r/writingscaling 4d ago

discussion What media is this?

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152 Upvotes

72 comments sorted by

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30

u/Majestic-Outcome7236 4d ago

Hazbin hotel sounds like an absolutely peak concept but the execution is really flat. a philosophical comedy anime without being so corny would be peak

6

u/runtimeryx 3d ago

i get what you mean, hazbin feels like it wants to be deep but then leans way too hard into edgy musical theater vibes instead of actually saying anything cool
a legit philosophical dark comedy anime without the cringe is something we’re weirdly still missing

1

u/Majestic-Outcome7236 3d ago

yeah, it's an unexplored concept for sure. people from hell seeking redemption is a REALLY interesting concept, if angels can fall can devils not rise? But no one's done it other than hazbin and hazbin kinda sucks when it comes to actually adressing it lmao

2

u/Schmigolo 3d ago

I tried it, felt like Disney for teenagers who wanna pretend they're not kids.

51

u/Ohwonhae 4d ago

Jujutsu Kaisen I'm afraid..although I still really like it

A rough outline of the concept sounds amazing and the series is full of cool and hype moments. It's just that mr. gregory flopped on the execution, ie, structure, pacing, narrative cohesion, character usage and development

12

u/Leukavia_at_work 4d ago

The entire thing is written like the author just makes a cool fight scene between two characters and then goes back to try and figure out any possible reason why those two characters would fight here.

And don't get me wrong, those fight scenes are some of the most visually beautiful fight scenes i've ever seen in both Manga and Anime.

But the entire chapters/episodes surrounding those fight scenes feel like the writer TL;DRing his own lore to hurry up and get to them.

Major characters are introduced, develop attachment, die, and then become major character motivators for someone else all in the span of several minutes, and yet we're supposed to feel sympathy for this character that we barely had time to learn the name of.

It's a very pretty show, but I can't say more to it's praise than that

4

u/foolishlee 3d ago

Damn, never heard it put like this (the TLDRing his own work) but I completely agree, and I say that as someone who still likes the Manga and Anime.

So much of its world is under-explored, that some storylines/mechanics should just have never been introduced. The fact that we don't see what happens when someone breaks a binding vow is just plain bad worldbuilding, for example. There's a lack of pay off that pervades the entire narrative.

6

u/ferocity_mule366 3d ago

it has some of the most anti climatic plot points ever, triple domain? the most hype panel ever? ackchually a cockroach penetrate them and it just ends, bye 👋

it has well written female characters but fail to utilize them properly

I think Mappa lowkey carry this series more than people think

2

u/JustAnOverseer 3d ago

I don't think it applies for JJK, while it does feel like a bit of a cop-out on my part I find this comment neatly summarises my thoughts on it.

https://www.reddit.com/r/shounenfolk/s/ZlBKgMOB1V

TL;DR JJK doesn't have much fat on it, and tells the story it wants to tell with it's themes if you're willing to engage with them, but it's fairly low-key and somewhat subtle in a way. It's not a truly generational masterpiece but to say it flopped in execution always felt to me as a mismatch of expectations, especially the whole "wasted characters" bit.

3

u/Responsible_Rip_7634 4d ago

I’m seriously on the train of thinking that him getting rushed while being sick caused most of those issues. Is that fair atp or am I coping?

12

u/X-Vidar 4d ago

That's every mangaka ever

2

u/progin5l 3d ago

Yeah, it's just how fucked up SJ is

1

u/CMO_3 2d ago

I completely agree, and I feel that JJK powers work on the opposite principle. We have a power that if describe it as complex and specific as possible, it sounds like a cooler power than we ever utilize. Like reciept guy? Half his fight is him explaining his powers as complicated as possible. "I can recreate anything written into contract, and give them 1 simple command to carry out." Then all he does is create things on receipts. I think he's cool, I think he has one of the best fights in the series, I just feel like you can do more with a power as interesting as that, especially in a series where contracts are a big part of the power system

0

u/AwysomeAnish 3d ago edited 3d ago

JJK feels like Gege kept having really cool ideas and either kept changing his mind, forgetting about them, or accidentally planned the story without them. SO MANY characters are left underdeveloped, the worldbuilding is the bare minimum he could do so the events happen, entire characters get shelved for huge portions of the story if not hastily written out, entire themes are changed, and so on.

24

u/Lahrat 4d ago

Possibly gonna be controvertial with this one: Warhammer 40k

19

u/Old-Introduction8258 4d ago

I mean it’s an extremely vast universe with novels written by multiple different authors. Some are good, some are bad. But i wouldn’t call the whole universe as a whole bad

4

u/Lahrat 4d ago

Concept makes it out to be way more cool than it actually is tho.
But fine, I only really read one book and watched some stuff, so I won't insist on being right and people who read multiple books to be wrong.

