WHAT MAKES A GOOD SHOW

By ThatAnimeSnob

CHAPTER 1: IN THEORY

Most would simply say “If it’s enjoyable”, which couldn’t get more subjective that that. So what
is enjoyable? Something fitting with your personal tastes of course. The thing is, there are a
million different types of tastes and for that reason each show can be liked by some and hated
by others. You can like a show someone dislikes and vice versa. This topic is supposed to deal
with more objective factors that can apply to all types of tastes.

Although the actual factors can be numerous, most viewers/readers tend to care or focus
subconsciously on only a few of them, while completely neglecting or pretend not to notice the
rest. I have noticed that the more experienced you become by watching more and more titles,
the more you start to progressively care for more factors and notice even the minor details. And
it is this combination of different elements that gradually make you harder to please and far
stricter in your judgment. So which are these factors and how do they usually develop along the
way?

1) The Appearance

Usually, that is the first thing that can hook someone to a show. This looks great, I watch it, simple
as that. This can be separated into two basic categories, the way it looks and the way it feels.
Although both can lead to the same result, the first has mostly to do with overall production
values, while the second has to do with aesthetic.

i) The visual quality is a rather easy thing to regard as an objective factor. Most people can easily
tell if a show has high budget, regardless of if they like its context. Lots of colors and polygons,
multiple shadows and lightning overlays, fluent motions and attention to physics are easy
indications of a high budget. A factor that may affect this otherwise simple aspect is the quality
of the version you are watching.
a. A poor quality VHS version will definitely be less appealing than a remastered Blue Ray version
because of the grainy visuals or the corrupted/broken down scenes. This is usually nicked as eye
cancer.
b. A “censored for television” version (hiding the too violent or erotic parts) will most likely be
less entertaining than an uncensored version.
These factors tend to lower the score even if the actual series looks better.

ii) The aesthetic part of the visuals though is a lot more complicating as it usually has to do with
either you like its style or you don’t. For convenience I have separated all possible aesthetic styles
into four main categories, with each one aiming to inflict the viewer with different emotions or
mindset. Those would be:
a. The Cool. Meaning, the style that tries to impress you with its dynamic and poser attitude. It
mostly aims at males and has to do with making everything look exciting in terms of action and
adventure. The warriors look manly, trendy, anarchistic, and generally try to help the audience
to identify with them by wanting to be as cool as they are. It can also have to do with impressive
huge robots and spaceships, magic weapons and armors, or special effects while using
superpowers. In all cases, the final feeling is akin to “I so wanna be like them”.

b. The Cute. Meaning, the style that tries to make you interested in watching more by making
you feel fuzzy while looking at the characters. It used to be aimed mostly at children and young
girls but since we are now full of metrosexuals and manchildren, it can easily appeal to men as
well. Everything looks as colorful and as adorable as possible, with big eyes and cute dresses, as
means to make you want to hug them. Something akin to kittens and puppies, expanded to cover
all sorts of creatures, including people (mostly little girls).

c. The sexy. Meaning, the style that tries to make you interested in watching more by sexualizing
the characters. It can appeal to both sexes and it makes the cast as handsome or beautiful as
possible, with exaggerated body features, such as big breasts for women or woman-like faces for
men, so they will look appealing just through lust. This can expand in dressing and accessory
fetishes as well, such as a sexy nurse uniform, or wearing glasses. It can even expand to depicting
a life style or deviance, such as being gay or in an incestuous relationship.

d. The allegorical. Meaning, the style that tries to make you interested by having very unoriginal,
strange, symbolic, and in general trippy animation. This can make every scene to be captivating
by making you go WTF or making you feel and think strange.

So even subconsciously, when someone rates the looks of a show, he has these factors in mind.
The newbs tend to be very lenient to scoring and fire away 10’s if it simply has the style of
animation they like (one of those four above) and completely disregard if the overall production
values are good (I flip every time I see someone scoring 10 for the visuals of a Pierrot shounen).
A more experienced viewer would care for both (style and production values) but most of the
times would be biased if it simply doesn’t have the style he likes (for example, downvoting the
Haruhi movie just because he doesn’t like moe). A veteran would be more objective and would
score higher for a well made show, even if he doesn’t like its style.

A simple formula for when you look at the appearance of a show:

1) Does it look like it has high production values? (i)
2) Am I watching a badly done rip or a censored version? (a and b of i)
3) Does it present its style properly, even if I don’t personally fancy it? (ii)

2) The Acoustic
Usually, that is the second thing that can hook someone to a show. You like the soundtrack or
the way the characters talk, you decide to watch the show. It has a lot of common with the
Appearance segment and thus many parts have an almost identical text.

The soundtrack can be separated into two basic categories, the way it sounds and the way it
feels. Although both can lead to the same result, the first has mostly to do with overall production
values, while the second has to do with aesthetic.

i) The sound quality is a rather easy thing to regard as an objective factor. Most people can easily
tell if a show has high budget, regardless of if they like its context. I am no expert in music terms
but the proper decibels, the proper combination of music instruments and lyrics, the balance and
the harmony in each segment, all these can easily tell you if a song is well made. A factor that
may affect this otherwise simple aspect is the quality of the version you are listening to.
a. A poor quality VHS version will definitely be less appealing than a remastered Blue Ray version
because of the monophonic sounds or the corrupted/broken down scenes. This is usually nicked
as ear cancer.
b. A “censored for television” version (hiding profanity with a BEEP) will most likely be less
entertaining than an uncensored version.
These factors tend to lower the score even if the actual series looks better.

ii) The aesthetic part of the acoustic though is a lot more complicating as it usually has to do with
either you like its style or you don’t. For convenience I have separated all possible aesthetic styles
into four main categories, with each one aiming to inflict the viewer with different emotions or
mindset. Those would be:

a. The Cool. Meaning, the style that tries to impress you with its dynamic and poser attitude. It
mostly aims at males and has to do with making everything sound exciting in terms of action and
adventure. The warriors talk manly, trendy, anarchistic, and generally try to help the audience to
identify with them by wanting to be as cool as they are. It can also have to do with the sound
effects various elements generate, such as the mechanical sounds from huge robots and
spaceships, the energy discharges from magic weapons, the clanging of swords and armors, or
the noise from explosions. In all cases, the final feeling is akin to “I so wanna be like them”.

b. The Cute. Meaning, the style that tries to make you interested in watching more by making
you feel fuzzy while listening at the characters. It used to be aimed mostly at children and young
girls but since we are now full of metrosexuals and manchildren, it can easily appeal to men as
well. Everything sounds as perky and as adorable as possible, with squeaky voices and usually
simplistic dialogues, as means to make you want to hug them. Something akin to kittens and
puppies, expanded to cover all sorts of creatures, including people (mostly little girls).

c. The sexy. Meaning, the style that tries to make you interested in watching more by sexualizing
the characters. It can appeal to both sexes and it makes the cast sound as mesmerizing or
charismatic as possible, with exaggerated tones of voice so to sound appealing just through lust.
This can expand in speech patterns and dialects, where the context of the words is further
colorized by the lifestyle and personality of the character.

d. The allegorical. Meaning, the style that tries to make you interested by having very unoriginal,
strange, symbolic, and in general trippy music and dialogues, cryptic words, moody tunes, and
metaphors that indirectly allude to something else. This can make every scene to be captivating
by making you go WTF or making you feel and think strange.

