All the small things

hopeful_monster

Thousand Master
Every couple months someone does a thread asking what makes a good series, and after about three post most of the answers (plot, sound/ music, animation, characters). What may be more interesting may be what small things raise a good series from mediocre ones, for great from good. Give a few examples.

- Characters should have more than three outfits. Shinji (Eva) only seemed to ever wear his school uniform and the plug suit. Likewise some people just put on a coat and it can overcome Arctic conditions (Lara Croft for a game example).

- Characters Eat, **** and sleep. They should do every day stuff. Showing characters in every day life expands them and makes the midden hitting the windmill more personal and effective as you can see what they have lost.

- Jokes in non comedy series. People crack jokes all the time (even if like mine they are awful puns), but unless it's a comedy series it gets forgotten or lumped onto a 'joker' character.

What else pulls a series up a notch in your opinion.
 
The second point is so true, sometimes you wonder exactly what characters do when their not saving the world/participating in drama/being evil.

When it comes to little details: I appreciate a series that can show or hint at something, rather than having someone explain it at length or have a patronising exposition sequence. When an anime opens with a booming disembodied voice telling us "It's the future and the world is a harsh place etc" then I tend to worry.
 
Absolutely Wildcard. I love it when a series just throws you straight into a situation without really explaining and you're left to figure out what's gone/going on. How many people do you see spontaneously come out with a tract on recent history (world or personal) in real life? And the "being taught in a history class" in order to make it less obvious has been done to death now. That kind of over-explanation makes me think of the awful voice-over tacked onto the original release of Blade Runner.

I like it when relationships between characters progress at a realistic speed. If it's supposed to be a casual fling or friendship of necessity then that's fine happening over a couple of days, but I always imagine these seemingly deep relationships which are forged over say a week or so disintegrating once the story is over (like Bond girls between films) because actually, the characters don't know anything about each other.

Maison Ikkoku (romance) and Patlabor (friendship) do this very well.
 
I'm more of a story / character development person.
The series I like the most have either great plot (Eva / Ghost in the shell / 12 kingdoms) or character development (haibane renmei / FMA).

Having snipets of real life in a series surely enrich it, but sometimes it's simply cheap comic relief (I'm thinking the stomachache episode in Naruto).

Having comedy added in good doses are ok. Series like FMA have a good balance of comedy reliefs, Initial D had a good balance as well.

With regards to Character outfits, it doesn't necessarily adds that much. Sakura in Sakura cardcaptor had a different outfit every episode and although it was fun to watch, it wasn't something that actually added anything.
 
hopeful_monster said:
- Characters Eat, **** and sleep. They should do every day stuff. Showing characters in every day life expands them and makes the midden hitting the windmill more personal and effective as you can see what they have lost.
It's called "every day stuff" because it's the stuff they do every day, and is not the point of the show.

I'd rather see them go blow **** up than watch them cook a microwave meal and chat to people about the state of society.
 
ayase said:
I like it when relationships between characters progress at a realistic speed. If it's supposed to be a casual fling or friendship of necessity then that's fine happening over a couple of days, but I always imagine these seemingly deep relationships which are forged over say a week or so disintegrating once the story is over (like Bond girls between films) because actually, the characters don't know anything about each other.

This is a big one for me. Unrealistic romance really annoys me and it happens in so many films/TV shows/manga/anime/celebrities that it's an instant turn off now. I don't mind if it works out for the characters or it doesn't, but for a romance series to have any mileage at all it has to at least be convincing.

R
 
A lot (as in, the vast majority) of anime is made of kids. Kids don't tend to care about details; they care about action.

A lack of clothing variation, no everyday activities being shown, forced romances that older viewers can't view as believable, every anime starring school brats in order for anime to connect with its main audience... All of these are the sort of issues anime fans find themselves bothered by as they age. Quite simply, you have to put up with the problems you find or move onto something else because anime isn't going to change for adults.

Just last night I started watching Shana, a very highly rated series. Even though the first episode was very good, I was bothered by the main character (and supporting cast) being school brats and how school forced its way into a good sci-fi story involving monsters freezing time and eating souls, with the souls that were eaten being replaced with 'torches' that act as replacements. I felt that a good story was being dragged down by the age of the characters and whoever came up with the story forcing school into the picture in order to appeal to the youthful masses. Wiuld I have felt the same way years ago, when I was younger and new to anime? Probably not.
 
ayase said:
That kind of over-explanation makes me think of the awful voice-over tacked onto the original release of Blade Runner.

Ack, great example - the Directors cut was so much more subtle and powerful thanks to it's removal.
 
Maxon said:
hopeful_monster said:
- Characters Eat, **** and sleep. They should do every day stuff. Showing characters in every day life expands them and makes the midden hitting the windmill more personal and effective as you can see what they have lost.
It's called "every day stuff" because it's the stuff they do every day, and is not the point of the show.

I'd rather see them go blow **** up than watch them cook a microwave meal and chat to people about the state of society.

^I agree. If I wanted to see them do every day stuff, I'd watch Lucky Star, etc.

I think doing every day stuff is normally fillers/advertisement; Think code geass and cheesey-kun, naruto and stomach-ache, etc.
 
Watching characters perform mundane everyday activities seems unnecessary, but I do like it when they appear in more than one outfit over the course of a long series. R.O.D. The TV, I recall, was good in this regard, the characters obviously having a wardrobe bigger than a shoebox.
 
fabricatedlunatic said:
Watching characters perform mundane everyday activities seems unnecessary, but I do like it when they appear in more than one outfit over the course of a long series. R.O.D. The TV, I recall, was good in this regard, the characters obviously having a wardrobe bigger than a shoebox.

I sort of agree with this. I still would like to see more day to day stuff than some people but you can only go so far. The character wardrobe bit really does get to me, in real life even the most limited of dressers can come up with a reasonable change of clothes during the course of a week. The only shows I really think probably are okay with keeping the same clothes are school shows where you seldom see anything outside the school. And maybe samurai/knights/fantasy/military shows where the characters are seen fighting most of the time therefore wearing armour or uniforms as few if any would have many changes of something as expensive as armour.
 
Maxon said:
It's called "every day stuff" because it's the stuff they do every day, and is not the point of the show.

I'd rather see them go blow **** up than watch them cook a microwave meal and chat to people about the state of society.
The reason I put the every day stuff in was that a good series can have that in the show and still advance the plot. It can be used to great effect to not only to enhance the world the characters live in (especially if it isn't the world as we know it), it can also be used to illustrate changes (for example the episode of Eva where it showed Misato having breakfast on a normal day complete with beer and then on the day of her promotion interview were she was cool and professional).
It also can give a break in the action, a chance to breath and take in what has happened for both the characters and the view. If a show was just constant battles and explosions it would get boring very fast.

Aion said:
A lot (as in, the vast majority) of anime is made of kids. Kids don't tend to care about details; they care about action.

A lack of clothing variation, no everyday activities being shown, forced romances that older viewers can't view as believable, every anime starring school brats in order for anime to connect with its main audience... All of these are the sort of issues anime fans find themselves bothered by as they age. Quite simply, you have to put up with the problems you find or move onto something else because anime isn't going to change for adults.
Thing is when does it stop? Shounen series (naruto, One piece) fair enough, but when you start getting to show aimed at older kids or even adults? Shows like Eva or some of the gundams put huge amounts of effort into the detail of their mecha, tech and cities, but they have fewer out fits for the cast than i do.
 
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