Purpose
Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2006 8:08 pm
I just finished watching an anime series (Madlax). I don’t know if it was from supreme boredom or if I somehow subconsciously desire to know how retarded fiction really can be, that I watched the end. I thing I know however is that this series has it all, cliché shallow characters that seem to act according “anime psychology”, something I know almost better that the real thing*, nonsensical story, nonsensical world, deus ex machina around every corner, good and evil polarization, justification of violent acts against antagonist by nonsensical reasons** and action scenes that are so unrealistic in every imaginable and unimaginable aspect that even if the rest of series was outstanding, I would still hold a negative view towards it.
If this was a single time occurrence, I would not be complaining, but these things seem to plague most anime series. I sometimes wonder why I am drawn to watch in the first place, perhaps it is just like meeting new people, I expect things to be but a shadow of its true potential (what could have been) and expect to find something of value, then when you come to learn about it you just see it isn’t there.
Companions the creator seeks, not corpses, not herds and believers. Fellow creators the creator seeks--those who write new values on new tablets. Companions the creator seeks, and fellow harvesters; for everything about him is ripe for the harvest.
Friedrich Nietzsche,
Thus Spoke Zarathustra
They aren’t even trying are they? I don’t know if it is because I am “slight” perfectionist, but I just don’t understand how you can do something, especially something creative, without caring the slightest about it. Or is it just me who failed to see something here, or am I just so much more intelligent that the average person?
I don’t know and as much as I hate uncertainty I have left this open to questioning for a long time now. But I know where the empirical evidence is pointing and that is a very lonely place.
Perhaps the worst aspect of anime is characters; I had in mind to make a tread about this earlier but I think those ideas will fit here nicely.
Characters are the life of any fiction, to offset bad characters it takes something truly great. As I understand it not everyone agrees on thins, otherwise there would be many books, films and series left inexperienced.
The question is where to begin, the flaws are so many I think I could write a book about it, but I will try to keep it short.
Sometimes it feels like I am watching half an episode in advance, because the characters are so predictable***. This is primary because of how the characters are designed; they are given a past (which is given too much importance) and a couple of traits.
There you have their psychology and it defines how they are going to act in about 90% of situations. What you have to watch out for is nonsensical behavior, it doesn’t occur often, but when it does you usually get extreme out of character situations, which are not something I think as good, for any aspect (story, character development…). I don’t know if most anime directors have failed to notice but normal people have many different behaviors, giving just one to a character makes them dull, predictable, lifeless and one-sided.
Forget about anyone wanting anything, anime characters are the most spineless and weak people that can be conceived. The only ones who want something are the antagonist, for some reason they seem to want something I can only describe as “evil for the sake of it”. That anime characters are shallow is in my opinion mostly due to the fact that there rarely is any rational thinking behind there behaviors, instead they (as I pointed out earlier) act in accordance to their character. Where are the strong and inspiring characters presenting something desirable?
All of this does obviously not apply to all anime, just the majority of it.
Another think that really bothers me is the whole nonsensical story part. In series like Madlax and Last Exile, I get the impression that the director tries to give the story depth by leaving out most parts of it, maybe its just me who is to thickheaded to understand. It’s in no way cleverly made like SAC or SEL, where most information is there, you just have to piece it together.
I don’t see the point really, the only think it does is break many potential concepts.
Realism is also something that is a problem with many series. Just as with all fiction (game included) I think it is positive if they provide originality, and I don’t see this as contradiction to the necessity of realism, because what I want is realism within the concept. So it does not matter what kind of world the fiction is played out in, it’s just important that it follow its own rules.
Worst case scenario: Madlax:
I really don’t mind action scenes where the protagonist slaughters a small army (can actually be rather satisfying if it’s done right), but having gunfights where the protagonist stands in front of an army and all their bullets miss, is just a major turnoff for me. Take a game like Farcry or Fear and play it on the highest difficulty. You get to fight armies of soldier that can kill you faster that you can kill a single one of them if you are without cover and they see you. Even though it can be difficult in series to emulate what it actually feels to be able to die (not that games can either but you are vulnerable in an entirely different way) it would be awesome if they could recreate the intensity of a fight in a difficult shooter. Where the victor is determined by skill and not that your opponents keeps missing.
Maybe I should stop wining and go on writing my book, to see if I can do any better.
Am I going to be flamed for this?
*As I have watched 1448+ (yeah I keep logs) episodes and considering my analytical nature, I consider myself to have quite some insight.
** The most typical situation seem to be (unfortunately this is seen in books as well) is that the antagonist kills people or something just “because he (why is it always a he?) wants to”
*** Worst case scenario Ah! My Goddess, Chobits, D.N. Angel, Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien, Midori no Hibi, Onegai Teacher, Onegai Twins, Gundam Seed, basically drama series.