So even subconsciously, when someone rates the acoustic of a show, he has these factors in
mind. The newbs tend to be very lenient to scoring and fire away 10’s if it simply has the style of
acoustic they like (one of those four above) and completely disregard if the overall production
values are good (I still facepalm to all those people who used to score 10 in Bee Train chicks with
guns shows just because the soundtrack was great). A more experienced viewer would care for
both (style and production values) but most of the times would be biased if it simply doesn’t have
the style he likes (for example, downvoting the Haruhi movie just because he doesn’t like squeaky
voices). A veteran would be more objective and would score higher for a well made show, even
if he doesn’t like its style.

A simple formula for when you listen at the acoustic of a show:

1) Does it sound like it has high production values? (i)
2) Am I listening to a badly done rip or a censored version? (a and b of i)
3) Does it present its style properly, even if I don’t personally fancy it? (ii)

Appearance and Acoustic both count as the superficial aspects of a show. They are mostly there
for dressing the context of the next two categories, meaning to beautify what is already there.
They never manage to actually ADD context nor do they end up being that important in the
longrun compared to what follows.

3. The Story

Usually, the third thing that can hook someone to a show IF it has already began or ended. It can
also be the first IF one reads the description of the story before the show begins airing. And if it
sounds interesting, it is enough to watch the series.

The story is far more complicating than the previous two categories. I personally tend to separate
it in the following:

i) Premise: The basic idea of the story and the thing most notice before beginning a show. It tends
to be the initial hook and nothing further, as most of the times it is either discarded or alters into
something that has little to nothing with whatever else happens in the show. Most newbs tend
to care too much for the promise alone and completely disregard all the rest in the story. This
tends to create big sellers out of series which have a good main idea but otherwise sloppy overall.
ii) Pacing: The speed with which the story progresses. It must maintain a proper balance without
feeling too slow or too fast; otherwise the viewer will start to be displeased. As a rule of thump,
each episode must offer something new to the story without feeling unimportant. If it doesn’t
then it may as well be consider a filler episode where they are just stalling the progress. It must
also not feel like it offers TOO many thing in the same episode because it gives the impression it
is rushing to finish the story by sacrificing the duration and thus importance of each event. The
rather experienced viewers tend to notice the pacing, as along the way the premise alone starts
to not be enough for following a long series.

iii) Directing: Although it may seem like a synonym to pacing, directing is more subtle and deals
with the fine details. It has to do with the proper transaction from one scene to another, the
choice of camera angles, the proper blend of the background music, the poses and facial
expressions of the characters, and so on. It is the proper use of the storyboard, the plausibility of
a given event, the handling of the entire show in order to feel right. Only the experienced viewers
tend to notice the proper directing, as those without much exposition to the medium tend to not
care about the fine details of a series. I know many shows where pacing and directing are terrible
but they become high sellers anyway because the viewers don’t even notice the errors and go
along with the insanity of it and even think it is a masterpiece for not making sense.

iv) Complexity: A rather indirectly important factor in a story is how complicating it is in its plot,
or how rich it is in context and characters. Simple series tend to become boring faster or feel less
interesting than complicated ones, especially when following the formula to the letter and feel
like nothing but rehashes of older shows.

v) Conclusion: This is basically the way a series ends and can both mean if the finale feels
satisfying or if it even has a finale at all. Most series really do a poor job in this part, as most of
them both end openly, in an unexciting way or very fast and dry. The ending can also be
contradicting previous events or its own in-laws but there are cases where the viewer will not
notice that at all and just go along with whatever happens just for the sake of getting an ideal
conclusion.

A simple formula for when you think of the story of a show:

i) Does the main idea seem interesting?
ii) Is the way the story progresses not annoying?
iii) Does the plot feel ok without confusing me (in a bad way) with whatever happens?
iv) Does it have variety in themes and characters so I won’t be bored with it fast?
v) Is the ending good?

4. The Characters

This is usually the last thing that can hook someone to a show if he is unaware to whatever the
actual context may be about. It can also be the first if there is an existing fanbase that makes the
characters famous before the series even airs. In any case, the characters can end up being the
most important aspect of a show and if the viewer likes them, then he can disregard everything
else.

I personally tend to separate the characters it in the following:

i) Presence: This is basically how eye-catchy the character is and is similar to the Appearance and
Acoustic categories above. It has to do with first impressions only and most people may end up
being attracted to someone if he just looks cool or sexy. This can lead to neglecting others who
may have far more context that just superficial good looks and interesting voice.

ii) Personality: Very important in character-centric shows and tends to deal with how memorable
or special the characters feel to you. If the show is story-centric then the characters tend to be
easily forgotten and the events they experience end up being more important than them. In this
case the story is NOT more important; at least not as a whole. Without the characters having
control over the plot of the series, then it is only the premise than ends up being memorable.

iii) Backdrop: This has to do with the fleshing out of the character by providing him with a
personality that is directly affected by his past. It excuses his behavior to be as such.

iv) Development: The overall progress a character receives depending on the events he
experiences. This is actually a rare thing to encounter in most shows, as most either don’t develop
their characters, or reset their progress right away, or even offer shallow development that is not
really important in the long run. Actual development though can make a character feel more
natural and easier to identify with.

v) Catharsis: If the character finds a solution to his problems in any point in the story (usually in
the ending) which brings a closure to his issues and struggles. This is again a rare thing to
encounter as most series don’t have a proper ending or deliberately refuse to offer catharsis as
an opening for further seasons. In case they do though, it can turn a character to a fully developed
and wizen up individual.

A simple formula for when you think of the cast of a show:

i) Does the main cast seem interesting?
ii) Do they act and behave interesting?
iii) Do they excuse their acting and behavior?
iv) Do they change along the way?
v) Do they find a solution in the end?

CHAPTER 2: WHAT MAKES A GOOD STORY

Although I wrote something about the story part of a series above, this is supposed to focus more
on techniques for writing, instead of presenting it in an interesting way. So if I am to be more
analytic and more centered on literature instead of image, then we have the following:
1) The story must be interesting to the reader as soon as possible

This is the basic element all stories of any kind must aim for, before trying to excel at anything
else. No matter what the story is about, if the reader is not interested with it from the first few
pages/chapters, chances are he never will, even if the actual story is very good. Of course it is
close to impossible to know if a story will feel interesting to some people and boring to others. It
will never be liked by everyone because there are lots of different types of tastes and
expectations out there. So in order to make sure your story has a more positive than a negative
image, you must head for a certain amount of tricks so to say.

2) Know which kind of people your story has as a target audience

Never try to offer a story to EVERYONE. There is no such thing as a story that everybody will like.
Based on simple demographics, try to narrow down the people who will like its style. Age is a
basic form of categorization. If it is a children’s story, it will be mostly appreciated by children; if
it’s a teen story, then it will mostly be appreciated by teenagers. Genre is a second categorization;
give adventure to adventure lovers and mystery to mystery lovers. Gender is the third; males
usually prefer action, females prefer emotion.

