Anime only watcher that tried the manga

As an anime only person I was surprised how much fun i had reading the manga. But now i feel a huge sense of regret and frustration after fully catching up in the story.

I FELL IN LOVE with the anime after starting it with 0 expectations. This story about two middle schoolers falling in love has somehow become my all time favorite anime. Because of this and knowing that a season 3 is no guarantee, I broke my golden rule. I read past the anime's current point.

However, "spoiling" what happens next by reading the manga made me feel like I've ruined any future anime content that may release. At the end of the day, it was the wholesome charm of the anime that hooked me. My viewing experience was a special journey and led me to fall in love with BokuYaba.

I'm not saying Norio and the manga don't deserve most of the credit here. She is the architect of these incredibly well written characters and their story together. A dog shit movie/show/anime adaptation can really do a diservice to the original version. But the animation studio did an amazing job bringing Norio's pages to life with their adaptation. The incredible voice acting helped me really feel Kyo and Anna's connection growing and their love blooming. The gorgeous music score added that extra amount of emotion to the story that the manga simply cant convey. The climax of every episode always inter-twining with the episode's title card. The beautiful opening and ending credits. The pacing. It was all breathtaking to witness and experience.

Unfortunately, i cant help but feel like i've now robbed myself of seeing certain moments come to life on screen. Going into this anime blind, there was a sense of excitement wondering how the characters themselves and their relationship together would grow each subsequent episode. Watching their confessions at the end of s2 was incredibly touching and worth the build up. It brought tears of joy to my eyes. Would i have felt the same way after first reading the manga though? I don't think it would've been as special knowing what they were going to say to eachother beforehand despite the truly beautiful on screen scene.

Upcoming chapters SPOILERS such as them revealing their relationship to anna's parents, their kiss on the stairs, the love hotel I feel like those scenes would've felt just as magical as the confessions felt going in blind and witnessing them play out without any prior knowlege. They would've reminded me of why I now regard this as my personal favorite anime of all time, especially knowing these chapters will be executed to perfection if brought to life on screen. Of course these moments will still be special to see, but I've robbed myself of seeing them occur with the first time being via the anime and all of the story telling bells and whistles that come attached.

Maybe this is a normal feeling for first time manga readers that are used to watching the anime only? Only time will tell.

TLDR: Anime only watchers that are curious about continuing on in the manga, my personal suggestion is to be patient and resist the temptation to read on. Not because the manga is bad (it's excellent), but because the anime did the manga justice with a fantastic adaptation and if thats the medium you prefer, stick to it. Going in blind into the continuation of the story is something you'll only experience once, and to me, i regret that I won't be able to experience the story on screen using the medium that made me fall in love with Kyo, Anna, and their journey. Read the manga for sure, but stop after the confessions and let the rest of their story be told on screen when the time finally comes.