| Recently I've been really interested in the ways that dialogue is written across anime, and have found shows like K-on and Given to be extremely entertaining because of the dialogue being really entertaining. Do you really put an emphasis on how dialogue is written in your overall enjoyment of a show? If so, what kind of dialogue do you like in anime and do you care a lot about the VA performances in anime? |
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| I would prefer anime dialogue to be more interactive rather than face long boring monologues (except when there is something like mission briefing or explaining a phenomenon but it should be done with narrator preferably). That said, it should also not alternate between multiple characters every two words. |
| Best ending line in anime history = "My name is Saiki Kusuo. I am a psychic." |
| I think the dialogue needs to sound like people are actually speaking to one another. A lot of the time, anime suffer from using dialogue as a vehicle for exposition. A good test is just sounding out a line for yourself and then asking yourself if that sounds like something any human being would seriously say. Something I personally like a lot is when there's little imperfections in dialogue, like stuttering, because that's a lot more realistic to actual conversation. Imo, amazing dialogue is when you could show me a line and I'd be able to tell you which character said it based off of just the line itself. |
| They need to talk like they are passionate about it or according to the situation that is appropriate like a good kyaa~ when touched by a male etc. (voice actor job obviously) example that I like is Kiill Me Baby. I like a straight up facts or close to it like the recent summer 2019 survival and dumbell anime instead of a conversation about made up sci-fi stuff like time travel; island or steins gate. I'm pretty open about what they talk, better if it's a comedy dialogue because they just want to make you smile instead of plot guiding to the next event. ( less explaining power to enemy or no propaganda) |
| I like the inner voice/dialogue of the main characters in anime like: Grisaia no Kajitsu (mc with Suou Amane) Alderamin (mc with Yatorishino Igsem) |
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| Everything except boring infodumps or forced gags. |
| Dialogue should be natural and understandable in context. A lot of dialogue that sounds wooden sounds so because you know that it's just written to fill a script and not to actually give any characterization. Great dialogue not only moves the story along but also gives clarity of the character's situations and thought processes at the time of the dialogue. There's also the writer's intent. Sakurada Reset has horrible dialogue since no teenager, no matter how mature or smart, will start randomly spewing philosophical diatribes in the middle of otherwise normal conversation. The writers wanted the audience to to think they were smart and mature, but that was not how to do it. VA performance doesn't need to be good to elevate a good script but it can bring it to a much higher level if they sound convincingly natural. Which is why I love Hibike! Euphonium and SPice and Wolf. Heck, Aoi Yuuki singlehandedly saved my experience watching Sakurada Reset since her delivery was so good. |
 Latest reviews: Summer Pockets and Train to the the End of the World |
Monarch9 said: One of the weakest points of anime and manga are the dialogues. They don't feel realistic atall. So whenever I find series which have realistic characters and with good dialogues I really like them. Some example would be bunny girl senpai, monogatari series (even tho I have only seen clips on YouTube) and spice & wolf. PS. Recommend me more series with dialogues like these. Thanks in advance. Michiko to Hatchin. Not only is the dialogue natural, like conversations between real people, even the voice acting is one of the most realistic I've heard in an anime series. Also, the movie Hana to Alice. |
| Well, that depends on the show and genre of course. In battle shounen or sports anime I don't expect fancy or witty dialogue, for example. But I do LOVE dialogue-driven shows where the dialogue is basically the main thing going on and entertaining me, with any kind of plot often being secondary or - in the case of something like Joshiraku - nonexistent. It's one of the reasons why I love all the Nisio Isin works, from Monogatari to Medaka Box. He just has a way of writing dialogue that is extremely entertaining, fast-paced, full of wit, and the content almost doesn't matter. Just the way it is written is inherently entertaining and, imo, the main thing all his shows are about. And it's not just entertaining and witty, it also tells you everything you need to know about his characters and how they interact with each other, what their relationships are. I always say that the dialogue is about 80-90% of why I love Monogatari & co so much, and the rest is Shinbou's style which complements this focus on dialogue perfectly. If most of what is going on is dialogue it can be hard to have entertaining visuals instead of just some chars sitting around talking with little movement most of the time, but with Shinbou's focus on backgrounds and weird angles, among other things, the dialogue is always complemented by the visuals in unusual and entertaining ways and that combination makes these shows as successful and brilliant as they are. Probably the only author whose dialogue I love even more than Nisio Isin's is Morimi Tomikiko, the writer of Tatami Galaxy and Uchouten Kazoku. In principle I find them similar, with fast-paced dialogues, lots of witty retorts and clever humour, but where Isin's dialogue feels purposefully constructed and superimposed and occasionally too forced, Tomihiko's feels way more natural and quirky. I also feel that while Nisio has honed his craft focused on specific types of characters and relationships, Tomihiko could write great dialogue completely independent from the context or the characters. He isn't limiting himself to one type of brilliance that he perfected, like Isin, but instead feels like an all-around natural talent when it comes to writing dialogue. There are of course many other great examples of good dialogue in anime, from the absurd comedic randomness of the aforementioned Joshiraku to the very specific but