Stories that "Dropped the ball".

[TheVampwizimp_v1legacy]

Death Note: The death of L really shook things up, and it was unexpected, exciting, and entertaining, but don't kill off your main villain if the one you have lined up to replace him is nowhere near on the same level.

I see what you did there 8]

I don't often see this phenomenon myself, I am usually willing to roll with the plot holes if I like some of the other elements. If you've seen the latest Doctor Who series, however, I think it wasted quite a bit of potential. There were quite a few quality episodes, and I really liked the new Doctor, in all his grumpy-frumpiness. But Clara continued to be an annoyance, and the end of the series was just weak.

The first hour of the series finale was awesome, a really cool concept with an effective setup. But the second half of that story was just...ehhh. From the incredible power creep of the episode's villains to the hard-to-swallow power-of-love victory and the cop-out on character development, it was very disappointing.

And to make things worse, I really liked the follow-up Christmas episode, right up to the end where you can see the stitch in the plot where Jenna Coleman's contract was renewed. It made me mad that we were that close to getting rid of her >:<

 

[Queen Michael]

1) Negima. Anyone who read this series should understand. Yes, I know there were legal issues that kneecapped the series, but damn. When the final book came out, I actually put off reading it for weeks because the way the series ends is just so disappointing. Talk about a smack in the face for everyone who followed it for so long.

Wanna explain what it was about the ending that made people so mad? I only read the first 29 books and then dropped the series.

 

[Neverhoodian]

Prison Break. Season 1 was great, keeping me on the edge of my seat with a captivating narrative. It was a gripping prison drama about a man trying to save his brother from execution, framed by the government for a crime he didn't commit. There's also a subplot about the brother's girlfriend and nephew trying to solve the conspiracy while being pursued by ruthless agents. It was masterful at stringing you along with lots of cryptic hints and close calls.

Then Season 2 went and shit the bed in spectacular fashion:

Spoiler

After breaking out in the Season 1 finale, the narrative takes several jarring shifts. First, two main characters are killed off abruptly. No buildup, no fanfare, just BOOM! Dead. Then the main antagonist gets shoved aside for a new guy...who also proceeds to get shoved aside towards the end of the season. The straw that broke the camel's back for me was the "big reveal" of the conspiracy. Turns out...the President of the United States was having an incestuous affair with her brother. So they frame a regular Joe for murder to cover it up. Logic!

I pretty much threw in the towel when the main character gets sent to another prison and has to break out all over again.

 

[Dalisclock]

What the actual FUCK? Look, I don't have any particular love or hate towards US or China and I dislike Russian goverment, but even I have to agree that this portrail of superpowers is degrading. What would real governments do? Right of the bat, as soon as those people came out from the gate, they'd send their ambassadors with their best translators to ask these guests to visit THEIR countries and ask from representatives of Japan if they mind. And all this while cameras are pointed at them. Japan simply CANNOT say no. And when they are in the USA, Russia and/or China, politicians of these coutries would've started working on the guests to convince them that if one coutry has access to the gate it is unfair.

And that is what I thought of right after I watched episodes that took place in our world. Politicians would've thought of something even better. They may look and act dumb, but they are not dumb for real.

If you have a strong feeling of hate towards someone, at least put some damn effort in portraying them in a proper light at the very least because you must have at the very least SOME respect towards intelligence of your readers/viewers.

I've noticed this about certain Anime and Japanese work of fiction where, if there's an outside bad guy set in the real world, it's ALWAYS the US government, and in many cases, it just kind of comes out of the blue. Battle Royale II is the best example off the top of my head, where the 2nd act took a nose dive because all of a sudden, the action shifts towards the EVIL Americans screwing everyone over(the evil Japanese government from the first film wasn't good enough for you guys?).

It's not that I have any particular love for US foreign policy or think our government is remotely squeaky clean, but goddamnit, a little nuance would be nice. Hell, Russia and China are right next door to you, use them for bad guys every so often too.

Why is America portrayed as an enemy of Japan in so much Japanese media? We're on friendly terms, all things considered, and we certainly wouldn't ally with China and Russia against them. That's less realistic then them portraying our leaders as stupid (which they are). Maybe they miss their days of empire. It's not the first time I've heard of this, though.

