Long title, eh? But it's true. I'm currently under the belief that all YA authors - and all authors in general, but specifically YA - need to watch Avatar: The Last Airbender and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (or the original Fullmetal Alchemist series) before they start writing a novel.
Now, I'm not a big fan of anime myself; I don't really like the style and a lot of it has this habit of being super cartoonish or full of Mary Sues or just generally stereotypical.
But I absolutely adore Avatar and FMA.
Both series star young adult protagonists. Everybody knows the GAang in Avatar - Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Zuko. Fullmetal Alchemist follows Ed and Al Elric, two brothers, as well as their friend Winry and a few other young adults.
Now, this is normal. Most anime stars young adults.
But here is where you young adult writer need to learn a thing or two.
One: In both shows, the young adults interact with, you know, adults.
This is especially important in fantasy settings, which both of these are, but come on, young adult writers! Where are the adults in your stories?! There can be good adults and bad adults but I have never encountered a town in real life that's full of teenagers and ONE BAD ADULT or teenagers and ONE GOOD ADULT or teenagers and A GROUP OF BAD ADULTS.
Two: Not one character is unimportant.
In either show I have never been given a character that just drops off the face of the earth. There's no magical character that shows up once and never has anything to do with the series again - the same way that, in somebody's life, if somebody random appears just once, they're usually not worth remembering. And if they are, they aren't going to appear just once. Not a character is wasted.
Three: And none of those characters are Gary Stus or Mary Sues.
In case you don't know what a Gary Stu or a Mary Sue is, it's a generic character that doesn't really have any flaws or outstanding character traits; they're a blank slate that basically anybody can relate to. Characters aren't supposed to be blank slates that you can step into. They're supposed to be people. They're relatable because they're realistic, not because there's something inherently blank and perfect about them.
Four: The plots, oh, the plots!
They're wicked genius. Everything ties together; nothing is forgotten. No plot points are dropped. Every scene - just like every character - has a point.
Five: The romance? It's there. But it's not the important bit.
Both shows have romantic elements; either it's only implied (I will forever ship FMA's Mustang and Hawkeye) or it's gradual. It's not something that happens right away, but something that develops over time. And if it's something that DOES happen right away, it's shown to be the girlish/guyish crust that it is.
There's so much more to be learned from these two shows, and I can rant about them for hours (Brotherhood in particular). I highly recommend at least trying the first few episodes of each show and seeing if you enjoy them.
Anybody here watch these and love them as much as I do?