Forum - View topicA question about shounen.
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nobahn
 Subscriber Posts: 5185 |
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In this post one joe.bloe.946179 asks for a recommendation of long-running shonen series with "detailed, and intricate stories." That posed a question for me, and now that that post has been locked I will now pose the question.
Is what joe.bloe asked for an oxymoron? I posit that that it is, and I base my proposition on the two Inuyasha series and Bleach; but reasonable minds can disagree -- thus, I would like to know what others think about the question (as well as my position). [EDIT: Made the thread topic a little more detailed. -TK] |
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Dessa
 Posts: 4438 |
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I asked my roommate, and she's saying Samurai Deeper Kyo (manga) would definitely fit the bill. It's not as long-running as the "designed to never end" types of series, but it did run for 38 volumes.
In addition to that, I'd bring up Getbackers (again, manga), which ran for 39. I think the problem is more in the idea that, for weekly series, it's a lot harder to keep that demographic's attention for 30 minutes than 10-15 pages, when you have more serious content. |
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Leprochaun
 Posts: 33 Location: Vermont |
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I think it's hard -nay impossible- to find any long-running show with detailed and intricate stories. Having such a series isn't contradictory/oxymoronic, it's just that quality and quantity don't tend to go together.
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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I would say that shounen stories and "detailed, intricate stories" are mutually exclusive, and it's because of three reasons.
The first concerns the inherent limitations of the shounen formula, which doesn't lend itself to plot-heavy thematically-interesting stories. The second is the demographics shounen is aimed at; boys. Not the sort of audience who want deep, complicated and carefully-crafted stories that require patience and an analytical mind. The third is that long-running stories are usually a result of commercial obligations to keep the cash cow going instead of being a proper thought-out-from-the-start kind of story. This is especially true for shounen stories, the most popular and profitable demographic in Japanese manga. And the fourth is the type of story that becomes a long-running shounen franchise in the first place. It's like asking if mammals and aquatic life go together. With some notable exceptions that everyone is aware of (seals, dolphins, whales) they don't, and that isn't the fault of mammals in general but just how they intrinsically are. Shounen stories are the same; they don't try to be deep because it isn't what they are aiming at, it isn't their domain. They've adapted to be successful in one area which is entertainment and so why should they change. Basically summed up in one long-as sentence: when you've got a story about a young/teenage boy who wants to be the best and get stronger, and the viewing audience is made out of kids with short attention spans who just want fight scenes and crude humour, and the story is being stretched five ways to Sunday just to keep the merchandising machine going, that doesn't lend itself to creating the sort of stories that are detailed, well-written and cerebral. Now, before anyone jumps down my throat, please read on. Shounen stories can be a lot of fun. Also, just because something isn't deep doesn't mean it can't be well-written; Hikaru no Go isn't deep at all yet it is an excellent show. And yes, there is the occasional shounen story that successfully goes outside the simple entertainment sphere and asks more intelligent and complex questions; Death Note for example (although its length is nothing compared to Naruto or Pokemon or One Piece). I was merely speaking in general terms; like my above example with mammals there will always be exceptions. |
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Alan45
 Village Elder Posts: 10115 Location: Virginia |
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It is not so much an oxymoron as his definition is a bit off. The way I read his post, his examples are supposed to meet his qualification of detailed and intricate. That is having a story which will support an extended series.
The problem is that he specifies he is looking for anime, and that it must be shounen, new and mainstream. I think he has listed just about everything that meets those qualifications. There are other series that are long running and current, but they are intended for children or young girls. Anything else that is shounen is not new. There are a number of manga series that would qualify but the associated anime doesn't have the length. Claymore would be a good example. From the tone of his post, I really doubt he is looking for manga though. |
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Bango
 Posts: 1122 |
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Of course there's exceptions but it's extremely rare that I ever enjoy a show that goes over 26 episodes for a single story. And I think the reason for this is because the stories usually don't support the length of the shows they're in. Even if the overall story is deep the show itself boils down to flashbacks, elongated upgrade episodes and needlessly elongated fight scenes.
"But Bango, you rank Nanoha as your 2nd favourite anime and it went 52 episodes." It's 3 standalone stories. And it still wasted loads of time. "But Bango, you liked Soul Eater." I said there's exceptions. And it too wasted loads of time. "But Bango, you're watching s2 of Magi." s1 could've easily been stripped down to 13-16 episodes. I'm willing to bet s2 will be able to be stripped further considering the episodes I've watched so far. So I think the shounen formula, like with the magical girl formula, usually prevents a detailed plot because of how it fills it's stretched time. I don't think that's a bad thing and god knows they're certainly profitable. I just think it is what it is. |
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Gina Szanboti
 Posts: 11710 |
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Is Hunter x Hunter then the exception that proves the rule?
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