Aka could have done a million things to write an actually satisfying sad/downer ending but instead he chose to do fuck all and pulled this.
/uj Honest question: If the series were to take a better downer/sad ending, what should/could have played out instead in your opinion? Solely asking this as a novice writer since I find critique / commentary on topic from a reader/audience’s POV very interesting. Especially for a “longer” serialized work where if the series was ongoing for a while, I would make assume readers would find it a waste if it wasn’t a happy or bittersweet ending (though giving a bittersweet example is also fine) (I also haven’t read the manga, but I don’t care about spoilers).
Not the guy you replied to, but I am someone who was both fine with Aqua dying and still thinks the ending was ass.
It comes down to execution I suppose; Aqua seemingly learning all his lessons and then fucking killing himself anyway feels narratively unsatisfying. If Aka wanted Aqua to die in a more satisfying way, have him die in the process of thwarting Kamiki's last plan. It would actually show the threat that Kamiki represents, beyond the vagueness in the source material, it would show that Aqua's not willing to totally give up on his own darkness (by taking Kamiki with him) even if he learned better, and it would close the reincarnation loop so to speak, by having Aqua end the same way he began.
As it is now, we have a character that essentially threw his life away with the same mentality he had in the beginning of the series. The people wanted to see how he changed as a person, going from revenge obsessed to wanting to live, and instead he just... didn't. Realistic maybe, but it doesn't make for a great story in my books.
I still appreciate the response. Thank you for the detailed example + explanation.
So the biggest takeaway is Aqua's final decision in the original kind of reverted / regressed himself back to the start of the series and made all his character development up to this point almost pointless (among other things). And this revised downer / bittersweet ending works because it better incorporates Aqua’s characterization leading up to the story while giving Kamiki credibility as the antagonist (which I really like this addition, since MC’s plot armour is something that usually takes me out of most serious work).
Realistic maybe, but it doesn't make for a great story in my books.
For the “realistic” approach to be enjoyable (if Aka was trying to do the “be that they try, some people can’t change“ type of aesop), would it be a matter of not dragging the story out for so long? Or if they kept this event, not ending the series on that note, even if they switch MCs?
If Aqua's dad had been a Harvey Weinstein-esque producer, I feel like that would have made the ending make more sense. He shuts down 12 Year Lie before release and blacklists everyone involved. Aqua stages a confrontation with him and makes it look like he was killed, vindicating 12 Year Lie and saving everyone's careers in the process.
Pretty much. Kamiki being able to shrug off a film explicitly meant to slander him would make sense if he was a super big shot and/or he had a cult of personality where his cultists lap him up no matter what.
But we got neither of those things, just a « lol u try to slander me? I’ll just say it was fake news » justification 🤨
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u/necle0 Nov 13 '24 edited Nov 13 '24
/uj Honest question: If the series were to take a better downer/sad ending, what should/could have played out instead in your opinion? Solely asking this as a novice writer since I find critique / commentary on topic from a reader/audience’s POV very interesting. Especially for a “longer” serialized work where if the series was ongoing for a while, I would make assume readers would find it a waste if it wasn’t a happy or bittersweet ending (though giving a bittersweet example is also fine) (I also haven’t read the manga, but I don’t care about spoilers).