How to Fix Shonen Anime's Biggest Problem

and this what's he doing yes to go even further beyond the escalation problem one of Shonen anime and manga is biggest problems with Ivan possibly pointless filler arcs slow pacing and never-ending fight it's an issue that the majority of shows miss John reward inevitably face a constant battle escalation either an escalation of fakes or an escalation of power levels once one arc ends the logical conclusion is to raise the face of introduce more powerful characters but while this makes sense from a short term stretched over years or even decades and the show will reach a point where it ceases to be recognizable as the same show as when it started either characters become so powerful 5/7 even resemble earlier battles or stays keep escalating to the point of ridiculousness and starts alienating its audience you can see countless examples of this throughout the history of shown in shows and I'm not sure the problems that will go away anytime soon this opening paragraph has been a summation of a video I saw recently called Shonen anime the biggest problem by the reality punch Studios it's a great video and I highly recommend you give it a watch as I'll put a link in the description but it does a great job of detailing this problem through the history of shonan's biggest titles but I thought I could expand this idea further by property going in-depth into how we can go about fixing this problem as unlike other common issue shown in faces this one's a bit more complicated at its core the issue lies at the way of magazine like shounen jump is structured for anyone who's read Barca mind you know that the manga published in the magazine is designed to go on for as long as possible and normally only stops when the title really starts blues popularity this means that manga artists are in a constant weekly battle to stay popular at the risk of getting cancelled prematurely but inversely if they do manage to make something popular that they are push to continue it as long as they can and herein lies the escalation problem as a reader you want to feel like there its progression as you stick with a series so what that logically means from Gloucester's perspective is that they need to keep raising the stakes or power levels in order to feel like their story is progressing while not every shown in anime is from the Shonen Jump magazine it is a common problem we see all throughout anime in this genre whether it be your typical battle anime or even a sports anime so how can we go about fixing this it's all about the sense of progression and how we tie in the escalation to that FEM let's start with something simple though a lot of shows already do setting up a clear goal from the start becoming Hokage finding one piece becoming the greatest hero by making the eventual finish line apparent from the beginning even if you also doesn't know exactly how they learned up there it gives a view of something to look towards and give the author's room to play around with the journey no matter how long was short it may be we know that Naruto was always going to become Hokage that Luffy will find one piece but it was never about the goal it's about the journey so no matter how specific or broad this goal is the adventure to realize this idea is always relevant and the plot will feel like there is progression towards some things even if it is minimal well this may seem simple and obvious the problem becomes majorly apparent when this isn't done as in the case of a show like bleach bleech had something really going for it for its first two arcs and have some interesting characters in the world I was basically superpower deaf samurai building up to a rescue art that contains all the right reasons you'd want to watch as shown in anime after the arc ended however there was no clear direction for the series to go which started a never-ending loop of recycled ideas with power escalations it really couldn't keep up with more rescue arcs soul society is in danger again let's add a bunch of new characters hey we need h codes power up why not add another trait once make him the true Soul Reaper Hollow Quincy pirate ninja Saiyan Gundam hybrid that he definitely always was from the start not having a final goal the plot became reactive rather than proactive and I feel Kubo didn't have enough ideas keep it up stretched out for as long as it did while keeping the reader engaged which led to master the fast jump ship when we slowly realize I don't say the series has any idea what the [ __ ] it's doing it lacks that sense of progression which even if you have a bloated and drawn-out arc like the fourth [ __ ] ninja war you can keep readers invested just because they want to see what happens to these characters when their journey ends but in a long story you have the problem of constant power escalation which is the trap countless shows have fallen into as if the habita was introduced pretty much thanks to the granddaddy of Shonen being probably the most influential title of this genre Dragon Ball was a start of many of these problems none more apparent than endlessly introducing new characters more powerful than the last the point of ridiculousness but there have been shows that have been able to rectify this and this comes with the concept of introducing a power feeling showing off some of the most powerful characters in your universe way before the series is nearing its end will introduce a power feeling and this ground viewer expectations of how powerful characters can be this sets an approximate bar so that we are escalating towards something instead of escalating for the state of escalating preventing that power escalation from feeling ridiculous I'm sure we all remember the days when Naruto had tats called down to a fight and fallen Madara started dropping the odd meteos over an army of [ __ ] ninjas or hell before the universe threatening fights the Dragon Ball manga star so for general martial arts tournament you are not looking at the stark contrast between earlier and later fights to think wow how the hell did we get here which can alienate the audience the change was so jarring for Dragon Ball Z the anime had to split it up into two separate series but a show that seems to be doing this right is with my hero academia within the very first arc we are shown the power feeling of this world in the epic speaking of all my teaching villain how to go beyond the [ __ ] stratosphere he's meant to be the number one hero of this world I'm seeing him go all out so early given that you a clear goal that he's escalating to war so from the beginning we already have a rough estimate of what endgame flights will be like even in the series led one piece where the power feeling was shown in the white beard war arc a good ten years after series inception it's still actually appropriate in the grand scheme of things as according to oder that was still only about halfway through the overall story which if that's really true then [ __ ] me in the ass man but the fact that these power ceilings are not being introduced at the end of the series prevents