My fave example of this is part 7 of jojo's, where a teenage girl with no powers takes down the final antagonist after he beats the protagonist, its truly memorable and executed well
The joke is that Stands (a symbiotic entity that represents your fighting spirit, a higher form of Hamon) are not visible to those who don't have a Stand There's a huge fight by fight arc in the isolation ward of a prison To a person without a Stand, the roof is exploding, the floor gets cut into geometry and people go flying like they just got yanked by a taunt bungee cord
@@icaro8264 Its not really a joke, its just that when one of the villains thinks hes won a 14 year old girl with no powers whos basically been a victim the whole story comes out of nowhere and exploits a gimmick created by another characters power to instantly kill him and stop him completing the main goal of the main antagnoist.
@@sinisterhunter Being faithful to archetype isn't a bad thing! Real Steel is almost beat for beat the first Rocky film, which practically invented the archetype. The problems with playing to type occur when you don't attempt to do anything new with it, or if you change it so much it is no longer recognizable!
i don't know if calling it underrated since every single person that i know that knows the movie absolutely loves it. Not a single exception, i might be wrong but thats my experience
I love how this series isn’t a simple, “here are these fight scenes I like and what I categorize them as”. You give us a list of conditions that a scene needs to make in order for it to reach the conclusions you come to. It is especially good that your conditions are well thought out, and are broad enough to show how fights can take many forms and give that sense of satisfaction we see in fights and their conclusions.
The ending fight of FMA:B vs Father is also thematically perfect because the entire fight is demonstrating the conflict between the ideas of people as a tool for power and power as a tool for people. It's so perfect for the show that has been exploring power and the responsibility and danger of it. Major SPOILERS, obviously. Al sacrificing himself to give Ed a fighting chance, followed by Ed sacrificing his power to get his brother back is a direct antithesis of Father's ambition, who represents basically every warlord, king, dictator, politician, corporate executive, etc. Father sacrifices entire nations to fuel his ambition. To Father, humanity is literally just a fuel for power to achieve his goals. Meanwhile, Ed sacrifices his power to save just one person after defeating Father. It's so beautiful, and such a perfect tie-in of the brother's driving motivation to the main overarching plot. Arakawa created such a masterpiece with Fullmetal Alchemist.
minor gripe, david doesnt use a slingshot, he uses a sling, which is different, since you spin it around to make the force rather than having any elastic
@@bobbytonson5890Goliath really showed up with a spear to a gun fight😂. He was the real underdog all along... The sling was not just a weapon for sheep herders. But an entirely qualified weapon of war. Hannibal for example even had entire slinger units in his army. Edit: That beeing said, I think Goliath was described as having a big shield. If he had just ducked his head behind that and charged, he would have won most likely.
The funny thing about David vs Goliath fight is that David basically got a medival equivalent of a hand gun he just shot the big guy in the head, thats how he won
Yes, it is. Many people have never seen a slingshot in their lives and don't realize how dangerous it is. A lead bullet fired from it carries about as much kinetic energy as a bullet fired from a Glock pistol. And although the slingshot bullets are heavier and not so aerodynamic, they retain a monstrous killing power at a distance of up to 100 meters. And when I say “monstrous” I mean that a hit of such a bullet in the arm, for example, can lead to a broken bone, and a hit in the head ends with a fractured skull. Of course the story of weak David against huge Goliath is a textbook example of an underdog, but in modern conditions it will be a RU-vid video like “Mr. Beast: I'm fighting against Conor McGregor, but I have a gun with me”. Doesn't sound all that impressive, does it?
Doppio vs Risotto is a great example of this in my opnion. Lots of people think he won because of luck (they paid no attention to the fight), when it was actually a really smart strategy that takes advantage of Doppio's surroundings and the opponent's own ability against him.
Also it’s ironic that Risotto lost due to Narancia’s stand which is actually the reason he found out Doppio’s a stand user, there are ppl blaming Narancia for this but if it wasn’t him Risotto would die way earlier
Seeing a 10/10 spoiler warning for a series that I just started watching was an absolute jumpscare I gotta finish watching it and then I can come back and finish the last few minutes of this video 😂
I love this video! Another thing that I think is really good with David versus Goliath fights, sometimes the goal is just destroying the opponent's win condition. Like in Puss in boots, it's possible that death could just keep fighting him forever, he's pretty much a spirit or a concept or something. He would wear puss out eventually. But like you said when he doesn't "see" puss anymore, he loses his win condition. All characters whether they're heroes or villains, are slaves to their motivations.
I'd like an underdog story where the underdog is the antagonist. The main character has spent a whole lot of time and effort to become the best of the best, and then all of a sudden some newbie who hasn't done the work threatens their spot, and the fight actually puts the protagonist in danger of the possibility that all their effort to become the best is going to be cut short and made useless.
