During the Autumn 2018 anime season, it occurred to me that there are some narrative devices I just don’t take seriously anymore. They may have at one point served a valuable narrative purpose or been written with thought and care, but now it seems as though every example I run across is either tongue-in-cheek satirising itself or is just an example of lazy writing. That isn’t to say there aren’t good examples of them, but the problem is that when a narrative device is used well it almost seamlessly fits into the story in such a way that you barely notice its existence.
Some spoilers below.
However the villain’s monologue is a device that you just have to wonder if it has outlived its usefulness. Or perhaps it is more the case where you have to wonder if writers even try anymore. It is almost as though we get to that almost climatic moment and in order to just get to the smack down as fast as possible they have a character just narrate and vomit exposition at the other characters to tie everything together.
It almost reminds you of that moment in Space Balls where the characters after explaining something to one another turn to the camera and ask the audience if ‘everybody got that’.
Though, I will make one correction to what I said earlier. It wasn’t actually a villain who decided to monologue and exposition dump that really got my attention last season (mostly because I stopped watching Index and to be fair every character in that show is prone to lengthy exposition). No, it was Mei from Release the Spyce.
Yes, Mei had revealed herself to be a traitor to the rest of her posse of adolescent female spies and gone to the enemy. And then – here’s the big reveal – it turns out it was all part of a plan to double-double cross and actually bring down the bad guys (like we didn’t all see that one coming given the strong themes about the power of friendship and the like).
However, despite this being revealed in about two lines of dialogue, Mei then proceeds to explain how it came about and was planned and executed, eating up valuable screen time, giving the villain time to prepare her next move, and more or less killing any pacing the episode may have had (so the theory that a monologue gets you to the fight faster doesn’t hold weight in this example). It was a disappointing choice in a series that had great potential early on but never could figure out its tone or characters and then didn’t manage to deliver a climax memorable for anything other than this particularly poorly delivered monologue and a villain whose kimono like outfit was strategically slashed mid-battle.
Now why this particular monologue isn’t necessary comes down to a few points. Firstly, Mei’s motives and actions aren’t that complicated. There’s nothing revealed that is actually necessary to understanding the plot or gives more insight into the character. Sure we get some particulars about when the plan started but that’s largely unnecessary noise and could have easily been left out or revealed later. Secondly, these characters all the way along were about not making stupid choices in battles. And gloating to the villain rather than actually doing something is a stupid choice. It just doesn’t make any practical sense.
Now, if we were to compare that to something like Death Note where both Light and L get numerous monologues (both internal and external) we can see why the ones in Death Note work better. Firstly, it is a consistent narrative device throughout the whole series. Secondly, the information revealed and the insight it gives to the characters is usually not something the audience could determine otherwise. I mean, realistically L doesn’t give a lot away with his actions or facial expressions. His expository moments are highly necessary to provide some context.
And finally, Death Note uses the monologues and exposition to really push the tension and drama of a scene. It isn’t a delaying tactic nor does it break the mood of the piece. It sets the tone and drives the scene rather than hindering its progress.
Basically, monologues get mocked, a lot, in stories. And a lot of the time they should be. They are intrusive, poorly conceived and barely useful. Ready Player One is jumping to mind right now given the sheer amount of internal monologues we are subjected to as the world is explained to us as if we couldn’t just see it on the screen – fully understand why they were needed in the book but they certainly weren’t once the story was moved to a visual medium.
However, it is important to remember that occasionally when a character starts a monologue, there’s a real reason behind it and there might be a solid narrative purpose. Just because we see this device misused so often doesn’t mean we should throw it out altogether. It just means we need to think about how it’s being employed and whether or not it is doing its job.
And let’s remember: if it’s in an anime, the main job is to entertain us. So I ask, are you entertained? What anime monologues have stuck with you? Were they good, bad, or somewhere in-between? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
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Karandi James
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ONIMUSHA: WARLORDS
It would be interesting to see how many ‘bad’ monologues come from adapting background (textual? Cuts scene?) materials from the source. The production staff might not have much of a choice (other than between a monologue or a text scroll) if the material *has* to be there.
They could still work a little to try to integrate the monologue more naturally into the scene sometimes. Though it is a reasonable point. Looking at Twilight a lot of Bella’s internal droning came from the fact that the book was written in first person so the only way to share all of Bella’s thoughts with the audience was more or less to have her narrate them to us.
True. But that’s an adaptation issue, not a script issue. (If that makes sense.)
Like anything else, a monologue is a tool that can be helpful or harmful depending on how it’s used. I rarely like voiceover narration monologues at the beginning or end of a series or movie, for instance – it’s usually just infodumping we either don’t need at all or could have just been shown instead. But as a window into a character’s thoughts and feelings, especially feelings we wouldn’t necessarily be privy to otherwise (like with your Death Note example), or as a way of underlining or emphasizing a particular scene, they do have value.
Some of my favorite monologues:
Kyon makes his choice, in The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya
Chitanda’s thoughts about her future, in the last episode of Hyouka
Rico’s monologue at the end of ep 3 of Gunslinger Girl (very effective example of using one as a tool for emphasis)
Kiritsugu’s monologue to Saber about the nature of war, in Fate/Zero
The retelling of the Noah’s Ark story, in Angel’s Egg
I’m sure there are others, but those are the first ones that come to mind.
Kyon has some highly entertaining monologues during Haruhi. Nice choice.
I hadn’t realized it but you’re right about why L and Light’s monologues work. They don’t emote as much so we as the audience need a little more from them to know what’s going on. And both of them are clever and interesting characters so I don’t mind them explaining stuff.
It was a very good use of internal and external monologues and is part of what makes the characters work. However, as you said, it only works because the characters are interesting enough and telling us things that we may not otherwise figure out.
The monologue is what you do when you have a champagne plot and a beer budget. 🙂 I meant that facetiously at first, but given the pace and budget of production in most anime, it’s annoying but almost unavoidable.
That’s a fair enough assessment.
I’ve disliked the device since reading Shakespeare in middle school–with the pronounced exception of Hamlet, in which the monologuing is about the only sensible action taken. . .
I don’t mind a good monologue. I really enjoy Roy Batty’s monologue at the end of Blade Runner, but the problem is most monologues just aren’t very well fit into their narratives and feel like tacked on extras.
I rewatched the original Guyver series last year and the monologues were atrocious. They would start as an internal monologue often detailing stuff they shouldn’t have any right to know. Then they would repeat it externally just to make sure you got it.
Also the Fate series is terrible for monologues often making a fight last several episodes while they stand around and deliver monologue to each other.
Again, it is amazing how we really notice them when they are poorly done. They just really grate when you can so clearly see the device they are using and it is just so poorly executed.
In normal conversation people rarely say more than three or four sentences before pausing or someone else speaking. I think that makes it more noticeable when someone goes off on a big revelation rant and everyone else just stared at them.