General

[quote=Yumtoast]If both mediums are roughly equal in quality, then I'd go for the anime 90% of the time. There are so many stories that are better told in animated form than in written form; narrations go smoother, soundtracks often add to the experience, color is a huge bonus, and it's much easier to multitask watching anime than reading manga.

Examples that come to mind:
-The Uchuu Kyoudai manga can't compare with the anime adaption's unarguably better art and Hirata Hiroaki's (Mutta) narrations.
-Bartender. The manga is great and all, but the anime's OST and narrations are an 11/10 and just make watching Bartender a lot better than reading it.
-Gin no Saji. It's one of my favorite ongoing manga, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with the anime. In fact, they both bring the exact level of enjoyment, which is seldom-seen.
-Gintama. You can't really have Gintama without Sugita voicing Gintoki; I actually find the manga much less enjoyable without the VAs.

Unfortunately, it's rarely that you find an adaption (typically anime) better than the source material (manga, LN, etc).[/quote]

Exactly this, it really depends on the quality of both, to be honest i find One Piece manga a LOT better than the anime (except in some really well animated scenes, but the animation in the current arcs was crap)

And for SnK the anime was a lot better to watch than reading the manga.

If both mediums are roughly equal in quality, then I'd go for the anime 90% of the time. There are so many stories that are better told in animated form than in written form; narrations go smoother, soundtracks often add to the experience, color is a huge bonus, and it's much easier to multitask watching anime than reading manga.

Examples that come to mind:
-The Uchuu Kyoudai manga can't compare with the anime adaption's unarguably better art and Hirata Hiroaki's (Mutta) narrations.
-Bartender. The manga is great and all, but the anime's OST and narrations are an 11/10 and just make watching Bartender a lot better than reading it.
-Gin no Saji. It's one of my favorite ongoing manga, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with the anime. In fact, they both bring the exact level of enjoyment, which is seldom-seen.
-Gintama. You can't really have Gintama without Sugita voicing Gintoki; I actually find the manga much less enjoyable without the VAs.

Unfortunately, it's rarely that you find an adaption (typically anime) better than the source material (manga, LN, etc).

[quote=Billionz]Uh...... it depends?[/quote]

Exactly this. With some series I prefer the manga, mainly because I can understand the story/plot in more detail, and/or the anime version of it completely destroyed the story/characters for me (you know which ones I'm talking about). Then with other series I actually prefer the anime because I can visually see the emotion and struggles of the characters come to life, and I find that certain series do an amazing job at this

I prefer manga.
I'm biased towards comics of all kinds.

manga, because i've found that anime tends to waste some time and characters spend like five minutes staring at each other in suspense with dramatic music in the background when manga is essentially to the point. Or, you could say I'm just very impatient.

sometimes execution in anime so so underwhelming that an unmoving colourless picture is more exciting.

As a general rule i can get into a manga more easily because i see it as, "ohh i can just read a chapter or two now" (which quickly results in 10-20 chapters).
Rather then start an anime and generally get through less story in the same amount of time.

And it also depends on the anime.
If it is an original work then yea who cares, give it a shot.
If it is from a visual novel and has a manga adaptation (but the anime is based off the VN not the manga) then i might try the anime and if i enjoy it enough delve into the other two.
Or if it is a manga -> anime, depending on how i find it, it could go either way.
For example i watched the Hitman Reborn Anime, and enjoyed it enough to read the manga.
But on a counter note i read Deadman Wonderland and really enjoyed the manga, and felt let down by how bad the anime adaptation was.

Manga. I prefer owning books than downloading online.

Manga is better. It's faster for me to skip things that I don't care about and my imagination does a great job at filling out the rest. It's also easier for me to focus on each panel as opposed to each frame, if I happen to want to focus on something.

Isn't that the japanese cartoons and japanese comic books?

When I discover a new anime I'll go ahead and read the manga too (if it's based off a manga).

I can't really tell if there is a difference or not, but I do know some people who would prefer one over the other I am okay with both, but I prefer the anime a little bit more because some scenes are just better with the anime

If I'm instantly pulled into a story and can't wait a week I'll go read the manga.

Anime tends to be more time consuming in the long run but sometimes the animation of some scenes are wooorrthhh.

Tend to like action anime like Magi/SnK

I tend to read romance.

manga for story
anime for pretty colours

You can't really generalize all anime and manga like that. One isn't better than the other; it depends on how each anime has been adapted from its respective manga.

manga if it's shoujo
anime if it's shounen

what do you mean better? the content?

Uh...... it depends?