I'll keep waiting until you finally come back.

[yzak]

SUBJECT: Me on endings, happy, sad and bittersweet. Aka a comparison between SEED Destiny, Harry Potter and Xenosaga.



Right, so for a refreshment, the only ending out of the above three mentioned I really liked was Xenosaga. Harry Potter was IMO too cliched and something that I normally read in fanfic. Destiny on the same table but on a slightly smaller scale. Which isn't to say I hated them, but the two latter endings just didn't do anything for me.

Which isn't to say that's bad - different strokes, different folks, etc. And happy endings aren't something I dislike at all - when you have a protagonist cast of course you know that in the end, through trials and tribulations, possibly loss or changes of heart and opinion and stance between protagonist and antagonist, they're usually going to be the ones who triumph, get the better end of the deal, etc.

But I guess I just like a little more than that, sometimes. Destiny ended with every main character alive in the same room, happy and smiling and just came off as random to me. Yes end of war is a great thing but I think it's just the whole everybody being there and everybody basically going "awww, look, hugging, peace, joy" that threw me off. I want to see what they pull off with the movie, since the ending to Destiny came off to me as "Lacus and her faction rules the universe" (even though Lacus's position was open-ended since I just find it kind of... eh, if she became lols chairwoman!) and my opinion on that in general aside that doesn't leave me with much of an open imagination for the movie. Either a couple of hours of peacetime and possibly some character closure (which would be cool) or a threat that they will obviously overcome. Something like a crazy assasination or kidnapping would be better for a new series perhaps, but even then I can't picture that happening. Maybe a kidnapping, but that wouldn't be something spectacular and I've seen it - in Gundam series, even, sup Endless Waltz. And that would end with kidnappee being saved in the end. So otherwise, I can't think of anything.

Of course, I hope to be proven wrong and have the SEED movie completely blow me away. XD I WISH THEY'D SAY SOMETHING ABOUT IT since I'd like to know for sure whether or not it's coming out NEXT December now instead of THIS one. This one pls pls pls.

Harry Potter ended with one of my bigger peeves, which was the whole future and everybody is married and has childrens and this is probably rubbed off from reading too much badfic like that since any romance fic like ends that way. I expected a happy ending for the main characters, I wanted a happy ending for them, but I dunno. I guess I wish it had ended ended when they were still 17/18 instead of the time-jump.

Which brings me to Xenosaga's ending, which was happy and to me, just horrible on the emotion scale at the same time. Because the structure of the universe they lived in all this time was completely severed. With no UMN you can barely do interplanetary travel, communications through the galaxy were reliant on it and with it gone humanity was just... pretty screwed and if you have relatives on another planet, well you may not see them for a while if ever again. Not to mention all of the open-endedness that I do wish they elaborated on. The Dammerung was still intact but they never mentioned the fate of other planets and places nearby like the Kukai Foundation. So you don't know if they even made it out of everything.

Then we have our cast who unlike the previous two endings, do not stay together. They split into two groups. Shion, Allen, Jr., Mary, Shelley, Matthews and the gang all depart on the Elsa to try and find Lost Jerusalem/Earth -- once again, keep in mind, with the very limited means of space travel they are left with. MOMO, Ziggy, Juli and the rest stay behind to try and work on something like the UMN, something created by and able to be controlled by them instead of the UMN they had, which humanity just used because it was there - which is what ultimiately fucked them over in the end. Playing with things you don't completely understand and living off of it, because if you don't completely understand it... well hey look what happened!

So the ending was happy on points that the protagonists did win and completed their initial journey after whooping Zarathustra, and it's a HOPEFUL happy ending. which I found heartwarming and optimistic and just loved, because like I said I do like happy endings. MOMO and the others want to work on this 'new UMN' for the sake of being able to meet Jr. and the others again. And Jr., Shion and them are probably never going to see them again, considering this is universe-wide space travel trying to find a LOST planet in another solar system and you're on one tiny ship. So it also gives you a really sad feeling because if you think about it, would they be able to MAKE something like a new UMN? Not only in general but in their lifetime. So the last time our team sees each other there's just this vibe that they won't again. Which made the ending that much more impactful when I thought about it. And that plus the hope they all had before going their own ways just brings it full circle to leave you in a smiling kind of depressed state. (HOT BUT KIND OF COLD)

But um. Yeah I think that's all, I'm not sure there was an actual point as much as it coming to mind and me mulling about it enough to just type it out.

