This or That Reading Challenge discussion

This: A manga, graphic novel or book that inspired an anime.
That: Read a book made famous by BookTok or Bookstagram.

For this month I chose This: A manga, graphic novel or book that inspired an anime, for which I read One Piece by Eiichiro Oda, which was adapted into one of the longest running (over 1,100 episodes since 1999) and most popular anime series in Japan. I had seen maybe 2 dozen episodes of the anime previously, but had not read the source manga before. It's about a pirate crew made up of misfits searching for an epic treasure, with some fantasy / fantastical elements to it.

I had quit watching the anime series because while sometimes cute and funny, it didn't have much in it to hold me, other than a general theme of friendship. Maybe if I'd grown up with it that would have been different. And I had the same feeling after reading the manga. Entertaining enough, but feels a bit lightweight. 3 1/2 stars.

I chose That for this month and read The Cruel Prince by Holly Black. Normally, she is a favourite of mine, but it was hard to get into this book. Eventually I did and it was okay, just very meh. I don't even think I'm compelled to read the rest of the series.
My partner sure laughed when he asked me what I was reading, and I said, "it's a book about faeries. In fact, I'm reading two books involving fae and neither are smut."