Fiction that have a satisfying build from grounded to fantastical?

[Palette Swap]

Nice to see all the Murakami replies. He's really good at this, and I actually like that he doesn't necessarily give much of a shit about explaining the fantastical. It's not a mystery to solve so much as a ride to enjoy.

The three body problem trilogy crossed my mind too, I think the tone shift is even better if you include Ball Lightning. I'd argue it's more about changing gears, though.

 

[B.K.]

Gotham. The first season was a fairly grounded story about the Gotham police struggling with the city's mob families. It was a pretty mediocre season. With season two, they started going more into the Batman lore and using Batman villains. It started getting batshit insane and became great.

 

[jfkgoblue]

You have read the books, right? There is a single chapter devoted to the Others in the first book and it's the prologue. The Dragons don't come into play until the last part of Dany's story in the first book. There are fantasy elements this is true but it's like less 2% of the overall content. If that.

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Yeah I've read the books, but Dany book 2 and Jon throughout have the fantasy stuff. Wights are introduced right away along with Jon warging into Ghost.

 

[HStallion]

Yeah I've read the books, but Dany book 2 and Jon throughout have the fantasy stuff. Wights are introduced right away along with Jon warging into Ghost.

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And it's nothing compared to everything else. The random shit people see on their journeys gets like ten times the coverage and focus than all thes fantasy elements combined in the first 3 books. Tyrion's wife easily gets far more attention than the entirety of the White Walker storyline over several books worth of material.

 

[pleaseinsertdisctwo]

Drakengard

starts off as a fairly grounded medieval fantasy with wars between nations, ends with giant man-eating demon babies devouring the world and then transporting to a black-and-white Tokyo and fighting the Mother of All Demonic Babies on your dragon

Or, basically, it goes from this:

to this:

 

[Galactic Barret]

Lucy (movie) (my first thought)
Gantz (Manga)
Hunter X Hunter (Anime)
Chronicle (movie)
Interstellar (movie)
Metal Gear Solid (Videogame)

 

[Tawpgun]

This isn't really the same thing but... I've always enjoyed how Lord of the Rings handled fantasy.

The fantastical elements aren't super in your face if you ignore species/race differences. It's decently medieval battles for the most part. Even Gandalf, a goddamn wizard, barely uses any magic.

 

[SupremeWu]

This isn't really the same thing but... I've always enjoyed how Lord of the Rings handled fantasy.

The fantastical elements aren't super in your face if you ignore species/race differences. It's decently medieval battles for the most part. Even Gandalf, a goddamn wizard, barely uses any magic.

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I think this is in part because magic is basically dying out in the third age when the LOTR happens. Elves are leaving, men are taking over, balrogs and dragons are already super rare. The earlier ages had a lot more fantasy and magic, dragons the size of mountains fighting elves on flying ships. Shelob, Smaug and Sauron are barely shadows of Ungoliant, Ancalogon the Black and Melkor.

 

[Master Of Illusion]

Is this a stealth Twin Peaks thread?

Because we could make this a Twin Peaks thread.

 

[MDSVeritas]

The one that always comes to mind for me did not do it subtly, but is incredibly satisfying to watch unfold.

Samurai Flamenco is about a dude who grew up idolizing TV superheroes and now works as a successful model but moonlights as a true-to-form pure-of-heart superhero in the middle of an utterly normal and realistic Tokyo. A large portion of the initial story is about him and those close to him deaingl with him being a superhero in a world that doesn't really fit the model of TV superhero that he is. It's a pretty compelling story about the value of your childhood dreams and also what it means to understand the world for what it is, and how you can slowly make it more into what you imagined it would be.

And then, without warning, seven episodes in a sentient gorilla with a guillotine built into its torso shows up and just kills a bunch of people. And a legitimate super villain unleashes actual super-powered monsters on the city. And suddenly the entire show pivots. These things actually do exist.

I won't spoil too much but the show continues to evolve: it doesn't just stop at a superhero vs. super-villain storyline. It continues to escalate and shift in its level of fantasy. By the end it even neatly (if strangely) explains why the world was perfectly normal up until the exact moment it wasn't.

It's a great show and not too long either.

Murakami does this all the time but it still works.

My favorite "portal" is the ladder up onto the freeway section. It's so in keeping with how I imagined reality when I was a child and still do in dreams.

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Yeah Murakami's transitions between utterly mundane and fantastical are excellent. I also love that his stories will drift heavily into the fantastical and then just as easily drift back in that way that makes you ask what actually happened.

For those looking where to start with Murakami, I think a great entryway is Wild Sheep Chase. It isn't too long and showcases his style brilliantly.

Beyond that there's Wind Up Bird Chonicle (a truly excellent book but pretty gigantic read) and Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki (my personal favorite but only with passing fantastical elements)