Although I haven’t seen it, that sounds similar to what I’ve heard Cars 3 described as- a new generation of high tech cars make McQueen struggle to keep up, despite his large amount of experience and mastery
Really like your examples/ background footage uses all types of media, action movies, cartoon shows, anime, older movies, and more recent movies. Keep up the good quality work
I'm a game master and I have issues with my battles, players say they're the least fun part of the game, and this sucks coz I love action. I'm taking notes in these videos and trying to convert it to a TTRPG scenario. Something funny is that in my campaign, my players optimized their characters so much they ended being the goliath instead of their enemies. I wish I had these videos when I was still the GM of that campaign, they are great insights on how to make a fight scene be more than a trade of blows. Thank you :) Keep up the good content.
This is my favorite series on the internet, its really informative and works as a perfect guideline when you actually get into writing fight scenes!!! Can't wait for the rest of the videos in the series to come out!!!
i swear, nowadays such old tropes must be explained to almost every writer there is. Cant even remember the last time i was having fun watching a well thought-out movie and that is not because i cant find fun in movies. Im not a writer but damn if i ever become one i'll make sure to use your videos as basis for action scenes
I'm currently watching FMAB, I used the sacrifice strategy. By stopping myself from watching the rest of the wonderful video (a well-liked series for me, btw), I insrantly clicked away before a clip was shown when I realized that you were about to talk about FMAB
One of my favorite movies of all time is Akira Kurosawa's Ran, which features both a flyswatting battle and a David v. Goliath battle, both of which are executed to perfection. During the flyswatting battle - the attack on the castle, the outcome is never in doubt. Instead, it's all about exploring the relationship between the brothers and showcasing their father's descent into madness, which is a huge plot point in the film. During the final battle, the weaker forces uses strategy, including surroundings and sneak attack, to ambush the superior samurai cavalry with gun equipped troops hidden in the surrounding woods. Moreover, it turns out that the entire final battle is a distraction to draw the attacking army out of the castle so it could be sacks by another force allied with the defenders (sacrifice and synergy).
Another great video, wish I could have watched all of it, but I haven’t finished FMA:B quite yet😅 I look forward to the next two videos and what aspect of storytelling you’re going to cover next!
I like how, while there are different examples for each category, there are some shows and characters in those examples that repeat - like Gojo. And it is infinitely more fascinating to look at the same character written well in those scenarios.
Yeah, and I can entirely believe it ending the fight in one shot, divine power or no. Those things were designed to take down now-extinct megafauna, and it’s pretty trivial to make one that can break the sound barrier.
@@fiascothe63rd The projectile itself doesn't break the sound barrier. I figure that you probably just meant the end piece, but your wording was confusing, and I would rather be informative. The sound barrier breaking is similar to a whip where there's some tassles on the end that take most of the energy transfer and do a quick flicking motion to relieve energy in the system
another thing that adds to gon vs hisoka is that in order for gon's plan to work he would have to be in a state of zetsu, which is incredibly risky and dangerous as demonstrated from previous fights. Gon had to learn and adapt from past mistakes thus using zetsu in a smarter way. the fact that gon is willing to risk his life in that way elevates the depth of the fight and provides insight on who gon is as a character.
Gurren Lagann. Team Dai Gurren is fighting an omnipotent being capable of reality and probability alteration. They are only able to push through after multiple members of the team sacrifice themselves for an inch of the battleground. Evolving a little bit more with each turn, because thats how a drill works.
I think you should have covered Roy Mustang vs Envy in your Fly Swatting video, it's one of the most satisfying fights I've ever seen while being a key part of Roy's character arc
This channel is so great and it genuinely reminds me of what I want to make my youtube content about. Once I have more time or editing skills or whatever on my hands I want it to be similar to this, just talking about how to make effective horror instead.
Amazing analysis of the fights. I’m waiting for the whole series of analysis because they are so interesting to listen to. Also what is the music you use during the transitions because it sounds sick af.
LEAGUE OF LEGENDS PERFECTLY CEMENTED THAT in the recent worlds 24 semi final fly quest vs gen g if you watch the full macth you will tear up in the end
My favorite example of Synergy and surroundings in a David vs Goliath fight is Rider and Shirou vs Saber Alter from Fate/Stay Night: Heaven's Feel. It's not back to back hits that they get, but it's one protecting the other until they get the decisive hit in.
22:00 this is also an example of synergy, as earlier in the show edward showed his weakness by converting the diamond of his skin into coal, whitch is how greed knew how to counter him
The final sword of a stranger should make the world champion video. If you haven't seen it you certainly should give the movie a watch some of the greatest animated fight choreography out there
Hisoka also applied strategy, placing Bungee Gum (which has the properties of rubber and gum) to Gon while giving him a little quiz if Gon noticed when Hisoka placed his Bungee Gum (which has the properties of both rubber _and_ gum!) on Gon
20:45 of course FMA Brotherhood is a perfect example of every strategy type. It and Avatar the last airbender are basically perfect shows as far as examples of doing something right
Honestly I don’t care what you do if you keep the quality the same. Like for real. You have an ability only few posses: To create understanding through passion and words. Do what makes you happy and I will watch it to understand. Now to the video: I don’t think there is anything missing here. The only real thing I can even imagine that could provide a different outcome is to aid the David with a bazooka. But then the fight either transforms into a fly squatting fight (either just for the Goliath or both) or it never was a fight in the beginning but a trap. But honestly this is something that is universal to any scene. Transformation is what I would call it here is basically the idea „fight or flight or something else“ being the „something else“. This should be a rare occurrence and should be explained or set up with a plot twist. But maybe this could be a next topic: How do you structure your scenes? Or What does it take to „balance“ a story? Have a nice day AEther
David actually used a SLING, not a slingshot. A sling is essentially a bit of cord and a little leather cup that's spun and released to throw a rock. A slingshot uses elastics and a handle.
