Likable Characters vs Interesting Plot

 

There are probably many articles that elaborate on what makes Anime different from Western cartoons or western media in general. I can give you one simple answer. Anime is mostly character driven and Western medial is mostly plot driven. Sure, there are some exceptions here and there, but this rule holds for vast majority of shows.

Anime

First anime, anime works by creating likable enough characters. Creators probably spent a lot of time thinking what king of character they want to date and then create such character. From there on plot often serves only as means to at best develop and at worst just showcase this character at infinite.

Various merchandise, figurines, body pillows and such are popular precisely because characters are. Body pillow is the best example, people would not buy it if they would not want to literally drag them into their beds and fuck them. You can never imagine someone like that in the west and not because its different culture or West is more prude but rather because Western characters are not likable. No one would want to fuck Spiderman or Joker.

Because of that slice of life genres work in anime. Nothing really happens for 12 whole episodes, but people like it, nonetheless. They like it because they want to see more of these likable characters on screen. Not just slice of life shows are like that, even isekai and other genres are carried by characters with no real intrigue behind anything that happens.

In plot however lies anime's weakness. Since characters carry the show, the plot often rudimental to nonexistent. After all, if people buy it for characters alone, then why get out of your way and invent a complex plot with intrigue. 

However, replace likable Asian characters with something plainer, more basic or just unlikable and no one would want to watch it. Without moe anime dies.

Western Media

Now western media works exactly the opposite way. Characters are basic stock figures that are needed to carry the plot. That is especially true for protagonists. Batman or Superman is nothing more than flawless always do good stalwart heroes. They only exist to beat up villains. 

Sometimes you get an interesting villain but more often than not they are just so-called cartoon villains who just want to conquer or destroy the world. There are some partial exceptions like Spiderman for example, but they are few in between.

Neither hero, nor villain is interesting in their own way. However, a conflict between hero and villain is what drives interest.

What drives western shows is plot. Characters are there just to showcase the elaborate plot, conceived by the author. There is intrigue, in detective mysteries it's about who is culprit, in hero movie it's about how hero will prevent the villain's plan from succeeding. The premise keeps people interested, not the characters.

Often the more impossible the task seems, the more public would be interested. For example, how could Frodo infiltrate the hostile enemy country and make it unnoticed to the middle of it to destroy the ring. The country full of enemy soldiers, that guard everything and constantly on a lookout for intruders. To top it up there is also a huge tower with an eye that can see very far and constantly searches for the Ring Frodo carries.

People would not watch a slice of life about Frodo and Gandalf. Characters of Lord of the Rings are not likable enough for that. People watch it for the intrigue of the Frodo's quest to destroy the ring, by sneaking into Mordor and making it to its center unnoticed by the enemy.

A proper western show it full of intrigue. That is what drives it forward. 

A less skilled authors prop up lackluster intrigue with a lot of action and kaleidoscopic change to keep people guessing what is next.

Nonetheless without curious enough plot a western show die. No one watches something that is fully predictable.

Fusion

Success of anime brought about mutual interest in shows from the other culture. That interest led towards not just towards borrowing ideas, but also towards hiring foreign talent to work on western shows. Financial crisis only further exacerbated this by driving more companies towards cutting costs by outsourcing work to Asia.

That however led mostly to disappointment for fans.

One can only get a good show only if they combine the strongest sides of both of these approaches. That is if you combine good Asian characters with good western plot. 

If you do it the other way around by combining bland western characters with bland Asian plot, you will instead get a failure and plenty of angry fans.

The good examples are few, original Code Geass, Lelouch of the Rebellion, Nier Automata, original Naruto. All these shows produced plenty of awestruck fans, who haven't seen anything as good ever before. 

The failures are much more numerous. modern WoW where likely Asian writers struggle to continue a story with western characters they do not understand. Many more shows here and there. If I watched more modern (2010s) media I would have been able to tell more, but I do not.

Hopefully we will be able to get out of austerity failures and create shows that combine the best of both worlds.