this need of adding in characters are they constantly raising the ceiling after every arc but it's not just about the power ceiling either it's also about the scale of escalation a lot of serious things I don't need to add a significant power gap between each escalations but if you look at a sports anime like haikyuu a title that's more grounded in reality compared to other shows the scale of escalation is pretty small characters will learn a simple new technique or they grow their team synergy slightly but because of the way it's portrayed even these small steps can feel hugely rewarding and makes it some epic moment and it's a far cry from people with suddenly shooting laser beams out of their hands not that there's any problem with that either the point is that authors don't always need to escalate powers by a ridiculous scale every time to feel like there is satisfying progression which is why Hajime no Ippo which is well over a thousand chances now has managed to stop itself from having its characters fly around the ring doing super punches however even without a shrewdly established ceiling progression and development of conflict can be made all the more compelling through a well established and clearly defined power system we've discussed this idea before in one of our fight analysis videos but an intricate power systems greatest strength is being able to increase the scale of what's happening via complexity rather than raw power and strength getting more powerful doesn't mean you can punch things harder it can mean you gain more knowledge more experience to take advantage of the power system present if you look at every single final villain of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure their power levels are always a level far beyond that of our main characters they are only able to be eventually taken down in the final act due to either their own hubris or the cunning and intelligence of the main characters using their powers an interesting and compelling way often the combination of the two unless of course your name is giono Giovanni of course calling back to exactly what we discussed in the fight video in reference to Hunter hunter then as a power system is so well defined that even though it has incredibly powerful characters nobody is defeated through pure brute force and power-ups and then as the concept is utilized to its fullest extent and through tactics and exploitation zuv weaknesses are battles won to enhance this idea any situation where brute force are powering up is the resolution it always comes at an extreme cost with serious story implications and even some characters from a appear weak have an ability that is useful in a certain fight this entirely avoids the problem I like to call the piccolo effect you know what I mean that one rival who's introduced early on that poses a huge threat but eventually becomes completely irrelevant once this problem of escalation renders them up of course this leads to probably the biggest problem which is how the author can drag out a series for so long while keeping it fresh and compelling years or even decades after it start even if there is an initial goal deposits progressing toward and I don't think there is a candidate that does this better than one one piece is just hitting its 20th anniversary and if someone who's caught up with the manga I can say that it's still managing to do new things and continuing to develop its characters in fresh directions two decades later which while I don't have time to break down exactly how it's done this the big thing is how Oda treats each arc almost as a self-contained story so one of one piece is massive but one of the greatest selling points of the series is the sense of adventure and exploring as much of this world as we can the arcs are structured around what the crew discover on each Island they go to links loosely under the goal of getting to the last island and finding one piece instead of explaining in a linear fashion the plot expands outwardly as we learn more about the world and its inhabitants and this is what allows ODIs tell a huge variety of different stories and genres of varying scales and personal space under the same banner of the straw hats pirates this stops the story from ever getting too similar or boring without making it feel a drag that will give them that all-important sense of progression even if it is just a tiny bit at a time as what you don't want to do is make it feel like that goal is constantly moving further and further away as that will feel very unfulfilled for the viewer and in the case of something like Erin's basement in attack on Titan have become not much more than a running joke in the community at this point sure come shining down to take noni night in the end all these ideas in mind of the issue that needs fixing most through this escalation problem it is exactly what effect it has on the characters that we love the reason we all love the earlier arcs of many of these shows isn't because of the nostalgia it's because before the spirit bonds infinite tsukiyomi and God knows what other world or universe destroying threat to introduce it's the more intimate character interactions that drew us in the threat of the entire world just doesn't resonate with the viewer in the same way that the threat of mortality does for one's beloved characters seeing death whose dreams of being a hero crushed upon finding out his Qualys drove many of us to tears see luffy in a world shattering war was important because of how grand it was but because how important we knew it was for luffy to save his brother and the bond that they share that is real it's relatable and we've all likely been there compared to that the fate of the entire world is to larger scale for us to comprehend because the people we care for most are the people right beside us for you see the problems we as an audience have the escalation is that many serious and feel like it's lost the heart and soul of the show we initially fell in love with and the shows that continue to be successful for so long after they started are the ones that are able to carry the spirit through to the end because that really is why we want to follow these characters grow up with them bond with them all the way to the end through both of our long life journeys the car on our knee montana nike me more hey guys hope you enjoyed that video thank you very much to had really on babel lee what patrick madison thrones melts and everyone else on patient the helping support me for this month and making this video possible i'm also been told by book walker that they'll be having a special no game no life giveaway on the 24th of july if you buy any volume of the no game their life light novel on that day you'll have a chance to win posters or shiro figure links in the description if you want some no gamer life right not use coupon code ski got store discount I was gonna have a no gamer live video up on that date but that's been delayed so you're gonna get that later anyway that's it for me no other updates I've been doing and I'll see you all next time [Music]