3) Know the basic formula and the stereotypes of whatever your story is focused on

Like it or not, every story that aims at a certain target audience is also supposed to be following
a sort of pattern. Some elements must be commonplace in all space adventures and in all film
noirs, or else you simply can’t narrow down the people you aim to offer your story to. So as much
as bad as it sounds to be following a specific formula, in reality you are merely making a few
conventions and conveniences for your story to be easier accepted and understood by a certain
amount of people. If you try to not follow any formula or stereotype, chances are you will create
something unorthodox which will feel too weird to be liked a lot by anyone in particularly. After
all, a story can’t possibly be about nothing in the same way it can’t be about everything. It needs
a few stereotypes as a foundation and focus, after of which it is all about how well you build on
them.

4) Learn from the maitres of the genre

There is no better way to know the formula than to learn it from those who established it. Pay
attention to them.

5) Be innovating with things you already know and came to dislike

Do not be afraid to use stereotypes and decade old formulas but at the same time do not be
afraid to mess with them. If you are too faithful to them, you will only be considered a cheap
imitation. Plus, a stereotype can grow repetitive and annoying after the readers see it for a
hundred times. Try to mess with it as means to start familiar but progress unfamiliar. If you are
also displeased with an overused stereotype, you will most likely already have thought of a way
to flavor it.

6) Ask for and listen to feedback

If the story is still in beta version, you can always ask for people to give you some help. Those
inside the target audience will give you the most positive and usually the most relevant opinions.
Those with experience in the genre will even give you interesting ideas to improve it. You can of
course always offer it to people outside the target audience, as means to get a second opinion.
If that happens, make sure NOT to pay too much attention to their comments. They are bound
not to like it much and may even give you opinions on how to turn it into a whole different genre
you never headed for. There is no perfect formula for a story so you may at least try to keep it
narrowed to the stuff that have to do with the specific style you prefer.

7) Be yourself and not someone else

This is a double-edged knife when it comes to getting ideas and opinions from others. If you listen
TOO much to them, even those relevant to the target audience, you are in risk of becoming an
imitation of others or a projection of their view of the story.

8) Present it handsomely

It also has to do with promoting a story in a fancy way. Saying it is “just a story” sounds a lot less
interesting than saying it is a “masterpiece of literature written by an upcoming maitre”.

9) Wait for the proper moment

It is also important to present it at a time when the readers will not have fresh memories of
similar stories. The feeling of reading something similar too soon will ruin some of the enjoyment.

CHAPTER 3: LESS IS MORE

This time I will talk about the weird case when something simpler in overall is better than
something complicating. And since I am mostly writing about anime, I will stick to examples
concerning those. Basically I would like to address what modern anime do worse than retro in
terms of context that works against them instead of in favor.

1) Easy to comprehend

The easiest reason of them all is of course when something simple is easy to understand but
something complicating isn’t.
- Most viewers tend to be easily confused and in modern times having a long attention span is
hard if you need to be paying attention to several things at the same time. Although I am sure
most young people can do multitasking far easier than old people, at the same time it is a lot
easier to lose track of whatever they are doing. You could call it “spacing out” or even “too bored
to pay attention to” but the result is the same: It is a lot easier to forget or recall incorrectly
something that happened a few episodes ago.
- Most modern shows also strive to be complicating in an attempt to keep the interest from the
viewer. Although it is true that variety is what eventually keeps a show going, at the same time
it is a lot easier for the writer/director to lose track of whatever he is doing. Meaning, a long story
that is written as it is animated will be prone to plot holes, inconsistencies, or just going in circles
without any actual progress. Older shows that were a lot simpler in context may have been a lot
easier to be bored of but at the same time they were always true to what they were about and
story derailment was rare if most of the plot was moving in linear tracks.

2) Easy to feel

Another reason of why simpler shows work better is when they are based too much on emotions.
- A story with a few characters is a lot easier to focus on them, spend a lot of time in fleshing
them out, as well as giving you enough duration to get to know and like them. A story with many
characters does the exact opposite.
- At the same time a story with many characters is harder to be bored of since there are lots of
things going on at the same time and keep you wondering and guessing. It makes the story more
unpredictable and colorful. This of course is usually used only as a hook, since very few stories
actually try to flesh out at least half of their characters. In this case you basically get a hundred
caricatures, each one being defined by nothing more than a set of clothes and a few personality
quirks. Each one of them has far less context that any show with less but fleshed out characters.
- The above case is usually not a problem if the target audience is kids or people with low
expectations. They are far more interested in a long collection of colorful caricatures than a few
well developed ones. All they will be thinking about is how would A combine with B, such as what
if two people would fight or those two would fall in love, or what if this one learned the technique
by that one. They never really go into thinking “where will all this lead to” and eventually are
pleased with just a huge list of “what ifs” that almost never happens.
- It does become a problem though when the viewer will start to crave for some actual
development. It can get very frustrating to see a character acting in the exact same way or using
the exact same strategy in battles, no matter what his life experiences may have been. The variety
in characters no longer helps if you start to view them as nothing more than idiots who never
learn from their mistakes.

3) Easy to have a balance

A rather self-explained point is when you have a better grasp of the personalities and abilities of
the characters, if they are few in number. Having hundreds that never really get fleshed out or
evolve can eventually lead to all sorts of imbalances, such as:
- A character will suddenly be acting completely different without excusing it properly. The
reason is usually because there wasn’t much time invested on him to properly explain his change
in behavior. In worse cases, when the writer just rewrites him completely without a good reason,
just for the sake of adding some plot twists out of nowhere.
- A character will suddenly be far weaker or stronger than he should normally be. This happens
mostly in action shows, when someone who is too strong needs to be weakened for no reason
other than still be possible to be beaten by others, and thus maintaining the interest from the
viewer. In a similar fashion, someone who is too weak will manage to beat far stronger people
than him, or survive impossible for his abilities perils, just for the sake of not dying and be
removed from the story because he is important.

4) Getting worse instead of better

One of the worst cases is when progress will work as a negative and a character will feel less
interesting when he becomes far more capable, stronger or smarter. Suddenly all the challenges
he will face will feel too easy and no longer challenging. The reason for that is because the story
does not really change its formula and the challenges aren’t really becoming more complicating
or challenging. This is usually resolved by him getting weaker for no in-story reason, as stated
above.

5) Artsy and stylish

- Shows that aim to be mainstream high sellers tend to pour a lot of money into making the
visuals and the music sleek. Meaning, more fluent animation and more polygons per object.
Other than that though they aren’t really trying to offer something better in terms of characters
or directing; in fact they are almost always average scripts written on expensive paper. You may
like it externally for looking and sounding so fancy but other than that it has absolutely nothing
to remember it about. In their attempt to make something to stand out, they only make it to feel
expensive and that is that.
- There is another way to make something stand out and it actually takes far less effort and
money. That would be stylization, where the standard artwork is literally simplified and given lots
of cinematics in coloring and visual effects. By making a show to feel like it is experimental or
artsy, you automatically manage to make it stand out a lot easier. Plus the uncommon approach
usually helps you to look for new ways of presenting a scene and making it feel original in the
medium.

6) The Moe trap

The way I describe the above issues, one may think that I consider slice of life or moe shows to
be the most perfectly executed category. It is always simple, easy going, and easy to grasp. It has
no real objective so it can’t really mess it up no matter what it does. It focuses entirely on fleshing
out its characters than presenting a plot. And the simplified cute style and the saturated bright
colors make it feel like it is artsy and experimental. There is something though that it too makes
a mistake, and that is how it never changes. It aims to trap you into a static mindset of bliss and
as cool as that sounds it is never mentally challenging but rather mentally challenged. It doesn’t
make you think but rather stops you from doing so; something of which I consider bad for being
brain rot.

