Just something about the Spring and Summer OVAs. One thing I noticed was that Chisame (I'm not sure if that is how her name is spelt, I mean the girl who dresses in costumes and makes videos of herself) has brown hair instead of green like she has in the main series.
Another thing was in the OVA Asuna has two blue eyes. In the main series she had a blue eye and a green eye.
Chisame Hasegawa
MANGA: hair color is reddish brown, and her eyes are brown. As Chiu it is (what looks like) the same color or light reddish orange.
XEBEC anime: hair color is dark green, and her eyes are gray. As Chiu it is pink.
SHAFT anime: hair color is dark brown, and her eyes are dark brown. As Chiu it is pink.
Asuna Kagurazaka
MANGA: hair color is orange, and her eyes (Heterochromia) is dark blue and light blue.
XEBEC anime: hair color is orange, and her eyes (Heterochromia) is blue and green.
SHAFT anime: hair color is orange, and her eyes are completely blue.
The designer likely didn't notice how Ken colored her eyes, so they went with one color.
Little lesson for ya,
Ken Akamatsu (from what I see) rarely gives his characters colorful looks. His characters are very Japanese in action and appearance. This is of course if they are foreign, then they look rather different, but they still have his style.
To continue, his characters always seem to have a real world appearance. Hair: Black, Brown, Red, Blond. The eyes: Brown, Green, Grey, Blue etc
I am glad that Chisame didn't have green hair in the SHAFT adaptation; the color was horrid. I believe the only reason XEBEC screwed up the hair color in the first place, was so the audience could tell the girls apart; or at least give them some sense of characterization by appearance.
But what makes SHAFT's anime version lousy, is the personality changes, and too much forced humor. Their design also made all the girls (even chubby Yotsuba) look alike. In the OVAs the characters retain their personalities, and the OVAs stick closer to the manga story.