Comments

[helike]

Actually although I get kind of angry every time when one of my favourite characters in a series dies, I also don't like when stories gets too cliche. I used to bitch a lot about not happy endings, but now... Even when I look at the stories I'm trying to write, I notice how often I create characters, which are doomed to die in the end. Or how I change my mind while writing and 'kill' them, although I like them in fact ^^; But I know that a real life is rather brutal and not everyone lives happily ever after :( So... there is no point in creating a story that would be too sweet in fact.

[gaignun.livejournal.com]

Oh I sadface so hard if one of my favorite characters dies. Even though AWESOME memorable deaths are always the best cause at least you get a feeling of NOT IN VAIN if it happens to a major character.

But yeah, emo depressing endings I don't really like either. It's like complete opposite ends of the scale. Too sad (0), too happy (10). Usually I tend to like it when it's around a 6/7 depending on what happens.

[-laevatein-.livejournal.com]

It makes me sad that many series that I've watched or read doesn't have a good, strong ending that wraps everything up together nicely. Like for SEED and SEED Destiny, I felt like everything was thrown in together last minute. And in Final Fantasy VIII, you don't really understand anything about GFs except that you lose your long term memories if you junction them too long, but the ending was mostly just about Squall and Rinoa having their happy ending together. I feel like the other characters didn't even get a full development and ending of their own. And in a lot of videogames, the last big boss is usually someone who just pops out of nowhere saying 'I've been controlling everyone, no one really knows anything about me, but I'm gonna destroy the world' or something along those lines.
That's why I was satisfied with the ending to Xenosaga, because the whole procession of the story from beginning to end made sense, the ultimate last boss made sense, and even though everyone went through hell and had a few losses, they're back on their feet trying to fix things again. Another game series that I love and can't find a bad thing to say about is Shadow Hearts. That game series is awesome in every aspect and four out of six endings you can get in the games total is bittersweet IMO.

..that got a bit long xD;;
There's gonna be a SEED movie?!@__@;;

[gaignun.livejournal.com]

Yeaaah... SEED's ending was a little better with the 5-minute OVA after-special, because they tell you where the character go after that... mostly. IE Kira and Lacus with Markio and Cagalli and Athrun readying to start fixing Orb back up - Yzak and Dearka back on PLANT with the council. It was pretty rushed but yeah. Destiny's I DID like, in area of the Final Plus with the gathering at the Orb memorial. But then with the DVD releases they added more to it and then the added stuff just... XD Kind of killed it for me.

AND OH GOD YES FF8'S ENDING. I. I really need to replay/rewatch it since I didn't actually get it all the way. XD I played it when it was still new so I was younger. Even though the last boss(es) in that game... AUGH hated them.

Zarathustra was sort of funny when you went to fight it. XD O merged ESs after they all... rip each other and sometimes rip themselves apart. But that part was awesome, and it did make sense because lol Wilhelm. But oooh, I never played Shadow Hearts. I fail at a lot of video games.

AND YES THERE IS! It's... it was announced a while back to be released this coming December. But apparently some sites and places are saying it's now coming out in December 2008. Which would suck because have to wait a whole other yeaaar. D:

[-laevatein-.livejournal.com]

Yeayeayea, definitely play FFVIII again. I don't know why so many people don't like it, I thought it was pretty good :( As for the last bosses, the first time I beat the game, it took me two hours total for the last boss fight in all the forms -__-;; But when I replayed it, I just used Meltdown and constantly used Aura and Limit Breaks

I was so sad when Asher got ripped apart, that was my favorite ES ;__; and it was kinda scary to see that scene too ^^;;

NEXT YEAR?!?! BLASPHEMY!!! >:(

[gaignun.livejournal.com]

Oh FF8 was my favorite FF game. X being a close second but 8 was amazing. I loved it. But haha yeah I'm usually not a strategy person but now it it helps I tend to go the more prepare/cast ups and downs to make the battle easier. IT DOES HELP I'm usually too lazy.

Asher was AWESOME cause it was the sole-survivor even though... well. Jin-san. ;.;

I hope not cause God I've waited too long alreadyyy.

[calliattha.livejournal.com]

like you ask me i delete my post ^^ ok? very sorry to distribute your group ^-^"

[gaignun.livejournal.com]

No no! Haha, I just left a reply on your journal about that - I didn't mean delete when I said lj-cut! XD

[calliattha.livejournal.com]

like you want. want I re-post it in icone? (sorry but first english isn't my mother langue, too I'm evrry bad in htlm)