Sword Art Online Comparisons between the Light Novel and the Anime

[MasterOfMoogles]

Just because a character's internal narration isn't shown doesn't mean he is a totally different character. Instead, it just means you don't see his thoughts. I guess you can make up reasons for his behavior that aren't true to his character and act like they're true, but it seems like the only reason to do that is to annoy people who know the real character. Nobody cares if people speculate about his character, but to say he's a selfish, heartless bastard because he did X and not considering other reasons why he did X is just pointless.

[Y]

Just because a character's internal narration isn't shown doesn't mean he is a totally different character. Instead, it just means you don't see his thoughts. I guess you can make up reasons for his behavior that aren't true to his character and act like they're true, but it seems like the only reason to do that is to annoy people who know the real character.

This is a tremendously stupid and reductionist way to read things. Omitting the narration is an element of the show, and not having the protagonist spew hackneyed garbage about how he's going to be the one to save the world does make him a different (and not necessarily a lesser) character. Compare this to Kubrick eliminating the final chapter of A Clockwork Orange when he adapted it - you don't just assume that the omitted material happened anyway, omitting it made the character different.

Buff seems to get it just fine even without the internal narration.

"Getting it" isn't the deal here, bucko. We're not wrong because he acted or thought differently in the book, or even because you could interpret the character in a different light in the show. Hope this helps.