Would love to see you talk about BR and jojo indepth In case you never heard of jojo, it's all about strategies. The enemy super power can be extremely niche but they will find / create environment to maximise their potential and it's up to the protagonist to figure out how do their abilities work and how can they overcome it (Part 3 and beyond)
I bet you haven't watched jojo yet, jotaro vs dio and josuke vs kira were great examples for davids. for the flyswatting video it would have been great to discuss joseph destroying straizo. that show has some of the best strategy fights I have ever seen, and my only wish is to have either bruno's or jolyne's fights on the toss up video
On the hisoka fight there's even better subtle uses of these 5 S's. Gon is most likely using zetsu which adds to the strategy since it's an establish skill that helps hide your presence but leaves you vulnerable, exploits hisokas weak spot which is that he toys with his opponents and doesn't actually want to break gon at that moment (which gives him more opportunities to land blows than his skill level earns him) and taking advantage of the heavens arena setting to give an in universe reason why gon could enter a fight with hisoka that early and live to talk about it without evoking explicit plot armor
The thing that kept coming to my mind was Deku throughout all of this because I can't think of another instance of Sacrifice being a repeat strategy for the underdog. I think that's what made (at least the early fights in) MHA so memorable and impactful: Seeing a character who had to ration their abilities not because they had a limited resource like mana or spell slots or whatever, but because they have to give up their own physical health in order to use their abilities. It really only worked because of the cumulative effect, and it obviously couldn't go on forever, but part of what made Deku so compelling in the first couple of seasons was that he kept all of the scars and damage from each fight until he was right on the brink of outright killing himself from doing it over and over. Come to think of it, I feel like Deku Vs. Todoroki is the turning point where I stopped enjoying MHA as much, because watching Deku break each of his fingers, dwindling his options and running a real risk of permanently crippling himself was so incredible, only for him to... re-break his already broken fingers? So wait he can actually just... endure however much of this the writer decides he can? While that fight itself was incredibly hype, it sort of felt like the tipping point where the series began losing what made its main character feel so distinctive and unique compared to other shonen heroes. The series doesn't become outright bad, per se, but it definitely starts to feel more generic as it progresses past that point, which I guess was kind of inevitable unless Horikoshi wanted it to go really dark and have Deku ACTUALLY destroy himself bit by bit with every fight until he died from it, which... wait that actually could have been a way more interesting direction to take the series...
Wait let him cook??? I wouldve read that religiously bro the non stop tension of wondering how much lower the mc who you have hope for can go would create such hype tension
I don’t think Deku is an underdog when even when using a pitiful percentage of his power his Quirk is still only probably beaten by a handful of people, but I agree with you on losing interest after the Deku vs Todoroki fight for the same reason. It is a neat concept for the protagonist to need to inflict damage upon themselves just to have a chance.
@@MayHugger I feel like he was an underdog in several situations because of how haphazardly he used his power: not just him damaging his body but him not having the experience to control/direct it effectively. A lot of people with weaker quirks (Stain and Todoroki both come to mind) were hugely advantaged against him just on the basis of knowing how to use their combat skills against him effectively while he was just kinda flailing around finding his footing in the early parts of the series.
@@bakuhakudraws5603 Ah yes, weaker quirks like the literal prodigy miracle child that is Todoroki letting him instantaneously freeze an entire stadium arena, while simultaneously being able to produce fire just as powerful. If he’s an example of weaker quirks, then that kinda proves my point about Deku not being an underdog, he was still way stronger than pretty much everyone.
@@MayHugger Compared to One for All, yeah, I feel like Todoroki's Quirk is weaker, but also Deku being an underdog in any specific fight is not equivalent to Deku being an underdog overall. We know from square one Deku has the potential to be an absurdly overpowered hero, but he's an underdog in several specific fights not because the opponents' quirks are stronger than his (there literally aren't any of those) but because the opponents themselves are more experienced/skilled than he is and put their quirks to better use regardless of which one can be stronger when used to its full potential.
I'd have to nominate Osamu versus Hyrein, from _World Trigger._ So much comes into play, tactics, teamwork, strategy, multiple sacrifices, etc. It's still an impossible fight, and ultimately Osamu loses in almost every possible way...except that he achieves his win condition, losing the battle but winning the war.
6:37 it actually totally is a strategy in boxing. In fact it's the strategy that brought down Mike Tyson. Thats part of what makes it cool. The undefeated bot could hit so hard everyone went down in the first round. It was literally the story of Mike Tyson