It’s almost fun sometime to try to predict what happens next, but just gets boring as it is often too easy.
Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien has to be the easiest as I did not even have to guess.
If this was a single time occurrence, I would not be complaining, but these things seem to plague most anime series. I sometimes wonder why I am drawn to watch in the first place, perhaps it is just like meeting new people, I expect things to be but a shadow of its true potential (what could have been) and expect to find something of value, then when you come to learn about it you just see it isn’t there.
Companions the creator seeks, not corpses, not herds and believers. Fellow creators the creator seeks--those who write new values on new tablets. Companions the creator seeks, and fellow harvesters; for everything about him is ripe for the harvest.
Friedrich Nietzsche,
Thus Spoke Zarathustra
They aren’t even trying are they? I don’t know if it is because I am “slight” perfectionist, but I just don’t understand how you can do something, especially something creative, without caring the slightest about it. Or is it just me who failed to see something here, or am I just so much more intelligent that the average person?
I don’t know and as much as I hate uncertainty I have left this open to questioning for a long time now. But I know where the empirical evidence is pointing and that is a very lonely place.
Perhaps the worst aspect of anime is characters; I had in mind to make a tread about this earlier but I think those ideas will fit here nicely.
Characters are the life of any fiction, to offset bad characters it takes something truly great. As I understand it not everyone agrees on thins, otherwise there would be many books, films and series left inexperienced.
The question is where to begin, the flaws are so many I think I could write a book about it, but I will try to keep it short.
Sometimes it feels like I am watching half an episode in advance, because the characters are so predictable***. This is primary because of how the characters are designed; they are given a past (which is given too much importance) and a couple of traits.
There you have their psychology and it defines how they are going to act in about 90% of situations. What you have to watch out for is nonsensical behavior, it doesn’t occur often, but when it does you usually get extreme out of character situations, which are not something I think as good, for any aspect (story, character development…). I don’t know if most anime directors have failed to notice but normal people have many different behaviors, giving just one to a character makes them dull, predictable, lifeless and one-sided.
Forget about anyone wanting anything, anime characters are the most spineless and weak people that can be conceived. The only ones who want something are the antagonist, for some reason they seem to want something I can only describe as “evil for the sake of it”. That anime characters are shallow is in my opinion mostly due to the fact that there rarely is any rational thinking behind there behaviors, instead they (as I pointed out earlier) act in accordance to their character. Where are the strong and inspiring characters presenting something desirable?
All of this does obviously not apply to all anime, just the majority of it.
Another think that really bothers me is the whole nonsensical story part. In series like Madlax and Last Exile, I get the impression that the director tries to give the story depth by leaving out most parts of it, maybe its just me who is to thickheaded to understand. It’s in no way cleverly made like SAC or SEL, where most information is there, you just have to piece it together.
I don’t see the point really, the only think it does is break many potential concepts.
Realism is also something that is a problem with many series. Just as with all fiction (game included) I think it is positive if they provide originality, and I don’t see this as contradiction to the necessity of realism, because what I want is realism within the concept. So it does not matter what kind of world the fiction is played out in, it’s just important that it follow its own rules.
Worst case scenario: Madlax:
I really don’t mind action scenes where the protagonist slaughters a small army (can actually be rather satisfying if it’s done right), but having gunfights where the protagonist stands in front of an army and all their bullets miss, is just a major turnoff for me. Take a game like Farcry or Fear and play it on the highest difficulty. You get to fight armies of soldier that can kill you faster that you can kill a single one of them if you are without cover and they see you. Even though it can be difficult in series to emulate what it actually feels to be able to die (not that games can either but you are vulnerable in an entirely different way) it would be awesome if they could recreate the intensity of a fight in a difficult shooter. Where the victor is determined by skill and not that your opponents keeps missing.
Maybe I should stop wining and go on writing my book, to see if I can do any better.
Am I going to be flamed for this?
*As I have watched 1448+ (yeah I keep logs) episodes and considering my analytical nature, I consider myself to have quite some insight.
** The most typical situation seem to be (unfortunately this is seen in books as well) is that the antagonist kills people or something just “because he (why is it always a he?) wants to”
*** Worst case scenario Ah! My Goddess, Chobits, D.N. Angel, Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien, Midori no Hibi, Onegai Teacher, Onegai Twins, Gundam Seed, basically drama series.
It’s almost fun sometime to try to predict what happens next, but just gets boring as it is often too easy.
Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien has to be the easiest as I did not even have to guess.