7) Proving your talent

This is a very opaque subject for most but stands true in separating quality from mediocrity. To
put it in simple words, true talent is when you are making something understandable with the
least amount of effort.
- One of the most basic advises in writing literature is “show, don’t tell.” Basically, it’s the ability
to not be direct but otherwise still be understood, if not lyrical and classy. For example, most
shows aimed at young children are always very direct and explanatory with whatever they are
doing. It completely takes away any attempt to think what in happening or why since they
practically describe it to you in the most obvious way. For example, if someone pulls out a
hammer and clubs someone else in the head, there is very little reason for a spectator to
comment “Look, he pulled out a hammer. Look, he clubbed him in the head! Look, he is running
away!” We already see all that, so the excess in telling us is only making it look silly. In a more
elaborate example, let’s say someone is walking and finds a key on the floor. The obviously dumb
and direct thing one would do is to write it as such “Huh, a key on the floor. What is it doing
there? Let me pick it up and see if it unlocks anything.” The more elaborate thing to do is to make
him stare at it, ponder a bit without saying anything, pick it up and looking around. So the same
scene now looks less explanatory but at the same time equally understood and smarter. The
same thing can be applied to any show where self-evident explanatory monologues are replaced
by imagery or motion.
- Another trick is the whole effort in animating something. In a flashy and superficial show, if
someone shoots at someone else, all the focus is given on making the gun and the fired bullet to
look as cool as possible. Perhaps they will add some silly visual effects that make it feel like a laser
cannon just threw an energy beam. This scene is nothing but lights and noises that don’t really
offer anything. If the same scene was made with more attention to physics or better motion, it
would look more elaborate and interesting. For example, the recoil from the gunshot, or the
person aiming, are simpler and cheaper ways to present the exact same scene better.
- Finally, it is a lot easier to appreciate something if you admit it has a low budget but still liked it
for its context. As an easy example compare the ending episodes of Neon Genesis and Tengen
Toppa. The former has a really tight budget yet is made to look extremely allegorical and artsy.
Nothing makes sense if seen directly but dozens of messages come out of it if you think about it.
The later has a very high budget and all you see is explosions and people yelling names of special
attacks and shouting shallow morality monologues. There is nothing in here; everything is direct
and superficial. Thus true genius lies in making something as indirect as possible, while saving
time and money in the process.

Bottom line: Keeping it simple and understood, building on it, fleshing it out, and getting to a
specific goal seems to be a secured way to make a successful anime. Yet this is hardly the case
with most high seller anime and one could say it is even unprofitable. The reason for that is
simple. MOST PEOPLE ARE IDIOTS! You won’t believe how many are amazed with terribly made
shows. And if I attempt to excuse their stupidity I can only say the following:
CHAPTER 4: WHY MOST PEOPLE ARE IDIOTS

1) If I don’t get it, it must be very smart

Making something hard to comprehend is translated to thought provoking, even when it makes
no sense at all. You FOOLS! Something is not great because you don’t get it but when you get it
and makes complete sense. When it is honest, true, and speaks to you like a dear friend and like
someone who has the guts to admit what most don’t.

2) Quantity over quality

Most people get easier attracted to shows full of hundreds of fillers and dozens of useless
characters. They find short shows with not many characters to be boring or ending too fast to get
to like them. YOU FOOLS! You claim perpetual on-going shows get better over time when in
reality you only like them more for being addicted to them. Most only get worse over time but
you are too blinded to see it.

3) Statistics over personality

Most people get easier attracted to shows full of numerical values and categorical separations.
Instead of seeking for a character that has an interesting personality they look for a level 12 mage
with a fire element and 15 skill points in swordsmanship.

4) Eccentric over fleshed out

Most people don’t care about a character being developed or fleshed out as much as being cool
and weird. As a result, unchanging caricatures tend to sell more than developed or complicating
characters.

5) Fancy over special

Most people don’t like unorthodox presentations but prefer rehashes of the same stereotypes
and animation styles.

6) Sex and violence over meaningful

Most people consider anything with lots of sex and violence to be far more mature and smart
than anything that is allegorical, with mostly dialogue or mute scenes.

7) They talk too fancy, it is pretentious

Most people get confused with long and elaborate dialogues to the point they believe the whole
show is some sort of propaganda trying to offer shallow morality. This couldn’t be more wrong
most of the times, since the chances of being pretentious are much higher when the show is
being way too direct and explanatory about it. Most shonen shows for example will be explaining
even the obvious, as if shallow morality and childish tactics are too deep to get them on your
own.
The above is true though if you find the author trying to shoehorn something he is not really
familiar with. There are many who for example try to write about space exploration when they
otherwise have no basic knowledge on the subject and use crude words instead of closer to the
real thing terminology. Thus it is again easier to find pretentiousness in shallow works than in
elaborate.

Another case is when the author has indeed an elaborate terminology that makes everything to
appear logical and excused but is otherwise contradicting it every time he feels like it for the sake
of moving the plot the way he feels like it. For example he may have a complicating system of
power balance that has several restrictions in the way it is used but every time his hero is about
to die he will just throw in a secret hidden superpower that contradicts everything else and offers
a cheap way out of the problem. This is again easier to happen in shallow works that focus more
on fancy action and superficial mysteries than actual smart works that care more about balance
than complexity.

Yet another case is when the author pours too much of an ideology in the story to the point it
overlaps everything else. Examples include “ecology is the best solution to everything or drugs
are bad.” Although in both cases it is indeed good to be good to your environment or not being
an addict, there is simply no way to deny how progress comes only through the exploitation of
natural resources or how all medicine are created from the same substances as drugs. The
mistake is to make it appear as panacea and not as the balanced solution to a problem that may
have more than one ways to be solved.

CHAPTER 5: THE WRONG REASONS TO RECOMMEND A SHOW

I will now mention and explain the various reasons many people give high scores to seemingly
weak series, despite being fully aware that they are not good to begin with. The purpose is to
inform the reader of the tricks the mind plays on you in order to like something. Be warned that
all the reasons stated here are not exactly “wrong” in the true sense of the word, since they really
do work in making you like a show. There is nothing wrong in enjoying a show regardless of how
bad it may be in overall. The issue I address has to do with when you recommend the show to
others for myopic reasons, in the sense you are fond of a very specific aspect of a show that
usually has no significance to most other viewers. The reasons will feel stupid to anyone who
didn’t watch it with the same mindset you did. In a lighter manner, just having many people giving
high scores to a show acts as a subtle recommendation as well.

1) Boredom

This is by far the most ridiculous reason of why mediocre and completely easy going shows get
high scores and approval by thousands of people. The cookie-cutter excuses they give are the
following:
- I was bored to death so I began watching this show. And now I am not bored, so it’s a great
show.
- After a hard day in school/work, there is nothing better way to relax than watching an episode
of this show.
- It is amazing at helping me fall asleep at night; I play it on my laptop and I slowly doze off ten
minutes later.
So here we have the relaxation reason being the cause of their fondness of a show. Although I
understand how it works, I don’t exactly understand WHY it works so well in modern shows.

