Okay, I can't talk about writing without talking about this.

The reason I put anime in this chapter title is because this problem is something I find a lot in the anime medium in particular. Don't get me wrong, it's in books too. But because I love the anime style of storytelling (manga too, don't forget manga), I tend to watch anime/read manga a lot. 

No, it's not because I'm a weeb. It's because I like the style of storytelling (when it's done right), and the art that complements the story can make it truly something to remember. Again though, this is only when it's done right. Which brings me to the problem.

Wasted potential. Yes, a lot of anime really bring out their full potential, and leave a massive impact on the medium. But others can't fully utilize their strengths and go forgotten, or become highly divisive.

What gives an anime potential in the first place?

-Interesting concept
-Interesting characters
-Interesting world
-Interesting villain
-Interesting setup/dynamics
-Overall intrigue

If an anime has at least one of the above, then it has good potential to become interesting. Some examples:

Hunter x Hunter: A vast world full of possibility. It holds magical beasts and those who hunt them. The world itself and its mechanics is the first thing that really hit me about the show. Anything could happen.

Fullmetal Alchemist: A fantasy world in which magic follows the laws of science. This concept (alongside the main characters and their goal) was really what hit me and made the world stand out.

Erased: The main character periodically experiences a strange phenomenon called "Revival" which transports him back in time a few minutes and allows him to prevent some disasters. Then one day, a revival takes him back all the way to when he was a boy. Overall intrigue was VERY strong.

Sword Art Online: Trapped in a video game? Heck yes, that sounds so cool! Interesting world right of the bat!

Akame Ga Kill!: The Night Raid, a group of assassins rebelling against the cruel empire, was filled with characters with bright and distinct personality that I enjoyed watching. Since the beginning, it had interesting characters.

Those are enough of examples. All of those shows had great potential, in many more ways than I listed. Did they live up to that potential? Some did, and others didn't. But take another list above. If you can nail most if not all of those points, and tie up the show with a solid climax conclusion, then you've lived up to your potential, at least in my opinion. Now, there's obviously more to the writing process than just that, I would know. That's just my attempt at breaking it down.

What wastes an anime's potential?

Not building on its strengths. When the most interesting part about the anime in question never gets built on, it tends to feel like it wasted its potential. Now, this is pretty subjective, and what I'm writing now is my opinion. The things that I think would improve storytelling ultimately would result in the kind of story that pleases ME, not necessarily EVERYONE. So please disagree with me. If I think an anime had wasted potential but you think it was perfect, you keep your opinion and never let me take that from you.

Some examples of wasted potential:

Akame Ga Kill: Characters did a good job of being interesting at first, but many felt static throughout the show, and lacked proper development. To make matters worse, the world itself is never fully build up or explained, which doesn't help. The result is an anime full of bloody fights and a little romance, but not much else to its name.

BNA (Brand New Animal): A world full of Beastmen who are discriminated against by ordinary humans. There was a lot of potential for discussion here, but because the first season was only 12 episodes long, it felt rushed and lacking some development. However, the characters and comedy remained strong throughout.

Sword Art Online: While the world was interesting at first, other aspects severely suffered. Most characters were neglected and uninteresting (including the villains) and the plot lacked development. Worse, as the series went, the plot began to lose its intrigue steadily for various reasons. The one aspect I found to be redeeming was the romance, but even that took its toll on the story as a whole.

Now, the shows above are not necessarily bad shows. In fact, I enjoyed each of them considerably. However, from a storytelling standpoint, they were far from ideal.

Also, I have not finished SAO. I got incredibly bored while watching Sword Art Online II, and just couldn't bring myself to finish it. So who knows, maybe it gets better? Somehow though, I tend to doubt it. I watched the whole first season though, which I think is the main one that people talk about anyway.

I'm going to go into some detail about certain aspects that can take a toll on the story as a whole, and ruin the show's potential. Some spoilers ahead for any of the shows I've mentioned so far. So you should probably only keep reading if you've either watched them or don't plan on watching them.

1. When characters, worldbuilding, and overall plot seem to take a backseat to something more unimportant, the story loses some of its potential. For example, in Sword Art Online, the entire first season revolves around Kirito and his relationship with Asuna. This in itself isn't necessarily a bad thing, but there was so much more that could be done with the show. Several characters (like Klein) that I wanted to learn more about, but never got to because the show was too focused on Kirito and Asuna.

