| I've often seen people praise certain shows for world building and it seems to be an increasingly popular criteria on which people judge anime. "Worldbuilding or conworlding is the process of constructing an imaginary world, sometimes associated with a whole fictional universe. The resulting world may be called a constructed world. The term "worldbuilding" was popularized at science fiction writers' workshops in the 1970s. Developing an imaginary setting with coherent qualities such as a history, geography, and ecology is a key task for many science fiction or fantasy writers. Worldbuilding often involves the creation of maps, a backstory, and people for the world. Constructed worlds can enrich the backstory and history of fictional works, and it is not uncommon for authors to revise their constructed worlds while completing its associated work. Constructed worlds can be created for personal amusement and mental exercise, or for specific creative endeavors such as novels, video games, or role-playing games." Personally I'm more focused on the plot and characters and don't really mind if the worldbuilding in a show is super elaborate and in depth. How do you feel about world building? Is it important to you? Is it overrated? Are you indifferent? Why? |
| how i r8 1- crpy animee no gud 10- gud aniem, dep plot, lots of cute grls |
| Depends how well it's handled. |
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| Depending on the show and genre, it can be very important and noticeable or just nonexistent. The average slice of life show usually has no detailed worldbuilding or setting since it's not needed. But when you go to shows like Psycho Pass or Ghost in the Shell, it's really one of the points of attraction. You also don't need a believable and detailed world setting to portray highschool themes or shows that with simple plots and action. |
If you are a fan of (or simply interested in) Japanese films then please join the Cinema of Japan club! Thank you (: |
| Worldbuilding can definitely enhance a story but it is by no means a substitute for it, despite what a lot of people will tell you Game of Thrones fans. |
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| World Building can be fun if done right. It lets you immerse yourself through the world of the characters. But if done wrong then the whole story collapses on itself. |
| The only anime I've ever seen that scored a 10 off me despite average/ below avg worldbuilding was Toradora. It is pretty important. Though not if the rest sucks, like f. ex Heaven's Memo Pad which had good worldbuilding but shallow characters and writing. |
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CrimBlacklotus said: I am still confused by the description. Can anyone listed some anime that have heavy examples of "world-building" I assume it means extremely detailed environments, extremely detailed world background/ history and/ or original settings. For example, Air and Hyouka has extremely detailed environments (visual detail of the world) |
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| For me, it goes a little something like this - Characters > World Building > Plot If done right, world building can be amazing, like in Sword Art Online, Psycho Pass, etc, but even if it's awful, good characters can still make up for it. |
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Red_Tuesday said: I assume it means extremely detailed environments, extremely detailed world background/ history and/ or original settings. For example, Air and Hyouka has extremely detailed environments (visual detail of the world) World building isn't really about visual detail. - It is more about the amount of thought put in how everything fits together. How well you craft your fictional world or even if exotic concepts are introduced how they fit in with the rest of the world. That is where the detail matters. For example if you introduce a fictional world in a story. Then the fascination comes with crafting its society. How is the life in these societies? Are there different social levels? How do they interact? How about the history? Religion? Political situations and Relationships with other countries? etc. But like I said the same is true for just introducing concepts - like the mushi in Mushishi. How this new life interacts with other the human and animal life, etc. |
AsturaetusJul 28, 2014 4:46 AM
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Asturaetus said: Red_Tuesday said: I assume it means extremely detailed environments, extremely detailed world background/ history and/ or original settings. For example, Air and Hyouka has extremely detailed environments (visual detail of the world) World building isn't really about visual detail. - It is more about the amount of thought put in how everything fits together. How well you craft your fictional world or even if exotic concepts are introduced how they fit in with the rest of the world. That is where the detail matters. For example if you introduce a fictional world in a story. Then the fascination comes with crafting its society. How is the life in these societies? Are there different social levels? How do they interact? How about the history? Religion? Political situations and Relationships with other countries? etc. It's also how the main characters explore the universe and consequently "build" up your knowledge of the world. |
| Worldbuilding adds depth to the setting and usually provides an extra layer of immersion. It gives the viewer a glimpse of how the world operates within the fictive universe. It is an absolute must in heavy Fantasy/ Sci Fi type shows. Some examples of great world building in anime that I can think of from the top of my head Mushishi Planetes Kamisama no Inai Nichiyoubi Kemono no Souja Erin Shinsekai Yori LOGH 12 Kingdoms Spice and Wolf |
zzzeallyJul 28, 2014 4:56 AM
| Good anime + world building = Very good anime Bad anime + world building = Bad anime Christopher Tolkien said "The literary ‘impression of depth…created by songs and digressions’ cannot be made a criterion by which a work in a wholly different mode is measured" And Tom Shippey "to tell [the stories that are only alluded to in The Lord of the Rings] in their own right and expect them to retain the charm they got from their larger setting would be a terrible error". I think it's the same with world building in anime : it's important to create a background but we must remember that this background isn't the whole story. |
| I like it when the world building flow naturally like NagiAsu instead of it shoved into our throat like Mahouka. |
 Kickstarter for Rokujouma is fully funded. Good work everyone. Lets wait for the result of our hard work together. |
| Shinsekai yori Watch that and you'll understand good world building. |
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| One Piece = Extreme World Building |
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| Never heard of/seen people talk about worldbuilding, therefore it isn't really overrated. |
| Raise it up, raise up the happiness. |
