Attention Spans
November 2, 2007 by schneiderI just finished Seirei no Moribito earlier this day. I found to be a beautiful, meaningful piece of work, which is less to be said of other recent shows. Despite its many merits (I would sound very much like a fanboy if I wrote all of them down here, so just see it for yourself) SnM had never attracted a large fanbase. Most anime watchers have even found it boring.
As it stands, SnM is a very uncompromising show. It offers no fanservice, unrealistically hot-blooded characters, gratuitous violence, or even sappy romance. It is what it is, a fantasy novel anime adaptation with attention to characterization and animation detail. Having very little gimmicks (the most obvious selling point of this show would probably be the outstanding quality of animation), it’s no surprise that this show is so underappreciated.
Because it’s boring.
However, I can discount the possibility of the average anime watcher to find the show boring, but it really is an excellent show. I can surmise that most people find it boring because the fight scenes are few and far between, despite the fact that Balsa, the main character of the show, is a kickass and GAR spear-wielder. Perhaps when they see weapons, they automatically expect (and demand) useless fighting. Perhaps they dislike the “filler” episodes (which are not really filler but character-driven ones). I came to love every character in the show, from staunch Balsa to eccentric Torogai to zealous Shuga. Even the exploration of the main character’s past, which is usually a ploy to temporarily stop the main plot from progressing just for writers to write what’s next, offers significance to the present.
Perhaps it is because ultimately, SnM is a novel, not an anime. The animated version feels like a book when watched, offering nothing but an engaging story and characters. Which is why I loved every bit of it, as a reader at heart, I see what’s most important in an anime. I doubt if most anime watchers are avid readers too. If they were, they would’ve probably liked SnM.
Seriously, it seems that the attention span of people is going down. Gone are the days when awesomely operatic shows like Legend of Galactic Heroes graced the airwaves. Well, shounen anime like DBZ, Naruto and Bleach are long as well, but the individual story arcs are never that very long. And even then, they’re just long because of long-winded fight scenes. The reason why Gurren Lagann (which reminds me, I need to make an entry for that show too) clicked with most anime fans is that because it’s tightly-packed for a Super Robot show. If you’ve watched GaoGaiGar, you’ll know what I mean. In GGG, the plot starts as largely episodic, with plot points being introduced gradually, building into a climax towards the middle of the show. Afterwards, shit hits the fan for the good guys and the awesome stuff start appearing. Gurren Lagann has very little episodic content (mostly in the Kamina arc), and jumps to the good stuff.
The reason why GGG is loved by fans is that it sucks you in gradually, transforming your heart full of skepticism into a heart full of COURAGE. The fights are entertaining enough, due to the large amounts of SCIENCE used by the good guys to defeat different Zonders. Towards the end, the momentum the earlier episodes built up really starts to show. Characterization is done slowly and surely. Because of this, people might find GGG boring. I myself had been bored during some episodes.
GL’s methodology is slightly different. It shows the viewer the “OH SHI-” moments right off the bat, leaving him stunned. Since GL is 26 episodes long (minus the recap), Gainax packed each episode tightly with enjoyable stuff going on (whether it be Yoko tits, Darry buns, Nia moe, Kamina awesomeness, or Simon GAR). That way, people won’t be bored. If you actually get bored by this show, then you have a serious problem.
I think I caught on 4chan that Goro Taniguchi (the director of Code Geass) said that he made Geass in such a way that every episode had a cliffhanger in the end (even the final one, which brought despair to many fans), just to appeal to people with short attention-spans. That way, they’ll always be speculating on what happens next.
In closing, I hope for more shows like Seirei no Moribito, RahXephon and Eureka Seven, where emphasis is not on elements that make a show sell, but on elements that make a show actually good (story, characters, and storytelling medium, in this case animation detail).
I think I’m going to watch Le Chevalier de’Eon for the lulz now.