Let me point out how I never felt like that because I grew up by watching television and not
having a laptop with fast internet and numerous streaming or torrent sites available. That means,
when I was a kid, there was no “I will watch this show when I feel like watching it” because I had
no control of WHEN I would watch it. I would either make sure to be in front of the television at
the time it airs, or I will have to wait for the reruns, in about a year. In case it was a show I really
liked, missing an episode was driving me nuts. Plus, several times I had to make deals with my
parents and friends, so not to bother me at those specific hours that my show was airing.

Today, this is no longer an issue. You can download or stream most of everything, and watch
them at your own pace, whenever you feel like it. You can pause it, take a nap, and continue it
later. You can drop it and finish it out of a whim years later. You can rewatch it, replay scenes,
cut it to pieces, make a “best of” video, and throw in a cool tune in the background. I couldn’t do
all that; it was either to watch it when it aired or raging until the reruns. So I never felt this whole
relaxation thing most talk about today. There was nothing relaxing back in those times since
trying to plan your schedule was quite vexing actually; watching a show was a mental challenge.
Since you wouldn’t be able to watch it again, you couldn’t take your eyes off the screen, you
couldn’t dose off, and you were doing your best to memorize as much as you could. Oh, and
when the commercials were doing intermissions, you would be running to the toilet, after an
hour of holding it in.

So when someone mentions this relaxation thing, I just get angry for no good reason. “What’s
this guy talking about; I spent years trying to improve my memorizing abilities and be on my toes
at every single moment so I can remember it as best as possible and now he watches it in order
to fall asleep?” I also get annoyed when they write “after a hard day” since in my youth you were
watching a show not to relax but in the contrary to get your blood pumping. I couldn’t even
imagine what it means to be bored and looking for a show to watch, since having to wait a whole
week for the next episode was never letting your mind to relax. Watching an episode after a hard
day my ass; I was anxious to get home in time to watch the damn thing. School? Work? What are
you talking about? Get out of the room and let me watch this episode.

Thus saying you are bored and looking for a show to relax is not much of a reason to like a show,
at least not as a valid reason to recommend it to others.

2) Hype and Popularity

This is quite the nasty reason to recommend a show.
“It is very famous, it is the top selling show of spring season, everybody talks about it, and
everybody gives it high scores. It must be good, so you must auto-like it.”
This is an excuse dumb people would use to explain whatever fondness they have based on what
others say about it, instead of knowing why the hell they like it themselves. They get carried away
by the novelty and since it makes an excellent topic to chat about and an easy way to be part of
the whole phenomenon, you just go with the flow. I understand how this way you feel like you
are part of something grand and cool, and that at any moment you can call for support from
thousands of people who have the same fondness of the show as you do.

But at the same time it feels like you are generalizing something to the point you like more what
happens outside of a show than what happens in it. The story may suck and the characters may
be terrible, but if it gives you the excuse to talk about it, and perhaps cosplay, or be motivated to
start a hobby thanks to it, then there is no real problem. This sort of meta-logic feels quite silly
to me, since if you like it for these reasons you are just hyping a mediocrity just so you can be
part of a the cool kids. What are you trying to do here; turn to a sheep?

This of course can very easily turn boomerang if, as I said in the beginning, someone watches it
with a completely different mentality than you did.
“I have no idea why this mediocre show is so famous; I was told it is amazing and I got nothing
special out of it.”
Of course you didn’t. You weren’t trying to ride the bandwagon like they did. Furthermore, hype
and fads rarely last for more than a few months, so a show that is treated like that is usually
forgotten by most very fast. Yet their posts will remain and make the those who read them after
the dust has settled down to scratch their heads about what the heck was all that about.

3) Can’t see the forest for the trees

This has to do with focusing too much on a very specific and usual minor aspect of the show, to
the point it becomes the sole reason you like it or hate it.
“There is so much yuri in this show; gets a ten from me.”
“The protagonist is fat and ugly; this show is terrible.”
Although it is understood of why something so minor can hook or alienate you, it is also quite
silly to say it with a straight face and expect others to take you seriously. Especially when you are
deliberately ignoring everything else the show has. I mostly encounter this issue in perpetual on-
going shounens, where the viewer will be commenting something like this:
“The characters are cool, and the story is very interesting. Oh, and don’t mind how most of the
episodes are slow or fillers, full of plot holes and inconsistencies, or how there is no character
development, and everything goes in circles, or how the animation is crappy and the music is just
forgettable songs. Who cares about all that if the characters are cool and the story is very
interesting?”
I do, champ. Those finer details are what separate the average from the great and those jaded
goggles you are wearing don’t allow you to see a show for what it really is. And sure, good for
you to enjoy a show for being full of boobs but don’t expect me to like it for the same reason if I
happen to be annoyed by them. At the same time, I understand how you can’t enjoy a show if
the visuals are old but don’t go telling everyone the show is bad because of that and completely
disregard whatever story or characters it has.

4) Judging a book by its cover

This has to do with having a very good impression about a show just because it appears to be
good.
“It is great because it has amazing production values, and/or amazing soundtrack, and/or cool-
looking characters, and/or amazing premise.”
That is plain shallow and immature, since you make it look like all it matters is the wrapping and
not the context. So what if the budget is huge but the plot is otherwise terrible? What if the
soundtrack is great but voice acting is wooden? Cool-looking characters who never mature or
develop? An amazing premise that is just episodic and heads nowhere?

5) Behind the scenes

This has to do with having a very good impression about a show just because it has your favorite
people in the staff. That is, your favorite voice actor, music band, director, animator, etc. All these
are a good excuse to have high or low expectations of a show; even good for predicting how good
the whole show will turn out to be. But they mean absolutely nothing if recommended to others
who don’t know them or don’t have the same idols. Furthermore you shouldn’t expect from
people to be doing the same things in all their shows. That would only make them feel like they
are rehashing the exact same stuff and thus their whole career will lack variety and innovation.

6) Escapism

This is basically when you like a show for letting your mind escape to a world where everything
happens the way you wish them to happen. So basically you get premises like harem shows
where every girl likes the nerd. Every nerd would probably like them for watching something he
can’t have in real life. You also get teen adventures, where the meek high school boy will suddenly
be granted superpowers and will be allowed to roam around the world saving girls and becoming
the hero of legend. Every single kid who would like to be special when it grows up would be fond
of such a thing.

Although fully understood of why would something like that work, at the same time it doesn’t
attempt to offer anything more than a sort of a drug to keep you trapped in a fairyland instead
of helping you to achieve whatever it is depicting. Since everything is presented in a most unreal
and ideal way, they are not really aiming to aid you but rather to make you feel depressed in the
longrun for not being able to have it your way as they show it. And usually the only way you
respond to it is to keep watching the show like a drug addict, since reality will feel more and more
cruel, while the picture-perfect world of the show is the best place to be.
As I always say, I prefer to hear about who I am instead of hearing what I want to hear. I learn
and improve by being told the problem in a rather realistic way, instead of being offered an ideal
image that has absolutely nothing to do with reality and doesn’t motivate me to try to improve
myself.

7) Taken by surprise

This is when you like a show for surprising you. You first expected it to be just an average of its
genre and all of a sudden a plot twist takes you aback to the point you love it. Although
understood why this would make a show better than any other that follows the formula to the
letter, it is also not something you can suggest to others as good. It worked for you exactly
because you weren’t prepared for it. Telling others about it automatically warns them of the
surprise and their fondness of the show won’t be as big.

