What rules should a good anime follow to keep you interested?
We have recently discussed the importance of the plot, characters and their motivation in another article, but let’s expand on this topic.
A good story cannot exist without good writing. You’re not going to watch a hundred episode anime for nothing. Some good old fanservice or occasional fillers will hardly ruin your experience, but it works only if the series has something more to offer. Let’s take a look at some of the storytelling tricks that might give you this “something more” and keep you entertained.
One of the Pixar storytelling rules says that it’s better to show a character trying than succeeding. Yes, we all like seeing our favorites achieve their goals, but apparently, we care about them more when they don’t give up no matter what. Their journey becomes the most important thing and turns into the base for their character development. It also brings you the feeling of attachment to the character and makes you root for them more and more with each try. For example, in episode 3 of Demon Slayer Tanjiro keeps training to become a better fighter, we see his progress and feel incredible joy and satisfaction when he finally finishes his training by cutting the huge stone with his sword.
When it comes to the story, the plot itself is not the only crucial thing. The pacing and the way the story is built is also very important. Fillers and unnecessary detours are better to be avoided. It should be easy to understand the characters’ destination and what they’re trying to accomplish. It helps if a writer knows what the ending and some turning points of the story are going to be like straight from the beginning. People still argue if Isayama (the mangaka of Attack on Titan) changed his manga ending along the way because fans noticed some story inconsistencies. Nevertheless, everyone agrees that up to the point of discovering the basement secret, the story has been incredibly well-written, which can tell us that the mangaka thought about this turning point very early in his story and was building up to it.
It might feel like there are an endless number of universal themes to base your story on, but in reality, there aren’t many. However, there’s a difference between choosing a theme and portraying it. We have seen countless revenge stories, but each one has something new to offer. You can add demons and madness to the story and get Black Butler, or make the subject of revenge a bizarre father figure and get Vinland Saga. This approach of adding something original to a topic that has been discussed a million times is exactly what makes you keep watching such stories.
What rules should a good anime follow to keep you interested?
We have recently discussed the importance of the plot, characters and their motivation in another article, but let’s expand on this topic.
A good story cannot exist without good writing. You’re not going to watch a hundred episode anime for nothing. Some good old fanservice or occasional fillers will hardly ruin your experience, but it works only if the series has something more to offer. Let’s take a look at some of the storytelling tricks that might give you this “something more” and keep you entertained.
One of the Pixar storytelling rules says that it’s better to show a character trying than succeeding. Yes, we all like seeing our favorites achieve their goals, but apparently, we care about them more when they don’t give up no matter what. Their journey becomes the most important thing and turns into the base for their character development. It also brings you the feeling of attachment to the character and makes you root for them more and more with each try. For example, in episode 3 of Demon Slayer Tanjiro keeps training to become a better fighter, we see his progress and feel incredible joy and satisfaction when he finally finishes his training by cutting the huge stone with his sword.
When it comes to the story, the plot itself is not the only crucial thing. The pacing and the way the story is built is also very important. Fillers and unnecessary detours are better to be avoided. It should be easy to understand the characters’ destination and what they’re trying to accomplish. It helps if a writer knows what the ending and some turning points of the story are going to be like straight from the beginning. People still argue if Isayama (the mangaka of Attack on Titan) changed his manga ending along the way because fans noticed some story inconsistencies. Nevertheless, everyone agrees that up to the point of discovering the basement secret, the story has been incredibly well-written, which can tell us that the mangaka thought about this turning point very early in his story and was building up to it.
It might feel like there are an endless number of universal themes to base your story on, but in reality, there aren’t many. However, there’s a difference between choosing a theme and portraying it. We have seen countless revenge stories, but each one has something new to offer. You can add demons and madness to the story and get Black Butler, or make the subject of revenge a bizarre father figure and get Vinland Saga. This approach of adding something original to a topic that has been discussed a million times is exactly what makes you keep watching such stories.
