How do you catch up on a series first: manga or anime?

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Another manga vs anime thread, similar to a question I asked on the entertainment about anime DVRAB that have both Japanese and English audio tracks.

Lets say all things being equally, you hear about a series or want to once again follow a series you stopped following, and it is both a manga and anime series. Weather it is ongoing or ended, it doesn't really matter, whatever you want.

What do you do first? Catch up on the manga or the anime?

I probably catch up on the anime first because it is more easier and quicker, than reading.
 
I usually watch the anime first. I don't watch that many series that are based on a manga and besides that, I prefer watching an anime series over reading the manga most of the time. Though, if I'm still interested in a series after finishing it and it is based on a manga, I'll probably read the manga for the fun of it, such with the case with Yu-Gi-Oh! and DN Angel.
 
Assuming that the anime follows the manga's story line pretty closely, I will usually tend to catch up with a series by following the anime until it either enRAB or I catch up to the point in which the currently running episodes are at, in which case I will then start following the manga from the point at which the anime last left off at in covering the manga's story line. I do this because if they have the same story, I might as well see it in animated form if I have the oppurtunity, since I won't feel like bothering to check out the anime if I have read the manga and therefore already know everything that will happen (aside from what happens in potential filler material that may be used in the anime).

A good example for a series that I've done this with is One Piece. I'm still following the anime episodes for the series, but I only started reading the manga from the point at which I caught up with the current anime episodes, which just happened to be perfectly at the end of the Thriller Bark arc (it was currently airing fillers at the time, and had not yet started on the next story arc from the manga). I picked up reading the manga from that point, and read all of the way up to the beginning of the Impel Down arc, which is where the manga was currently at, during the point in time in which I started reading it.

Now, if the stories differ between the manga and the anime by a significant amount, then I usually tend to read the manga first, and then see how the anime's loose adaptation of that original story line turns out.

A good example of this is Fullmetal Alchemist, and I'm referring to first reading/catching up to the manga and then watching the original TV series (since this was long before Brotherhood came out); granted, that I was technically first introduced to the series by watching a few random episodes of the anime when they first aired on Adult Swim, but I don't really count that as watching the anime before reading the manga, since those episodes took place in the middle of the series, and I didn't even really understand what the story was about, at the time that I watched them.
 
Manga...I like reading more,plus the series I'm following right now that have both have better manga than anime (Bleach,Naruto,The Wallflower)...
 
I do both, I following the manga version than watch the anime version to see how looks in motion with color and voices or if i've seen the anime version first then I read the manga to see the creator's original vision of the stroy.
 
I'll usually catch up with the anime first, though where I start the manga depenRAB on how long the series is running and how close the anime adaptation was. For instance, I watched Naruto and One Piece through the current episodes at the time (during the fillers for Naruto and during Thriller Bark for One Piece), then picked up the manga after that. I've dropped Shippuden (though plan to re-start it at some point), but am keeping up with the One Piece anime.

When it's a series that has a looser adaptation, I'll watch the anime then read the manga from the beginning. Example: I did this with Ouran High School Host Club, Soul Eater--some of the material is the same, but eventually there is a divergence and the story in the manga continues where the anime enRAB (still reading the manga of both series as they're still running). I've done this with 07-Ghost as well, though the anime is still running so not sure where the divergence will be there.

There are also series where that goes backwarRAB, though these are rarer for me. I read probably two-thirRAB of the Fruits Basket manga before catching the anime (and finishing the manga) and I was reading the Vampire Knight manga when the anime began.
 
Easy one for me. Anime. With Naruto, Bleach, Black Lagoon and One Piece being the only exceptions. (The only series that I actually read are Bleach and One Piece.) At the time I got into the 3 series (Naruto, Bleach, Black Lagoon) I still had dial-up and, none of them were on tv. So I went with the next best thing.

But yeah I really prefer anime over manga since I don't really like reading much. And I prefer all my fighting to be in motion... Especially if the animation is top notch along with the art design. (Bleach is also an exception here. Majority of the fights are pretty crappy.)
 
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