Pratfalls of the Shonen Fighting Genre

Li_Akahi

As some of you may or may not know (as I have mentioned this many times in the forum) I am working on a webcomic that is a parody of the Shonen Fighting genre and I am also trying to make it one of the best pieces Shonen Fighting on the internet. What I am asking from you guys is the flaws of this particular genre and ways to fix them. I already have:

• Super long battles lasting at least a volume of manga or 5 episodes of the show (I will have only epic battles, war battles not fights, last more than one chapter)
  
• Storyline that could continue indefinitely (I will write the story and that will be what happens with only minor alterations and maybe some extra character development)
  
• Characters yelling out names of attacks and giving away what will happen (there will be named attacks, but martial arts will provide a much larger role than the magics, names will not be yelled out but will show up in the panel. This is really only for differentiating moves.)

Can you guys think of anything else? You can also ask me about characters and story if you wish if it helps.

whatever

I'm sure these guys have some ideas. :U

Li_Akahi

I'm surethese guyshave some ideas. :U

Yes, I know about that episode, but I am looking for more information that wasn't in that episode. Personal gripes would be a good way to make what I am trying to do better.

whatever

Yes, I know about that episode, but I am looking for more information that wasn't in that episode. Personal gripes would be a good way to make what I am trying to do better.

The fans of shonen fighting shows are nut jobs.

Erwin

Well, I have watch shonen fighting shows in which fights do not last more than 2 episodes (Ring Ni Kakero). And I have read awesome shonen fighting shows in which fighting is more important than ninja tricks or magic (Hajime No Ippo)

Since you are focusing in good story and good fighting I would recommend you to go and get Battle Angle Alita "Last Order".

Also try to avoid tournaments if possible.

Erwin

Yes, I know about that episode, but I am looking for more information that wasn't in that episode. Personal gripes would be a good way to make what I am trying to do better.

The fans of shonen fighting shows are nut jobs.

Really is a sadistic circle, I mean if it were not for those nutjobs that buy all the merchandise from all those shows then the companies would not be able to do good stuff such as ... what good anime is TOEI making besides the Saint Seiya OVAS ? :P

ColdfireSerge

If you are doing a parody, than the fighting tournament is a MUST. It shows up no matter what the theme of the manga is. Actual fighting, cooking or (I don't know) underwater basket weaving.
How else would the creator gather together so many different and unique characters for the main cast to meet and fight against and learn new techniques from?

whatever

Have every other comic be a picture of someone charging their Spirit Bomb.

iruul

Dont forget to have every character get blown to bits but not die. Also, clothes and hair are made of indestructible material and never change shape or form, except for occasional scratch marks that disappear the following scene.

chaosof99

The fans of shonen fighting shows are nut jobs.

I take that as a personal offense.

One page should be some panels with a post-it stuck on it with "Character xy is now powerful and mysterious".
And if your character is older then ten years old don't forget to include a page with his traumatic past.
Finally, all women wear at least a D-Cup.... Scratch that, they don't wear Bras.

whatever

I take that as a personal offense.

Stop watching crappy shows.

Li_Akahi

Okay, maybe I stated my intent wrong. While it is a parody, I don't want the parody elements to be horribly blatant. I really don't see a tournament coming into play in what my intent is. What I am hoping for is something that starts out normal and becomes high fantasy dripping with politics, vicious take overs, and climaxing with a massive magical war complete with an epic transforming magical flying ark that transforms into a mecha dragon. If anyone can find a way to fit a tournament in there, you sir are a better(?) man than I.
Oh, and I love the Shonen Fighting genre. Eyeshield 21 and One Piece are my favourites.

whatever

Tournament to decide who gets to drive the mecha dragon.

Li_Akahi

Tournament to decide who gets to drive the mecha dragon.

It's the villains. You know, evil force obliterating villages, burning the countryside, taking over the afterlife.

whatever

It's the villains. You know, evil force obliterating villages, burning the countryside, taking over the afterlife.

Wouldn't that just make it better?

Li_Akahi

What, having the main characters piloting it or the villains? The way I have the story going now is that the only reason the villains have the Ophiuchus (the ark) is because they have infiltrated the government and have more resources. The main characters have the items that help the Ophiuchus arm it's main weapons and special attributes.

