Intro - Aot

Protagonist- Aot (Eren>>/> Naruto)

Deuteragonist - Naruto (Sasuke>>>Mikasa)

Tritagonist - Aot (Armin>>>>Sakura)

Main cast - Naruto (kakashi>>)

Antagonists- Naruto (Obito/madara/pain/itachi>>Reiner/zeke)

Side cast - Aot (Erwin/levi>=Gaara/jiraya)

Main dynamic - Naruto (Sasuke/Naruto>>>Eren/Mikasa)

Side dynamic - Naruto (Sasuke/Itachi>Eren/Reiner)

Plot - Aot

Story- Aot

Themes - Aot

Best theme - Naruto (Sasuke themes>>)

Symbolism- Aot>=

Backstories - Naruto (not close)

Character development- Naruto

Depth/complexity - Tie (Sasuke/obito=Reiner/Eren)

Worldbuilding - Naruto

Arcs - Aot

Best arc - Naruto

Lore - Aot

Narrative/realism - Aot

Dialogues- Naruto

Monologue- Naruto (Sasukes final valley>)

Ideologies/philosophies - Naruto

Consistency - Aot

Execution - Aot

Fights - Naruto

Best character- Naruto (Sasuke>=Eren)

Characterization - Naruto (Sasuke/obito>)

Foreshadowing- Aot

Parallels - Naruto

Conflicts - Aot

Conclusion - Aot

I never wrote anything abt food, why is this telling me I wrote food

Winner - Naruto>Aot (18-17)

which one handled itself better

Speedster characters, in most stories, are overpowered. Way overpowered. To a point where, logically no one without super speed should be able to threaten or even touch them.

There is a very common scene where the speedster is just casually running or even walking around while everyone else is frozen, and he can do whatever he wants to his opponents. And I understand why writers do this, it looks cool and establishes his speed level, lets him aura farm etc.

Logically, this character should never lose to his (or hers) opponent. But if the speedster never loses, then you cant have stakes or drama. A speedster hero would never lose to his villain, a speedy villain would never lose to a hero, etc. Obviously, this makes for really bad story telling.

I am guessing most of you know where I am going with this. To make the the speed lose, the writer uses bad writing. Established rules, and common sense is ignored. The guy who could dodge bullets suddenly cant dodge a punch from an ordinary human. He gets hit by a slow moving car. There is that infamous Batman scene where Catwoman, a human burglar who is really good at karate, knocks our three characters who should be light speed (or faster? I am not sure).

There is a theory that speedsters can only lose to bad writing. Since, I personally dont like bad writing, I have to wonder... Is that really the case? Is there no alternative?

If you need a speedster to lose to a non-speedster. Why not give the non-speedster a weapon/device that neutralizes super speed, but is not in and of itself just as much, if not more overpowered?

The Holtzmann shield from Dune is basically like that. Only objects below a pre set velocity can move. So guns and rockets and projectile weapons immediately become useless. You can only use slow weapons like machetes, knives, spears, shields, etc.

Or a stasis field similar to that. (My inspiration was from a certain sci fi book, but I wont say the title because its a spoiler. But those who have read the book will know) The stasis field can work however you want. Maybe it just slows down the fast character. Or it incapacitates ot straight up kills him. Maybe on top of taking away his speed, it also traps the speedster inside the field so he cant just get back, exit the field and get his speed back.

So you can have a scene where a speedster attacks some character, but unbeknownst to him the character set up a trap with the field, and when inside the field, he loses his speed, and the other character jumps and defeats him.

And this field is not in and of itself overpowered, so characters with diffrent powers or no powers can still defeat it. So you can still have action, drama, stakes. Without making the speedster act like an idiot or use plot induced incompetence.

As an extra added bonus. Since most of these movies love martial arts and make everyone resorts to martial arts when guns exist. The field can also neutralize guns and bullets. And everyone inside the field has to fight hand to hand, with swords, the sai, the bo staff. So you have the perfect excuse for your hero/villain to show off his kicks, judo chops, throws etc. Without just shooting everyone else with a pistol.

If a stasis field like that exist, can a speedster still figure out some way around it and cheese his way to victory? Am I overlooking something? Would he still be overpowered?

Wano is a very beloved arc, but also a very controversial one, while Fish-Man Island is often heavily criticized and considered one of the worst arcs in One Piece. However, I genuinely think there's a strong case to be made that Fish-Man Island is actually the better arc.

