on endings
Nov. 6th, 2003 09:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xparrotThere's been some discussion of late about the possible ending of the GetBackers manga, which may or may not be approaching, and I was thinking about what I wanted to see myself...
There are 3 basic types of endings to a TV series or manga (or any story told over time). First - depressing. You know how everything turns out, because everyone ends up DEAD. Western TV shows sometimes end like this, either because they're out of ideas, or the creators don't want any chance of the show coming back. Or else one really wants to make a point. This is Eva and Forever Knight, also the sitcom Dinosaurs.
Second - epic. The arc is resolved, villain is defeated, chars celebrate, get married and sometimes you get a flashforward to see their kids or whatever...and you always are left wondering, what does really happen in the end? Can those heroes ever have a normal life, after what they've been through? Epic endings are often bittersweet. Everyone who went through the story is changed, the world itself often is irrevocably altered, and while overall it may be better, the fact that not much you knew from the story exists in that form anymore makes the farewell a little painful.
Lord of the Rings is the classic example; Escaflowne, Babylon 5, The Sandman. There can be super-happy epic endings - Fushigi Yuugi comes to mind.
Third - status quo. This is the ending that's not so much possible in a limited format like a book or a single movie. The heroes continue on just as they have been through the course of the series, and maybe if you look closely, you'll see the faintest outlines of their adventures beyond the final page or last credit screen.
Examples include Star Trek: TNG, and the GetBackers anime.
A lot of finales have a mix of these. X-files *a moment of silence for the downfall and death of a once-great show* tried to change some things in an epic manner, but in the end mostly kept the status quo; Mulder & Scully are always gonna be after that dang conspiracy, or it's gonna be after them, or whatever. Generally shows that hope for a movie series to follow will maintain much of the status quo.
In some ways, epic endings can be the most satisfying - because something happens, there is change, the story has consequences. But especially for fans, status quo endings can often be the best. Because we've fallen in love with the chars - we want to see them happy, but we also want them still to be the people we love, with the relationships we love.
However your life is now, whatever you feel now, it won't be the same in a week, or a month, or a year, or a decade; for good or bad, it will never be quite that way again. You drift apart from people, you make new relationships. There's something comforting in fiction's permanence, in knowing characters still are as you've always known them to be - even if your own feelings for them change. Maybe we'll make up stories about how everyone turns out, much later...but no matter what we imagine, the 'real chars' will always be there, comforting in their consistency.
If Saiyuki has an epic ending, even a happy one, with the Sanzo-ikkou defeating Gyuumao and returning home as heroes to live out their days rich and satisfied - it will still be somewhat sad, to know they're not traveling together anymore, crammed in that little jeep together. (...not to mention, unless all four of those boys join hands in a polygamous wedding, not everyone's favorite pairings will be fulfilled...) On the one hand, that in 50 eps of the first TV series they didn't get to their goal is terribly frustrating to consider - and yet on the other, there's something reassuring in that they're still jouncing along in that jeep, eternally westward ho.
The GetBackers TV show had a classic status quo ending - Ban & Ginji are still broke, off on yet another mission with all their friends and rivals and the rest. And that's how I'd like to see the manga end as well. There's a lot of epic story to be resolved, a lot of questions which haven't been answered. But when that's all done, at the end of the day - more than I want answers, I want Ban & Ginji to still be partners, best friends and more, still a couple of crazily-powered, happy idiots helping people. Forever, in my imagination.
Enough procrastination...the NaNo awaits!
There are 3 basic types of endings to a TV series or manga (or any story told over time). First - depressing. You know how everything turns out, because everyone ends up DEAD. Western TV shows sometimes end like this, either because they're out of ideas, or the creators don't want any chance of the show coming back. Or else one really wants to make a point. This is Eva and Forever Knight, also the sitcom Dinosaurs.
Second - epic. The arc is resolved, villain is defeated, chars celebrate, get married and sometimes you get a flashforward to see their kids or whatever...and you always are left wondering, what does really happen in the end? Can those heroes ever have a normal life, after what they've been through? Epic endings are often bittersweet. Everyone who went through the story is changed, the world itself often is irrevocably altered, and while overall it may be better, the fact that not much you knew from the story exists in that form anymore makes the farewell a little painful.
