The same thing was said about LOTR, but I think Jackson did a pretty good job at capturing the main essence of the plot while condensing it into an 11 hr viewing session for all 3. Compare that to an audio book of the fellowship of the ring, which is made up of three parts each lasting about 10 hrs, mostly because of the detail Tolkien uses, and you have an entire trilogy of feature length films lasting about the same time as part 1 of the fellowship of the ring.

Because of the same thing, more detail. It would take a considerable amount of thought to take the significant parts of the manga (or books) and condense them into a single (or trilogy of) film(s). And to use creative license to change the story a little if a significant part of the plot is running too long, or goes a few seasons down a secondary plot or something. Sorry, mostly speculating now.

Anyway, I too would love to read the manga then re-watch the movie to see how well the director did this. So thanks for the link! That looks like a great site, I can't believe I never thought to search for something like that before...