Elements of a Good Graphic Novel

Elements of a Good Graphic Novel

For starters, what a great anime show needs is technique. Some individualism in the face, speech pattern and personality is required in order to make original characters. They cannot be 2 dimensional. They have to evolve as the show progresses. Naruto is a perfect example. You remember how little Naruto could not sit still for even a second. Look  at him now, all mature meditating under the snow without moving a muscle in order to obtain sage mode. Can you imagine how hard this must be for someone who by nature is hipper active. It is not wonder his sage mode is so extremely powerful.

The next thing you need is an original global concept. A mode of existence that has not thought up by anyone until today. Or you can improve upon an old idea and exaggerate to such extent that it barely resembles its former glory. Let us gaze upon Esclaflowne. I do not speak of Hitome's fortune telling, though between you and me her powers borderline on the surreal and the fantastical. No no, my friends, I speak of luck. Yes, lady luck plays a major factor in this anime show. By raising it to maximum it created in the world of Van a dream like state where everything was possible. Luck made all their deepest wishes happen, in the oddest realistic fashion. As you can see the manga-ka artist is taking an old idea and improving upon it.

Another thing that you need, is to build up strange other worldly beings. Make them miserable make then eerie. As long as they are creepy they will do. Prime examples are the Shinigamis of Deathnote, the Proxies of Ergo proxy and the Coralians (along with their zone). These "bad guys" are unique in the fact that just for existing they bring chaos upon the world. You need an element of chaos in order to create a good anime show. The bad guys and the good guys are secondary to these other forces. Think of it as if you where creating your own unique and ugly mother nature. All the above mention wierdoes since the beginning of times have been indifferent to humans. Like mother nature they do harm to us with indifference. Create beings like this and you have an off beat anime show.

The last and most important thing you need is a theme. You cannot write or draw any proper graphic novel without having a theme or two. What makes or breaks any anime show is the theme. For you see, you need have your watchers keep something of that graphic novel within them. You don't want them to look back on your creation and say "it was fun". You need them to say " Inuyasha taught me it was bad to mistreat halfbreed, or Eureka Seven taught me all races are equal". As you can see the best graphic novels in the world always leaves the readers with "something" after they are done reading it.

Oh and before I forget, a good graphic novel needs emotion. For some reason the most popular facial expressions in anime are those of anger and those of happiness. If you master the art of hate and sadness you can keep you viewers interested. Oh, and avoid unhappy endings. Make the main characters suffer so much and in the end they come out good. Or you can make them really happy and then kill them, that's what the manga-ka artist of Death note did to light Yagami. Remember this and write a good graphic novel (for once).