It Gets Better Later

[Username Redacted]

So of late I've found myself abandoning more materials in an incomplete state. What I mean by this is I'll start watching a series or start playing a get, get a decent way into and then just sod the whole business. The earliest that I've given up on something would probably be 'Teen Titans Go!' which I stopped watching halfway through the first episode while the latest I've dropped a series would be an anime (Eureka Seven) where I stopped watching after 43 episodes (out of 50). On several occasions, I have, as the title suggests been informed by others that the material that I am abandoning "gets better later". I am curious about other peoples' experience with this and at what point do you write something off as just not being your thing.

 

[Fappy]

In my experience, "it gets better later" usually is true. This seems to be especially prevalent with animes, though sometimes the opposite is true (Psycho Pass is a good example). As for Eureka Seven... well, whoever told you it gets better is a liar. That anime sucks balls

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I started watching Evangelion about a month ago, currently halfway through the series (ep 13 of 26) and I haven't even began to appreciate it the way I thought I would. I can't think of anything slightly quotable or memorable, the angel design is crappy as hell (none surpassed the very first angel), and the characters haven't even began to grow on me (I swear half the cast could drop dead next episode and I wouldn't break a sweat. I don't HATE them, I just don't care for them). And there's soooooo much fucking ecchi, good god, all those panty shots and imbecile stabs at sexualization... how did this get so much attention over your average anime? And yet I keep hearing how awesome it is, and how dark and incredibly complex it gets "near the end". Color me unimpressed. In my experience regarding 26-episode anime, if you're not hooked by ep 5, you won't get hooked at all.

 

[CrimsonBlaze]

So of late I've found myself abandoning more materials in an incomplete state. What I mean by this is I'll start watching a series or start playing a get, get a decent way into and then just sod the whole business. The earliest that I've given up on something would probably be 'Teen Titans Go!' which I stopped watching halfway through the first episode while the latest I've dropped a series would be an anime (Eureka Seven) where I stopped watching after 43 episodes (out of 50). On several occasions, I have, as the title suggests been informed by others that the material that I am abandoning "gets better later". I am curious about other peoples' experience with this and at what point do you write something off as just not being your thing.

Wait! You stopped watching Eureka seveN!?


...
Ahem. Yeah, you should definitely think about finishing up that series if you are still interested in it at a later time (like right now!).

In regards to my own experiences with leaving things undone, I tend to get into a lot of different forms of board games and strategy games. Sometimes I'll just glance over some game play, sometimes I'll pick up a booster/character pack, and sometimes I'll even get enough pieces to get a match going. Eventually, I'll find that I'm not all that interested in the game and quit while I'm ahead (and not completely broke).

 

[Hagi]

I write things off at the earliest point possible generally.

I don't believe things that get better later are actually good, they're just mediocre at best. And, considering the large amounts of entertainment out there, mediocrity isn't in the least impressive or desirable.

If I'm making a test and drool all over the first half and then proceed to brilliantly answer each question in the second half I haven't actually made a good test, I've barely passed at best.

Don't get me wrong, I understand some plots need build-up. But it's entirely possible to do build-up in an engaging manner that makes you eager to see what happens next, if the creators couldn't do that then I see absolutely no reason to spend my time watching their work even if it does get 'better' later.

 

[Zhukov]

I find it is often true with old books. Most modern books have an exciting "hook" scene early on. Think the scene with the others that kicks of Game of Thrones. Old books not so much. I remember Moby Dick taking fucking forever to get interesting. War and Peace took its damn time as well.

As for other stuff... I didn't like Cowboy Beebop much. However, it did manage to claw its way into 'yeah... it's okay" territory by the end.

Evangelion most certainly did not get better. And that's not even counting the ending. Although I did really like that scene in End of Evangelion where the arrogant redhead chick goes utterly ballistic. Then they went and did another stupid ending. So much for that.

 

[Zhukov]

I don't believe things that get better later are actually good, they're just mediocre at best.

Surely that would depend on the relative quality of the good and bad bits and how long it takes to get good.

If the first two chapters of a thirty chapter book are below average, but the remaining twenty-eight are refined and purified textual nirvana then I'd say that makes it significantly better than average overall.

 

[Hagi]

I don't believe things that get better later are actually good, they're just mediocre at best.

Surely that would depend on the relative quality of the good and bad bits and how long it takes to get good.

If the first two chapters of a thirty chapter book are below average, but the remaining twenty-eight are refined and purified textual nirvana then I'd say that makes it significantly better than average overall.

Considering that author is capable of producing refined and purified textual nirvana I still think that, for him, it would be a mediocre effort since it'd imply that for the first two chapters he probably wasn't even trying. Especially considering the relative importance of the first chapters.

Of course, in your example it'd still be, as you say, a book significantly better than average. But I myself usually find that authors incapable of writing a solid beginning are also incapable of writing refined and purified textual nirvana, it could still happen of course. But I'd say that once a piece of work gets off on a bad start chances are stacked against it and you're probably better off spending your time looking for another piece of work that starts off significantly better.

