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[Boss Doggie]

Err rather, a continuous arc.

It seems to be a common opinion (or at least, I think it is) that cartoon episodes are always self-contained in stories and that Avatar started it to be much "anime-like" to have a progressive story.

To which I say is bullshit - I mean, older cartoons like X-Men and Exo Squad have definite continuity and a story that moves forward. You would never understand future episodes without watching older ones. And it's not like anime has shows that don't have self-contained episodes like Doraemon and Shin-chan.

 

[Foxy Fox 39]

Errr avatar isn't the first.

e: I see youre arguing against that sentiment?

 

[Prophet Steve]

Weird, didn't hear those type of statements. Yeah, there are plenty. It is one of the few good ones I suppose.

EDIT: Note that many with a continuous plot do still have episodes that are mostly self-contained. But even with that in mind I don't think it started anything.

 

[Escape Goat]

I have no idea where your assertion came from. Did you make it up?

 

[Pai Pai Master]

It definitely was nowhere near being the first. But it's one of the best. There are almost no filler episodes in Avatar.

 

[Manmademan]

Err rather, a continuous arc.

It seems to be a common opinion (or at least, I think it is) that cartoon episodes are always self-contained in stories and that Avatar started it to be much "anime-like" to have a progressive story.

To which I say is bullshit - I mean, older cartoons like X-Men and Exo Squad have definite continuity and a story that moves forward. You would never understand future episodes without watching older ones. And it's not like anime has shows that don't have self-contained episodes like Doraemon and Shin-chan.

Exo-Squad did a fantastic job with this about a decade before Avatar was thought up. And even THAT's not the first, but I always considered it the best.

 

[Satch]

I have no idea where your assertion came from. Did you make it up?

this

OP I have never heard this before

 

[TheMan]

Err rather, a continuous arc.

It seems to be a common opinion (or at least, I think it is) that cartoon episodes are always self-contained in stories and that Avatar started it to be much "anime-like" to have a progressive story.

To which I say is bullshit - I mean, older cartoons like X-Men and Exo Squad have definite continuity and a story that moves forward. You would never understand future episodes without watching older ones. And it's not like anime has shows that don't have self-contained episodes like Doraemon and Shin-chan.

who exactly are you arguing against? i've never heard anyone assert that cartoons didn't have a 'continuous arc' before avatar.

 

[Boss Doggie]

Errr avatar isn't the first.

e: I see youre arguing against that sentiment?

Yeah, I think even in the 80's there are cartoons that follow a continuous plot. Jem comes to my mind.

I have no idea where your assertion came from. Did you make it up?

Nah, I just heard it from a friend who likes Avatar back in college (who is a die-hard anime fan) and I recalled it earlier. Also IIRC TvTropes sort of mentioned that.

I should really stay away from anime forums :x

 

[alekth]

I barely remember any stories from cartoons I've watched 15ish tears ago, but I do remember that European Cartoon Network used to air The Pirates of Dark Water randomly. It was unwatchable.

 

[injurai]

It's probably the best serialized american cartoon that I can think of in recent times. The reason I enjoy anime so much is because of the stories. I do love the unique qualities that their culture brings, but it just goes to show that its all in the story. To bad most american kids have the attention span of a gold fish.

 

[thetechkid]

OP hasn't seen many cartoons, that is why they think this is a common opinion.

 

[Manmademan]

It's probably the best serialized american cartoon that I can think of in recent times. The reason I enjoy anime so much is because of the stories. I do love the unique qualities that their culture brings, but it just goes to show that its all in the story. To bad most american kids have the attention span of a gold fish.

well, it doesn't hurt that american cartoons are basically dead. there's a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of the amount of new cartoons being aired compared to when I was growing up in the mid to late 80s.

 

[CornBurrito]

Yeah, I think even in the 80's there are cartoons that follow a continuous plot. Jem comes to my mind.


Nah, I just heard it from a friend who likes Avatar back in college (who is a die-hard anime fan) and I recalled it earlier. Also IIRC TvTropes sort of mentioned that.

I should really stay away from anime forums :x

I think you recall incorrectly.

 

[Baconsaurus Rex]

Have people forgotten Pokemon that soon? Come on.

 

[Boss Doggie]

OP hasn't seen many cartoons, that is why they think this is a common opinion.

Hell no, sometimes I prefer cartoons in how they handle story arcs

Have people forgotten Pokemon that soon? Come on.

Anime.

 

[Acheron]

Mainframe series. ie. Shadow Raiders, Reboot, Beast Wars?

 

[The Faceless Master]

someone actually said that? when were they born?

 

[mavs]

well, it doesn't hurt that american cartoons are basically dead. there's a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of the amount of new cartoons being aired compared to when I was growing up in the mid to late 80s.

That was the era that gave rise to the perception in the OP. All they needed to start a new cartoon was protagonists and antagonists, and set up an endless back-and-forth between the same characters until the show died of lack of interest or caught fire and shambled on for eternity.

 

[Scribble]

Wasn't As Told By Ginger ongoing? Lol.

 

[Kangi]

I've actually heard this said before, too. Avatar definitely wasn't one of the firsts.

Spoiler

It was just one of the best.

 

[CorvoSol]

someone actually said that? when were they born?