2. When the story tries to be edgy or emotional, but rushes the plot too much. I see lots of anime suffer from not developing the story properly, and it's frustrating to watch. Most of the time, I can see a simple solution. Double the length of the show, or at least increase it by, say, 50%. Give the story more time to develop. You don't need to complete an entire character arc in one episode. Increasing the length of the show can drag it out sometimes, but this allows for more character, world, and plot development. It also gets me more attached to the characters. Example of this: Akame Ga Kill!. For as edgy and cool as it tries to be, it doesn't give me long enough to get truly attached to characters before killing them off.

3. When the villain falls flat. Needless to say, MOST stories need a good villain. Not all, but action stories at least should have a good villain. However, making a villain that falls flat can ruin the show's potential for greatness. This can happen through lack of development, or lack of motive at all. Not all villains need a deep motive, or course, but they should still have reason to exist, and should be threatening and intimidating. Physical design is also key. Example of a weak villain: Nobuyuki Sugou from SAO (I had to copy-paste his name because I literally could not remember what the a-hole was named). Much as I hated this guy, his only motive was that he wanted to dirty things to Asuna. And I guess he wanted to be powerful, but mostly he wanted to be a perv. This was probably the intention with him, but it still caused the climax to falter. Heathcliff and Nobuyuki weren't objectively bad villains as a whole, but they could and should have been far better (especially if Heathcliff had been built up more. He had a sweet design though, so props to him for that one).

4. When plot points are introduced but never properly developed or used. Sometimes it's a character that shows up for a short time but exists only as a plot device(Ex.: Four Rakshasa Demons from Akame Ga Kill!). It happens. Other times its when a concept is introduced, but never properly explained (Ex.: Dual-Wielding in SAO, Akame's Trump Card in Akame Ga Kill!) and ends up being more of a plot device or deus ex machina. Please, creators, explain the random powers that your characters pull out of nowhere. When it doesn't make sense how or why it happened, and there's zero buildup to it, it just fails.

5. When character deaths just don't work. Let's just take a look at Akame Ga Kill! for a sec here. Sheele is the first member of Night Raid to die. I really only had a few episodes to get attached to her. Her death surprised me, yeah, but it didn't really hit all that hard. For whatever reason, I just was not attached to her as a character enough. Bulat died a few episodes later, but that also fell flat (which was odd because he was probably my favorite member of Night Raid). Chelsea died, and that one sucked for me because she actually WAS fairly interesting and her death was particularly brutal. Same with Lubbock, probably the only death in the show that really hit hard. Mine died after confessing her love for Tatsumi, but the romance had little buildup and was awfully sudden. Tatsumi and Leone had much more heroic deaths, and those I was okay with. Overall, only a few of the several deaths really hit hard. Most of them just didn't work because I wasn't attached to the characters or their arcs for the most part. They should have been extremely emotional moments, but most of them just didn't work.

6. When the world is never built up, or just isn't interesting. *Sighs* back to Akame Ga Kill! here... I bring this one up a lot because I just recently watched it and it's still fresh in my mind. In this show we have so many interesting concepts. Danger Beasts: nasty creatures that are dangerous to regular peeps. Imperial Arms: powerful weapons wielded only by powerful individuals. The clash of two of these weapons will almost always result in death. A malicious dictator and a capital full of horrible people. There was so much that could have been done well in this show, but it was crammed into 24 episodes. The world itself is fairly interesting, but with the whole "powerful ancient weapons" and "cruel dictator" it just felt kinda cliche. The manga does a better job with characters and worldbuilding, but the anime was crammed into such a small number of episodes that it couldn't build up the world or the characters enough.

You know what, I think I'm basically saying the same thing in each and every point so I'm going to sum it up now.

Like I said before, almost every single time I feel that a show has wasted potential, it's because the show is too short and doesn't properly take the time to develop its points. Sometimes though, its because the show doesn't focus on the actual plot, but instead on side-stories that don't help to advance the main plot, or chooses to focus on a plot that's far less interesting than it could have otherwise been.

Alrighty, I've gone on way too long, so it's time to wrap this thing up with a few final points.

1. There is nothing wrong with liking an anime, even IF it isn't as good as it could have been. I don't really like SAO, but I DO like Akame Ga Kill!, despite its numerous flaws,

2. While I say all this, there's nothing that can be done to change the already-existing shows. I mostly use this as a reminder to myself of what not to do when writing.

3. All is subjective in the writing realm. I can't say with any authority what makes a good/bad story. This is pretty much ALL my person preference.

In retrospect, I should have included examples of anime that FIX these problems, but I can do that another time. I've gone on long enough, and trust me: you do NOT need an additional hour-long ramble about how amazing Hunter x Hunter is. If I go there, I WILL get carried away.

So until I get around to continuing this, I'm signing off.

See ya!