8) Identification

This has to do with when you like a show because the situations the characters are going through
are very similar to what you experienced in your life. So if let’s say the protagonist is a crippled
man living on a mountain for many years, anyone who fills that criteria will automatically feel
some sympathy and understanding. In this case we get a situation that is a combination of
reasons 3 and 4. Just as before, it may work for you but it won’t work for most others.

CHAPTER 6: HOW TO BE AN ANIME PROPHET

They say we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. Which is true… although most of the times it is
also easy to tell if it’s going to be a good book or not.
- You see, when the proverb was first invented some centuries ago, books back then didn’t have
illustrations on the cover or even inside on some pages. All books back then looked the same, a
pile of pages wrapped by a monochromatic cover that had only the title of the book and the name
of its author. Furthermore, back then there wasn’t much advertising going around and people
weren’t too picky about what they would read to spend their time.
- Nowadays, things are very different and most of everything needs to be advertised in order to
be known and sell. Just take a typical anime show for example. There will always be an interview
of the makers during production, there will be promotional videos and character images, there
will be discussions about it on the anime sites, there will be a poster announcing when it begins
to air, there will be a pre-air episode, there will be comments and blogs, about each episode, and
of course after it is complete there will be afterthoughts and reviews about it. There is simply
way too much information going around for you to be ignorant about a show before you begin
watching it.
- Another thing is how almost nobody would watch something without having the slightest idea
about its context. Very few would just see the name and begin watching it without any
expectations. Most would first look for information about it, its genres, premise, characters, and
so on. So you can easily tell what the show is about even before you start watching it.
The above of course are only meant to prepare you on a very basic level for what to expect. You
still have no idea how the plot will turn out to be or if the presentation feels ok. Here is where
experience comes into play. It is a fact that the more anime you watch, the harder it gets to be
surprised. Not only because you are getting used to amazing visuals or complicating stories, but
also because you slowly begin to realize how most anime are following very specific formulas
that make them predictable early on. I have reached a point where I am able to tell how good an
anime will turn out to be in a few minutes, to the point it feels like a supernatural ability for all
those who haven’t watched a shitload of anime.

This blog is written because I am constantly predicting if a show will be good or not based on a
single episode or even by the promotional videos and yet most people feel like I am rushing to
conclusions and that a show can’t be judged without watching half or all of it first. Well, it again
has to do with experience since newbs watch a whole crappy show and score it with a 9 or 10
because they have watched very little to know what counts as good or bad. Novices are usually
able to tell if a show is worth midway. Experienced ones in around 6 episodes, veterans in even
less.

WELL, I DO IT IN A FEW MINUTES!

Although this can easily be seen as forced bias, there is a close to infallible formula to be certain
right away of a show’s quality even before it airs its first episode. So for all you out there who
wish to learn from a pro, here are some very easy tips to form an opinion without having to watch
a single (or, well, two at a worse case scenario) episode.

1) The entry picture

That is an easy one. A show is usually 90% of what you see in the main picture. You see robots?
It is about robots. You see half naked girls? It will be about half naked girls. Although there are
usually a lot more than what a single picture is showing you, shallow shows with minimal context
pretty much are an open book by that picture alone.

2) The description

Another easy one. Reading the basic summary of the show is a giveaway of the context of a
shallow show. Especially when it comes to harems, man, they all have the EXACT same sentence.
“A normal high school boy”. Fighting shounen usually mention a fighting tournament or the hero
training to be the best in the world. You basically know the whole story (and its complexity or
originality) just from the description alone. Another easy tip is when the description is actually
very informative. If it describes in detail the world of the series and yet mentions very little of its
characters, then be certain it will have a pseudo-serious story as background for a cheesy
adventure or something.

3) The writer
If the show is based on a book or manga, checking the earlier works of the original writer is also
helpful. Or in a spoilerish way you can just read the source material to find out how good the
overall show will be.

4) The director

The name of the director also helps to tell the quality. Just checking his earlier works is enough
to know the overall feeling of the show.

5) The animation studio

This is a less secured way to tell but 90% of the time it is spot on. For example, if a show is made
by Studio DEEN, then you already know it will be bad. If it is made by J.C. Staff, you know it will
be mostly shallow fan service. If it’s by I.G. it will have very good sci-fi concepts.

6) Voice actors and music bands

In a lesser degree, voice actors and music bands are also a giveaway, as most are usually hired to
voice very specific types of shows.

Although each one of these tips can easily misguide you to shove off a great show, combining all
three of them is a 99.9% guaranteed way to be sure of what it will be all about. And even if all
these safeguards for some reason fail to help you “prophesize” the final product, then the anime
will be a ground-breaking masterpiece, the likes of which occur once a decade. Thus you still get
to enjoy the show for its unpredictability.

CHAPTER 7: WHAT MAKES A GOOD CHARACTER

Although I wrote something about characters in the initial post, this is supposed to focus more
on techniques for making them. So if I am to be more analytic, then we have the following:

1) The portrait

The most basic technique of them all is the ability to make characters that attract your eye. Being
their clothes, their skin and hair color, their pose, their facial expression, all that adds to a
character’s appeal on first sight. It is a lot harder than it sounds as it is supposed to make you
understand a lot about him just by looking him act without having to explain anything. Plus, he
must still look appealing to whatever you consider interesting, without feeling like a rehash of
someone else you may already know, or even worse to be an overused stereotype. In any case,
a character has to be dressed and behaving accordingly to how he feels and thinks. His body
language must be the mirror of his personality. Whatever accessories, tools, or weapons he may
be using follow the same principle. They must be relevant to his profession, society, or even way
of life. Even the weather and the climate need to be taken into consideration, as he needs to be
dressed accordingly as to blend in with the surrounds, and not feeling too hot or cold.

2) The imperfection list

Another easy method is to make a character stand out is by giving him personality quirks. He may
be afraid of water, or he may love to eat sweets, smoke, eat a lot, or he has an eye tick, or limp,
or a big scar, or continually rubs his hands. It would be really helpful if this mannerism is caused
by some psychological problem he may have, or perhaps caused by an event in his past or even
genetic presupposition. If you do it aesthetically vivid without becoming annoying, you can create
interesting characters that may have the most stereotypical looks.

3) The character sheet

This is a very tricky method that has to do mostly with flavoring and balance of power. Think of
it as statistics, based on numbers and descriptions of skills, talents, and possible setbacks and
side effects of whatever a character can do or will normally act upon in a certain situation. This
is done to show who will have the upper hand in a given situation, such as fighting, politics, or
perhaps sneaky tactics. Although most use this method in action shows just to offer a sort of
basic power level of the fighters, it can still be used as a reminder of what a character can and
can’t do if used for mind games. The outcome is still not clear even if the numbers offer victory
to someone, as there are lots of ways to “cheat” here. The most basic way to do that is to simply
state that a fighter has a hidden potential that increases his numerical values every time he is
about to die or his friends are at risk. Or in the case of mind games, that the circumstances were
against him even if he seemed to have the upper hand. For example, the terrain he was in was
not of his specialty, that his arrogance or fear had clouded his judgment, or that he was unaware
of a very important piece of information that would offer him the victory. In any case, the more
different statistic a character has, the more variant and fleshed out he is.

