Fate

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I still need to finish watching HxH. I'm so slow!

Instead of going back to HXH right away, just use that time to read Ashita no Joe instead. It's like the antithesis to all of today's dialogue-heavy manga and anime. I mean it still has plenty of dialogue, but goddamn is Tetsuya Chiba such a talented artist as to be able to convert so many pages worth of character depth and emotion through facial expressions and actions alone, without the use of any dialogue, and Asaki Takamori is an amazing writer to always know the perfect times to let Chiba go wild like that. AnJ is still my most highly recommended read to anyone.

Ufotable clearly knows what they're doing, so I'm sure the UBW anime's exposition will be no worse than Fate/Zero's. The original VN is something else, though. It has the most exposition I've ever seen in a fictional work barring Mahouka. It's downright unreadable at times.

In general, while I understand the necessity of exposition, lately I seem to prefer works that are able to exempt themselves from even needing it. That said, my latest obsession of the past few months has been A Song of Ice and Fire, which as a novel series is full of exposition. I still need to get back to A a Storm of Swords, and that alone is over 900 pages long. I do find all of the backstory to be totally worth it in this series, though. That said, much like how the Fate anime adaptations significantly cut down on the exposition from the VNs, Game of Thrones pretty much does the same for ASOIAF, although sometimes to its detriment, but I mostly consider it a good thing.

[Foggle]

I really should read AnJ. Once I actually finish Excel Saga (I know...), I'll get right on that.

I also greatly dislike exposition, and my distaste for it has only grown over the past few years. I'm hard-pressed to think of a story that should actually require more than a few paragraphs worth of exposition *in total* to function; we don't need to know the magic rules of the Nasuverse verbatim from a textbook to enjoy the fight scenes, and we'd almost certainly learn them naturally just from reading/watching the well-done battles anyway. That kind of shit should be relegated to side material if released at all - it usually just comes across as a crutch for the writer to lean on when they don't think their audience is smart enough to figure out what's going on for themselves.

Like, look at Cowboy Bebop. It's been years since I've watched it all the way through, but it establishes its universe and tells its story with almost no exposition to speak of. Just from natural dialogue, detailed depictions of its various settings, and the way people/objects interact with the world at large, the audience learns everything they need to know. The series assumes that the viewers are smart enough to understand things without having their hands held, and it's right. That's part of what makes CB a masterpiece, and why so many people who "hate anime" still love it regardless.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Yeah, while I can understand exposition in a novel, it should really be done away with as much as possible in animation and comics. Visual art forms should rely more in actual visuals. I mean, like I said, some exposition is going to be necessary, I understand that, but if you ever need characters (or in the CA arc of HXH's case, a fucking narrator) to blatantly and unnaturally explain information to the audience rather than just normally conversing with other characters, that's a clear weakness of the writing and story if the characters weren't able to convey all of that information to the audience naturally over the normal progression of events. Naoki Urasawa is masterful at presenting us incredibly complex stories, yet making every detail that we learn about it come off as naturally as possible.

Don't get me wrong, though, I still love HXH and F/Z, but the dialogue I. Both series could really use a ton of fine-tuning.

[LumRanmaYasha]

I really should read AnJ. Once I actually finish Excel Saga (I know...), I'll get right on that.

YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED IT YET?   

That surprises me. 

And yeah, when it comes to exposition, minimal to none is always best in animation. The world and actions of the characters should speak for themselves.

[Foggle]

YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED IT YET?   

That surprises me. 

Yeah, I know. I've been meaning to write a blog post about that, actually...

Yeah, while I can understand exposition in a novel, it should really be done away with as much as possible in animation and comics. Visual art forms should rely more in actual visuals. I mean, like I said, some exposition is going to be necessary, I understand that, but if you ever need characters (or in the CA arc of HXH's case, a fucking narrator) to blatantly and unnaturally explain information to the audience rather than just normally conversing with other characters, that's a clear weakness of the writing and story if the characters weren't able to convey all of that information to the audience naturally over the normal progression of events. Naoki Urasawa is masterful at presenting us incredibly complex stories, yet making every detail that we learn about it come off as naturally as possible.

I don't even think you need exposition in a book, you can still convey things naturally through imagery even when all you have at your disposal is words. I'm writing a novel right now, and my main goal is to tell an engaging story with semi-complicated lore without ever resorting to exposition.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Yeah, I know. I've been meaning to write a blog post about that, actually...

Cool! I'd love to read a retrospective and your final thoughts on the series, especially since it means so much to you, and your write-up on it last year was actually what got me to check it out in the first place. 

And yeah, I think you can flesh out a story pretty well even in a book just by using well-constructed dialogue and subtle descriptions of the characters and the world around them, without ever having to explain all the intricacies about what the character is doing, what they are feeling, etc. That other stuff should be left up for the readers/audience to imagine and decide.

[Foggle]

Cool! I'd love to read a retrospective and your final thoughts on the series, especially since it means so much to you, and your write-up on it last year was actually what got me to check it out in the first place. 

[goody2shoes]

Foggle: Yup, I agree with Cartoon X. That article also helped me get interested in the manga, so I'm looking forward to the next one.

That aside?

I actually really liked this episode. And when I mean really liked, I mean I have fallen in love with it.

I can see how you might feel that way. Having read the VN prologue beforehand changes the viewing experience a lot. Or did you read the VN as well?

[Foggle]

First episode rocked my socks. Best premiere of the season, easily.

Foggle: Yup, I agree with Cartoon X. That article also helped me get interested in the manga, so I'm looking forward to the next one.

Wow, I'm honored! How did you find my article, if I may ask?

[goody2shoes]

I think I was just curious about the differences and googled "excel saga manga vs anime" or something like that. This was before I'd watched the show, had only seen some funny clips. There isn't a lot of coverage of the manga, so this article and that one were the most informative.

Nice edit, did you make it?

[Foggle]

I wish that was my edit! But nah, Mahou linked it to me. It's from Tumblr, but I'm not sure who exactly made it. Archer is one of my favorite shows.

Glad my article was easy to find! Might be the only one from our entire blog.

[Lord Il]

That latest Archer/Rin Tohsaka edit is just perfect. I've a feeling there's going to be more edits with them as the series progresses (I hope!)

Well.. I feel like I'm a little late for the party as I haven't seen the first episode of UBW yet. Judging by the mostly positive response it's had, this certainly could be worth checking out. I already know the quality must be surpassing that godawful UBW movie by far. How could it not.

[Foggle]

If I worked for Aniplex, I'd get H. Jon Benjamin to voice Archer in the dub.

The first episode was amazing. Way better than both Deen adaptations and even the original VN IMO.

[Dr. Insomniac]

It could've used this.

[Foggle]

I still can't believe that there are people out there who think Prisma Illya is the best part of Fate.