The advent of free and legal streaming anime is upon us! Even though I no longer consider myself much of an anime fan—outside of a few nostalgic favorites—it’s hard to resist the lure of a free (and legal!) opportunity to see how some of my favorite manga series have been adapted for the small screen.

To that end, I visited three websites offering streaming anime and checked out the first episodes of Ghost Hunt, Skip Beat!, and Honey and Clover, all series I have enjoyed in their manga form. Here are the results!

Ghost Hunt — Ep. 1 “Evil Spirits All Over!?, Part 1”
How I watched it: subtitled
Where I watched it: FUNimation Videos

When high school student Mai Taniyama breaks an expensive camera belonging to Shibuya Psychic Research and injures the boss’s assistant, she is drafted into becoming a substitute and enters into the world of ghost hunting. Rumors of strange accidents abound about an old, abandoned building on school grounds and the principal has hired several notable mediums, exorcists, and researchers to get to the bottom of what’s going on. This first episode introduces the characters who’ll be working together for the rest of the series, but doesn’t get much beyond that to the meat of the case in question.

The first thing to strike me was the quality of the animation. One of the big flaws about Ghost Hunt as a manga (itself an adaptation from a series of novels) was that Mai’s character design was liable to change dramatically from volume to volume. The anime has chosen a style closest to her latest manga incarnation, and it looks quite attractive. Additionally, another character who was always supposed to be pretty finally merits that description.

The case itself doesn’t play as creepily as it did in the manga, though there are definitely some attempts to promote a spooky vibe, like the fabulous orchestral opening theme. It’s too bad the closing theme is so plain by comparison.

Overall, I was pretty pleased with this adaptation. As near as I can remember, it follows the manga faithfully and even improves upon it in some ways. I’m not sure it excites me enough to keep on with the rest of it, though.

Skip Beat! — Ep. 1 “And the Box was Opened”
How I watched it: subtitled
Where I watched it: Crunchyroll

Kyoko Mogami has come to Tokyo to lend support to her childhood friend Sho in his bid for stardom. And by lend support I mean slave away night and day to pay for his expenses, do his laundry, cook his meals, et cetera. She thinks they’re special to each other, but when she overhears him telling his manager what he really thinks of her, she loses it and vows to get her revenge.

This seems like a pretty accurate adaptation of the beginning of the manga. Some of the comedy bits are a bit too loud and zany for me, but I can’t complain much because those elements are in the manga, too. Kyoko’s transition from accommodating to vengeful is well done—it looks a bit like a magical girl transformation sequence—and I actually rather like her voice so far, even though I’d heard from others that she can come off a bit shrill.

I don’t really like Sho’s voice, though, and find the music boring and the animation sloppy at times. Still, this is the one series of the lot that tempted me to proceed directly on to episode two. The prospect of seeing Kyoko’s auditions and acting jobs animated sounds pretty appealing and I simply must see Lory.

Honey and Clover — Ep. 1 “I Saw Someone Fall in Love for the First Time”
How I watched it: subtitled
Where I watched it: Hulu

Honey and Clover is the story of a bunch of students attending an art college. In the first episode, sophomore architectural student Takemoto meets freshman Hagumi (hereafter referred to as Hagu), the daughter of his professor’s cousin, who has come to the school to study. She is tiny, dainty, and shy and Takemoto is instantly smitten. Meanwhile, we’re also introduced to some other students whose romantic woes will play a bigger part in the story later on.

Rather than adapt manga to anime in a straightforward way, the creators of the Honey and Clover anime have done something a bit different with the material, seeking to reinterpret it with Takemoto’s solitary bicycle journey (which doesn’t happen until volume five or six of the manga) as a framing device for the early events of the series. It’s an interesting and thoughtful choice. Unfortunately, their changes also extend to the insertion of unnecessary scenes, like one in which Hagu (quite literally) runs into Yamada.

Ultimately, despite its innovations, the anime of Honey and Clover is the one I like least of the three, and that is likely because the manga is the one I like best. The difference in tone is too great from what I have imagined for me to really enjoy it.

Also, I must add that this series probably has the strangest opening credits I’ve ever seen. You’ll never look at a shrimp cocktail the same way again.