adorable kind of dynamic between the MCs from Kaguya-sama, and from the intelligent and philosophical dialogues in LOGH to the emotional and introspective dialogue in Rakugo. But that's usually just specific series being good at one specific kind of dialogue that helps support some of the main themes of that show. With Isin and Tomohiko I really feel like their oeuvre IS their dialogue. The dialogue isn't mainly supporting other aspects of the show, it IS their shows, it IS what they are about and the main thing that makes them so much fucking fun to watch. And I gotta be honest, not much is more enjoyable for me to watch than shows that focus on dialogue. I don't care about plots most of the time, I'm all about the characters and nothing is more suited for that kind of approach than authors who focus on their dialogue more than anything. Especially in a visual medium like film or anime the dialogue is just so much more important than the plot or any other aspect of writing, because that's how you experience the whole show. |
| I probably regret this post by now. |
Peaceful_Critic said: RealTheAbsurdist said: Well, anime characters, in general, tend to be abnormal in personality, so I'll expect them to be interested in abnormal things. I'm actually currently watching Anne right now and she speaks very differently from a lot of 11-year-olds, but I don't believe that to be a bad thing. From what I know about the character thus far is that she lives in the 1870s, was brought up reading advanced books(In episode 3 she was shown knowing the bible by heart even), and has a romantic view of things side(i.e in episode 4 she describes her life as a graveyard of buried hopes(came from a book she read) saying she finds comfort in it because it makes her sound as though she is in a novel), so her more eloquent, and old-timey way of speaking just fits her character. Not to mention from what I've seen so far, most of the show would be you listening to Anne talk for minutes on end, so in order, for it to be entertaining you'll need her to actually talk about interesting things in a non-annoying manner. I just want dialogue in anime to sound like something real people would say. Like, in Bakemonogatari, characters go on these long tangents about these deep subjects, when 99% of teens in real life just talk about dumb shit, like drugs, sex, movies, or whatever. I think the show would be worse off if she spoke like most people her age since it would be a jarring contrast to her personality, not to mention a talkative character speaking about nothing interesting would make said character a pain to be around. I just came in to say that I think there is a significant difference between talking about 'realistic' dialogue and 'average' or 'common' dialogue. Just because someone doesn't talk like the average person of their age group, dosn't make it unrealistic. If someone wants teens to sound like the majority of teens, that's not asking for realism that's asking for genericness. It is also realistic, but eccentric characters and outliers can be just as realistic, except being more interesting and unique. I think Anne is written not in an unrealistic way at all, just in a quirky, interesting and unusual way that is even very well explained like you pointed out. The same goes for realism in general when applied as a criticism to anything in regards to characters (and not, say, physics). I never understand why people call any characters that acts or thinks in unusual or atypical ways 'unrealistic', as if being average and normal and predictable was the only way of writing realistic characters (or in this case dialogue). If that was the case, reality would not be realistic as well and it should be obvious that saying that makes no sense. So I think that in general 'realism' or being 'unrealistic' is almost never a valid criticism for how characters think or act because I guarantee you that in reality people exist or have existed that were even weirder. You can make the argument about Monogatari because EVERYONE is talking like that in that show (to me that still isn't a criticism but merely an observation since the show never pretends to try and be realistic in the first place, everything about it is exaggerated and stylized which is the whole point and appeal of it), but I don't think you can make the same argument about Anne or any other case where a show has one or a couple of eccentric characters behaving in unusual ways. Oddballs always exist and it would in fact not only be less entertaining to imagine fiction without them, it would even be less realistic to exclude them from our stories. When people encounter unusual characters or dialogue they shouldn't immediately go into judgment mode and deem them unrealistic. I mean, do you do that in real life when you encounter a weirdo? Call them unrealistic? No, you have to accept that they are how they are and go from there. And imo that's how it should be approached in fiction as well, just roll with it instead of getting hung up that a character isn't acting like you think they should be. Sorry for getting sidetracked but I've been observing the use of 'unrealistic' as a pseudo-criticism when it really has no place way too often over the years so I had to say my two cents about the topic. |
| I probably regret this post by now. |
| Well honestly I like when the dialogue feels like its between real people, realistic and straight forward.Also to have some meaning to the plot of the story, or just the topic of that episode. |
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| I don't care about realism as long as the dialogue feels like it occurs naturally between characters (as in it stays true to earlier characterization) and isn't ridden with too many cliches. Also like there to be a lot of variance so conversations don't appear too repetitive. |
| poop |
| I look out for phrases I already know just from listening. It feels like there are only a few lines but every anime uses them. I have never learned japanese but I understand quite a bit now to the point I dont need to read the subs all the time. Other than that I totally agree, most dialogues sound weird and not like real people. |
| "This emotion is mine alone. It is for Madoka alone." - Homura or how I would descripe Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica. |
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