Lost in Medias Res: Difference between revisions

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Sometimes, writers can be a bit ''too'' eager.

We begin [[In Medias Res]]. We're in the middle of a fight scene, or some other action-packed sequence, and we have no idea whose side we're supposed to be on or even what they're so worked up about in the first place. The writer has no mercy though—they won't pause to explain who's who and what's what, you'll just have to work it out as you go along.

And then they forget to leave the hints.

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* This criticism has been levelled at ''[[Doki Doki School Hours]],'' especially in comparison to the more widely recognised ''[[Azumanga Daioh]].'' While ''Azumanga'' began by giving the viewer short segments to establish a small, core set of personalities, ''Doki Doki'' begins with a group of students finding their diminutive teacher lost in a crowd of first-year students. The characters already know each other, so no exposition is given. Instead, [[eyecatch]]es of each student are used as "personality profiles" (breaking the rule of "show, don't tell" to which most writers adhere). This, in combination with a much larger cast, means that it takes time to memorise which personality belongs to which student, even if the characters are arguably more visually distinct than those of ''Azumanga Daioh''.

* ''[[Azumanga Daioh]]'' itself suffers from this a little, at first (and only in the manga). Not because it fails to introduce characters properly, but because the art style is very simple and a large number of characters are visually non-distinct. There are at least four characters with straight, loose, short-to-medium length black hair in identical school uniforms (Tomo, Chihiro, Kaorin and Osaka) and little obvious other than hairstyle to distinguish the characters. Colour-coded hair is ''not'' employed.

* ''Boy Princess'' is a story of [[Gender Bender|gender bending]] and [[Wholesome Crossdresser|cross dressing]] set in a world of complex political intrigue...so it's a pity the writer doesn't take the time to fully "set up" this political intrigue before starting the story, instead seeming to make it up as the plot moves along. In addition, [[Only Six Faces|the characters are visually similar to each other]] (even people on opposing sides look alike) and personalities aren't clearly defined at the start, making it nearly impossible to keep track of the hero, let alone anyone else...as if the disguises didn't make it difficult to keep track of who's who anyway.

* This is the main problem with the ''[[Saikano]]'' anime. It would have been far better had they not sped through the plot at mach 12, and stretched it to 26 episodes or so instead. It's still an effective [[Tear Jerker]], but not nearly as good as the manga.

* The ''[[Fate/stay night|Fate Stay Night]]: Unlimited Blade Works'' movie adaptation cuts out the exposition so much that only those who have played the route in the game has a hope of understanding it.

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== [[Film]] ==

* About the film ''[[Elizabeth]]'' (starring Cate Blanchett), a critic wrote that we can't tell "which conspirators are on which side, or even who ''is'' a conspirator."

* About the film ''[[Elizabeth (film)|Elizabeth]]'' (starring Cate Blanchett), a critic wrote that we can't tell "which conspirators are on which side, or even who ''is'' a conspirator."

* This is one of the reasons that ''[[Primer]]'' is so confusing. What's unique in this case is that you don't even learn the movie started [[In Medias Res]] until a ways into the movie (assuming you realize that at all the first time you watch it), and you're probably already lost by then.

== [[Literature]] ==

* If you can make it past the first hundred pages of ''Game of Kings'' in the ''[[Lymond Chronicles]]'' without giving up in confusion, you might possibly survive until the end. It's possible to make it through to the third book of six without understanding the first thing about what's going on - it's an excellent read anyway.

* Every chapter of the ''[[Ender's Game]]'' tetralogy begins with a conversation between two people with no clue as to who is speaking or where. Two points stand out: These passages help add intrigue to the story quickly, and they effectively add depth to the story without us even needing to know who is speaking. Secondly, they may be characters we have not met yet, or have a distinct speaking style or worldview.

* Robert Adams ''[[Horseclans]]'' series suffers horribly from this in combination with [[Loads and Loads of Characters]], further complicated by the fact that a lot of those characters have names that are fairly similar (the Ehlenee names are particularly bad), and by the fact that the series stretches over a timespan of ''decades'', so genealogies sometimes come into play as well. You need an excellent head for names—or a scorecard—to keep track.

* Good luck understanding what is going on in ''[[Dune]]'' for the first few hundred pages.

* Writer Steven Erikson claims to have done this deliberately in the forward for recent editions of ''Gardens of the Moon'' (the first book in the ''[[Malazan Book of the Fallen]]'' series), in order to weed out readers without enough patience to enjoy the series.

== [[Live Action TV]] ==

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[[Category:Pacing Problems]]

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[[Category:Beginning Tropes]]

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