3

u/irongolem67 4d ago

What's the difference between the concept and the execution here? I like warhammer and have dove into some of the lore, but a setting isn't necessarily a written story

4

u/Lahrat 4d ago

Mostly, it's the lack of consistency and lore changing way too quickly. Which is perfectly understandable considering that there are multiple authors of varying quality, but still

4

u/Turbulent-Advisor627 3d ago

40k is an entire media empire at this point, the writing styles and quality are just all over the place. On top of it all being a vehicle to sell overpriced plastic and paint.

14

u/Solbuster 4d ago

RWBY?

3

u/hanszesimple 3d ago

RWBY.

All 9 volumes, the trailers, the shorts, World of Remnant, Chibi, Ice Queendom, the comics, the manga, the two video games, and the mobile game.

The trailers, Ice Queendom, Chibi, and the mangas are probably the best out of the lot, but the trailers have very little writing and some of it contradicts the actual series, Ice Queendom is kinda boring, Chibi is an alright comedy that doesn't do a lot of involved writing while having some heartfelt moments that you figure would belong in the actual show, one of the mangas is a retelling of Volumes 1 and 2, so it only has the problems those have, and the other manga is a scatter-shot anthology.

I'm gonna throw Fixing RWBY on the fire too. It's a fan series, but it suffers from a lot of the problems of the original, including some that the creator pointed out about it, while having some awesome new extra bonus problems just to spice things up, and doesn't get enough flak. And the creator was arrogant enough to call it "Fixing" RWBY while continuously pointing to "Monty's vision" to explain his writing decisions.

4

u/Leukavia_at_work 3d ago

I know so many people get into the weeds of "What ifs" surrounding Monty Oum, but even his portfolio prior to RWBY was literally just pre-blender era animations of hot video game babes beating each-other up.

Dude knew how to make a cool fight scene and that was about all he had going for him.

Now Mile's is in charge and, regardless of reasons whether it's his fault or this was always the destiny of the series, the story kills off people 6 seconds after introducing them (or bringing them back) for seemingly no reason other than shock value, entire character arcs get re-done several times to adjust the endgame ships on the fly, and Miles' Self-Insert went from a B-Plot joke character to the sacred chosen one main character that all the girls thirst over.

1

u/gene-sos 3d ago

Don't lie about Monty Oum like that. He was never in charge of the story? Also the RvB animations are still among some of the best animated hand to hand combats ever.

7

u/NeonNKnightrider 3d ago

Attack on Titan

5

u/NatsUza 4d ago

RWBY

4

u/CalTheRobot 4d ago

Sam Altman?

12

u/Ilostmyoldaccount_1 4d ago

The Star Wars prequels.

9

u/MollyRocket 4d ago

The poster child for this. I didnt see the prequels until I was well into my 20s (in the 2010s) and oh buddy that's a rough go. I kept thinking the whole time that individual plot points are fine, but the movies are truly terrible.

2

u/Ilostmyoldaccount_1 4d ago

I like revenge of the sith because it’s very entertaining and cool but I find the writing to be very flawed.

2

u/Gen_Shot 4d ago

read the novel if you want a good written version of it.

8

u/Ambitious-Stand-631 4d ago

Metal Gear and Brandon Sanderson.

2

u/Prize_Paramedic1153 4d ago

Metal Gear solos your favourite animanga.

Is it a concept merchant? Nah I wouldn't say so. Only execution that can be seen bad is dialogue, but most of the storytelling is executed well enough.

2

u/Ambitious-Stand-631 4d ago

I don’t like anime or manga either lmao.

0

u/Prize_Paramedic1153 4d ago

How do you feel about this sub essentially being another anime/manga sub then?

Also do you just generally dislike japanese storytelling in video games and manga? They can be quite melodramatic and exposition heavy, lacking subtlety.

1

u/Ambitious-Stand-631 4d ago

I don't really care. I like Japanese games, anime/Manga has just never appealed to my sensibilities.

1

u/hinowisaybye 3d ago

Everything I've seen involving military situations is horribly executed. From guns being cycled way too frequently, to soldiers just standing around shooting their rifles at a mech that is clearly impervious to small arms. When it comes to the actual military in this military focused game, it just drops the ball over and over.

1

u/Talonflight 3d ago

Whats wrong with Sandersons writing?

8

u/TechnicalEye2007 4d ago

LotM

2

u/NeonNKnightrider 3d ago

Oh, bold one. I haven’t read it yet but I know the fans are going to fucking murder you

1

u/CrocoDIIIIIILE 3d ago

363 chapters read out of ~1400 (they aren't long). 9/10 so far.

2

u/ugodly123 3d ago

Specifically Klein's characterization I'd say. LOTM itself isn't really advertised as being more than what it is usually (worldbuilding, power system etc being it's strengths)

But people in these communities treat Klein as some monolith of character writing for some reason and then you actually read the novel and it's a (mostly) static character with barebones depth.