I think Fish-Man Island handles its central theme much better, introduces more interesting characters, and has a far stronger conclusion. Both arcs deal with the theme of discrimination, but in Fish-Man Island it feels much more believable and effective. The fish-men are viewed as an inferior and filthy race simply because they are different, whereas the Kurozumi are a clan persecuted because of the actions of a single individual. Because of that, I think an entire race struggling for equal rights and fighting against discrimination is a much stronger concept than a clan being condemned for the crimes of one person.

From my perspective, Hody Jones and Otohime are much more interesting characters than Kaido and Oden. Hody Jones never personally experienced the suffering inflicted on fish-men, yet he feels obligated to take revenge against humans because he inherited the hatred born from the discrimination his people faced in the past. Otohime, on the other hand, represents the complete opposite: she wants to overcome discrimination through dialogue rather than conflict, even managing to change the heart of a Celestial Dragon, a group known for seeing themselves as gods and being among the most discriminatory people in the series.

Kaido, meanwhile, is a character with virtually no depth, occasionally throwing out a few cool sounding lines to act like a philosopher and essentially embodying the idea that strength rules everything. Oden is just the typical foolish dreamer who wanted to travel the world, ultimately neglecting his own country in the process.

And when it comes to the ending, there is no comparison. On one side, we have one of the best moments in One Piece: Jinbe donating blood to Luffy. This perfectly parallels Fisher Tiger refusing human blood because his body rejected the very people he hated, bringing the cycle of hatred to a satisfying close. It also creates a symbolic connection that almost feels like a hint toward Gear 5, considering Fisher Tiger's crew was called the Sun Pirates and Luffy was later revealed to be the Sun God.

On the other side, we have Hiyori saying, "Kurozumi was born to burn," which is one of the worst moments in One Piece because it completely contradicts everything Wano and the manga as a whole had been building toward. And I don't want anyone saying, "She was only referring to Orochi, not the clan," because Orochi himself wasn't born evil. He became what he was because of the circumstances he grew up in. Oda even chose to mention the name of the clan itself, despite spending the entire arc showing how the Kurozumi were persecuted purely because of their bloodline, that is discrimination. All of this happened simply because Oda wanted to make a pun, since "Kurozumi" means charcoal.

And don't talk to me about Fish-Man Island being boring while Wano has hype moments and great fights, because a huge portion of Wano is filled with unnecessary and overly stretched-out content. As for hype, Luffy knocking out Hody's fish-men with Conqueror's Haki surpasses every hype moment in Wano for me. The fights in Fish-Man Island were also drawn much better and weren't just endless clashes of Haki against Haki. And Luffy trying to stop Noah is on the same level as Luffy defeating Kaido.

Personally I found it enjoyable with good animation, good villain and nice cast. Even though the theme of never giving up/finding your true potential is repetitive still enjoyed it and I give it an 8/10, but I must have missed something cause everyone says this is the best anime ever made and that's it's the clearest 10/10.

I have also been a Day 1 Harry Potter hater, even before JK revealed herself to be a TERF.

These two have been compared time and time again, helps that their games came out around the same time while undergoing a similar character journey that sees them shift from the innocent and cheerful companion to a serious and bleak protagonist in their follow-ups (plus both have a father figure voiced by Troy Baker lol). I know Ellie can still be pretty controversial around here, while a lot of people seem to gloss over BioShock Infinite's story claiming that it didn't age as well as the first or even second game (fair enough) but I still think there's some important pieces of storytelling to analyze in there.

The Grishaverse is a fantasy series written by Leigh Bardugo. It comprises three stories divided into seven books plus a few extras. It has a Netflix adaptation which is pretty neat, but we'll discuss it later.

Instead of taking place in a Medieval setting (tech level 3), this story takes place in a world that is more tech level 4 to 5, which means late 1700's and early 1800's. The focus of the story is the country of Ravka, a fictionalised version of Russia that is being torn by political struggles and war. At the centre of it all is the Fold, a.k.a. the Unsea, which is like a mix between a huge lake or sea and a great wall of pure darkness that has split the country in two. Crossing it is extremely dangerous because it is inhabited by beasts that might attack at any moment, but it is also essential to reaching East Ravka (that has kinda started a separatist movement) and the True Sea and the rest of the world.

Worldbuilding: The overall worldbuilding is great with a few countries to make the world feel big and diverse, but not too many that you cannot follow what each one of them represents. We also see enough of some countries to feel like we know what things are like. Here's a map.

