rival genetics company tries to take control of the island by force, and Alan Grant is sent to stop them. Nobody stopped to question why Grant was suddenly a gun-toting Contra-esque mercenary… or why he'd care about any of this.

* ''Manga/KaitouSaintTail'''s anime is the result of a mid-nineties anime adaptation running simultaneously with the manga but ''not'' opting for a GeckoEnding: the anime started production ''right'' before a certain MidSeasonTwist occurred in the manga, which abruptly shifted the tone of the story from an episodic caper story to an [[RuleOfSymbolism allegory for human connection]] and built off of {{Foreshadowing}} that had seemingly been irrelevant beforehand. Because the anime didn't account for this, it removed most of the {{Foreshadowing}}, moved important episodes around in order, and added {{Filler}} that [[StatusQuoIsGod backpedals on major developments]] and [[NegativeContinuity practically comes from an alternate universe]], yet continued to adapt the story all the way to the manga's original final arc and ending [[TheArtifact despite everything leading up to it not making sense anymore]]. Contemporary Japanese fans of the manga understood the situation well enough to be satisfied with the anime being a relatively faithful adaptation by the era's standards (in the sense that most of the manga's important scenes have an animated counterpart), but joked about it and its {{Filler}} being "[[DenserAndWackier an animated children's picture book]]" that swerves sharply into the manga's original final arc; meanwhile, the manga's [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes shaky localization history]] resulted in international fans getting a completely different impression of what the anime's story was about due to it [[AdaptationInducedPlotHole no longer having a coherent plotline]].

* ''Manga/ShamanKing'' is a bit more balanced between the manga and anime, but the 2001 anime seemed to overtake the manga by a nose. By the halfway point, the anime diverged from the manga almost entirely, making its own take on the shaman tournament and a GeckoEnding since they still hadn’t reached that point in the manga.

** Additionally, the 2015 theatrical film [[Film/AttackOnTitan2015 adaptation]] was made long before multiple big reveals about the backstory and setting of the manga and anime had been established. The resulting history of the titans, how the titan shifters came about, and the setting of the walled cities are all completely different. The walls are set in a future post-apocalyptic Japan, the titans were a weapon experiment gone wrong, and the titan shifters were a modification on the initial project to make a controllable version. The identity of the Colossal Titan and Armored Titan shifters are also both entirely different. Though in a case of [[HilariousInHindsight hilarity in hindsight]], the movie-exclusive character heavily implied to be Eren's older brother, Shikishima; later wound up voicing his canonical older brother, Zeke, in the English dub.

** The "Filler Hell" of ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' after the Sasuke Retrieval Arc is perhaps the most infamous example since ''Dragon Ball''. As in, the show ended up with ''two entire seasons composed solely of episodic filler and nothing else''. Although some of the filler arcs were moderately popular for providing screen time to [[EnsembleDarkhorse fan favorite secondary characters]] as well as general FanService, this eventually led to a severe drop in ratings, resulting in the first arc after the TimeSkip being essentially a relaunch with the new title of ''Naruto Shippuden''.

Unfortunately, unpopular or unwelcome {{filler arc}}s and episodes may often be {{Misblamed}} as being the fault of the original creators, when in reality the creators almost always have nothing to do with the filler plot. Some fillers that were better received by fans are often cited as being opportunities to develop lesser characters (this helps a lot with anime that have a cast size near the size of the production staff).

** The last significant filler arc is the Other World Tournament, which occurs after Cell is defeated but before the skip forward to Boo, as well as some extra Great Saiyaman shenanigans. After that, the anime was just as likely to take a week or four off the air to stall for time than it was to use filler and pad out the existing fights.