Channel: Gigguk

Views: 2,651,627

Keywords: Anime Zone, Gigguk, Top Anime, OP, ED, Shonen, Shounen, Shonen Anime, Shounen Anime, Shounen Jump, Shonen Jump, Shonen Manga, One Piece, Bleach, My Hero Academia, Dragonball, Dragonball Z, Naruto, Naruto Shupuuden, Fairy Tail, Boku no Hero Academia, Hunter X Hunter

Id: lyR-Gk0RAiQ

Length: 12min 11sec (731 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 21 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/kaepo]

Constant escalation?

This is Tengen Toppa! This is Gurren Lagann!

[u/BP_Ray]

Which is how Hajime no Ippo has managed to stop itself from having its characters fly around the ring doing super punches.

...Heh, he hasn't read the Woli fight I see.

[u/MattTheMagician44]

So just add more tournament arcs?

PROBLEM SOLVED

[u/troubun]

This video could double as why people should watch/read One Piece and Hunter x Hunter! + Boku no Hero Academia, which is doing well to avoid the problems mentioned in the video from what I've watched, and I hope it continues to do so.

[u/srs_business]

Making a jab at Eren's basement directly after heaping a ton of praise onto One Piece, in a segment about an anime's end goal is rather...bizarre, to say the least.

[u/[deleted]]

[removed]

[u/UltimateEye]

Gotta give major props to One Piece overall for avoiding most of the common pitfalls of Shounen anime. I still remember how the first couple of One Piece arcs initially progressed in a more standard fashion with Luffy beating consistently escalating opponents but once we started getting introduced to characters like One Piece you begin to realize that what we've been seeing is just the bare tip of the iceberg. Although there are some arcs that are worse than others and have some endemic problems, the show still feels consistently like One Piece. Retaining its identity for so long has been one of the biggest joys of following the series as a longtime fan.

[u/esn_crvg]

One thing about Hero Academia is that to be a hero you don't need to be the most powerful, in fact the series focus much more in that heroes need to save people. All Might isn't the number 1 hero because he can punch a villain in the space, but because people feel safe when he is around. Deku needs much more than just train his quirk, he needs to learn how to be a hero.

One Piece is different beast, I fell in love with it not because of the fights, but because the sense of the adventure. From seeing the new islands to meeting new characters. It doesn't need to escalate powers because it isn't the main reason it is so loved.

[u/[deleted]]

Meanwhile, JoJo's...

Part 3:They're coming after us, use your stand to trick and kill em!

Part 8:They're coming after us, use your stand to trick and kill em!