>>>>> "S" == Sam  <sbh24@student.canterbury.ac.nz> writes:

S> That last (exhausting) post of mine brings me to a nice little metaphor I
S> was forming with some friends last night to describe manga plotlines. The
S> manga in question starts out at point A, and it's intended destination,
S> whether for a single chapter or for the entire story, is at point B.

...

S> Now I've made these openning examples, does anyone else want to have a go
S> at putting any other series in terms of this metaphor?

"Marmalade Boy" starts out at point A, heads off in the general
direction of B. About 90% of the way there, the editor asks the
author: "are you *sure* you want to go to B?" After some
uncertainty, it makes a left turn and goes directly to B'...

"Kimagure Orange Road" starts out at point A. After some pleasant
meandering in the direction of B, gets abruptly cancelled, and makes
a desperate, flying leap to land in the general vicinity of B. A
couple of the missing steps get shoehorned in later.

"Dr. Slump" starts off at point A. After a great deal of effort, we
find that we are still at A, albeit an older one.

"Urusei Yatsura" starts off at A, heading in the direction of B.
Reader feedback changes the direction, and it vigorously heads off
in the direction of C. After a lot of detours on the way, you pass C
almost too rapidly to notice that it is just A with a new paint job.

"Tokimeki Tonite" starts at point A. It seems to have a lot of fun
going someplace like B. You discover that B looks a lot like "A, the
next generation", and keeps going. I really need to get the rest of
the volumes to see if the story continues on that line...

This is getting too silly to continue...

-- 
               More Important Drivel from:
 Scott Henry <scotty@sgi.com> /\/\/\  http://reality.sgi.com/scotth/