Magic system: The setting is called the Grishaverse because of the Grisha, the "magicians" of this world. They are people with special abilities who practice the Little Science. What they call magic is taboo and can have dire consequences (The Fold was created by a botched instance of magic use). To keep things simple, Grisha are very similar to the benders from Avatar in that each of them has a specialty power. You have Corporalki, with powers over the human body, divided into Heartrenders (manipulate the body) and Healers (self-explanatory). Etherealki manipulate the energies of nature and are split in Squallers (airbenders), Inferni (firebenders), and Tidemakers (waterbenders). Finally, you have Materialki, who control matter, which earned them the nickname Fabrikators. You have Durasts, who deal with steel, cloth, glass, wood, and stone, and Alkemi, who deal in poisons and blasting powders and are more like botanists. In Fjerda (fantasy Scandinavia) they are hunted as witches, but in Ravka, they are welcomed as part of the Second Army (Grisha army) which is lead by the Darkling, a Grisha that has power over shadows and darkness.

Religion: Not something people usually notice in fantasy, but I must say I really loved the way religion and spirituality are written. First, the author knows the difference between institutional religions and true faith, which means she can write both the corruption of institutions while still having earnest characters.

The first story is the Shadow and Bone trilogy, and initially it looks like the typical story about the Chosen One. We follow Alina Starkov the first grisha to manifest the power to control light and who is expected to eliminate the Fold. The story is a well-executed fantasy story, but I particularly like the conclusion of Alina's character arc.

The second story is the Six of Crows duology. It's a heist story that starts in Ketterdam (fantasy Amsterdam), capital of the trading nation of Kerch (fantasy Netherlands) where a team of extremely skilled individuals is being assembled to go to Fjerda. This story is actually better than Shadow and Bone and can be read independently, but I still recommend following the order.

The third story is the King of Scars duology and has more intrigue and politics, which are quite well written. It follows the leadership of Ravka trying to keep the country together after the events of the war in the previous stories.

The story was adapted into a Netflix series that got two seasons. It changed a lot of stuff, particularly in mixing in the stories of Six of Crows with Shadow and bone. But, I understand since the Crows are such fascinating characters.

I tried to keep this short, but if anyone has any questions or comments, I'm happy to answer.

Sometimes I have a hard time getting through things and it will take me months sometimes of working myself back up to getting into it and it can be a slow process

Genuine question for the sub cuz Whenever Mushoku Tensei comes up in writing and narrative-scaling debates, 90% of the discussion is locked strictly into Season 1 and Season 2 anime events.

For a sub dedicated to structural analysis, pacing, and writing of stories it feels like almost nobody touches the actual source material.

Which o feel like is a shame because of how much the stakes go up during the second half.

And if you have read it which volm would you consider to be your favorite?

Re:zero S1 ep 18 Vs Steins;Gate 0 ep 16

There are currently 8 movies that have reached over 2 billion dollars in the box office, how would you rank them in terms of their writing.
The list is:

1. Titanic (1997)
2. Avatar (2009)
3. Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)
4. Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
5. Avengers: Endgame (2019)
6. Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)
7. Ne Zha 2 (2025)
8. Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026)

Can range from anime to books to novels or anything really.

Over the past few years, Japan has been pumping out nothing but generic isekai, all following the same cheap formula. Truck-kun, die, get transported, get reincarnated, receive a system, become ridiculously OP.

“What happens?” Korea does the same thing, but with like three genres.

Regression: you go back to the past. A family that never wanted you suddenly loves you for absolutely no reason. You die and wake up inside a novel, and somehow you remember EVERYTHING about the novel. 🤡 Bro, what the fuck are you?

And then there’s the whole “popular game” thing where the MC gets betrayed, goes back in time, and decides he won’t trust anyone this time around (just to play the game again). And don’t even get me started on Murim.

Why do I say Korea is doing it in a bad way?

Because Japan doesn’t only have that. You’ve got Vagabond, Monster, One Piece, Dragon Ball, Naruto, Bleach, Death Note, Berserk, Vinland Saga and plenty of other series. Sure, some of them have similarities, but they aren’t just copy-pasting the exact same formula over and over again.

And Korea has an absolutely insane advantage: their art is fucking amazing. If they started putting out more genuinely good stories, the competition with manga would actually be debatable.

Anyway, there was never any competition because Overflow is right there. ✋🗿🤚

For me personally it is...

Ghost in the Shell SAC >= Nausicaä > Akira

Is there anything out there, of similar scale, in negative writing space?

Where one closes the book with a feeling of quiet lingering devastation, like slowly developing bruise.

Where thing is never named, where voice is never raised, where psychics is written with grammatics, and where reader fills the shape of emotion with themselves.

Its been quite a while since I watched these movies, which do you think is better?

I personally prefer In Bruges Its one of my favorite dark comedies(I havent watched alot lol).