| Emotional manipulation is when a show cuts to the chase to illicit an emotional response from the viewer very quickly. Mainly slapping a character with a 'feels' trait that's basically telling you to care for a character because of a tragic backstory or other similar plot elements. Do you think there's too much of this in anime or is this even a problem? NOTE: A tragic backstory does not equal 'cutting to the chase'. There are times where it works well and then others where it's pretty laughable. |
amk_2397May 28, 2016 5:55 AM
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| I haven't noticed this all that much recently, but there are definitely a fair share of shows that has it. |
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| It's only a problem in short anime. Because it doesn't give you enough time to get attached to the characters and care about them. But sometimes it works. For me personally I only cry or have an emotional reaction to shows of characters that I care about and grown attached to like Naruto, Monogatari, SKET Dance, etc |
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| inb4 Clannad. Do you think there's too much of this in anime or is this even a problem? There's fair amount of show like that but not sure if it's too much. |
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| If I care for the character and doesn't feel forced it is good. Moogle-Magic said: That part is very similar with the manga since it was its best part.Yeah, there's definitely too many of them. A very good example is Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso, which was utterly shit. Not even the good music saved it, in my opinion. Yet this anime's rating is so high, it's unbelievable. For some anime, however, I think it's because they are too short, as @tsudecimo said. If they had more time to develop the characters, that would've been nice. A good example for this is ERASED, or Boku Dake ga Inai Machi, whatever tickles your fancy. The story is riddled with plot holes and conveniences, but it would've been much better if they didn't involve so much 'emotional manipulation'. I haven't read the manga for ERASED so I can't say for sure, but if the anime followed the manga, maybe if the author took their time to develop the characters more, then they would deem that amount of emotional manipulation to be unnecessary, too. |
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| Do you think there's too much of this in anime or is this even a problem? There are bunch of anime like that. People complain when dislike certain series. Too much moe, too much boobs, etc2. As for me, its not a problem. |
| This salad is salty favored |
| Can we have a more proper definition of the term and «without earning it»? Because so far it looks like «I didn't cry so it didn't deserve to try to be sad». |
| Cite a non tragic feels anime first Then we'll compare |
Moogle-Magic said: jal90 said: Can we have a more proper definition of the term and «without earning it»? Because so far it looks like «I didn't cry so it didn't deserve to try to be sad». My bet is that OP is pointing their finger at the anime that try too hard to be sad and just fail horribly. They don't take their time to develop the characters, they just merely slap in some tragic backstory and that's it, they expect you to be in tears. The problem with demanding "time" to understand and develop the characters is that this requirement is not always necessary and is not what defines the emotional reach of something in its entirety. Hitting the right notes and elliciting an emotional response with a limited context is not a drawback, if anything it is a virtue (a lot of people love Furiko because of this). On the other hand, if we take that philosophy to reality it would basically mean that we can't be moved every time there's some news about war or a human tragedy. I don't know, I think the whole idea about "not earning to be sad" that comes from this thread is simplistic and arbitrary. And there are less arrogant ways to talk about tastes and dislikes. |
amk_2397 said: Emotional manipulation is when a show cuts to the chase to illicit an emotional response from the viewer without earning it. Mainly slapping a character with a 'feels' trait that's basically telling you to care for a character because of a tragic backstory or other similar plot elements. Do you think there's too much of this in anime or is this even a problem? If they don't give a character a tragic backstory or have something bad happen to them in the story how are we supposed to feel bad for them? If you do end up feeling bad for them, "feels trait" or not, round of applause for the writers. |
| “Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is alchemy's first law of Equivalent Exchange. In those days, we really believed that to be the world's one, and only, truth. But the world isn't perfect, and the law is incomplete..." -Alphonse Elric "Then and now, what I protect has never changed!" -Sakata Gintoki I'll take anything like The Pet Girl of Sakurasou. Anything as good as that. |
| Animes and every media in general make you identify with (or like) some characters you won't accept in real life: Anime examples:
Out of anime: [*]Will you sympethize a 30 years old man starting with 17 years girl? (Musical of Rudolf) [*]Will you sympethize such unsociable person as Sherlock Holmes?[/list] I guess it's pretty sums it. Identifying with someone with sad past isn't bad, it's just a tool for the writer to make you sympethize with the character. But, if it involves not moral things, you should know seperation between ficion and reality. |
