Forum - View topic

Quality over Quantity: Influence Vs Ripoffs

In the anime universe, when people watch a new series, they expect to see some unique plot aspects for an interesting story, so they know it isn't an idea that has been done before. There can be quite a few anime with original plots these days, such as Full Metal Alchemist, Elemental Gelade, The Third and Chrono Crusade, but there will more often be a fair share of influenced genre ripoffs. Personally, that's ok in my book, because some of them can work, even though others just fail miserably.

In the Shounen Genre, the one I watch most, I didn't mind seeing another anime with the same fighting influence as DBZ, at least towards the beginning, because some can work,as long as they added something unique about it, like Yu Yu Hakusho. At times, when an anime fan sees another awesome show which uses influence like this,at first, the hardcore Anime fan will first think "OMG, This show is a Blantant Ripoff of DBZ,I'm not Watching this!",

However, as an intelligent fan watches more of the series, he or she might think to his or herself, "this isn't bad, there are some unique aspects here". Still, most obsessive fanboys will automatically assume an influenced ripoff is automatically cool just because it's like DBZ without looking at it's flaws as well. Some influenced ideas for another anime can work, like with Yu Yu Hakusho, but others, like Flame of Recca, just fail miserably.

In the 80's, the Magical Girl genre started out with unique plot aspects at first--a young heroine getting a magic wand to turn into any grown up form of a super model--but than the premise of that genre was overly repeated, like in Mahou no Magical Emi or in Mahou no Sweet Angel mint. Ever since the 90's, starting with Sailor Moon, the first magical girl anime to use fighting aspects and the monster of the week formula, the Magical Girl Genre is the one most likely to have animes mail miserably. Still, some of these are quite good.

for example" The Magical Lyrical Nanoha series used a unique idea to steer away from the typical cliches: the nanoha series added soap opera family issues, and later a tatics squad force. This was a great example of a magical girl series with unique plot aspects, as was Cardcaptor Sakura and Tokyo Mew Mew. Tokyo Mew Mew, does begin formulaicly, but in the later episodes, some cool aspects, spoiler[like Ichigo turning into a black cat in episodes 28 and 29]. Also, what made TMM unique from some of the truly awful ones--don't even get me started on Wedding Peach--was its unique choice of battle costumes, one of the first Sailor Moon clones to use Battle costumes inspired by animals: how often do you see battle costumes in the form of a Cat,a Parakeet,a Porpoise,a Golden Tamerine and a Wolf?

What are your thoughts on Quality over Quantity in anime?

Just as studio executives are constantly trying to figure which categories are in and which are out with an audience, screenwriters are constantly trying to fathom which categories are in and which are out with studio executives. That's a game akin to Rubik's Cube. Just when you think you've got it, it slips away.

Let's trace a few classic stories: "Love Story," "West Side Story," "Goodbye," "Columbus," and "Titanic" are all Romeo and Juliet. "Jaws" and "Anaconda" are Moby Dick. "Pretty Woman" is "Cinderella," as are "Flashdance" and "Working Girl." "Pygmalion and Galatea" became "My Fair Lady" and "A Star is Born"; "Trading Places" is "The Prince and the Pauper," "Edward Scissorhands" is "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," which is "Beauty and the Beast," from which "King Kong" and "Harry and the Hendersons" also derive. "The Nutty Professor" and "Doctor Detroit" are both "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." "As Good as it Gets" is "The Misanthrope." "Cyrano de Bergerac" became Steve Martin's charming "Roxanne" via a near-exact contemporary adaptation, and "The Truth about Cats and Dogs" is the same story with the sexes reversed. Any number of horror pictures, including all the "Aliens," are based on Agatha Christie's classic "Ten Little Indians," a.k.a "And Then There Were None." (Or, at least Sigourney Weaver.) You can play this game for hours. I suggest you do. Always steal from the best.

So if there are a finite number of stories, there is an infinite number of ways to tell them. (After all, there are only twelve notes in western music, and look how many great songs have been written.) It's all in the writing. Just ask Shakespeare, who took a lot of other people's stories and made them his own.

Good stories tend to be "universal." That is, they touch something deep down in our psyche, what Jung called our collective unconscious. That common id probably goes back as long as the history of thinking Homo Sapiens, which is where folklorists like Joseph Campbell can trace modern stories back to the myths and folk tales of ancient civilizations (known to contemporary audiences as Disney animated films.)

If it's not what you write about, but how you write about it, then maybe we should rephrase the rule:

(Not "Write a Great Story, but...") WRITE A STORY GREAT.

Dude orginal Ideas do exist (Howard the duck) I'm sorry and quality and quantity aren't mutually exclusive.Here's the thing artists just need to ask themselves is what I'm making good if the answer is yes then it's worthwhile. Take stone temple pilots interstate love song sounds just like a the jim croce song I got a name and both are awesome. Finger eleven has a song hypnotize and sounds just like franz ferdinans take me out and I think both suck

Anyway are you aware of analogies you see it's a device you use transfering info from one subject to another.

The point being something can be orginal and still suck hence the lack of a duck from outerspace genre.

The correlation between quality and quantity is minimal. I would say it doesn't exist. Although because DBZ (or action movies) where so popular companies are willing to invest in them. Increasing your exposure to action shows it doesn't mean people aren't writing good orginal shows. There just not being made.

The proof there's no correlation I could put up posts all day and that doesn't make any of them are good. Gonzo could make 300 magical girl shows and if they suck they just suck.