Manga, light novels and anime: who adapts whom

A large share of anime adapts a work that already exists. The most common sources are manga, light novels and games. There are also original anime, created directly for the screen.

• Manga: Japanese comics, the most common source of adaptations.
• Light novel: short illustrated novels, frequently adapted in fantasy and isekai.
• Games and visual novels: interactive stories that get an animated version.
• Original: a script written for the anime, with no earlier work.

When the series ends before the story

It is common for a season to end in the middle of the original work. Often the anime works as promotion for the manga or the novel. If you liked it, the source almost always continues where the screen stopped.