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jal90 said: I'm not really being arrogant here and I do see your point that there are only a few buttons that people need pressed to feel emotion. That's why stuff like Your Lie in April is so popular, hell a year ago I was right there with the fans going "OMG the feels!!!". Now I'm into more fleshed out stuff like Sound Euphonium or My Teen Romantic Comedy, but that's not to discredit the short-cut drama anime. One of my favourite anime Now and Then, Here and There does this plenty with it's cartoonishly evil villain but to an extent it works because of the setting. Like I really have a problem with it when these short cuts are used right in the beginning of a series before we even know the characters. It works sometimes with tragic backstories but it's the 'love at first sight' trope that irks me, mainly something like Plastic Memories.Moogle-Magic said: My bet is that OP is pointing their finger at the anime that try too hard to be sad and just fail horribly. They don't take their time to develop the characters, they just merely slap in some tragic backstory and that's it, they expect you to be in tears. The problem with demanding "time" to understand and develop the characters is that this requirement is not always necessary and is not what defines the emotional reach of something in its entirety. Hitting the right notes and elliciting an emotional response with a limited context is not a drawback, if anything it is a virtue (a lot of people love Furiko because of this). On the other hand, if we take that philosophy to reality it would basically mean that we can't be moved every time there's some news about war or a human tragedy. I don't know, I think the whole idea about "not earning to be sad" that comes from this thread is simplistic and arbitrary. And there are less arrogant ways to talk about tastes and dislikes. |
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| Off the top of my head, Sound Euphonium, Shirobako, Baby Steps and Spice and Wolf come to mind. |
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| if any anime can manipulate my feelings and make me feel sad then is a good anime in my book anime like white albume 2 /Erased tried hard but they failed to make me feel anthing |
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| Sometimes they introduce the tragedy too quickly and too late in the show, so you're kind of just like "wut" and it doesn't work too well. |
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| There's nothing wrong with adding a dark backstory or tragic moments to make me feel sad towards a character, but a good series should make me be interested in the character by having the character feel likable and interesting before you try to have emotional moments. jal90 said: Moogle-Magic said: My bet is that OP is pointing their finger at the anime that try too hard to be sad and just fail horribly. They don't take their time to develop the characters, they just merely slap in some tragic backstory and that's it, they expect you to be in tears. The problem with demanding "time" to understand and develop the characters is that this requirement is not always necessary and is not what defines the emotional reach of something in its entirety. Hitting the right notes and elliciting an emotional response with a limited context is not a drawback, if anything it is a virtue (a lot of people love Furiko because of this). On the other hand, if we take that philosophy to reality it would basically mean that we can't be moved every time there's some news about war or a human tragedy. I don't know, I think the whole idea about "not earning to be sad" that comes from this thread is simplistic and arbitrary. And there are less arrogant ways to talk about tastes and dislikes. |
| Yeah, it's pretty annoying especially when they justify a villain's actions with a 2 minute flashback of their past. |
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| Emotional manipulation is probably the only explanation for why people like Elfen Lied. Because they fell for it. They turned their brains off at the onset, and so they fell for it. |
 This glorious signature image was created by @Mayumi! I am the Arbiter of Absolute Truth, and here is my wisdom: "Anime was always influenced by the West. This is not news. Shoujo is the superior genre primarily aimed at young people. Harem/isekai are lazy genres that refuse any meaningful innovation. There is no 'Golden Age.' There will always be top-shelf anime. You should be watching Carole & Tuesday." |
| I'm M, I enjoy being manipulated emotionally (ʘ‿ʘ) It's not tiring for me if it's done well. If not, then sure, I probably didn't care for characters either way. Zelkiiro said: Emotional manipulation is probably the only explanation for why people like Elfen Lied. Because they fell for it. They turned their brains off at the onset, and so they fell for it. I enjoyed it because it was amazing gore fest, fite me. |
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| I can get easily moved so as long as it is not too "in your face" I'm ok. Personally I like backstory episode/origin story to shade the light for some side of character we don't know about before. |
 Kickstarter for Rokujouma is fully funded. Good work everyone. Lets wait for the result of our hard work together. |
