Lost in Medias Res: Difference between revisions

* This criticism has been levelled at ''[[Doki Doki School Hours (Manga)|Doki Doki School Hours]],'' especially in comparison to the more widely recognised ''[[Azumanga Daioh (Manga)|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|eyecatches]] 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 (Manga)|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.

* This is the main problem with the ''[[Saikano (Manga)|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 Stay Night (Visual Novel)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.

* ''[[Ikki Tousen (Manga)|Ikki Tousen]]'' starts out without this problem, but as soon as Volume Two starts, the plot takes off and doesn't let you come with. Thankfully, every volume opens with a character guide.

* The anime adaptation of ''[[Wandering Son (Manga)|Wandering Son]]'' suffers from this trope, since the part adapted starts from the middle of the story. By this point, everyone knows everyone else and have built complicated relationships, which aren't easy to define even for people who have read the manga from the beginning.

* Every chapter of the ''[[Ender's Game (Literature)|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.

* ''[[Power Rangers Samurai (TV)|Power Rangers Samurai]]'' suffers from this, due to [[Nickelodeon]] [[Out of Order|skipping the origin episodes]]. Additionally, it is the first ''[[Power Rangers (Franchise)|Power Rangers]]'' season to do so, as previous seasons start properly with the origin.

* While the first season of the ''[[Game of Thrones (TV)|Game of Thrones]]'' TV series eventually gets around to explaining who everyone is and what they're doing, the first episode includes scenes like three young, shirtless, dark-haired men getting shaves and haircuts (i.e., removing their only remaining distinguishing features). Little details like their names and the fact that one of them is ''a prisoner of war from another family'' aren't mentioned. If you can manage to tell the three apart, you'll notice that only one of them actually does anything for several episodes. And he's not the most important one. Even if you can keep track of everyone's names, the series deliberately averts [[One Steve Limit]] just to leave you something else to trip up on.

* ''[[X -Men]] 2'' for the [[Sega Genesis]] is notorious for dropping the player into the game's first level (with a random character) ''as soon at the game is turned on.'' You don't even see the ''Title Screen'' until you finish it. This was probably a failed attempt at translating a cold opening to gaming.

* ''[[Final Fantasy XIII (Video Game)|Final Fantasy XIII]]'' opens up right in the middle of a battle between a train of prisoners and the soldiers shuttling them to their execution. The characters toss around terms like L'Cie and Fal'cie without any exposition to explain exactly what they're referring to, the viewpoint character (and the supporting characters surrounding him or her) changes every fifteen minutes, and all in all the game feels entirely chaotic. The only way to catch up with what's going on right away is to [[All There in the Manual|dive into the compendium, which is several dozen pages long.]]

* The first few episodes of ''[[Code Lyoko (Animation)|Code Lyoko]]'' explain virtually nothing about the premise. What is Lyoko? Who are the characters? How do they know each other, or how long have they? Who or what is Aelita? Who or what is XANA and why is he evil? Why can the characters go onto Lyoko? How do they know how to do the things they know how to do? How did they find out about the computer and Lyoko? Why is the computer stashed under an abandoned factory? How long has it been there and who put it there? It isn't until later that any of these questions are addressed.