Development of a Story, Anime Perspective Part 1

In the last article I discussed how an Idea is developed to create an Anime/TV Series. Yes I am a huge Anime Fan, Hence majority of articles in the coming future will be related to Animes. Definitely some will be related to New TV Series like MARVEL and DISNEY+, LOKI is arriving this week. We will discuss some elements from that as well. Till then lets come back to the second most important aspect of any Anime, STORY.

Yes, you have an idea, but there is a way to present it and that's how you create a story to present your idea. A story is a collection of chronological events in which either real or fantasy characters are involved. Stories have different genres like Romance, Sci-Fi, action, adventure, melodrama, family drama and comedy etc. Generally, stories consist of 3-4 different but vital elements. In today's article I am going to cover two elements and the remaining two we will cover in the next article.

1. Characters-

So the first and foremost important element in any story are the characters. Without Characters, the story cannot be presented. Characters, whether real or fictional, Humans or Animations, are the medium to present a story. They make a story alive. Some of the important characters in any Story are Protagonist, Antagonist, Female Lead, Protagonist's supporting characters and some side characters. These characters must have personalities, traits, abilities, strengths and weaknesses which are all present in real humans. That's how you enhance the structure of a particular character. Without all these elements a character cannot be completed and the story will not be wielded to make it a must watch.

The characteristics of a Protagonist are more or less same in many Animes. Take for example the characters like Goku, Gon, Izuku Midoria, Naruto who have almost all characteristics the same. One characteristic which is an honourable mention is Determination in all. A Never Give Up approach. Yes there are certain Animes in which other main characters overshadow the main protagonist. Eg. in "Attack on Titans" the character of Levi overshadows the main protagonist Eren. In "Hunter X Hunter" sometimes the characters like Hisoka (Antagonist) and Killua (Friend of main Protagonist) overshadow Gon the main protagonist. Sometimes we find many similarities in the characters from different anime, like the personality of Levi from "Attack on Titan" is somewhat similar to Kakashi from "Naruto" or Aizawa from "My Hero Academia". Though the powers of all 3 characters are different, the roles in the respective stories are also different but personalities match and the role of these characters to protagonist is common i.e. A mentor.

One such Anime where there are a lot of changes in the Characteristics of the two main characters of the story and that Anime is "Code Geass". It is an Anime which is based purely on the story of Freedom fighting for the country to get independence from certain powerful people. The two main characters Lelouch and Suzaku are friends in childhood, and as story forwards we see a lot of changes in their relationship. So this Anime is a must watch due to the roller coaster ride it has. Certain Animes have a huge number of Characters involved in the story like "My Hero Academia", "Full Metal Alchemist", "Attack on Titans", All sports related Animes. Another Anime which needs a mention here and I have covered in the next point is "Death Note". So the character who first is projected as the protagonist and then certain events happen, situations take place and we see a protagonist turning into a deadly antagonist. This transformation of the character is certainly a thrill ride to watch. Hence it's highly recommended to watch to learn the art of writing a character.

So this all tells us that why and how much the character works is the most important part of the story. We will cover this in detail in a separate article in the coming days. Let's move further and understand the core of the story which is.....

2. Objective of a story-

Story is only created when there is an objective. This objective is created in the minds of either Protagonists or Antagonists. This is the core of the story which actually brings a meaning to the same. Without this element, a story will be just like a human in coma. All other body parts are working but the brain is not. It's the same here. Objective is something which is the brain of a story. It brings a normal dead story to life and makes it more fascinating and exciting. e.g., "Hunter X Hunter" where Gon's objective is to find his father. Believe me this whole anime runs on this only objective. The writer has crafted it so well and it ends that way. But the craft is so good that we think it should have another season or rather it should not end at all. Secondly the objective is created in the minds of Antagonists Eg. "Demon Slayer" where the objective of Muzan Kibutsuji is to destroy the human clan and develop the demon clan. Same with one of the Sci-Fi comedies "One Punch Man". This is something to study. Here the main Protagonist Saitama is a super powerful human who can defeat an enemy in one punch, hence its "One Punch Man". Now in this Anime Saitama doesn't have any objective because he has completed the one which was to become the strongest human ever. So there is no objective in the life of a Protagonist. Hence it could be said that this itself is a conflict of his story and to support it the writer has introduced an Antagonist in the form of an extraterrestrial being whose main objective is to destroy the earth where the protagonist is living his boring life. So the conflict is created which takes the story further. To think in such a way again takes a lot of guts as you have to create something totally different and hence in this Anime, Saitama is the one to solve the conflicts (mainly to defeat the strong villain) in the lives of other characters.

Sometimes these objectives are developed after the conflict arises which we are going to discuss in the next point. Best example is Attack on Titan where a child named Eren faces an attack by the Titans and loses his mother. The loss of his mother activates an objective of Eren to destroy the Titans. Even in Demon Slayer, the whole family of a boy named Tanjiro, is killed by Demons and makes his sister a Demon herself. Now to cure his sister he sets an objective to find Kibutsujiwho is the main antagonist with an objective of his own, and get the solution to bring back his sister to lead a normal life. Whoa, too much stuff to handle.

But there are certain Animes where Objectives are set through an opportunity taken by Protagonist. It means Protagonist realizes the opportunity and sets his objective, whether new or the one which was hidden in him for too long. For Example take "YowaMushi Pedal" in which a boy named Onoda Sakamichi is a cyclist and expert in climbing, but he does not know the same. So his peer sees this as an opportunity and requests /motivates him to take it from where he sets a goal to become a number one Cyclist. Here the objective is created by the protagonist with the help of another character who makes the protagonist realise the same.

One more such sports Anime, "Kuroko's Basketball" have the two protagonists named, Kuroko and Kagami. Kagami's objective is to win the Highschool basketball championship and kuroko helps him for the same. Kuroko as a character is very simply written as he is projected as a phantom man, he doesn't show much of the emotions in the series. He is very calm, less talkative and has a cool personality, due to his ability to camouflage in a crowd. So though he is present physically people around him cannot sense him unless he expressly tells them. So even though it looks like a simple task, actually it is very difficult to create such characters.

Another example is Death Note where a boy named Light Yagami finds a diary called Death Note which can be used to kill a person just by writing a name in it. So Light Yagami takes this opportunity to revive his hidden objective of reducing crimes in the country. But.... this objective changes eventually and he becomes the main Antagonist in the series. In the next article lets understand the remaining elements of the story.

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