| Omg thank you @amk_2397 this is something i've thought about a lot but never see anyone mention. I recently watched tokyo ghoul and all the emotinal moments fell flat or were even laughable, it pulled the most cliche emo shit and i wasn't fooled, it wasn't earned, it felt forced. |
| Every primary, secondary and tertiary character in One Piece has one. |
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| What I know is, if it made you empathize in some way or form, it works. Whether it's something made to manipulate your emotions or not, doesn't really matter. |
| Well I mean you gotta make the viewer root for the character somehow.. |
| Pretty much every work of fiction is aiming at manipulating your emotions into feeling things for fake people, it's all just part of game. Some shows are just more subtle about it. |
| "Laws exist only for those who cannot live without clinging onto them." -Souske Aizen "Bleach"  |
Kruszer said: I think OP's problem is more how some just throws in a tragic backstory out of the blue, just to make you feel so sad, without having the viewer connected to the character beforehand. Not quite as bad an example, but Angel Beats! would be an example of it.Pretty much every work of fiction is aiming at manipulating your emotions into feeling things for fake people, it's all just part of game. Some shows are just more subtle about it. |
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| As others have said, all anime aim to manipulate your emotions. Obviously it'd be moronic to paint all of anime with a negative connotation after realizing that. The difference is when an anime is able to do it well. Jun Maeda/Key's works are prime examples of "feels" done poorly in my honest opinion. The characters aren't so much characters as they are just sob stories with huge eyes (since huge eyes are cute - and will clearly illicit sympathy from us, my God) and the plot isn't so much a plot as it is a mechanism that allows us to hear these sob stories (during the suspending of the plot), before Jun throws us contrivances to get some weak emotional pay-off. |
| If it is reasonable enough, I'd buy it. Emotional manipulation is always there, but considering it is fiction I can only blame the writer(s) when they can't disguise their blatant attempt at getting my favor. Unless it's done in a non-serious manner. Like Jojo and dog kicking. |
 It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; What is essential is invisible to the eye.But does the heart have the right perspective? |
amk_2397 said: thanks for the warningEmotional manipulation is when a show cuts to the chase to illicit an emotional response from the viewer very quickly. Mainly slapping a character with a 'feels' trait that's basically telling you to care for a character because of a tragic backstory or other similar plot elements. Do you think there's too much of this in anime or is this even a problem? NOTE: A tragic backstory does not equal 'cutting to the chase'. There are times where it works well and then others where it's pretty laughable. i will be careful to only feel licit emotional responses from now on |
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| Any show with drama genre... no any show that aimed sympathy to its audience through its characters, more often about the character say than how they act/thought in that certain situation is mainly aiming for that kind of method to everyone who watched it, not just any show we might feel that had "feels" in it. What matters though about that is whether the show comes out successfully hiding it or not. These include comedy shows as well, as laughter is also an emotion expressed by people, regardless of degrees of genuinity in those shows. |
Frankies_MonsterMay 28, 2016 3:27 PM
cherryblossom519 said: This is the exact reason why I rated Angel Beats a 6. Characters need to have more than a tragic backstory to make me feel bad for them. It makes sense why they all have sad backstories for this show in a way. [spoiler]I mean, they are there because they have something unfulfilled in their past lives and this is a second chance for them. It wouldn't really make sense for someone to be there if their life was pretty straight forward. So I wouldn't say for this show it's "emotional manipulation" and it's actually more of... sticking to its story line.[/url] |
Snappynator said: Kruszer said: I think OP's problem is more how some just throws in a tragic backstory out of the blue, just to make you feel so sad, without having the viewer connected to the character beforehand. Not quite as bad an example, but Angel Beats! would be an example of it.Pretty much every work of fiction is aiming at manipulating your emotions into feeling things for fake people, it's all just part of game. Some shows are just more subtle about it. Yeah, that's what I'm talking about, when I say there are those that aren't subtle about it. They're all manufactured, but some of the more heavy-handed ones can feel too manufactured. |
| "Laws exist only for those who cannot live without clinging onto them." -Souske Aizen "Bleach" |
amk_2397 said: Off the top of my head, Sound Euphonium, Shirobako, Baby Steps and Spice and Wolf come to mind. Coming of age, entering into society, didn't watch, has tragedy and is romance not the invisible feels genre. Didn't cite a "feels" anime at all. |