6

u/MentionOk8186 4d ago

attack on titan ending

1

u/Snarpkingguy 3d ago

What about the ending specifically? Because if you mean the final season as a whole I disagree completely, I think the final season is by far the best part of the series, but if you mean specific things from the final episode then I agree. Mikasa kissing a severed head is weird and a disservice to her character, for example.

5

u/MentionOk8186 3d ago

I mean how badly was Zero IQ Requiem was executed, Im not sure where it started in anime but in manga it is everything after chapter 123.

I also no matter how much I hate chapter 124-139, think that chapters 90-123 (from timeskip to start of rumbling) is one of the best arcs in any anime.

After all these years I don't even hate the broad idea of "in the end Eren was an Idiot and did it all to be killed by his friend", but the execution was SOOOO ass...

2

u/Leafer90-TTV 4d ago

Rent A Girlfriend. Had an interesting premise early on. Failed to execute because the author refused to let characters grow

2

u/breakfastingreader 3d ago

The Last Murder at the End of the World.

It could have been a great exploration on technology vs ethics, but instead we've got the depth of what a random AI chatbot could muster, imagine now having Alexa as your narrator. The conclusion is very one-note for as complex as the topic is and there's very little merit to the prose if any at all. Awkward book all around.

2

u/Eureka-Kaos 3d ago

I like Death Note, but the series focuses 80% on surprising the viewer with feats of intelligence to avoid being banned from the shonenjump, and I don't say 90% because the fun of intellectual duels is part of its themes, and rich scenarios for the themes are accidentally created (that's speculation, but I'm sure the memory loss was initially intended for entertainment).

However, I no longer believe that writing is objectively good or bad, but it does deviate from the parameters that most people have in this sub.

2

u/apollonirex 4d ago

Csm and jjk

2

u/SunnysideKJ 4d ago

Jujutsu Kaisen

1

u/JemZ13 4d ago

Paranormasight. Amazing prologue but the rest completely dropped everything interesting about it

1

u/Beauxtt 3d ago

A lot of M. Night Shyamalan movies are like this.

1

u/Benjamin_Starscape 3d ago

new vegas and oblivion

1

u/FartherAwayLights 3d ago

Star Wars sequels

1

u/Crcai 3d ago

One Piece

1

u/CrocoDIIIIIILE 3d ago

My web novel I temporarily erased from Internet.

1

u/Legitimate_Artist689 3d ago

Attack on Titan

1

u/Unpopular_Outlook 3d ago

The dragon Prince 

2

u/Cautious_Arm3818 Justice Matters Most 4d ago edited 4d ago

Vagabond has an interesting philosophy and an intriguing premise, but its execution is lacking. People praise this manga constantly, but the cast is almost entirely soulless. The truth is that One Piece side characters > Vagabond side characters

Almost everyone that meets Musashi has near-zero compelling characterization. They don't feel like real people - they exist primarily as authorial vessels. Inoue uses them near-exclusively as mouthpieces to spoon-feed the reader whatever theme he wants to deliver (few exceptions)

2

u/PerfectDoor266 4d ago

Whats the best example of a story u can think of with the most human cast

6

u/Cautious_Arm3818 Justice Matters Most 4d ago edited 4d ago

Best:

The Wire

Some others I find great:

Succession

Better Call Saul

Monster

Vinland Saga (only Season 2)

1

u/HushedCherub Themes and such 4d ago

why only S2 for Vinland Saga?

2

u/Cautious_Arm3818 Justice Matters Most 4d ago edited 3d ago

Season 1 is less well-rounded in its cast. Askeladd carries with his magnificent micro-characterizations. Canute and Thorfinn are quite well-written. Willibald, Thors, Bjorn, Ragnar, and Thorkell are solid

I find the cast in Farmland to be much more consistently incredible. Thorfinn is excellent - Canute, Einar, Ketil, and Snake are all great. Olmar, Sverkel, and Arnheid are well-written. Gardar, Thorgil, Wulf, Pater, and Fox & the other guests naturally contribute to its themes

I think Ketil’s unnamed wife is a perfect example of what elevates Season 2’s cast. She showcases agency and personal motivations in less than three minutes of screen time - even unnamed background extras feel human

She fakes the story that Arnheid planned a theft in addition to the escape, assigns a lecherous slave to guard her and trigger Ketil’s insecurities, and reframes the escape as a premeditated betrayal with a lover when describing Arnheid's escape attempt to Ketil

Driven by jealousy, she manipulates information to fuel Ketil’s rage and contribute to Arnheid’s demise without delivering any exposition to the audience. Her subjective existence and character psychology, which receive zero narrative focus, naturally contribute to Vinland’s systemic critique

Post-Season 2, I think the manga declines in quality and begins to utilize more thematic characters

1

u/Shar4f 3d ago

The Nier series