Stories come in all types of forms, genres, styles and
mediums. It’s fantastic that as a species, we can experience narratives in so
many different ways, each with their own pros and cons. Novels, movies, comics,
video games, cartoons, anime or even manga, you name it. Films are generally
concise, novels let your imagination run wild, video games are interactive
while comics are art AND literature. Hell, even music can tell a story, purely
with sound, no visuals. The question I have for you all today is this: What is
more important to you, the ending or the ride?
I always compare a story to a 1600m track meet. What’s the
point of being in first place for three laps to come last during the final
stretch? The same thing applies to stories for me. Generally speaking,
regardless of how good a story starts off, or is for the most part, if the
ending is bad, it ruins the overall experience for me. I can’t just enjoy the
ride sometimes; I need my struggle and time to mean something. I need it to pay
off in the end, to know that the intricate plot threads are tied up nicely. No
point going hard in a race to lose at the end. Pace yourself.
For this reason, I am a huge fan of the “slow start”. I take
great pleasure in stories that take their time setting up future events, their
characters ,concepts and do proper world building. Its stories like these that
truly that pay off in their conclusion. It rewards your patience. Obviously not
every story ends up being worth it but I’m far more attracted to a story that
doesn’t assume I need some, off the wall, ridiculous, action focused stuff
right off the bat to even give it a chance. One of my favorite examples of a
story that takes it time before jumping into the heart of its story is
Katekyoshi Hitman Reborn. It takes 61 manga chapters before the “real” plot is
suddenly dropped on the reader.
Story progression is also important. I personally find that
stories that start off really powerful end up spending the latter half of its
narrative trying to relive former glory. Examples of this are Hunger Games and
Naruto. The first Hunger Games book was excellent in my opinion and the other
two books are some new type of ass. I mean, they even tried to recycle the same
Hunger Games event in the second book, come on (trying to relieve former
glory). Naruto’s strongest arc is probably the Chunnin Exam arc or the Sasuke
Retrieval arc. These two arcs happen pretty early in the manga and truth be
told, no other arc was as good minus the Pein Invasion arc. The story goes to
shit after that.
I do however, find it annoying when the juicy bits of a
narrative are seemingly withheld for no apparent reason, then suddenly thrown at
you all at the very end. That’s annoying. Some 12 episode anime tend to do
this. A whole lot of nothing happens and then suddenly on episode 11 the creators’
machine gun fires the entire plot at the viewer in two episodes. Thusly why I
said one must use the art of pacing and proper progression. The Defenders is a
superhero show on Netflix that is a part of a larger television universe. It’s
one of the few superhero live action series that doesn’t waste time with
pointless episodes. Each episode progresses the overall plot in some shape or
form. Whether it’s someone’s character arc, the main plot or a sub plot. Eight
quick episodes and done.
Now don’t get me wrong. I go into tons of stories for many
reasons but the majority of the time I’m there for the plot and or characters.
I can enjoy almost anything as long as there is at least one character I’m
attached to or if the writing is amazing. Regardless of the medium or genre. Hell
I’ve read some web comics where I was pretty sure I could draw the art better,
but that’s never gotten in the way of me enjoying something for the story.
There’s a webtoon called the Girls of the Wilds that I read purely because I
find the artwork to be top notch and there’s a character I’m literally in love
with (she’s real). So I’m capable of just enjoying the ride sometimes. I DO
like fun, I don’t take everything seriously though I admit I definitely used
to.
I didn’t actually intend for this to be this long so I’ll wrap this up. I’m genuinely interested in everyone’s opinion on this. I often hear people say I really enjoyed so and so even though the ending was dumb. This always threw me off for years because I always found and in fact still find the ending to be the most important part of any story I’m immersed in. When I finished playing Xenoblade Chronicles X, I wasn’t too keen on how the story was progressing but I ultimately was a fan of the game’s story because the ending was strong. So again I ask, what’s more important to you? The ride or the conclusion?
Written by: Nya Hemmingz
Twitter: @LolitaZenpie