Linkigi(Link-ee-jee)

What, having the main characters piloting it or the villains? The way I have the story going now is that the only reason the villains have the Ophiuchus (the ark) is because they have infiltrated the government and have more resources.

It's a shonen parody. Therefore, they don't need more reason than that.

chaosof99

I take that as a personal offense.

Stop watching crappy shows.

I don't watch crappy shows. I have stopped watching Bleach after it grinded to an absolute halt with crapfiller. I never watched the endless Naruto filler. The Eyeshield 21 anime is unbearably stretched out to the point where it took half an episode for one guy to do a karate chop. I stopped watching that as well.

What I do is read the manga which is the thing to do because they get the pacing correct and of course it has the advantage of being the original material.
But in any case, putting being a shonen fighting fan equal to being a nutjob is an absolutely unfounded statement that doesn't even make any sense except if you are trying to troll.

Li_Akahi

As I said earlier, this is not going to be a straight up parody, it will poke fun at the genre, but I am not going for the Mel Brooks style of parody, more of the Shaun of the Dead or Hot Fuzz style.
As to the calling of Shonen Fighting genre fans nutjobs, I barely watch any anime at all. I only read a lot of manga. Actually, the only anime I am watching right now are Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagaan and Death Note.

ColdfireSerge

It sounds like your villains are similar to the beast men at the start of Gurren Lagaan. The only had the giant robots because the humans were all stuck without the needed resources.
Keep in mind that the start of TTGL was similar to a Shonen Fighting show. A new 'monster' to fight each week, each one stronger than the last. The good guys had to evolve their talents to be able to defeat them each time.

Li_Akahi

I am thinking of having a monster of the week section of the story, but it wouldn't be at the beginning, but in the beginning of the second half. I think it would be funny if the monsters didn't always attack some village, but the main characters killed the monster just for money without a second thought.

Conan-San

Everything I hate about the Shonen Fighting Show can be summed up with one Name

Sasuke.

God, I HATE that fucker. Every other shonen fighting show is perfectly ok, but god, Naruto just up and out sucks because of Sasuke, I cheer every time that little asshole gets something bad done to him.
He is the personification of every thing that is wrong in that show.

Li_Akahi

I actually think that the relationships between Naruto and Sasuke and between Sasuke and Itachi are the most compelling parts of that manga, as the rest of the series is horribly generic.

Conan-San

I actually think that the relationships between Naruto and Sasuke and between Sasuke and Itachi are the most compelling parts of that manga, as the rest of the series is horribly generic.

Uhuh. And I actually think that Sasuke took the meaning for the show and told it to go screw itself, no, it's no longer about working hard to get the thing you want, you can whine your little white ass off and the heavens itself will open up and give you what you want on a plate.

Sasuke also suffers from the "Geeknights Gambit of Eva" in somuch as if he opened a dialoge with his friends, he might of not turned into the gay pirate we know him as.

Banta

For a parody of the SFG to work properly you need to include the standard personality archetypes of the SFG; the go to underdog who always wins no matter what, the stoic former villain turned ally, the perverted teacher who is more annoying than helpful, the pretty boy rival, fan girls/boys of previously mentioned pretty boy, and the hard ass woman who is pinned after by the underdog and the pretty boy but who ultimately falls for the former villain for his (lack of) personality. These are just the ones I cold come up with right now, you can probably think of a lot more than I can but you get the picture.

Li_Akahi

Well, the main character is an underdog but is fairly arrogant and egotistical and will lose on occasion.
There is going to be a character that will sort of be a villain at one point.
The pretty boy rival is a psychopath.
I don't have the hard ass woman, though, and I am not really sure what you mean by that particular archetype.

ColdfireSerge

For the women character, one example could be Bulma from Dragonball. She is the first to come to mind as she was competent enough to travel along with Goku for a while getting the dragonballs. Plus she eventually fell for the former-villain-turned-ally, Vegeta.
There were a few other female types in DB though. Chi-Chi who seemed to match Goku for innocence early on, but became a very protective mother. Launch had her personality and body switching. Android 18 was another villain turned ally, especially when she fell for Krillin.

Li_Akahi

All of the women in the story are going to be completely competent and strong, so that should be one shot to the genre there.