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Things Western fiction should borrow from anime

AnansiThePersona

AnansiThePersona

Started a revolution but the mic was unplugged
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Oct 27, 2017
15,682
So randomly I started thinking about how exciting it was in anime to have characters scream the names of their attacks for seemingly no reason other than to hype the audience up. Western characters in cartoons, comics, etc, don't really do that at all. You don't get Iron Man shouting "REPULSOR BLAST" everytime he uses his arm laser or whatever like he does in Marvel vs. Capcom. In the Legend of Korra, there was never a moment where Korra shouted "Hurricane Punch!" to finish off a villain. There are many iconic anime characters defined by the protagonists screaming the names of their attacks like Yusuke and his Spirit Gun or Naruto and his Rasengan. Gon and Jajanken, Goku and Kamehameha etc.

What other elements of anime (not the creepy shit) do you think Western fiction should start adopting?
 
PhazonBlonde

PhazonBlonde

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May 18, 2018
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Somewhere deep in space
Having more comics with a beginning, a middle, and an end. Batman has been around for like 90 years. There's really nothing else you can do with that concept. Can you imagine Naruto going for NINETY years?
 
Pekola

Pekola

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,507
More fantastical stuff? We often get such a rigid medieval concept of fantasy.

In Japan they go off the rails wild with their settings and world. It feels less rigid, sometimes.
 
TheSkullPrince

TheSkullPrince

Member
Oct 28, 2017
27,590
California
How to harness the power of friendship.

Have characters get their ass beat for most of a fight only to discover a secret, hidden power and win the fight with it.
 
PhazonBlonde

PhazonBlonde

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Somewhere deep in space
Oh, also some reverse Harem. That'd be cool, and something western media doesn't do a whole lot of. Stuff like Hunger Games and Twilight always plays it safe with love triangles.
 
Catshade

Catshade

Member
Oct 26, 2017
2,198
Sport theme, either grounded or exaggerated. I mean, it's ridiculuous that the most mainstream comic/animation about American football is Eyeshield 21.
 
Narag

Narag

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Oct 25, 2017
2,388
expected something more than called attacks but leaving amused as it made me remember pocket sand
 
Alethiometer

Alethiometer

alt account
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May 29, 2018
1,044
Unconventional structures and characters. And balls to try something new. Most western stories are so safe.

I'd also like to see more interesting visual styles in western movies. Where's a blockbuster that looks like JoJo?
 
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Gundam

Gundam

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
12,801
More western animation could do with bopper theme songs from pop stars. Other than that, eh, not much. Dont know if any thing major is worth borrowing if it leads to the same piss poor working conditions in Anime, but then again most western toons are Korean, so
 
cervanky

cervanky

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,296
AnansiThePersona said:
What other elements of anime (not the creepy shit) do you think Western fiction should start adopting?
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Alethiometer said:
Unconventional structures and characters. And balls to try something new. Most western stories are so safe.
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Kwigo said:
Back to the topic, manga and anime are usually a lot more experimental than comics and western TV shows. I'd love to see the same sense of worldbuilding and experimentation with big budget tv shows.
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By western fiction do you all mean, like, superhero comic books/movies/shows? Because if we're talking all of western fiction (or even just western TV)....that's ridiculous, I gotta defend that, c'mon....
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(Twin Peaks, Hannibal, True Detective)
 
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BDS

BDS

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
13,845
I want to see more battle scenes involving superpowered characters with wild, crazy special effects sequences. Not just people punching and stuff, but like, shooting giant laser beams, leaping ten feet in the air, anime stuff like that, just embracing the inherent "coolness" of superpowered people and their abilities. This can be difficult to do in live action without looking bizarre/unrealistic, which is why they don't normally do it. The Matrix was a good example, but that was fifteen years ago. The battle on Titan in Infinity War was a good step in that direction.
 

Deleted member 2779

User requested account closure
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Oct 25, 2017
4,045
I thought Infinity War did a good job of evoking action from anime and doing it's own thing too. The first half sequences in Sweden and New York reminded me of Ufotable's Fate adaptations.
 
Red Liquorice

Red Liquorice

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Oct 27, 2017
9,077
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Where the story is tied up in episode 10, but there's 3 more episodes so they have to introduce a mystery illness or accident that is all sorted out by the last episode which is oddly non-eventful.
 
