Forum - View topicNon-linear Narratives (list in opener).
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Tony K.
 SubscriberModerator  Posts: 11447 Location: Frisco, TX |
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In the Heavenly Delusion discussion thread, I recently had the idea to add "non-linear narrative" as a theme descriptor in the Encyclopedia entry. It is currently the only title in the Encyc. that has it, but I know there are definitely other titles that use scattered timeline storytelling techniques.
Then I thought, how many flashbacks or flash-forwards does a title need to be considered non-linear? Delusion was doing it, pretty much, every episode. But I don't wanna' call any and every title "non-linear" just because it has a flashback or two. Also, feel free to list and/or discuss other titles you think qualify as non-linear. And I will go add the descriptor. - Baccano! - Concrete Revolutio - (The) Garden of Sinners - Heavenly Delusion - Humanity Has Declined - Monogatari Series Second Season - Non Non Biyori - Owarimonogatari - Ranking of Kings: Treasure Chest of Courage Last edited by Tony K. on Sun Jun 11, 2023 10:51 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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Blood-
 Bargain Hunter Posts: 24175 |
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Heavenly Delusion is definitely an excellent example of nln structure given that its two main segments do appear to be taking place a different times. That show is such a mind-eff that it wouldn't shock me to find out it actually NOT nln at the end of the day, they've just been letting us assume that. I can't think of any other nln shows off the top of my head, but if any occur to me, I'll definitely come back and post them.
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Alan45
Village Elder Posts: 10033 Location: Virginia |
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I think Baccano! would qualify. As it proceeds from scene to scene it jumps back and forth over a four or five year period, with occasional jumps back a hundred years or so. It notes the date at the beginning of each shift which is the only way to keep track of when you are.
Interestingly, in the light novel source material, the events in the latter half of the show aboard the Flying Pussycat are the subject of two separate novels covering the same time period from two different view points. |
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killjoy_the
 Posts: 2480 |
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Concrete Revolutio, the original Haruhi release from 2006, Monogatari Series Second Season (and Owarimonogatari), Humanity Has Declined and the current 'season' of Ranking of Kings would qualify as well
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Cam0
 Posts: 4928 |
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Since Haruhi basically just reshuffles the episodes, does that count? Peach Boy Riverside does the same thing. You can watch both of those in chronological order and they work perfectly that way.
If I remember correctly, Princess Principal kinda jumped around the timeline. |
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Tony K.
Subscriber Moderator Posts: 11447 Location: Frisco, TX |
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Added nln descriptor to all those.
Would Cowboy Bebop count? Even though it's mostly episodic, those 5 or 6 episodes of central plot are pretty spread out, time-wise. |
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 24175 |
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What you say is true, but by the same token, I wouldn't say the nln stuff in Cowboy Bebop is representative of the show as a whole. I think you probably want to stick to shows where it is a dominant element.
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Tony K.
Subscriber Moderator Posts: 11447 Location: Frisco, TX |
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Yeah, I was thinking if, at least, half of the title's duration was jumping around, that would qualify the show for nln, so I'll pass on Bebop.
Good point about Haruhi. The out-of-order-ness wasn't really in the narrative itself, but was more of a broadcasting gimmick. The actual plot doesn't jump around, at all, when the episodes are in order. I'll make a change to that. |
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Beltane70
 Posts: 3973 |
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I think Non Non Biyori definitely qualifies for this. The first and second seasons cover the same time frame with the second season episodes weaved between first season episodes.
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louis6578
 Posts: 1876 |
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Kara no Kyoukai is told in a weird order. The way it was released was essentially 4, 1, 3, 2, 5, 6, 7. Some people say it helps with the mystery or something, but I don't really get why it had to be told this way.
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Alan45
Village Elder Posts: 10033 Location: Virginia |
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@louis6578
For the same reason a lot of stories start in the middle of the action and then flash back to how they got there. They probably thought that the fourth story had the best hooks to get the series jump started. This is a very common approach to telling stories. It has been going on long enough that there is even a Latin term for it "in media res" (in the middle of things). |
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