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[Pu the Owl]

In your opinion, what are necessary elements to make a good story for anime standards?
If you can't think of anything, just imagine you have to write the main storyline for a new anime series.
What would you like to put in it to make it successful?
On the other hand, what do you think would make an unpopular choice?

[Reid]

Hmmm . . .

I'd say necessary elements are (for me);

- Interesting, realistic character that develop, at least a bit, from the beginning of the anime to the end.

- A good plot, that is original and not cut from the same mold as so many other anime. It has to be a plot that can easily support the show, and I also really like a plot that is thought provoking, or makes you look at the world differently.

- Good animation, that is also original looking, along with good character design.

- A good mood or atmosphere. Some of my favourites can instantly draw you into the series. Like in Neon Genesis Evangelion, the familiar crickets in the outdoor scenes, the low humming noises in the Evas and labs, and the dead quiet when there is tension, along with dark and distinctive drawings make an excellent atmosphere that makes the show very good.

- No overacting! Nothings worse than cheesy or inappropriate voices to wreck a series (dubbed or in Japanese).

That's all I can think of off the top of my head.

[merylsilverburg]

Well, I can't write to save my life, but I'd say that a unique story that doesn't neccessarily have to involve action all the time, different and interesting enviroments, or sometimes just plain cities are cool too. I dunno, I'm not very good at this, but I do know a few that doesn't make a good plot: Repetition. Like Sailormoon. The plot is very lame, IMO. Usagi-chan basically goes around and defeats evil dudes, then work her way up to fighting the boss, and next, and new group comes in. That gets very boring after a while. I know some say Cardcaptor Sakura is like that, but what makes this anime's plot different, is the fact the cards have different attributes to them and she has to collect them. Maybe I'm not making any sense, but I just think that's pretty unique. Ahhh.....that's about all I can think of right now.

[merylsilverburg]

Originally posted by Reid
Hmmm . . .

I'd say necessary elements are (for me);

- Interesting, realistic character that develop, at least a bit, from the beginning of the anime to the end.

- A good plot, that is original and not cut from the same mold as so many other anime. It has to be a plot that can easily support the show, and I also really like a plot that is thought provoking, or makes you look at the world differently.

- Good animation, that is also original looking, along with good character design.

- A good mood or atmosphere. Some of my favourites can instantly draw you into the series. Like in Neon Genesis Evangelion, the familiar crickets in the outdoor scenes, the low humming noises in the Evas and labs, and the dead quiet when there is tension, along with dark and distinctive drawings make an excellent atmosphere that makes the show very good.

- No overacting! Nothings worse than cheesy or inappropriate voices to wreck a series (dubbed or in Japanese).

That's all I can think of off the top of my head.

Wait....are we talking about, what makes a good anime or what makes a good anime plot? Uh.....

[007_JamesBond]

in my opinion
1) you need a cool plot and story lin, I prefere one with lots of good action scenes in it

2) I think that you need good animation, and it needs to be lengthy

3)It needs to keep the audiance enticed or interested to keep the show from being pulled off the air, the characters need to be likeable

For me that would do it

[Spirit]

well I think you need quite a few things, such as
good animation and artwork
great plot to keep the audience excited at all times
and a solid plan for the whole series(e.c. one episode can't be good and the other ones suck)

[Mana]

Isn't supposed to be only about plots? Not too be picky, but...

I agree with meryl: for a good story repetitiveness is a bad thing.
People must find the story interesting and surprising in every moment. And if you're the one who writes the story, you must look for original points, not only copying from other series.
Adding to that, mainly depends on the genre: if you're making a sci-fi thing, you must look for the right atmoshpere and invention, if you're making something in shoujo style, you must give much space to sentiments, hoping not only banal situations came up to your mind, and so on.

[Cannibal Clown]

Well, I can familiarise myself with this thread I guess.

I just started writing up a story for a future anime that I would like to be made some day. And I've already got all nine major characters drawn, and I think that they are real cool and unique looking, and I'm trying to make it so that the story doesn't drag on, and I've already got deep personalities and development for each of my characters.

I'm trying to make it the anime that I feel would be perfect.

For me an anime needs many diverse and deep characters. Ones that one could familiarise themselves with, no matter who it is. Characters need to have a history of some sort that slowly involves itself with the story, and a personality that makes that person, and the others around him/her stand out.

I feel that the art and animation should be very well done, and always have the characters moving.
(I hate it when animators cheet and draw one picture, and have thge voices in the background go on for like three minutes!)

I also feel that the story should be very unpredictable, but still make sence in the end, like most of the great RPG's out there.

Music and atmospheric sound that gives depth to the show, like what Reid said about the crickets in Evangelion.

And good voices are necessary for a good anime, along with realistic diologe. This is one of the things I hated about Gundam wing. The terrible diologe and voices ruined the show!

And along with strong drama, you need comedy, and with some sort of passion or love in a story, a good fight is needed.

Usually, for me, someone has to die, a mojor character in the story that is, and you can't just have one guy who is unstoppable, or only one hero. You need a mixture of every character with some sort of scene to call their own.

But one of the flaws about DBZ is that everyone is a hero, and that makes the characters to similar. But they still keep Goku and Vegeta at the top, which in the end, I fealt was well thought out.

And a small detail that I feel should be included is the use of names. They have to fit the character, and not be corney. Like calling someone killer isn't cool.
In the story I'm making, I made sure that none of the characters had real names. (Avan, Tallis, Depp, Sofmore, Depp, Shueisha, Leirelle, Vaden, and two other characters which I haven't come up with names for yet.

And I feel that previous events in the show should be addresses in the later parts of the show.

That's the best part of DBZ's story, even at the end of the series, they still return to events that happened in Dragon Ball. And in Evangelion, you have to watch the whole thing like 20 times just to get every detail in the show to be able to make scense of it in the end!

That's all I can say at the time. If anything else pops up in this little space inside my head I call a brain, then I'll post it. But that's all for now.

[007_JamesBond]

Yes in DBZ everyone is a hero some times, but it did not all start out like that for exp. Goku and Vegeta, they started out as hated enemys when Vegeta came to Earth and Vegeta was very enviouse of Gokus power, and in the end of DBZ the do come to respect each other

[Miata]

Firstly, you need a story that can't be told in any other medium. Simple detective stories are best left for live-action. Anime thrives on out-there imagination. You need almost melodramatic elements that compliment the visuals, and you need a strong intelligent story that can keep up with the animation. An instructor once told me, "If you don't need to animate it-don't". I think that's why anime succeeds so well. Both the story and the look are above and beyond what traditional cinema offer. It's also why we come away disappointed with Spriggan or X. Where's the beef????