@Triple_R: Well the thread has sort of kept moving, but I'll respond to the points I don't think other people already discussed since your post was made. Reading through the tread, I tend to agree with 0utf0xZer0's and Archon_Wing's points. They've given better responses than I would have been able to anyways
. BTW, Thanks re: my avatar and sig
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Originally Posted by Triple_R
This is kind of like saying "The most predictable way to satisfyingly end this shonen series is by having the main hero take out the big villain in a classic one-on-one pitched combat".
Just because it's predictable doesn't make it bad. Nor does it make the exact opposite the right or smart move. I doubt many Bleach fans, for example, would be happy with the series ending on the note of Aizen absolutely destroying Ichigo, and going on to achieve all his goals (The End!). Sure, you'd have a few people celebrating how "bold and daring" it is, but most passionate fans of the show would loath it to pieces, I'm sure.
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I was talking about character development, not plot progression. I dropped Bleach during the Soul Society rescue arc, which I think was 7 or 8 years ago, so things could have changed, but I don't recall character development being a huge focus.
Any character development is better than no character development. What I was saying was that there are some kinds of character development we see more often than others, and I thought that trying to present a less common type of character development wasn't as bad of a goal (even if it was totally bungled) as people have been making it sound.
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Originally Posted by Triple_R
But is it a good message? And is this episode's message one that flows well with the overall idea of "loving your work" that was said to be a core driving idea within this anime?
I think the intent behind the episode is somewhat contradictory with what the anime as a whole is about (from what I recall reading on this board and elsewhere), and it clearly does nothing to improve Enishi and Takako in the eyes of many of us, whereas a different intent may very well have achieved that.
Here is a case where the predictable approach would have been the best approach, imo.
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I don't think that either direction for Enishi's character development inherently flows better or worse with the overall idea of loving your work. The reason that it flows badly as is is because of the delivery of the message, not the message itself. As the media demonstrates regularly, you can spin any set of events to flow well with whatever argument you're making.
Even if the show had taken the predictable path towards character development, it could've just as easily have been screwed up and not had anything to do with the overall message. To have Enishi's character develop in a convincing fashion from incompetence to competence, irresponsibility to responsibility, or some analogue, they would have needed something better than him suddenly succeeding at making this movie deal. Having him suddenly become a successful businessman and leaving it up to the audience to infer how he had changed to do that would have been pretty lame and not really have had much to do with loving your work.
Ideally, Enishi would have realized something that changed his outlook on life/kissuiso/whatever. That realization would have helped him in some decision making process (ideally shown onscreeen, and relating to the overall idea of loving your work) that led him to the correct result.
The message the episode tried to convey failed for the same reason "Enishi suddenly succeeds at everything" would have failed. It didn't showcase Enishi's character development in a compelling, onscreen way. As Archon_Wing said, if he got "over" and the audience saw why he was able to do so, the episode would've been fine even if he lost.
So both messages could have flowed or not flowed with the overall idea. It just depended on the way the message was delivered, which was lacking in this case.