It's the difference between Trilby, which is a rollicking good novel, and Emma, which is brilliant. The difference between Disney's The Little Mermaid and Hans Christian Andersen's. In both cases the former is still enjoyable, but it's just not as good as the latter. However, people often enjoy the former more.

How very, very true! It's the same for art, btw. :-)))
Manga's definitely much more popular than, let's say, Lyonel Feininger.