| It depends on the series or genre, an adventure anime should have more worldbuilding than a school girl comedy. But overall it's something more of an extra. Most anime suck at it so I don't really fault them if there isn't much but it is a nice bonus that can really improve my opinion of the series. So it's something I won't fault them if they don't have it but I'll praise them if they do. |
     Short of the day: Monotonous Purgatory(MAL) ✰Public Domain Club | One Piece Club✰ |
| A show that puts effort into fleshing out its world is difficult to come by, which is why I value good world building so much. The problem is that it's pretty easy to mess it up if the writer doesn't know what he's doing. Sometimes, plot holes can be a result of poor planning of the world beforehand. And, as others have mentioned, it's not a good idea to put so much focus on the world (via needless exposition, for example) that the storytelling suffers as a result. I will admit that one anime I've seen actually utilizes its setting so well that it could be considered a character in its own right: that would be Aria the Natural. Also, it's nice when a writer maintains a sense of mystery about the world instead of revealing everything about it. This keeps things interesting and hopefully makes the viewers want more. |
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| I am a huge fan of world building. |
| It's important, at least for me, It's a very crucial thing for me to decide whether to watch or dropped an anime. If the world building is like world in 200 year in the future where they use robot to oppose criminal and making a time machine with their science to get back to the past. it's an auto drop anime for me. |
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GreenHippo said: So I take it you value Worldbuilding a lot since you gave Attack on Titan a 9, an anime you'd otherwise consider mediocre without the Worldbuilding. I'm curious to know how important Worldbuilding is to you in comparison to plot and characters.I think it's a very important part of a story in any form, be it a novel, movie, or anime. One Piece and Attack on Titan do this really well. It's the best thing about them. (Otherwise, they're pretty mediocre.) |
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| World building is quite low on the things I judge something by. The characters are the most important, followed by the story, but that depends on the series in question I suppose( eg: the characters are more important in a comedy anime like Gintama, the story is more important in Attack on Titan) I never quite understood why some people care a lot about world building tbh. And I noticed that I didn't care for it, in the series that are usually praised for it. |
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| ^You say that but at least 3 of your favorites have what I'd consider good world building, so maybe you pay more attention to it than you think. A detailed and fleshed out world is one of marks of a good story, but it's a part of the "story" and not it's own seperate thing, so world building would only be considered by me in a minor fashion when determining points to give to the story . Doesn't give it an instant passing grade for story, but implies that a decent amount of thought was put into the story. |
| "Laws exist only for those who cannot live without clinging onto them." -Souske Aizen "Bleach"  |
| World building is a bonus imo. |
Kruszer said: ^You say that but at least 3 of your favorites have what I'd consider good world building, so maybe you pay more attention to it than you think. A detailed and fleshed out world is one of marks of a good story, but it's a part of the "story" and not it's own seperate thing, so world building would only be considered by me in a minor fashion when determining points to give to the story . Doesn't give it an instant passing grade for story, but implies that a decent amount of thought was put into the story. Other than Naruto, what else are you referring to? Of course I think it's nice, and could enhance the story, I just don't think of it of something important, not enough to raise or lower a point in what I think of the overall quality for example. |
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| if its done right like in one piece or berserk. it saddens me how a world full of potential like fairy tails is wasted |
| Naruto and One Piece have great Worldbuilding for a long running series which is a major plus. |
tsudecimo said: Kruszer said: ^You say that but at least 3 of your favorites have what I'd consider good world building, so maybe you pay more attention to it than you think. A detailed and fleshed out world is one of marks of a good story, but it's a part of the "story" and not it's own seperate thing, so world building would only be considered by me in a minor fashion when determining points to give to the story . Doesn't give it an instant passing grade for story, but implies that a decent amount of thought was put into the story. Other than Naruto, what else are you referring to? Of course I think it's nice, and could enhance the story, I just don't think of it of something important, not enough to raise or lower a point in what I think of the overall quality for example. The Monogatari series. Backgrounds and things in those are often look very detailed and full of some cool things like that park in Bakemonogataari or Koyomi's banana couch-rocking chair. But yeah it's just one of many things I'd consider as part of the story portion of the rating. |
KruszerJul 28, 2014 7:52 PM
| "Laws exist only for those who cannot live without clinging onto them." -Souske Aizen "Bleach" |
| I can only think of three series that really did this aspect well (Shinsekai Yori, HAL, Sidonia no Kishi) and while it's not the important thing, it is a huge plus for me. |
| I personally LOVE Worldbuilding. I love just learning about the land/nation/planet/World that the Characters/Story Takes place on either it be, Culture,Religion,Government if their is a ton of it and it is Well Written i personally will praise it highly. I often see shows based in Fictional worlds that Show a premise to an interesting world but in the end don't put out much to the world itself and instead go through the world expecting us to understand it all already. As an aspiring Writer who plans on doing a sorta Sci-Fi ish world i have to work hard to accurately plan out the many races and their world's and way of living. So yes i Think WorldBuilding is Very Important. |
| Argue? Nah Too lazy For That... Are You Ready!~Gulcasa |
| Depends on the anime. |
| "This is boring...I'm bored..." |
Lightshade49 said: As an aspiring Writer who plans on doing a sorta Sci-Fi ish world i have to work hard to accurately plan out the many races and their world's and way of living. So yes i Think WorldBuilding is Very Important. This!! |
| A lot of people say yes but 83% voted no. I am confused. |
If you are a fan of (or simply interested in) Japanese films then please join the Cinema of Japan club! Thank you (: |
bloodlover said: A lot of people say yes but 83% voted no. I am confused. Read question again. |
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