BeBackinaSec said: But see there's the thing. A "feels" anime is whatever evokes an emotion within the viewer. Just because you might not cite an anime as a "feels" doesn't mean it's not one to somebody else. But I'm interested in hearing what examples you have to give. amk_2397 said: Off the top of my head, Sound Euphonium, Shirobako, Baby Steps and Spice and Wolf come to mind. Coming of age, entering into society, didn't watch, has tragedy and is romance not the invisible feels genre. Didn't cite a "feels" anime at all. |
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amk_2397 said: BeBackinaSec said: But see there's the thing. A "feels" anime is whatever evokes an emotion within the viewer. Just because you might not cite an anime as a "feels" doesn't mean it's not one to somebody else. But I'm interested in hearing what examples you have to give. Coming of age, entering into society, didn't watch, has tragedy and is romance not the invisible feels genre. Didn't cite a "feels" anime at all. I consider a feels anime things that evoke a sense of melancholy. Of course they have to be dramatic because it is what elicits the "feels". Stuff like Metropolis, Ima Soku ni, Kyousogiga, Nagi, Graves and the like are what I consider good feels anime. While you state emotional response, sure, coming of age, romance and the like are also genres which does this, but it is not as roundabout as tragedy nor does it try to produce the same result most of the time. Plus, tragedy needs you to be attached to characters immediately and sympathy is almost always the easiest way to do it. |
BeBackinaSec said: Yeah agreed. Tragedy is usually the easiest and sometimes the most efficient way to grab an audience's attention. Like I don't believe that adding a tragic trait to a character is lazy unless there's little to no development. This was done brilliantly in one of the examples you listed (Now and Then, Here and There) where one of the characters is a victim of rape and has to go through the trials and consequences of it. For me personally, 'feels' are better when your able to make a personal attachment with the characters as your able to have a better understanding of what they're going through. amk_2397 said: But see there's the thing. A "feels" anime is whatever evokes an emotion within the viewer. Just because you might not cite an anime as a "feels" doesn't mean it's not one to somebody else. But I'm interested in hearing what examples you have to give. I consider a feels anime things that evoke a sense of melancholy. Of course they have to be dramatic because it is what elicits the "feels". Stuff like Metropolis, Ima Soku ni, Kyousogiga, Nagi, Graves and the like are what I consider good feels anime. While you state emotional response, sure, coming of age, romance and the like are also genres which does this, but it is not as roundabout as tragedy nor does it try to produce the same result most of the time. Plus, tragedy needs you to be attached to characters immediately and sympathy is almost always the easiest way to do it. |
amk_2397May 28, 2016 8:16 PM
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| Emotional manipulation is when an event happens primarily to make me feel bad. The event itself isn't deep, doesn't add anything to the plot, doesn't develop characters or even aesthetically pleasing. The various deaths in Charlotte were all pretty unnecessary and manipulative. It's a great example. |
| WEAPONS - My blog, for reviews of music, anime, books, and other things |
| Like is it becoming more common to see this in anime. |
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Ryuuzahar said: Yes, this is what I'm asking. 30 characetrsamk_2397 said: Like is it becoming more common to see this in anime. What you mean is it is more frequent now in modern anime? |
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amk_2397 said: Emotional manipulation is when a show cuts to the chase to illicit an emotional response from the viewer very quickly. Mainly slapping a character with a 'feels' trait that's basically telling you to care for a character because of a tragic backstory or other similar plot elements. Do you think there's too much of this in anime or is this even a problem? A story is supposed to emotionally manipulate the viewers, right? So, anime can do it as often as it wants to, I wouldn't mind. |
| If I can like the characters and feel for them, then I would consider their efforts a success. So I wouldn't be bothered with how they do it. While more developed characters are usually better, it isn't always necessary. |
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| Most anime want to illicit an emotional response, as they want their viewers to be engaged. You don't usually notice this in good anime or when it's done well because you don't mind the emotional manipulation. I think what you mean by this is that when it feels as if it's being done just for the sake of it and feels fake/forced. I think a prime example of this for me was 'Angel Beats!'. As far as it being too common in anime is concerned, I don't think so. Even if that was the case, it would only act as a crutch for bad shows and these bad shows will not be remembered. The anime that did it well will most likely stand the test of time and I'm not going to complain when they do it right. |
bikers123May 29, 2016 3:05 AM
Something witty that makes you think I'm funny Defeating a sandwich only makes it tastier |
| Emotional Manipulation is normal in anime or manga and it isn't too much in anime or manga. Yes it does frequently happen in anime or manga especially in antagonists but it signifies how intelligent the antagonist is. |
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