I suspect WW2 is part of the answer, but I don't have a lot of sympathy for them there. Was dropping the bomb on them kind of a dick move? Sure. However, when all of their neighbors are still kind of sore over Japanese War atrocities committed during 1930's and 1940's(the residents of Nanking would surely like a word in here), it comes across as disingenuous to act like they were the victims there.

 

[Christian Neihart]

Star Trek: Into Darkness: The Remake of Khan no one asked for. Also, Metroid: Other M, Batman as a whole, and Captain Earth.

 

[doggy go 7]

Community season 4. Community in seasons 1 to 3 was the funniest show on TV bar none, but in season 4 it completely lost it's edge (I think the main writer wasn't involved that year). I think the problem essentially boiled down to it being played too straight, as in previous years the show had always had a self aware irony, and refused to do the obvious joke or the obvious plot. But season 4 was predictable, and nigh on every episode seemed to end with a morale boosting speech about the meaning of friendship, which precious years had, but it was usually undermined or disingenuous, whereas here you were expected to buy it.

Thankfully season 5 brought it all back up to scratch (including making fun of season 4, showing the self awareness that I so loved and that went missing during the "gas leak year")

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Why is America portrayed as an enemy of Japan in so much Japanese media? We're on friendly terms, all things considered, and we certainly wouldn't ally with China and Russia against them.

America did ally itself with Russia against Japan in WW2, and bombed the fuck out of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
And Dresden. So it goes.

 

[lord canti]

So many anime and manga stories have this happen to them. Two come to mind for me.

1) Negima. Anyone who read this series should understand. Yes, I know there were legal issues that kneecapped the series, but damn. When the final book came out, I actually put off reading it for weeks because the way the series ends is just so disappointing. Talk about a smack in the face for everyone who followed it for so long.

2) Naruto. Look, I know a lot of people don't like the series. Many people most likely say the series never "had the ball" to begin with. But I enjoyed it. I liked that it generally expanded the universe and I liked the characters. Too much focus on Naruto a lot of the time, but okay.
And then the war came, and I was so excited at first. Finally, he had a chance to show what other characters could do. We were finally going to get to see the rest of the cast step up while Naruto was sidelined. And while the anime took that idea and ran with it, not so for the manga. Sure enough, Naruto comes in and starts saving everyone. Dropped ball number one.

But the big dropped ball was when Madara decided to start breaking all the rules of the universe, of a good villain, and of general storytelling. I'm sure other fans know what I mean. There was just no beating that guy, and it was crap. Dropped ball number two, and at the point where I stopped caring. Decided to finish it just because I'd been with it that long.

But the final ball drop, the one that dropped the ball so hard that it sunk into the Earth's core, was the introduction of a brand new villain that was even more stupidly powerful than Madara. A villain that had never been mentioned before a few chapters ago, had no real backstory beyond stupid "This is why I do this", and absolutely no clues or buildup. It was like the author realized he had made Madara so poorly, so powerful, that the only way to get rid of him was to bring in someone else.
That...that was worthy of a face palm so hard that you black out.

My feelings exactly towards Naruto. I admit that I was slowly losing interest in the series for while, but then,as you said, the war happened and it was all down hill from there.

 

[lord canti]

So many anime and manga stories have this happen to them. Two come to mind for me.

1) Negima. Anyone who read this series should understand. Yes, I know there were legal issues that kneecapped the series, but damn. When the final book came out, I actually put off reading it for weeks because the way the series ends is just so disappointing. Talk about a smack in the face for everyone who followed it for so long.

2) Naruto.

I agree 100% with Naruto. My best friend used to be a huge fan of that series when I first got to know her back in 2010. But the way that the series started going downhill since then made her actively dislike the series.

And believe me, she used to be super-defensive about it. She'd insist that the aper-thin characters were actually deep, because they'd been sad at some point in the past. (That's a running gag between the two of us now.) When Sakura said that she wanted Team 7 to laugh together again and I pointed out that Team 7 never had laughed to begin with, she insisted that Kishimoto meant htta they "were laughing in their hearts," and since that explanation existed it wasn't bad writing.

I'm so freaking happy she's not like that anymore.

The sad thing is that these characters could have been really well developed, but Kishismoto decided that only three or four of the characters were worth a damn and whats worse those four barley had any development. I mean honestly, Anko had so much background to explore and they barely even used her through out the series despite her big connection to one of the big bads.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

1) Negima. Anyone who read this series should understand. Yes, I know there were legal issues that kneecapped the series, but damn. When the final book came out, I actually put off reading it for weeks because the way the series ends is just so disappointing. Talk about a smack in the face for everyone who followed it for so long.

