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!
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Date: 2003-11-07 06:48 am (UTC)the MaLoki anime's ending [spoiler warning for rest of paragraph] was totally status quo, which comes as a pleasant not-quite-surprise because they're setting it up as if it's going to be epic, and then - PSYCHE! But you're pretty sure it's coming because the light & happy mood of the series. Worked great, I thought. Very curious what the manga's going to do...I've noticed, often anime series based on ongoing manga have status quo endings, possibly so they don't interfere with the manga's eventual conclusion? Like MaLoki and GB - the anime creators didn't know how the manga's going to turn out, so they don't tinker with much.
Epic endings often break my heart, but some stories, that's the only way to end them. Lord of the Rings would not be nearly as powerful if everyone made it unscathed - I cry at maybe one movie every few years, and it should be Return of the King this year, if it's done right. But GB...shouldn't make me cry. Unless it's tears of laughter. That's not what it is.
(I keep thinking of one of Watsuki-sensei's freetalks in the final revenge arc of the Kenshin manga, in which he said he had thought that to be true to the theme of that arc, he should have actually killed Kaoru. But he was writing a boy's shounen adventure story and it wouldn't be right. So he didn't. Which I think was ultimately much truer and fitting to the story as a whole.)
And I honestly don't think they'll actually do Ban/Himiko, at least not outright. The one thing that really convinces me? They don't have ANY potential love interest for Ginji. (Except Ban-chan...) Most shounen that the hero goes off with his girl, his buddy gets one too. True in Kenshin, YYH, City Hunter...but unless I'm missing something, there hasn't been any girl Ginji's been sweet on since Madoka, and she's the most taken char in the show. And no girl's fallen for him, either (unless you count Maria. And, uh...I don't think they're on THAT much crack. One hopes.)
...this doesn't preclude throwing a new chickie into the mix, but considering how the mangaka seem to get a charge outa smacking down possible het couples (Ren's hopeless crush comes to mind...) it's unlikely to happen.
Besides - Kagami/Himiko, all the way! <3 <3