[ SECRET POST #3398 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #3398 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.


__________________________________________________



02.


__________________________________________________



03.


__________________________________________________



04.


__________________________________________________



05.


__________________________________________________



06.


__________________________________________________



07.


__________________________________________________



08.


__________________________________________________



09.


__________________________________________________



10.


__________________________________________________



11.


__________________________________________________



12.



__________________________________________________



13.


__________________________________________________



14.


__________________________________________________



15.


__________________________________________________



16.


__________________________________________________



17.









Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 05 pages, 118 secrets from Secret Submission Post #486.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

07. http://i.imgur.com/r5cGSYM.png

[vethica]

It's funny that you mention EGS, because that's the only thing I follow where my opinion is that it's gotten much worse over time. :P

OP

[(Anonymous)]

From where to where? I'm thinking of the really early stuff like Paint it Black, which was pretty dire.

[ozaline]

You know maybe they're not lying so much as they have a different perspective.

Maybe they to didn't like the earlier episodes and only really enjoyed it when it ramped up.

Two possible anime and manga examples... the Manga for YuYu Hakusho (and to a lesser extent the anime) starts off as an adventure comedy, and then switches to a shounen fight series (with comedy)... If you didn't like the comedy comic you might like the fight comic.

And Fushigi Yuugi goes through such a huge tonal shift on her second visit to the book, that quite a few people were either turned off, or hooked at that point.

[(Anonymous)]

Exactly. There are a lot of things that get off to a kind of awkward start for whatever reason but really do end up getting good once the creator hits their stride.

And then there are things that go in the other direction where they start out well and just go downhill from there.

[(Anonymous)]

It's not like that for everyone - personally, I found the first eps of SU kinda boring, but liked the latter ones. Had the same with a few other series.

[(Anonymous)]

Maybe you should try grown up shows?

[(Anonymous)]

like Teen Woof!

[lady_dragoon]

Agreed. Bonus points if I'm told that it takes more than 6 episodes to "get better." I don't have that kind of time to waste on something that doesn't interest me.

[(Anonymous)]

A lot of long-running shows - especially ones geared for adults, but also some meant for a younger audience - didn't really hit their stride until the second or even third season. If that's the case, what else can people say but "Oh yeah, it starts off kind of weak but it gets really good after X number of episodes"?

Of course you're under no obligation to wait until your entertainment gets worth watching, but if you're complaining to someone that you couldn't get through two episodes of a popular show and they say that it gets better, they're not necessarily saying you must watch that far. They could be just trying to explain why so many people like it.

Also, in many cases I'd argue you can just skip to where people say it gets good and then decide if it's to your taste (though again, you're not obligated to). Most shows aren't so hard to follow that you can't get into the story from almost any random entry point, even if you don't have the full background on why Johnny and Greg can't be in the same room together.

[(Anonymous)]

Same. If I can't find something redeeming about the show within the first 4-5 episodes, I'm not going to continue watching. I don't care how "good" it gets.

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah I can understand this point of view. I mean it's true that many series do get better but even if they do you have to ask yourself, "Is it worth it?" and that's without the question of whether or not it does get better or if people just THINK it does.

I've dropped series I didn't think were worth it despite friends insisting that it gets better, like I'm sorry but I'm not going to be bored to tears by 5 seasons of mad men just to get to that one season you like.

[(Anonymous)]

Ugh, same. I thought I was going to love Mad Men, but I was just extremely bored by it.

[(Anonymous)]

"It gets better" should be reserved for media where the first installment was clumsy, the actors hadn't quite nailed down their performances, the writers had good concepts but weren't sure where they were going with them, the art was crude, etc.

But when my friends say "It gets better!" they almost always mean "The whole POINT is that the characters are awful, insufferable people you wouldn't want to be around even for money! They grow! In, like, three or four seasons/issues/sequels!" I could watch plants grow instead and at least have a salad when I'm done.

[cakemage]

To each their own. I loved most of what you mentioned from the start (Steven Universe grew on me after four episodes, and I've never read DaMFA or EGS, so I can't comment on them), but if it's not for you, it's just not for you.

OP

[(Anonymous)]

I love every canon episode of Steven Universe except for "House Guest," including the episodes a lot of people say are shit you need to suffer through. That's why I get so mad about this "it gets better" stuff in regard to Steven Universe. All the things people dislike about the early episodes are still present to some degree in the later episodes, and there are entire episodes like "Historical Friction" or "Sadie's Song" that are in an early-episode style. I can't help but think "Are you still 'suffering through' all those jokes and silly moments in the new episodes just to get to the stuff you like?"

[(Anonymous)]

What show did you use to make the background of your secret? I've never seen it.

[sabotabby]

I feel this way about a lot of shows. There are so many shows that are good from the first or second episode that I don't see why I need to sit through like 22 episodes of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D for the plot to pick up.

[(Anonymous)]

I feel the same whenever people tell me, (ussually about long running shonen anime) "It sucks for the first 20-50 episodes, but after that it gets really good!!"

Honey, if a show doesn't get good until after 20-50 episodes, it's not good peroid.

[(Anonymous)]

Okay, from the content of the secret and your comments here, I see that what you're frustrated with are not shows that don't actually get better or shows that take too long to get there, but shows that gain more interesting elements but still retain the "unsavoury" aspects you weren't fond of at the beginning.

To which, I can only say... maybe you and your friends are just functioning under different understandings of "getting better". Maybe for them, a series gaining new interesting elements has actually gotten better as a whole, whereas for you, getting better means the flaws are improved upon. Might be a good idea to clarify this point when people rec you things that "get better".

[lb_lee]

When I think of "IT GETS BETTER" I think of From Eroica With Love. Because godDAMN do I like imagining how THAT happened.

[(Anonymous)]

You forgot to add Homestuck in there! But yeah, I agree with you completely. I'm not going to subject myself to a bunch of boring shit in the hopes that maybe it'll get better. That's just a waste of my time.

[iggy]

I'll give everything maybe a three episode test? But no way in heck am I watching an entire season, like fourteen or fifteen hours of time going into it, that I'm not even enjoying just in hopes it gets better later on.

[ketita]

For me, the only true "it gets better" show is The Twelve Kingdoms. Virtually all the characters end s1 somewhere completely different from where they started, and the plot just gains complexity and depth. It doesn't stagnate in rehashing the same drama, either.
But by and large, I'm with you. I'm not often willing to sit through more than an episode or two of meh on the promise that it'll be worth it some time (and definitely not 10+ episodes, like some friends will)

[(Anonymous)]

It's funny that you mention Kingdom Hearts, because I honestly think the first game was the best in the series. Not overly complicated, just a fun mash-up of Disney and Final Fantasy with a few original characters and a simple storyline to weave it together.