Wanna explain what it was about the ending that made people so mad? I only read the first 29 books and then dropped the series.

I checked my books, and it looks like you were still in the middle of the Magical World story, yes? Well, that's where the series ends. Oh, it was supposed to go on because of how that storyline ends, but it doesn't. Short version:

Fate was trying to destroy the world in order to save the real people living there. Basically, he was playing God because that's what he was made to do, and his orders were to create a new world because the current magical one was falling apart. Negi has a different plan, then fight, more background info is revealed, blah blah blah...typical Japanese manga story.

However, what happens in the final battle turns everything on its head. We find out that the demon kid guy that trained Nagi (Negi's father) sacrificed himself in the first battle to save the world, but he's still alive by the looks of it and is the one that woke Fate up. Zazi reveals that she, and her sister, are actually really important princesses and seem to have their own plans, and a whole lot of other questions are raised. But the kicker is that Negi's father, who has been missing for all these years, is not only alive, but he's the mastermind behind all of this. He is the Mage of the Beginning, and after Negi and party stop his plan, he reveals himself and as he's fading away, he says, "Come and find me, Negi. Come and kill me."
Say what?! Oh, this is going to be good! I wonder what happened? Why is Nagi doing this (it's hinted that he had to sacrifice himself and that the Mage has taken over his body), what's the deal with his mentor, why is--oh? We're doing a time skip? Ten or so years into the future? Everyone's grown up now? Nagi is back to his old self and helping his son? AND NO ONE IS GOING TO BOTHER TO EXPLAIN ANYTHING THAT HAPPENED IN THOSE TEN YEARS?!
So yeah, that's what we got. Major plot points and questions were revealed and raised, and then the series skips over all of it, fixes everything with a magic wave of the wand, and ends. Just...ugh.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

The sad thing is that these characters could have been really well developed, but Kishismoto decided that only three or four of the characters were worth a damn and whats worse those four barley had any development. I mean honestly, Anko had so much background to explore and they barely even used her through out the series despite her big connection to one of the big bads.

Agreed. I liked Anko, and I applaud the filler episodes that decided to touch on her past. That was really interesting, but then we got cheated with her again. Kabuto kidnaps her at the start of the war, and I was thinking, 'Okay, she's going to wake up and we're going to get some long-desired information/action on her' but nope. She spends the rest of the series literally taking a nap. The next time we see her, she's chubby and has developed a bit of a eating problem. What a waste of a character.

 

[Queen Michael]

1) Negima. Anyone who read this series should understand. Yes, I know there were legal issues that kneecapped the series, but damn. When the final book came out, I actually put off reading it for weeks because the way the series ends is just so disappointing. Talk about a smack in the face for everyone who followed it for so long.

Wanna explain what it was about the ending that made people so mad? I only read the first 29 books and then dropped the series.

snip

Hooboy. That sounds pretty awful. I'm glad I dropped the series. It peaked at the school festival arc and never got that good again, if you ask me.

 

[Zontar]

Why is America portrayed as an enemy of Japan in so much Japanese media? We're on friendly terms, all things considered, and we certainly wouldn't ally with China and Russia against them. That's less realistic then them portraying our leaders as stupid (which they are). Maybe they miss their days of empire. It's not the first time I've heard of this, though.

Snip

The reason is nationalism. Japan doesn't hate Americans, but there is a polarizing split between those who are in favour of the current state of alliance with the US (where the US has multiple bases in Japan, is obligated to defend it if attacked, and Japan is legally required to be neutral) and those who hate it and want Japan to be 'independent' once more. This split is so polarizing that legislation which would make an attack on a Japanese ally be considered an attack on Japan itself (and thus make deployment abroad much easier) only passed the lower house due to the opposition storming out, and had tens of thousands of protesters out in the street against it.

How Japan should treat relations with the US is basically one of the major issues of politics over there.

 

[lord canti]

So for stories that drop the ball I'm going to have to go with Bleach. I was really invested in the series for a good long while, the characters were awesome, Aizen was an amazing villain and we had some pretty good fights as well. Then they deceided to keep going after the Aizne arc was over. Not only did the full bring arc seem more like a filler than actual story,but no we're still on this stupid quincy war and Ichigo has become even moire of a mary sue than he already was

 

[Tsun Tzu]

I expected to see Mass Effect 3 front and center...but no.