Vulcano's Assistant

Vulcano's Assistant

Member
Oct 29, 2017
13,513
All the experimental, risky, or extravagant stories/settings are already there, probably in comics alone, they don't need to copy any on that sense, just the business practices and adapt some of that material for one.
 
marimo

marimo

Member
Oct 25, 2017
612
"Western fiction" is so incredibly broad you can probably find pretty much everything anime is doing within it, and vice versa.
 
Nakenorm

Nakenorm

The Fallen
Oct 26, 2017
22,341
More variety in settings I guess. Other than that, nothing else comes to mind really.

Moonkid said:
I thought Infinity War did a good job of evoking action from anime and doing it's own thing too. The first half sequences in Sweden and New York reminded me of Ufotable's Fate adaptations.
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Sweden?
 
Kuro

Kuro

Member
Oct 25, 2017
20,661
The only thing I can think of is longer more consistent comic runs for the DC/Marvel stuff with a consistent artist and not have every other issue look completely different. Image/Vertigo/etc have got that covered for the most part.
 
SolVanderlyn

SolVanderlyn

I love pineapple on pizza!
Member
Oct 28, 2017
13,509
Earth, 21st Century
Vibrant and crazy colors

Specific attacks for characters, especially in comic book style stories. Think about how much less iconic a Kamehameha would be without a name. Now think of Iron Man shooting his lasers. Closest thing we have is Wolverine's infamous SNIKT or whatever it was

Serialized stories that actually end

Theme songs for openings and endings

More crazy music. Thor Ragnarok actually did do this and it was awesome

Extravagant character design
 

Snack12367

Member
Oct 28, 2017
3,191
Do you mean like in comics? Because in that case Phazon got it in one.

PhazonBlonde said:
Having more comics with a beginning, a middle, and an end. Batman has been around for like 90 years. There's really nothing else you can do with that concept. Can you imagine Naruto going for NINETY years?
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The only other thing I can think of is the more abstract and weird imagery. It feels odd that for a long time Western Fiction held the standard when it came to abstract art, visual & written. Then Japan picked that shit up and ran with it. Some of the visuals from Anime is truly fantastic.

That said, I'm going to now say something that will probably get some hate, I don't think Anime is as good as Western Fiction. Point 1. Anime is a genre of fiction vs all Western Fiction. It's never going to win against that. Point 2. Most Anime I've seen has been horribly written. Characters are stereotypes, dumb cliches and with very little depth to them. The only one I think one I think I've seen that does this well is Monster & Death Note. Point 3. For such a visual medium, hardly any of the story is expressed visually. Animation is costly, but it takes away so much from the medium by never leaving anything to the audience.

If we're just talking about Western Animation vs Anime, then I would probably just want one thing from the Anime that isn't in Western and should be. That's tackling more mature subjects and stories. Western Animation has started to address this, but I've yet to see a hard R or 18 only cartoon series in west. (I do not count South Park.)
 
Hypron

Hypron

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Oct 27, 2017
4,059
NZ
KarneeKarnay said:
If we're just talking about Western Animation vs Anime, then I would probably just want one thing from the Anime that isn't in Western and should be. That's tackling more mature subjects and stories. Western Animation has started to address this, but I've yet to see a hard R or 18 only cartoon series in west. (I do not count South Park.)
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There's some stuff being done in France, with lastman (available on Netflix France or VRV - first episode with English dubs is on Youtube) and that new animation studio called Bobbypills (I wrote a post about it in the Western Animation OP earlier today) which is making a couple of series including Crisis Jung (NSFW). It's animation aimed at adults and the artists aren't holding back.
 

Deleted member 29682

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Hypron said:
There's some stuff being done in France, with lastman (available on Netflix France or VRV - first episode with English dubs is on Youtube) and that new animation studio called Bobbypills (I wrote a post about it in the Western Animation OP earlier today) which is making a couple of series including Crisis Jung (NSFW). It's animation aimed at adults and the artists aren't holding back.
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A lot of Western adult animated films tend to attract a bit of attention around the time of their release but never really create a trend. Though admittedly the first ones to come to mind are A Scanner Darkly (which may not technically be considered animated) and Waltz with Bashir (which depends of which particular definition of Western we're using on ERA today).
 

Snack12367

Member
Oct 28, 2017
3,191
Hypron said:
There's some stuff being done in France, with lastman (available on Netflix France or VRV - first episode with English dubs is on Youtube) and that new animation studio called Bobbypills (I wrote a post about it in the Western Animation OP earlier today) which is making a couple of series including Crisis Jung (NSFW). It's animation aimed at adults and the artists aren't holding back.
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I heard France was becoming more important in Western Animations. Thanks for the suggestions. I'll try to check them out later.
 
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