How to Lose Fans and Alienate Readers

I'm going to take a break from the usual format (introduction, one or two manga examples of topic, 'desperate attempt to wrap things up' conclusion) to write about my frustrations about something that is supposed to take my mind away from the crappy facts of life.

I depend on the internet to numb my brain. Manga is one sedative that I'm used to. But every now and then, a series comes by and riddles my brain full of holes like a drive by shooting.

And I get angry. But I usually put down the book or rather close the window. I don't have to read it.

Just like I didn't have to screen cap Anya's eyes open for this pic.

What frustrates me the most are the series who lure me into loving them. I accept them into my home, let their pages catch my tears on the days when I'm upset, and share them with my friends, only for them to betray me in the end with filler chapters and confusing plot twists.

I understand when television shows do that--they have a staff of writers. They have to collaborate, and each writer has their own style. The writers also have to write characters in or out of a series based on the actor's contract.

However, books, manga written by one author doing that? I'm already sharpening my pitchfork.

But since I love my expensive laptop, and I don't live on a farm, instead I'm going to compose a list of the top three ways to lose fans and alienate readers.

The Top Three Ways to Lose Fans and Alienate Readers

1. Confuse the reader (ex. absurd plot twists, drastic changes in character)
2. Go on a hiatus
3. Have your plot move at an excruciating pace

Wow, that was easy. (And thank you Staple's advertising team for linking your company to that phrase. Forever.)

First one, fairly simple. Nobody has a Pokeflute, Pokemon does not exist. There is no need to toss in random plot twists that don't make any sense. That's like making a salad out of cake and doughnuts.

"I don't have a problem. Now give me your gummy heart, you sweet boy."

Two prime examples--Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle and Girl Queen. Granted, both of their endings involve time travel so it's a guaranteed mindfuck. I just don't understand how a story filled with mythical creatures and magic--so many wonderful things--could end with "Oh you know the two main characters you fell in love with? They're clones. Yeah, only the first two pages were of the originals."

I trusted you, Clamp. I even went along with the pedobear teacher.

It's been a while since I read the ending, but the clones also have something to do with time travel. And that their parents were the originals, each pair (the pair of clones and the original pair) repeating their lives as star-crossed lovers. It's a minefield trying to dissect this ending.

Girl Queen started off as a competition for the throne and ended with a similar idea--Guy remembers a woman who helped him, girl and guy fall in love, guy dies, girl goes back in time to stop it, she dies but not before she helps the younger version of her lover, rinse and repeat. Doomed to be star-crossed lovers forever.

I feel like the authors write these complicated endings to make them appear more meaningful. But all the endings do is piss me off.

What makes me cry the most are the tragic endings that I see coming. It's the stories where the characters try so hard to change their fates, desperately trying to climb out of the pit, even when their whole body is cracked and broken, caked in sweat, blood, and tears, only to be buried underneath all the shit.

And then their spirit breaks. And they let go.

That's when I cry.

Onto hiatuses. The story has to be really good. Like an organ transplant for happiness. Otherwise, people are going to forget it, perhaps look it up after a number of years like an old flame that ended on good terms.

I don't have much to rant about hiatuses because the only time I'm impatient is when I really love a series. And so I develop patience for the sake of my sanity. Then I cheer when the new chapter arrives and snuggles my insides like an alien puppy.

No, having your story's plot move at a snail's pace is what gets me. When the author's clearly milking it. Money, man. Shows a person's true character.

Take The Wallflower for example. You can read the first volume as an introduction and then skip around. It's like reading a hundred one shots with the same characters. There is no progress between the two main characters. And any progress is negated either by the end of the chapter or by the end of the next chapter.

It takes 74 chapters to reach this:

And by the next chapter...

"I was trying to resuscitate you. I have to do that to most chicks when I take off my shirt."

Also, the main reason why Kyohei confronts Sunako is because she hasn't made him dinner. He's starving. Sunako realizes hey, she doesn't hate him for being a "radiant creature" and "Oh we do live in the same world!" (she thinks she's ugly which is what the story's centered on), and then they have a laugh and she cooks dinner.

The kiss is swept underneath a rug. Never to be touched again.

Author makes a living off some killer fanservice though.

The second example is like Anti-Rogaine. If I were a man and baldness ran in my family, I'd be in tears and would blame Skip Beat for it.

I loved this series. With all my heart. A country girl who becomes an actress to get revenge on her childhood friend who abandoned her in the city to become a star? Oh hell yeah. But it is so slow. SO SLOW. It doesn't help that it updates once a month.

I read the latest update.

It's basically thirty pages of Kyoko and Ren staring at each other and Sho hitting his shin on a table. I'm not kidding.

"Damn, I was hoping by standing still, you'd go away."

Okay, I'm exaggerating. It's about fifteen pages of Sho wrestling with his feelings for Kyoko while the woman he left Kyoko for has her own private monologue, which should only take three pages. Max. And Ren and Kyoko stare at each other for four, five pages. And the remaining ten pages, Ren has this extended confrontation as to why Sho's calling Kyoko. He thought she hated Sho. Oh my gawd. So dramatic.

I want to slap him. Multiple times. With a book. Maybe an encyclopedia.

They're not a couple. (This is Chapter 194 by the way.) And even if they were a couple, his face is screaming overly attached boyfriend. Like the kind who isolates his girlfriend from her friends and the entire male species. Because being possessive is sexy.

Why the fuck are you pinning her to the bed?

This confrontation should take seven pages by shoujo manga standards. Three for shounen (the rest of the pages are all fight scenes). Quality over quantity.

I feel better now. These series aren't bad as a whole, but some days it's so obvious that they're sacrificing quality for money.

You might as well have put advertisement on this page.

Credits: Cireus Scanlations (The Wallflower), Skip Beat (Mangapanda)