4) The cause and effect chain

This method will feel kind of fatalistic and predictable if not used properly. It has to do with
explaining someone’s personality and actions being the result of his past experiences. So because
of event A he matured, or developed, or reacted to create the logical result of event B. Although
this tends to create very reasonable characters it also tends to be boring if you can see it coming.
This is where you need to offer some psychological background to a character that excuses why
two different people who experience the exact same event will react differently to it. If not that,
because of the circumstances of their surrounds at that very moment.

5) The bar and polygon markers

This is a rather childish method, where you take two opposite ideologies and according to the
volume one character follows, he is placed on a certain height. For example, on the bar of good
vs evil, the good guys will be placed on the far left and the villains on the far right. If there are
grey people, then they will be placed somewhere in between. The same can be done on a bar of
law vs chaos, light vs dark, idealism vs pragmatism, and so on. If you combine all the bars, you
can create a polygon that gives each character a unique shape.

CHAPTER 8: THE OLD LOGIC VERSUS EMOTION FUSS

The event that led me to write this blog is basically watching some youtube videos of someone
complaining about the anime community talking all the time about the Big Three shounen and
disregarding pretty much everything else. To him a shallow show like Dragonball overshadows
the far more psychological complexity of Yuyu Hakusho. To him and anyone else who thinks like
that, I am afraid they do the same mistake as those they accuse. They just pull the rope from the
other side.

For many years I believed that logic and emotion were opposites. I thought that the more a man
thinks, the less he feels. I guess television was partly at fault for this, since the shows I was
watching were constantly telling you that you need to stay calm and think, and not allow your
emotions to cloud your emotions. This eventually expanded to the anime community where we
have the infamous separation of its fans into A types and B types, the ones who care more about
the technicalities and those who care more about the emotional stimulation.

For all these years I believed I belonged to the former, since I cared a lot about the pacing and
the directing and a lot less about how cool or cute the characters were. So I made a poll on some
forum to see what others had to vote and say about it. What I got out of it were two very
important things I didn’t realize up to then.
1) Anime as a medium are about entertainment first and quality in directing and storytelling
second. Almost everybody watches them to be entertained and not to analyze if it was done
properly. It makes sense that most fans would care more about the emotional aspect than the
technical one.
2) Logic and emotion are not opposites. You can have both or none at the same time. It sounded
weird at first but then I realized that I am quite the emotional type as well; I get too angry when
people hype series I dislike, or downvote series I like. So what is going on?

Turns out there is an intersection of logic and emotion that is called rationality. It doesn’t have
to do that much with logic as it has to do with reasoning. Each one of us finds reasons to like a
show, and as weak or analytical as they may be, in our minds they help us judge the merits of the
series. Rationality has nothing to do with objectivity by the way; it is just what we use to decide
if we like or dislike a show. And usually it leads to strong bias too.

So coming back to the original event that led to this blog, yes, I agree Yuyu Hakusho has more
complicating and interesting personalities than Dragonball. Does that made it better as a show?
No, it didn’t, I found Hakusho to be a very boring show because it was just about some guys doing
one tournament after another with little to no variation to the plot. They were traveling to
different places in Dragonball, they were blowing up planets, and they were traveling with the
speed of light. Yes it was dumber and yes it was more entertaining.

So just like an A type is stuck too much on just one aspect of the show, he is no better than a B
type who is stuck on another. It is only by seeing a show as a whole you can better grasp the
success of a show. And yes, that will also affect your rationality. Writing good characters and a
story without plot holes is only a small part to what makes a show good. It also needs good
presentation or to be more specific, to be entertaining for most of its audience. So when it is
targeted at mostly dumb kids then it will be dumb so they can get it. There is nothing more to it.
I don’t like it but it is true.

CHAPTER 9: CHARACTER ARCHETYPES AND POSSIBLE OFF-SHOTS

Here I will state the archetypical roles men and women have in anime most of the times and how
each one of them is usually handled.

1) The idealist
Someone who has a very positive image for everything, never gives up, keeps going and
motivates others to follow his example. He is most of the times your stereotypical
action/adventure shounen hero for the younger audience. A famous example is Ash Ketcham in
Pokemon. The good part with him is how he is completely determined to his ideals. He is
someone you can always trust to never let you down. The bad part is that he never seems to care
about anything else besides his goals. He never questions his ideals and never listens to the
advices of others. It is a character you easily get bored of because he is stuck to a very specific
mentality; he never changes or matures in anything. So in order to flavor it a little, there are two
major off-shots.

- The Pacifist
Someone who has a very tragic past he tries to atone from. He is an idealist in the present as
above, but constantly doesn’t want to repeat the mistakes of the past. For that reason he usually
has a no-kill policy, even when it seems to be the only way to stop a bad guy from keep doing evil
acts. Famous examples are Vash from Trigun and Kenshin from Rurouni Kenshin. This archetype
is definitely more interesting than the clear-cut idealist because he has done some pretty bad
mistakes and has questioned his ideals. Despite being very strong and deadly he deliberately
holds back from being like that again. His moral dilemma is interesting because his worst enemy
ends up being himself. A bad thing about him is that he usually holds back way too much, even
when the villain appears to not be able to redeem no matter how easy you go on him or how
many chances you give him. It becomes irritating after awhile.

- The Dual Persona

Someone whose powers are immerse, and turn him to an insane monster if he ever loses control.
Although still an idealist and very strong as above, he never wants to go all-out in fear of losing
control and hurting the ones he tries to protect. Famous examples are Naruto from Naruto and
Ichigo from Bleach. The good part is how it builds drama around raw power not being everything.
It points out how greater power means greater responsibility. The bad part is how the dark side
is usually nothing more than a cheap way to save the hero every time he is about to be killed by
villains and yet never hurts any innocents. Furthermore it turns out as a cop-out to blame his
dark personality hiding inside him and not him directly.

/////////////

2) The Indecisive Lead

Someone who never seems to be able to make up his mind about anything. He is almost always
physically weak and shy but has a good heart. He is usually also a dork wearing glasses and has
no talent in something. Yet strangely enough he is constantly surrounded by pretty girls who are
either in love or fascinated with his good heart. He is almost always the typical harem lead and is
almost always totally blunt as a personality so the audience can identify with him. The most
famous example is Keitaro from Love Hina. He is used as nothing but a plot device for the male
audience to escape in a world where the losers get all the pretty girls. He is also the least
interesting character amongst the whole cast despite being the protagonist; you only end up
caring for the chicks that surround him. So in order to flavor that, there are two off-shots.

- The Emo
Someone who is constantly depressed and angry with everybody, usually because something
happened in his past and still affects his life. He is antisocial and distant, he doesn’t speak too
much and usually runs away from any sort of responsibility, out of fear of further rejection. It is
an interesting twist on how he needs to overcome his fear and eventually open up to the rest of
the world as means to move on with his life. He can be quite irritating if he refuses to do so for
too long. Famous example is Shinji form Neon Genesis.