Unless I just missed it or something.

Which is either heartening (that we're finally getting over it) or disappointing (that we're finally getting over it) and I'm not quite sure which one I'd rather it be.

 

[jademunky]

I'll go with Berserk, the anime since it just ended in mid-rape with no explanation at all. And no, I will not read the manga.

 

[Chaos Isaac]

One Piece: It all went downhill after entering the Grandline. It tried to take itself just a bit seriously and just falls apart because that manga/show just cannot manage drama, suspense or tension at all. It's better as a silly, stupid show about a kid who doesn't know what a pirate is, wandering from island to island with no real sense of continuity.

Seriously, Ace is one of the worst character deaths I have ever seen that was meant to matter. The dude has less screen time, character, and development then a fucking duck. I honestly felt worse for the boat dying then Ace. And the best part is, he is replaced immediately by a retconned third brother, who thankfully doesn't look like a relative so the whole blood brothers thing works.

Psycho Pass: Like, what, twelve episodes in, and it goes from being a somewhat cool show with sci-fi criminology and twisting of the tech, to like a retarded 'half of the people in the city are recording themselves brutalizing killing people for shits and giggles, on day of the thing being revealed.' There are like immediately buildings burning and it's just dumb and silly.

Naruto: Uh. There are a few places, but what I can mainly think of is... after Itachi x Sasuke fight, and New Kyuubi mode, and then manifestation of ten tails. And then... Yeah, I stopped by then. Though, I found it hilarious more then bad though, as it lasted longer then both One Piece and Bleach before totally shitting itself.

Batman: Making the no killing rule. (Just a bad call) Bane breaking Batman's back. (Showing, that no, he isn't a mere mortal, he's a superhero) Limitless Resources. (Dude spends a lot of cash.) Super-Genius Intellect. (Yet he can't figure out basic things despite that dealing with criminals and the corrupt system is his forte.) Young Robin's after Tim Drake. (Seriously, 3 outta 5 Robins have died. I don't think any of them were over 15 before they bit it too.)

Dark Souls 2: Just. Fumbled everything and couldn't follow 1. Which was it's greatest enemy. Trying to continue that, when it obviously should have been it's own Souls entity, was a folly and worse for the game as a whole. Good job on making a stupid cycle system that literally makes your game moot. (At least the first has two endings, one of which forgoes the cycle.)

Breaking Bad: The show was okay up until they introduced Gus, and then they killed him off in a looney tunes esque fashion, that was also madly out of character as Gus should have just ended Walter but whatever. After that, the show just got worse and boring, really.

Persona 4: Letting your best friend casually walk away into her personal hell, then leaving and saying, "Oh the weather forecast shows it won't be foggy for two more weeks. She'll be fine."

No, you shit heads. You should do what the P3 cast did, immediately mount a fucking rescue and get them out of demonland. For fucks sake.

Metal Gear Solid 4: Well. Most of the narrative, but a few key points. 1. Accelerated Aging. Hurrdurr. 2. B&B Corps. 3. Meryl and Johnny. 4: Vamp.

Halo: Gonna hit this a bit individually. 3: Cortana spam pop ups. ***** became a virus even though shes in space a couple thousand lightyears away. Killing all the characters off except the ones who should have honestly died.

4: Master Chief being the protagonist. The stupid Forerunner dude whose only motivation is racism. The return of the elites even though we have a truth, and no, shit that happened off screen doesn't fucking matter if you can't tip your players in on it. At least in 2-3 we don't see the Elite truce made, but we see the Elites turn, and can taking the logical leap that the enemy of our enemy is a friend. Also the Arbiter is like, 'Sup, we don't kill eachother anymore. Except in multiplayer but whatever.' The 'Promethean' enemies looking nothing like the Sentinel's that have guarded every damn place we've encountered before, I mean not even remotely. 2 showed us they had some bigger tank busters, why not more forms like that? Then digitizing souls. That is dumb. Also, the manipulation of hardlight to do the impossible based on it's design. You just can't make it fold around and make copies or hold people like rope. That shit is a bridge. Just like you can't 'feel' through it, as it's light. And you're a AI. Just hijack a prosthetic hand that replicates that. But whatever i'm nitpicking.