 

[Fat Hippo]

I find it is often true with old books. Most modern books have an exciting "hook" scene early on. Think the scene with the others that kicks of Game of Thrones. Old books not so much. I remember Moby Dick taking fucking forever to get interesting. War and Peace took its damn time as well.

Hah, Moby Dick is a good example of a book I dropped. After that goddamn preachers sermon that went on and on, I decided I couldn't be bothered, classics be damned.

And yes, Anime does have a tendency to improve as they go on, though that isn't really an excuse for making the beginning boring.

Personally, I actually do this with movies more than anything else, which probably isn't typical, but somehow my tolerance for boring movies seems to be particularly low.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I started watching Evangelion about a month ago, currently halfway through the series (ep 13 of 26) and I haven't even began to appreciate it the way I thought I would. I can't think of anything slightly quotable or memorable, the angel design is crappy as hell (none surpassed the very first angel), and the characters haven't even began to grow on me (I swear half the cast could drop dead next episode and I wouldn't break a sweat. I don't HATE them, I just don't care for them). And there's soooooo much fucking ecchi, good god, all those panty shots and imbecile stabs at sexualization... how did this get so much attention over your average anime? And yet I keep hearing how awesome it is, and how dark and incredibly complex it gets "near the end". Color me unimpressed. In my experience regarding 26-episode anime, if you're not hooked by ep 5, you won't get hooked at all.

Panty shots? Really!? I've seen this show dozens of times, and I can't for the life of me remember a single one of them. The only time the show presents you with a blatant echhi scene is when Misato hangs over the diner table and the camera gives a full view of her ass. But that's really it.

OT: Bioshock: Infinite - Ken Levine really needs to start working on shooting mechanics that aren't total crap before attempting to make another profound and complex game. Or hey, maybe not make it an FPS, since you clearly have no idea how to. By the time I got to the Chinese weapon guy my patience with the limp-as-all-hell gunplay was worn down to nothing. And the way it still clings audio files to exposit most of its story is just ludicrous.

Monster (the anime) - Far be it from to call this anime bad, but there's a hokiness to the dialoge that ultimately left me uninvested.

Attack on Titan - The first 5 episodes are really damn good, but after that the shounen strikes with the power of a thousand suns, and drags down one of the most interesting and refreshing settings in anime in a long time.

Toradora - It's apparently the Cowboy Bebop of romcom anime, but I can hardly pull myself through the first 2 episodes. I've tried numerous times, and I can't explain why.

 

[Queen Michael]

I had forty pages left of Father Goriot, and decided that it just wasn't my thing. I stopped reading. Why read if I'm not enjoying it, you know?

 

[KeyMaster45]

Every Final Fantasy, ever. Though it varies where I stop in terms of story progression it is never the end of said story, but it is usually near abouts the part where I'm told "The last boss is literally right over there. Go fight him...we dare you. Oh what's that? You got your ass handed to you when you tried to fight him? Well duh, that's because you didn't grind on the 40+ hours of side quest stuffing we setup for you to do." Yeah, that's never really flown with me, so I usually just end up abandoning the game right there.

 

[Lieju]

I write things off at the earliest point possible generally.

I don't believe things that get better later are actually good, they're just mediocre at best. And, considering the large amounts of entertainment out there, mediocrity isn't in the least impressive or desirable.

If I'm making a test and drool all over the first half and then proceed to brilliantly answer each question in the second half I haven't actually made a good test, I've barely passed at best.

Don't get me wrong, I understand some plots need build-up. But it's entirely possible to do build-up in an engaging manner that makes you eager to see what happens next, if the creators couldn't do that then I see absolutely no reason to spend my time watching their work even if it does get 'better' later.

Depends on the work. If it's a book or a movie, I agree, but if we're talking about something like a long-running manga series that's possibly published over years (or decades) it's possible the artist just got better, or found their voice.

Also there are many manga that start out as a different genre. Both Katekyo hitman Reborn! and Rosario to Vampire started as something else (humor and harem) but turned into battle-manga.

I personally liked Reborn! best when it was humor, but a lot of people consider it becoming good when it became a genre they liked. (And humor is subjective anyway)

And of course the creative team can change if it's a tv-series or something.

 

[Reaper195]

My experience with this was Bioshock. Everyone was going on about this game being incredibly amazing, complex and brilliant. After seven or so hours of fetch quests with a silent protagonist, I went and drove in circles in GTA4. It bored the hell out of me. People then told me it had an amazing twist and got even better. I read the plot synopsis online. Didn't seem remotely revolutionary. Similar with Bioshock Infinite, although at least I finished that game.

