Kishotenketsu is a excellent way to expand your skills and knowledge as a screenwriter. I personally love studio ghibli films and believe they have tapped into something that everyone should check out. Discord: / discord
I think this is wrong. Araki talks about kishotenketsu in his book on manga, and it’s really no different than 3 act structure. It’s centered around conflict. Ki is act 1 setup. Sho is inciting incident and first half of act 2. Ten is second half to the act 3 climax. And ketsu is denouement. The ghibli films all have conflict and character growth. I think what sets them apart is just Miyazaki’s style - melancholy, and a lot of slow paced scenes of introspection. However it’s all within more or less normal plot structure.
You're not completely wrong. Most film structures is a more advanced version of a 3 act structure. 1. Kishotenketsu spends a lot more time on the set up and use a lot of slow moments early to understand the characters. I find in other structures the inciting incident is usually in the first 1 to 10 minutes while kishotenketsu can be half way or not at all. It's weird. 2. Conflict tends to be in a lot of the films but it doesn't control the film as much. For example na filmsconstantly use tension to thicken the plot and draw the reader in.
So basically yes they have small conflict but it is more of a internal growth for the characters. Of course with other ghibli like princess monoke their is clearly conflict but in kikis yes she needs a place to stay and she loses the cat doll but it's really about a child coming of age and understanding the depths of competence and purpose... like even when she finds the doll does it go into a falling action. For me it doesn't feel like it. Personally for me it feels like you're just following someone living their life
This is all so interesting to me!!! I wish you went into more depth about all of this, for instance, the fact that the inciting incident can be halfway through! I want to write in the kishoutenketsu structure, but I don't really know how, and the western structures are all I'm used to
The difference is in the first part. In classic 3 act structure the transition from Act 1 to Act 2 happens after an initial inciting incident introduces an overall conflict for the story and characters to resolve. In Kishotenketsu, you actually don’t need to introduce an overall conflict in the first part. It can just be "Ki: Characters arrive in a new town. Sho: They explore." Now within the Sho you’ll introduce small "conflicts" but the characters don’t have to be working towards the resolution of an overall goal or problem set at the start of the story. It relies more on the scenario you introduce in "Ki" to be interesting enough to be explored until the "Ten" twist comes to flip it on its head and renew audience interest. If the situation you introduce in the first step contains an inherent conflict then it ends up lining up pretty well with the classic 3 act structure.
Curious, considering kishotenketsu (AKA qǐ chéng zhuǎn hé) has been around for centuries, and the western 3 act structure was developed in...1970. qǐ chéng zhuǎn hé was developed because of China's long history of famine and war. "Conflict" was not seen as desirable, and people didn't want to see plays or read poems about high tension, high stakes stories. You could probably argue the opposite for the birth of modern Western story structure; since western (eg white) cultures have enjoyed around a century of relative peace, we look for more excitement in our stories. (For more info, check out episode 6-04 of Wes Cecil’s Human Arts podcast, “Chinese: Languages and Literature”.) Keep in mind, too, that the whole "Hero's Journey" Power of Myth Joseph Campbell crap came about due to Campbell not seeing the forest for the trees; he looked at old books and saw that they all had stories about singluar, self-sacrificing heroes that saved the world. He pinned the story of Christian Jesus as the origin of this almighty "mono-myth". Unfortunately, he didn't read the actual history surrounding these stories, and failed to notice the multiple periods of anti-intellectualism where thousands of books were burned by the church. So the only stories that survived, were the ones deemed "acceptable" by the church, i.e. having themes and plots where the protagonists were "Christ-like". Much of the West's ideas about storytelling basically come from this cognitive bias!
So basically, 1. kishotenketsu is to focus less on the story and more on the characters. Half the movie is the setup of the characters and the development. 2. Understanding moments. Spirit Away best moments are not the climax or the ending but the aspect shots where you feel like you can connect with what the character on a different level. Kishotenketsu is a great outlet for this because with the slow pacing and development these moments stick. 3. So overall just let your characters grow naturally. The hardest part of kishotenketsu is when you don't understand your characters. I will be releasing a video on friday discussing building characters. But kishotenketsu is a lot of fun and not to difficult. Just practice the comics several times. Studio Ghibli can connect to audiences better than any other filmmaker because they target there theme is youth.
I think i can see how this structure might work for short stories, but what about a movie-length story or a series? In some anime series I've watched, I think I see what looks like a series of shorter stories strung together to create a longer story. Since this story structure ends in what could be considered a "new normal", the ending of one story does seem to be free to also lead into the opening of another.
This structure comes from China, Japan has historically borrowed a lot of Chinese culture to do their own, but because they had a lot of directors and are the most open country of East Asia within recent decades, they made the Kishoutenketsu internationally famous, thus putting the name in Japanese
I have never seen a good kishotenketsu-story that was devoid of conflict. Every good story needs conflict. Every good protagonist needs to struggle and strive to accomplish a goal. The difference between a western story-arcs and kishotenketsu is that when the protagonist in kishotenketsu learns his lesson, it does not propel him/her to change the world. They rather change their perspective on things and/or learn to accept the inevitable. Unlike western protagonists they have no power to change the status quo, but they can grow with the change.
The difference isn't exactly in the existence or abscence of conflict, rather, it's how the story is thought of. It can indeed not have a conflict. For example, in the simple Yonkoma format, kishoutenketsu is applied, and there's no conflict, yet the very small story presented is interesting and funny. In "Slice of Life" type of stories, there's a complete abscence of conflict, yet they can be intriguing stories nonetheless. It can have a conflict, but it isn't necessarily introduced at the beginning. In the traditional Western way, the conflict is necessarily introduced at the very beginning, and it accompanies the main story until it's resolved. And the story and the characters' emotions revolve around it. In Kishoutenketsu, If there's a conflict at the beginning, it may start the story, but not necessarily become the main problem to be resolved. For example, in Isekai anime, there's a protagonist who either passes away and is reincarnated into another world, or is transported via supernatural means. That's at the beginning of the story. In a Western 3 acts part, you may find that it's the big conflict that will need to be resolved in the end. Because the character is stranded from home. But in Koshoutenketsu it's not a conflict, but the beginning of a "new life" (hence, the character can reincarnate and start anew). In this new world, the protagonist will meet different people and encounter different situations. Once we have a good grasp of the character, its inner emotions, and the setting, the character finds a "sudden turn" in the story. Which can be a conflict or not. It can be a Realization of Something Important in the new world instead. Or the life of the main character is saved by someone, and that meeting is the "turning point" that we focus on. You could say it's a conflict, but the story will now center around the characters' inner world and inner conflicts, as they journey to resolve one (or more often several), problems or conflicts that are presented in their way. Finally, there will be several "mini-kishoutenketsu" presented along the path. It's so essential in Japanese manga, that each page is thought of in a "kishoutenketsu" manner. And in each anime chapter there's also a kishoutenketsu. I like GUST games (Atelier, Ar Tonelico series), and their stories are very good and interesting. And they have some of the most clear Kishoutenketsu I've seen in Japanese games. Because they have lenghty Ki and Shou, where nothing occurs except we're immersed in the world of the characters. Also, you can have both at the same time, if you want. I think the best example of this is Star Wars. At least the ones where George Lucas was in charge. Because you can think of the episodes 1-6 and subdivide each one of them very neatly in both Western story structure and Kishoutenketsu. And also the entire story presented in the 6 films can be split in both ways. And also each of the 2 trilogies.I believe this is because the creator of the story admired Akira Kurosawa.
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