WatchDogs: Your entire narrative was fairly poor, even if it was a better take on Batman.

Assassin's Creed: The Assassin's post 1. "Hey Ezio, the guy who can't think for himself, why don't you become the leader of the order so we can just order you to do stuff instead of having any kind of actual leadership that could stop us from being screwed over if things go bad." Connor in 3. "I will not once, ever, address actual problems facing my people, will worship the ground George Washington walks on, and kill my best friend for no actual reason." Desmond in 3. "Sure, I can trust this totally evil-not evil sentient machine thing lady."

 

[WindKnight]

Why is America portrayed as an enemy of Japan in so much Japanese media? We're on friendly terms, all things considered, and we certainly wouldn't ally with China and Russia against them.

America did ally itself with Russia against Japan in WW2, and bombed the fuck out of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
And Dresden. So it goes.

Also, the surrender terms forced a change of ideology and forbade all forms of armed forces, so until the loophole jumping that spawned the Self Defence Force all military was American GI's. Then there's the whole Bikini Atoll test which irradiated a Japanese fishing boat that was in a designated safe zone, giving them all radiation poisoning, which the Americans responded by claiming the fishermen were all spies.

Combine that with Japanese right wingers liking to pretend that Japans role in WWII was 'minding its own business till people dropped nukes on us' leads to a bit of resentment and demonising.

 

[Tuesday Night Fever]

I expected to see Mass Effect 3 front and center...but no.

Unless I just missed it or something.

Which is either heartening (that we're finally getting over it) or disappointing (that we're finally getting over it) and I'm not quite sure which one I'd rather it be.

Admittedly, I considered posting Mass Effect back when this topic only had like three posts in it. I couldn't really find the words to express my thoughts on it at the time, though.

But my issue isn't specifically Mass Effect 3 or it's ending. It's kinda the series as a whole. Mass Effect planted seeds for potentially great story elements, and they mostly went either completely unused or heavily altered to suit a story that I can't imagine is the direction that they originally intended to go. Hell, Mass Effect 2 as a whole feels like a spin-off. Other than a few connections here and there, it really feels like it could have been a complete stand-alone title.

Shamus Young actually has a really good on-going series about the Mass Effect franchise that sums up a lot of my problems with it far more eloquently than I ever could.

That said, despite my issues with the series I still love it, and I'm still looking forward to the new one.

 

[happyninja42]

Hancock

It could've been a fun superhero romp with a likeable bastard as the hero, but then they had to go and do... t-that.

Yeah, I LOVE the first half of Hancock, and defend it as being a really fun and great superhero story. Then the second half happens and it just...bleh.

OT: The movie Here Comes the Boom. Kevin James stars as a loveable, but hapless highschool teacher, where the funding is drying up, and they're going to have to cut a lot of extra curricular programs. So, he decides to try and raise the money by doing amateur MMA fighting. Your typical sports movie, of the underdog taking on the established powerhouse. It was genuinely fun and moving to me all the way through it, and they actually made me believe that Kevin James could be a fighter. (Seriously, the dude got pretty beefy for the role. He wasn't super cut and defined, but he had clearly lifted some weights, he was like a bear.)

And then the ending happened.

Spoiler

The money that he raised to pay for the programs was stolen, so instead of just having to actually show up for the final fight, to top off the money simply for participating, he had to WIN, because the cash prize for winning was exactly the same amount of money that he needed. So he goes up against the world champion MMA at the time,.....*sighs*...and wins. This...this was just so wrong to me. They shouldn't have done it this way. The whole movie he talks about how he doesn't care if he wins, that it's just a means to an end. That his real goal was getting the money for the school, he didn't care what his record was. So I think that the better lesson, would've been to have him fight his best, and lose, realistically this is what would happen going up against the world champion MMA heavyweight. BUT, have the champion, who of course would've heard why the guy was fighting, donate the winnings to the school, as a sign of respect for what the teacher was doing. He could jokingly say something like "Hey, the amount of good PR I'm going to get from doing this is going to net me a few million alone in endorsements. Besides, I'm already rich, what's another 50k?" Then he could smile, thump Kevin James on the shoulder, and walk out. And it would be able to teach the lesson that sometimes, even if you lose, you can win. But NO, they had to do the classic underdog ending and have him come back from behind and stomp the champion, and save the day himself. It just, really disappointed me by the end. I was loving the movie, but then they did that and I was just...meh.