I started watching Evangelion about a month ago, currently halfway through the series (ep 13 of 26) and I haven't even began to appreciate it the way I thought I would. I can't think of anything slightly quotable or memorable, the angel design is crappy as hell (none surpassed the very first angel), and the characters haven't even began to grow on me (I swear half the cast could drop dead next episode and I wouldn't break a sweat. I don't HATE them, I just don't care for them). And there's soooooo much fucking ecchi, good god, all those panty shots and imbecile stabs at sexualization... how did this get so much attention over your average anime? And yet I keep hearing how awesome it is, and how dark and incredibly complex it gets "near the end". Color me unimpressed. In my experience regarding 26-episode anime, if you're not hooked by ep 5, you won't get hooked at all.

Watch the 'Rebuild of Evangelion' series. It's a fair bit better, and a lot shorter. I was rather bored by the midway of the series, and when I started actually getting into it, the last four episodes happen. At which point, that show can fuck right off. Dark and complex? More like nonsensical, ludicrous and a completely different direction in theme and atmosphere the series had been doing up to that point. I'd highly suggest the Rebuild, which I watched first. I found it surprisingly entertaining, and it doesn't suffer from looking old. The Angels get a complete over-haul, especially that tringle pyramid thing, which looks glorious.

 

[Sixcess]

I find I don't make an active decision to stop with something... there just comes a point when instead of watching the next episode or playing the next level I decide to do something else instead, and often never go back.

The furthest I've ever been into anything when I dropped it was probably FFIX, where I was somewhere on the fourth disc when I realised I didn't actually know where I was, what I was supposed to be doing, or why it mattered. At some point I'd just stopped caring about the plot.

Books are a bit different. I usually finish a book once I start it (though in the case of the aforementioned Moby Dick more out of a sense of obligation that enjoyment.) The exceptions are usually when I pick up something popular out of curiosity. I gave up on The DaVinci Code after about 3 chapters. I gave up on 50 Shades of Gray after about 20 pages...

 

[Evonisia]

"It gets better later" usually turns out to be true but I don't trust it as an excuse. For example I would argue that Mafia II and BioShock 2 get much better in the latter half of the game.

However, there's a reason I don't trust the saying, and that's because often times it's not. BioShock: Infinite did not get better later on. Modern Warfare 2 and 3 did not get better later on. Halo: Reach did not get better later on. Assassin's Creed 3 and so on and so on.

 

[SonicWaffle]

Of course, in your example it'd still be, as you say, a book significantly better than average. But I myself usually find that authors incapable of writing a solid beginning are also incapable of writing refined and purified textual nirvana, it could still happen of course. But I'd say that once a piece of work gets off on a bad start chances are stacked against it and you're probably better off spending your time looking for another piece of work that starts off significantly better.

This might apply to books singular, but not to a wider series of work. Just because someone's early stuff isn't that great doesn't mean they won't learn and improve; the Dresden Files is one of my favourite series, and the first couple of books are enjoyable-but-not-great. The writing really picks up after that though.

Discworld is another good example. The first handful of books are crappy standard-fantasy-parody stuff for the most part, but as the series gets older the writing becomes sublime. Of course, then the alzheimers hits and it turns to trash, which makes me a sad panda. Point stands though! A great many TV series I've enjoyed have begun pretty badly - the first season of Buffy is pretty crap - but improve pretty quickly once the creators find their feet.

 

[Elfgore]

It varies from book to book, anime to anime, and so on. The Mazalan books start off slow as hell, but pick up very quickly after the paving for the book's massive lore, characters, and plot is laid out. Anime like SAO improved in the later episodes from the already amazing starting episodes, while To Love-Ru started at shit and... became somewhat less shit by the end. Rosario+Vampire the manga starts of as a big cliche of harem and ecchi, but as soon as the Fairy Tale arc kicks in, it becomes one of the most action packed manga I've read.

I'm actually worried about Eureka 7 now because it's on my watch list, still will risk it though. I would say finish the series, since you watched 43 out of 50. Seven episodes is what? around three hours, give or take, if you power watch it.

 

[HardkorSB]

Everyone was telling me how great the Lord of the Rings books were.
I started to read the Fellowship of the Ring. I went through 50 pages and it was really boring. They told me that the good stuff is just a few pages away. I read another 50 pages, still boring, nothing is happening, other than some pointless banter about how someone's last name ends with Feet instead of Foot and other crap like that. They still tell me that the good stuff is just around the corner.
I read another 100 pages, still boring. I still hear the same thing about how it gets good real soon.
I read another 100 pages, nothing but Frodo going from location to location and descriptions of these locations, combined with "facts" that have nothing to do with the main story.
I stopped reading it and I will never try again.
I admire Peter Jackson for being able to squeeze an entertaining action adventure movie out of that thing.

Alfred Hitchcock used to say that you need an earthquake at the beginning and after that, things need to escalate until the end. I like that approach. You need to engage your audience from the beginning, otherwise you will lose a large portion of them, even if the overall story is interesting.