29 July 2011

Yes, I have been negligent.  Between actually writing and keeping a private journal, I don't have much time--or much new--to write here.  But then, this week, something happened, and it it gave me an idea for a new direction to take the blog.

Just yesterday I finished watching a show called Mahou Sentai Magiranger.

It's a Japanese kids show that falls under a genre known as tokusatsu.  Which basically means:

Yup, it's Power Rangers.  (In actual fact, the Super Sentai franchise of which Magiranger is one installment serves as the source materials for the American version known as Power Rangers).  Now, those of you who are quick to judge have probably already stopped reading.  After all, anything involving grown people fighting monsters in spandex suits is probably unworthy of the attention of adults, right?  Well, I would argue that storytelling is storytelling, and that while things like tropes, pacing, and the details of story may vary between genres, a good story is a good story.

In my opinion, Magiranger qualifies as a good story.  The beginning is very slow, and the progression of episodes is quite predictable, but what makes the show really work, I think, is the incredible pay-off it delivers in the end.

The show centers around the Ozu family.

In the first episode, we--along with the 5 Ozu children--learn that the Ozu clan comes from a magical realm known as Magitopia.  (Bear with me here, I know it's hard).  When the evil, underground empire known as Infershia decides it's time for them to try to conquer the surface (the above-ground world), it's up to the Ozu family to stop them.  Miyuki, the mother awakens the children to their powers and, in the first episode, is defeated and supposedly killed by the Infershia.

The rest of the season follows the Ozu children (their father is deceased before the start of the show) as they take on the Infershia.  Simple, right?  It is, which works well for a kids' show.  However, from early on in the season we start to get hints that something deeper is going on.  One of the Infershia's strongest warriors--Wolzard--makes himself known to be something of a rogue agent, and Miyuki's spirit begins to manifest itself in strange ways.  Towards the end of the season, it hit me: not only has this show been leading to the inevitable defeat of the Infershia, it has also been building to the revelation that Miyuki is still alive, and Wolzard is really the brainwashed Ozu patriarch, Isamu.  When these moments come, they have such impact because we've waited for them for so long.  

I realized then that, not only has the show been working off of what the character's want to prevent--the rise of the Infershia and the rebirth of their Ultimate God N-Ma--but also towards what the main characters want to achieve--the reunion of their family.

It got me thinking in terms of my own work: What is your story building to?  What moment is the moment?  What do my characters want to achieve and what do they want to prevent?

So, as I said, I'm thinking of taking this blog in a new direction.  Instead of focusing solely on my writing, I want to focus on other stories.  What can I learn--good and bad--from them in terms of storytelling.  I watch and read a lot of different things across a lot of genres, so I may choose to write about soap operas One Life to Live and As the World Turns, tokusatsu series, Digimon Xros Wars, manga series One Piece and Fruits Basket and on and on.  Look forward to it!

That's all I wrote!