I am back with another mostly useless post! This time, I want to discuss the anime series Cowboy Bebop, and how it relates to writing. Yes, it does relate. Well.... it's more stories in general than just writing, but since I write novels, that's what I'm relating it to.
Cowboy Bebop and Writing
Anyway! So Cowboy Bebop is a 26 episode anime series (if you want to watch it, you can find all the episodes here: http://www.animefreak.tv/anime/cowboy-bebop). It's about a group of bounty hunters, called "cowboys" in this future time, and their travels and adventures aboard the good ship Bebop. They get into all manner of trouble, often quite hilariously. It's an excellent show, one of my favorites. Very funny, good action, interesting characters... the only thing it lacks is a cohesive plot, which isn't bad. It's just episodic, and very well done. The main thing tying it all together is the various revelations of the pasts of the characters. Now, it does have two main flaws: one, an unsatisfactory ending, and two, a main character that isn't developed enough.
Flaw one: the ending of Cowboy Bebop is unsatisfactory largely because it brings closure for the main character, and only for the main character; and because its tone is different from the rest of the show. It was unnecessarily and surprisingly tragic. No one had a happy ending there, and this greatly weakened the series. This relates to writing because... well... it's important to remember that closure for the main character doesn't necessarily mean closure for the reader. In this case, the other characters were left hanging--you never find out what happens to them. A satisfactory reason is never really given. It makes things look very... bleak, which is not a good way to end a story that, before then, had been fairly light-hearted.
Now, flaw two: The main character that was not developed. Her name was Ed, and she was very interesting, as well as slightly annoying. But she was always in the background, except for ONE episode. I always wanted to see her with a bigger role, but she never had one. She was simply dropped in and then never did anything--and honestly, I felt that she detracted from the story and the other characters somewhat. She didn't fit, largely because she was never developed like the other characters. She's there, so you're clearly supposed to care about her. But I cared more for the dog (Ein) than I did for Edward. On reflection, I determined that the reason for this is that Ein was a far less complex character than Edward, being a dog. This brings to light an important principle of writing: the more complex the character, the more time must be spent with them for the reader to understand and care about them. This can be used both ways. For example, if you have a very complex villain, spending less time with him will make him scarier. This is a pretty well-known fact, I think, but I never really considered why before. The mistake the creators of Cowboy Bebop made was in introducing this complex, interesting character, and then leaving her in the background all the time. She was just there niggling at the edges and distracting from the main characters.
So. I'm not sure how useful that will be to anyone. :P Just my thoughts. And I thought this post would be longer. Oh well.
And now to watch Cowboy Bebop: The Movie... let's hope the ending is better than the TV series.
~ Figment
The Place Promised In Our Early Days
Okay, this post is pretty much completely useless. I just have to rave about this incredible movie I watched last night. It was sooo good... I have to talk about it.
So. I should start with plot, ne? The Place Promised In Our Early Days is a soft science fiction friendship drama. That's about the best I can sum it up in one sentence. The story goes, Japan is allied with the US and Hokkaido has split away from the rest of the country. On the island of Hokkaido is a massive tower that stretches, it seems, miles into the air--it's visible from Tokyo on a clear day. There's these two friends named Horoki and Takuya who're building an airplane, the Bella Ciella (don't quote me on spelling there), because they want to get to the tower: it's their "promised place." They meet a girl, Sayura, who soon befriends the two of them. Horoki promises to take her to the tower when they finish the Bella Ciella. Some time goes by, and everything falls apart.... and the real story continues from there. I won't say anything else 'cause it would be a shame to give it away.
So, on to why I liked it so much... well, for one thing, it's completely beautiful! The animation is phenomenal. The settings are bursting with detail, the lighting effects are soft and lovely... it's almost dreamlike in a few parts. The music, too, is lovely, with some nice piano pieces and very pretty main theme on the violin. What truly makes this movie beautiful, though, is the story and the characters. Each character, but especially Takuya, Sayura, and Horoki, is very real and very special, and I really cared for them. Their struggles, hopes, dreams, fears--they put me on the edge of my seat, moved me to tears, made me smile wide. I fell in love with those characters. The story itself is very well-told: unexpected and emotional, it makes sense and is all tied off beautifully in the end. The story draws you in, and the characters sink hooks into your heart. This movie wouldn't let me go until the very last line of the credits, the final image that went onscreen. When it was over, I just laid back my head and sighed. It was that good.
Ah, this movie was so beautiful... so incredible.... I absolutely must watch it again at some point. It's one of the best movies I've ever seen, hands down. Now, if you actually want to read a real review of it, look here: http://animeworld.com/reviews/placepromisedinourearlydays.html
Well... I could go on... but I'm sure you're tired of me saying how wonderful this movie is. *laugh*
~ Figment
I'm baaaaack!
Henceforth, I shall make more valiant efforts to keep this blog up and running. In case anyone was wondering why I didn't post for so long (doubtful, I know) I had other things on my mind and I forgot about it. But recently there has been a spate of blog activity amongst my friends, and thus my blog was brought to the forefront of my attention. I should be coming out with a new post within the next few days, and will forthwith be more diligent.
On another note, it occurred to me that the title of my blog might be seen as a leetle bit pretentious. Deal with it. :P
~ Figment
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