Thinky thoughts and, uh, not.

[jennaria]

The 'not' first: Book sale this-a-way!

And the thinky thoughts: So I just watched BACCANO, and it is all new and shiny, and since it's based on a series of light novels, I still have more canon to go back and discover. :glee: But there's only the one season of it, so if I want more, then it's off to another series.

Therein lies the problem.

Everyone's seen it, if they've spent much time in fandom. Someone who's in fandom X probably (though not invariably) dabbles in fandom Y as well. Hell, both Amazon and Netflix work off the 'if you liked this, then we can recommend that!' theory.

Problem is, it only sorta works. I love BACCANO, yes, and I also love CARD CAPTOR SAKURA, and I also love INITIAL D, and I'm fairly sure if I tossed those three into a recommendation algorithm, it would spaz out and give up. It's not as simple as 'here's another magical girl' or 'here's another sports anime' or, God help us, 'here's another mystery show, only this time, CSI is in Texas!' (Network television programming, Imma looking at you.)

Instead, it comes back to figuring out why we like things, and whether those things that we like are transferable things, so to speak. One of the things I liked about BACCANO was its intricate braided storyline, but try and find another series that even attempts such a thing, much less pull it off successfully. I know a lot of people who will watch anything that has a particular actor or voice-actor in it, but my success rate with that hasn't been any better than the aforementioned recommendation algorithm. (Ewan MacGregor does not make everything better. Sad, yet true.) And even such a mental checklist isn't infallible: I love strong female characters, but what's advertised as a strong female character may or may not read as such to me. Sometimes a 'strong female character' is kick-ass, and sometimes she's just a bitch. (And sometimes she's a wimp in disguise, but that's another rant.)

I'm working on it. In the meantime, my friends know me well enough to serve as a better sort of recommendation algorithm. Phew. ;-)

Comments

[mllelaurel]

Let me know if you have any luck finding the light novels. I've been craving them ever since I finished the series this summer. (I should also look up Durarara, at some point, as it's done by the same people and I believe set in the same world, albeit with a different setting and characters.)

[jennaria]

What I've found of the light novels is here - it's not a complete translation of all of them, but it's more than I've managed to find anywhere else. 've gotten just enough excerpts and spoilers that I am burningly curious. And I'm planning to look up Durarara for the same reason you are.

[mllelaurel]

Thanks!

[jennaria]

You're welcome! Also came across a few more links, just last night:

Children of the Bottle (2001 novel translation, complete)
Bullet Garden (2002 novel translation, WIP)
The Ironic Light Orchestra (1703 prequel novel translation, WIP)

(Links deserve to be freeee! Erm. Ahem. Sorry.)

[mllelaurel]

Ooh, yay, this is awesome!

[stranger]

Another aspect of this is that a lot of shows seem to take a major plot turn around season 3 (crucial character leaves or dies, everyone moves to Canada, stupid background takes over the plotline, what-have-you), and the original fans may be left wondering if the sea-changed show, despite the same name and some continuing characters, is really something they still like. Shows like Torchwood, or Blakes 7 had very noticeable changes after the 2nd season; some fans went with it, and some didn't.

This may give another angle on finding an algorithm, if you've had the experience of wishing the later show hadn't evolved in quite the direction it did.

[jennaria]

Unfortunately also true - and they don't have a form for that. "You've said you like X show! When do you feel it jumped the shark?" Not that all shows do anything as spectacular as shark-jumping: sometimes they just sort of piddle off in directions that aren't what you wanted.

What it kind of comes down to is figuring out what show you were actually watching. I read an article once, which I wish I could find again, that pointed out that it's rare that any two people are watching exactly the same show: one might be in it for the overarching plot, while another is in it for two specific characters and their relationship. Hell, a lot of the complaints about the series finale of Lost that I saw were on that theme, that if you were in it just for the plot it was okay, but if you were in it for the characters it was a dud. It's useful information for recommendations, but it's hard to pin down.

On shows that change

[stranger]

Not that all shows do anything as spectacular as shark-jumping: sometimes they just sort of piddle off in directions that aren't what you wanted.

That's half of it. The shows aren't always worse, when they inevitably move themselves in search of renewal, but they aren't the *same*, sometimes in crucial ways to my own appreciation. I followed X-Files mostly for Mulder and Scully, but when I tried to follow the incoherent alien-invasion plot-arcs, the whole thing just fell apart around S4. The random degradation of Krycek as a character was tragic, even though I wasn't a major Nick Lea fan.

Maybe there's a factor that in the first season or two, an SFnal show will be establishing its background world, so some episode plotlines will be designed to explore the world, as well as showcase characters. After a while, a bad show doesn't have anything new to explore and either goes soap-opera or makes a big, artificial-seeming change in the background. (Oddly, these may be less disruptive to the popcorn-level viewer, if the quirky characters mostly stay in place.) A good show has the capacity to continue expanding its background logically, as when SG-1 developed AUs and new alien attackers, and the characters adapted believably. Still, the show certainly changed over time, unacceptably for some fans.