ALL THE CRYING IN THE WORLD.

So let's get something straight - I haven't read the novel. I hope to one day, but I haven't as of yet. That said just comparing the Anime to the Manga is enough for me. There are a lot of differences that occur, but they bring the characters to the same place. Knowledge is found through different means (in here the kids didn't meet the "False Whitecape" at summer camp, but afterwards when they realize what has happened to their friends) and relationships are treated much differently (Maria and Saki's relationship in particular is more romantic and sexual then in the anime), but the end result is the same: Maria and Mamoru leave the town to live in the outside world, Saki and Satoru vow to make their town a place they can return to safely.

I really like Saki in the manga--she's not a pushover in the anime, not exactly, but she is very often dependent on others. In this, when they confront the "false whitecape" for information about their history and the world, Saki gives it her all. She's (mostly) oblivious to what its doing to everyone else--for her the knowledge they are gaining to create a better world is more important then the pain Maria is feeling. And this is important because in the anime its Shun who is the driving force to find out the truth and its Shun who is pushing the "false whitecape" more and more. And its Saki who is backing him up. In the manga its Saki pushing and Maria is backing her up.

The manga also makes it clear that Saki isn't just doing this because she lost Shun (though that's a large part of it), she's also upset over losing Reika and for all the other kids that have ever had to be "disposed of". The "false whitecape" also offers a clearer view of what happened to civilization and explicitly states that the world of the present is the closest humanity has come to eradicating murder/human violence. ( )