Lord of the Rings is the classic example; Escaflowne, Babylon 5, The Sandman. There can be super-happy epic endings - Fushigi Yuugi comes to mind.
Third - status quo. This is the ending that's not so much possible in a limited format like a book or a single movie. The heroes continue on just as they have been through the course of the series, and maybe if you look closely, you'll see the faintest outlines of their adventures beyond the final page or last credit screen.
Examples include Star Trek: TNG, and the GetBackers anime.
A lot of finales have a mix of these. X-files *a moment of silence for the downfall and death of a once-great show* tried to change some things in an epic manner, but in the end mostly kept the status quo; Mulder & Scully are always gonna be after that dang conspiracy, or it's gonna be after them, or whatever. Generally shows that hope for a movie series to follow will maintain much of the status quo.
In some ways, epic endings can be the most satisfying - because something happens, there is change, the story has consequences. But especially for fans, status quo endings can often be the best. Because we've fallen in love with the chars - we want to see them happy, but we also want them still to be the people we love, with the relationships we love.
However your life is now, whatever you feel now, it won't be the same in a week, or a month, or a year, or a decade; for good or bad, it will never be quite that way again. You drift apart from people, you make new relationships. There's something comforting in fiction's permanence, in knowing characters still are as you've always known them to be - even if your own feelings for them change. Maybe we'll make up stories about how everyone turns out, much later...but no matter what we imagine, the 'real chars' will always be there, comforting in their consistency.
If Saiyuki has an epic ending, even a happy one, with the Sanzo-ikkou defeating Gyuumao and returning home as heroes to live out their days rich and satisfied - it will still be somewhat sad, to know they're not traveling together anymore, crammed in that little jeep together. (...not to mention, unless all four of those boys join hands in a polygamous wedding, not everyone's favorite pairings will be fulfilled...) On the one hand, that in 50 eps of the first TV series they didn't get to their goal is terribly frustrating to consider - and yet on the other, there's something reassuring in that they're still jouncing along in that jeep, eternally westward ho.
The GetBackers TV show had a classic status quo ending - Ban & Ginji are still broke, off on yet another mission with all their friends and rivals and the rest. And that's how I'd like to see the manga end as well. There's a lot of epic story to be resolved, a lot of questions which haven't been answered. But when that's all done, at the end of the day - more than I want answers, I want Ban & Ginji to still be partners, best friends and more, still a couple of crazily-powered, happy idiots helping people. Forever, in my imagination.
Enough procrastination...the NaNo awaits!
no subject
Date: 2003-11-06 08:58 am (UTC)The "epic" ending description makes me think of Digimon 02, wherein it did show characters getting married and having kids and stuff, and my reaction to that was mostly "WTF?" thanks to some of the pairings, which were just really random... so my immediate thought on an ending like that for GB is like "Nooo, they'd probably make Ban hook up with that Maryudo bunny-girl and Ginji with Maria or something similarly random!" And as far as I'm concerned, I don't really want to see anyone "hook up", it's fun to have ambiguity to play with.
I say this, of course, as a selfish fanficcer who doesn't want canon interrupting my plots. (Heck, I live in terror that someday we actually will find out where Tir and Gremio went in the Suikoden series, and tons of writing will be rendered useless.)
no subject
Date: 2003-11-06 01:13 pm (UTC)I'm really curious if there'll be any significant hooking up by the end of GB...I'm sort of doubting there will be, because A&A-sensei just seem so aware of the fangirls, and know that if they, say, have Ban & Himiko settling down and raising little witch moppets while Ginji...uhh, goes back to Mugenjou?...they'd immediately have a mob with pitchforks and torches outside their studio... And since I don't think GB is going to go officially yaoi (umm. probably. maybe.), they'll likely leave it ambiguous. I hope.
(trying to think of other fight shounen endings, but half the series I'm coming up with are ongoing - HxH, Naruto - and the others - Kenshin, YYH - do end with the major guy hooking up with his girl. Tho' in both cases that's a clear romantic relationship from very early on. Also GB has two equally main heroes, which is not that common a thing. And A&A-sensei cannot always be counted on to follow cliche anyway; they're so easily distracted by shiny things.)
And yes, it is nice when canon doesn't trample all over one's fic XD