You know, I was told that the manga was much more in depth and that the movie cut a lot. I was also told that that made it "bad". Frankly, having read the manga now, and after seeing the movie a few times, i think the movie actually does a fantastic job at gathering the main plot points into 2 hours and change - It's almost a cliff's notes version of the manga. Yes, you miss a lot, but much of what is cut out is secondary plots, extended developments, tertiary characters, flashbacks, etc. I definitely recommend a read, however, because it fleshes out a lot more things, and you when you re watch the movie you end up seeing a lot of those cut characters in minor scenes. You can read the manga online here, if you can't find it in book stores.
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...
it helps when you're cheap and in a place where access to this sort of stuff is limited in its physical form. Regarding the changes between books and manga - The writer of the manga, Katsuhiro Otomo, was also one of the screenwriters and the director of the movie. If anyone knew what the main plot of the manga was, i guess it should be him.I can't believe I never thought to search for something like that before...