- The Observer
Someone who is used to show the whole plot through his eyes. He is still the same type as above
but usually his indecisiveness is based on boredom rather than insecurity. He is usually very
talented at something specific and the whole story revolves around using said talent. This way it
is excused to be surrounded by hot chicks, since they need his help and drag him along in
whatever issues they have. He gets a lot more focus and importance since he is vital to the plot
and also we learn about the rest of the characters through his interaction with them, as well as
his internal monologues. A nice twist is also how he is not passive all the way; if he is ever
cornered he usually gets violent and quite active, a thing which makes the girls to like him even
more for playing it hard. Famous examples are Kyon in Suzumiya Haruhi and Araragi in
Bakemonogatari.

/////////////

3) The Bad Boy

Someone who is usually very strong and uncaring, full of anger and disgust for the world he lives
in. Most of the times he is quite handsome too and becomes the most yearned boy in his class
or city by thousands of aloof girls. He is usually the co-protagonist in shoujo manga and the one
the heroine is after since the very first episode. He is quite a one-dimensional character and the
only way he can progress is to leave aside his grumpy side and become more caring after he
admits he is in love with somebody.

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4) The Naive Klutz

A girl who has a heart of gold and a brain of hey. She has one of the following roles in anime.
- A shoujo heroine who is out to help people. She almost always falls in love with a Bad Boy and
does her best to help him get over whatever issues he has. So in a way she is also the equelevent
of a female Pacifist. She is extremely shy and frail but usually becomes a lot more dynamic after
she loses her virginity to him.
- A Damsel in Distress in shounen shows. Meaning, she is the kind-hearted shy girl the hero is in
love with and gets kidnapped by the villains, so he needs to go save her. She is completely passive
and weak, so she is basically a female Indecisive Lead.

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5) The Distant Girl

A very pretty and stuck up girl, almost always a snob, spoiled and traumatized by parents and/or
fortune. She almost always has a psychological problem that comes out in a very nasty way if she
is ever frustrated. She also almost always slowly falls in love with an Indecisive Lead just because
he is a blockhead who remains kind to her, regardless of how she treats him. She has three off-
shots.

- The Tsundere
A female Bad Boy, she is obnoxious and acts like a sadist towards boys, usually hitting them very
violently every time she doesn’t get what she wants.

- The Cooldere
A female Emo, she is uncaring and acts like an ice pillar towards boys, usually ignoring them no
matter what they do to help her cheer up.

- The Yandere
A female Dual Persona, she is usually acting like she is very gentle and kind but as soon as she
doesn’t get what she wants, she goes to a killing spree, butchering people while laughing
sadistically.

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6) The Tomboy
Basically a female Idealist, a male personality inside a female body. She will be acting in a much
similar way for the most part but when it comes to her love life things get very messy. She either
heads for an Indecisive Lead as above or looks for a shy girl (a Damsel in Distress), so the whole
thing acquires homosexual overtones. In case of the later, she is called Seme, and her lover Uke.

CHAPTER 10: WHAT “DOESN’T” MAKE A GOOD SHOW BUT WORKS FINE
REGARDLESS

Here I mention some methods that can easily fool the unsuspected to consider a show to be great
even when it hardly is.

1) Quantity over quality.

At an average, a typical viewer will be kept interested for a much longer period of time if he is
watching a show with a huge amount of simplistic characters than a show with few and
complicating. It is a lot easier to remember them, their personalities feel more vivid, their
responses easier understood, and you will never feel cheated if they do something differently
because it will most likely be brainwashing or an impostor. Not that the elaborate personalities
are bad but they require from the viewer to ponder and that usually results to the illusion
breaking and realizing he is watching crap.

2) Bait and switch.

It is a bit similar to the above, only it works mostly with themes rather than people. In order to
constantly keep things fresh, a show will be constantly introducing new elements and
deliberately leaving the earlier ones at the side. This way you can prolong the progress of the plot
for as much as you like, since instead of moving forward the story just branches off to more and
more side quests and intermissions. This helps the reader to consider the setting far more
complicating than it really is, while at the same time building up tension as he is waiting for when
the story will return back to continuing earlier plot points. This of course rarely happens and
when it does it feels very messy as there are way too many things going on by now to manage to
have a balance. But hey, if it keeps them wondering, there is no problem at all.

3) Mysterious motives.
A very easy method, where you deliberately don’t mention what the villains plan to do, or why
they plan to do it in the first place. Since you have no idea why everything happens the way it
does, you only end up speculating and wishing to be proving right, something which makes the
story to appear far more elaborate than it really is. The fans will be having endless conspiracy
discussions on forums and they will be anticipating the great revelation to come up. And almost
always, when the revelation comes it is one big pile of manure, but hey it kept them occupied for
years so it’s fine.

4) Mass appeal
The more people that feel empathy to your work, the better it will sell. Meaning, if you try to
offer a weird and uncommon story, it will not be appreciated by everybody, and it will sell a lot
less than the cheesiest of all soap operas. So originality and thought provoking ideas do not sell.
Mediocrity does for appealing to the hearts of most common people. No matter how much
appraisal you will get by critics and fans of a specific genre, you will still not going to sell well to
all the rest.

5) Timing
This is rather cryptic but it matters too. No matter how good your show is, it will not sell as much
if it comes out along with other good shows. You need to wait for the moment where nothing
else is airing that will hoard all the attention (and money) of the fans.

CHAPTER 11: RANDOM ADVICES FOR MAKING A GOOD SERIES

1. Good ideas are not as important as good skill of writing or directing.

Basically, good ideas that will make a show to feel special or complicating mean very little if you
don’t know how to use them properly. A good writer/director can make a good story even out of
a simple story. A bad one will make a mess out of everything. This will mean very little to kids
stories and most of teenage anime series, since the target audience is indeed more interested in
the weird concepts rather their proper presentation.

2. There must be a connection between the setting, the plot, and the characters.
That means, do not make a sci-fi setting were the characters use magic, or do not make a dark
and scary world but with happy for no reason characters. The society they live in must be related
to how they feel and act. In the same sense, the characters must take part in a plot which is
related to their world and not random adventures that have nothing to do with it. If you don’t do
that, the backdrops such as sceneries, history, and geography, mean absolutely nothing to a story
and you have no reason to bother adding them in the first place. They may even be used to make
your story to appear bad just because the characters will not be reacting properly based on where
they are.

3. Have active and useful characters.

Do not have protagonists who are too passive or who are just passive observers of events others
are taking place in. If they feel like they don’t do much or are not important to the plot, the
reader/viewer ends up hating them and with it the whole story. Also, do not make them passive
to the point they only react to what others are doing. Have them chasing a goal instead of just
waiting for some villain to do something bad before they move their butts.

4. Do not resort to hax skills.

Avoid the use of overpowered characters or gismos. A hero who is more powerful that everyone
else gets boring pretty fast because nothing is hard for him and no challenge seems important
enough to excite you about him. In case he is the bad guy, he will only seem like he can do
anything he likes and can kill the heroes right away but doesn’t for reasons that can only seem
ridiculous. If he is all-powerful he doesn’t need anyone to help him and can achieve anything fast
and on his own. Thus it will feel like the heroes have already lost or will win only with a very lame
way, both cases of which feel lame.
In a similar way do not use a super item to be the only solution to the conflict of a series. It is too
much of a cop-out to have a cheap way out of a grim situation just because of epic level magic or
super technology that gives you an unfair advantage over the other side. Whatever ideals or goals
a character has lose their importance if he wins just because he has hax skills.