Seriously. Like, did they never watch any of those Super Hero shows? Spider-Man TAS had all kinds of ongoing stuff.

 

[Boss Doggie]

Seriously. Like, did they never watch any of those Super Hero shows? Spider-Man TAS had all kinds of ongoing stuff.

Most likely they were focused on watching anime back then, I guess.

 

[Stumpokapow]

Teddy Ruxpin predates every other serialized cartoon mentioned so far, and it's not the first serialized cartoon.

People need to really start explaining who claims the things they're arguing against. If it's like "My friend wrote on facebook XYZ and he's wrong", that's a lot different than "Most people think XYZ, and it's incorrect"

 

[GDGF]

Stop listening to people who don't know what they're talking about.

 

[Stet]

Conan the Adventurer.

The Banana Splits also had a lot of long-running serialized cartoons.

 

[Boss Doggie]

Teddy Ruxpin predates every other serialized cartoon mentioned so far, and it's not the first serialized cartoon.

People need to really start explaining who claims the things they're arguing against. If it's like "My friend wrote on facebook XYZ and he's wrong", that's a lot different than "Most people think XYZ, and it's incorrect"

Yeah I guess I should've given it some more thought and probably write off my friend away, but then again I thought it was a general sentiment back then at college and everyone was fapping to Avatar back then.

 

[Aeana]

Gargoyles was the first one to come into my mind. Then I thought of several more that were even earlier than that. Pretty silly.

 

[elrechazado]

There were stories in cartoons before the year 2000? Next you'll be telling me that Justin Bieber wasn't the first bad haircut tigerbeat pop schlock act!

 

[SMT]

Do you mean anime without fillers? Because there have been tons, albeit short-lived, Hellsing for instance.

 

[noah111]

I have no idea where your assertion came from. Did you make it up?

Was about to say the same thing. Probably something that floats around in the uber-nerd circles but apart from that it's the first i've heard..

 

[Uchip]

yeah, x-men had continuity
but it was also quite episodic at times
avatar is one long story

 

[Slayven]

Jayce and the fuckign Wheel Warriors

 

[Plywood]

I should really stay away from anime forums :x

Yes, yes you should.

 

[Devolution]

While most American cartoons are episodic there are still a couple that have an ongoing arc, someone mentioned Gargoyles, which is a good example of a an ongoing plot through a cartoon series.

Transformers Beast Wars, Spiderman The Animated Series, X-Men, Iron Man, Teen Titans.

 

[HP_Wuvcraft]

Teddy Ruxpin predates every other serialized cartoon mentioned so far, and it's not the first serialized cartoon.

And it was quite epic, too.

 

[Wandering Leopard]

That reminds me, I need to pick up the Samurai Jack boxed set. Although I get the feeling there won't be any closure to be had at the end.

 

[jtb]

I don't think anyone believes avatar's the first heavily serialized animated tv show...

Spoiler

but most would agree it's the best!

 

[Drkirby]

The only way this arguement makes since is if you try to say that with Avatar, you really couldn't just watch episodes out of order and have an idea of what was going on, even more so then most other shows. Stuff like Reboot, Code Lyoko, Xiaolin showdown (Just a few random shows that popped into my head) all have continues story arcs, but you could easily watch just bits and piece of the series and know what was going on.

Also with Avatar, it started as and stuck with it the whole way though, a lot of shows with long ongoing plots start without much too much of one, like all three of the above, (Lyoko just reset the world at the end of each episode for the first season, Reboot was just a game of the week, even Xiaolin kept the total number of McGuffens fairly low at the start, so the cast could simply shuffle them around and everyone had everything at some point, and gave a recap of what happened before so you knew why x had what)

 

[PoopShooter]

you obviously did not watch Exo Squad.

There were 4 branching storylines at one point, you could not watch that show from any entry point, but the 10 second recap at the beginning helped and the intro to season 1 helped a bit too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okOekzgV5vk

By season 2 they just went full blast with the lasers and shit going crazy intro.

A gigantic cast with people dying, politics, resistance fighters on earch, losing fights on the mars colonies and battles through space and space pirate asteroid territory. This show was truly too good for its time.

 

[ThatObviousUser]

Who said Avatar was the first?

 

[Lijik]

Also IIRC TvTropes sort of mentioned that.

Sometimes tropers have terrible opinions or absolutely stupid sentiments that they put into their edits and you just need to roll with it and ignore them.

 

[WillyFive]

Ookami, I don't know who you have been talking to, but I have never heard anyone claim that Avatar was the first.

 

[Oxigen_Waste]

I think my first contact with arcs outside of anime was probably Gargoyles, around the time when I was in elementary.

 

[rexor0717]

Far from the first, but one of the best.

 

[MC Safety]

Star Blazers/Space Battleship Yamato was produced in Japan in the early 1970s and translated and brought to America in the mid-1970s. I don't know if it was the first cartoon to have a serialized storyline, but it's certainly the first one I can remember that had it ...

Oh, Wacky Races predated Star Blazers. I guess you could argue that had a continuity to it.

 

[Tesseract]

procedurals are easier to write. you fuck up, you move on. you fuck up a linear narrative and you are toast.

 

[ChubbyHuggs]

Uh, Digimon.

 

[Boss Doggie]

Yes, yes you should.

The only discussions I tend to go to are those involving Digimon Xros Wars anyway :<