Now, here's a question. And this is something that I'm actually quite curious about: Do you think that maybe anime might seem unpredictable to you because you've had a very Western American framework for plot analysis "pounded into" your head?
The reason I ask is that to me, most anime actually comes across as extremely predictable. Like, every single Gundam series, ever. This isn't to say that the writing is bad, just that it rarely manages to genuinely surprise me. (And, on the other hand, actually surprising plot twists *can* be just plain bad writing - i.e. Tsubasa's revelation about Sakura being an AU version of Syaoran's mom. Shocking, yes, but YUCK.)
When I think about anime with good writing, they tend to all be based on manga with good writing. Like Soul Eater. There are notable exceptions, like Seirei no Moribito, but on the whole I think that most of my favorite anime series have been based closely on very very good manga. So I don't know how much credit the screenwriters can get for that. ;)
I also hesitate to say that anime writing as a whole is "so much better" than anything on American primetime television. I think that really depends on what you're watching. We can compare Soul Eater to Knight Rider and say that anime is better... Or we could compare Strike Witches to something like Battlestar Galactica, and then American television would look like the winner.
Edited to add: Oops, correction to myself: Seirei no Moribito was based on a novel, which it followed very closely. Oopsies.
So now I'm out of examples of *completely original* anime with stellar writing.
Um... Maybe Evangelion? At least until the ending.
no subject
Now, here's a question. And this is something that I'm actually quite curious about: Do you think that maybe anime might seem unpredictable to you because you've had a very
WesternAmerican framework for plot analysis "pounded into" your head?The reason I ask is that to me, most anime actually comes across as extremely predictable. Like, every single Gundam series, ever. This isn't to say that the writing is bad, just that it rarely manages to genuinely surprise me. (And, on the other hand, actually surprising plot twists *can* be just plain bad writing - i.e. Tsubasa's revelation about Sakura being an AU version of Syaoran's mom. Shocking, yes, but YUCK.)
When I think about anime with good writing, they tend to all be based on manga with good writing. Like Soul Eater. There are notable exceptions, like Seirei no Moribito, but on the whole I think that most of my favorite anime series have been based closely on very very good manga. So I don't know how much credit the screenwriters can get for that. ;)
I also hesitate to say that anime writing as a whole is "so much better" than anything on American primetime television. I think that really depends on what you're watching. We can compare Soul Eater to Knight Rider and say that anime is better... Or we could compare Strike Witches to something like Battlestar Galactica, and then American television would look like the winner.
Edited to add: Oops, correction to myself: Seirei no Moribito was based on a novel, which it followed very closely. Oopsies.
So now I'm out of examples of *completely original* anime with stellar writing.
Um... Maybe Evangelion? At least until the ending.
Gurren Lagann, perhaps.