TV shows/animes that influence your YA?

Laura Was Here said:

RevanWright: SOMEDAY I will write something with the same mood as Miyazaki movie and my life will have been successful.

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I only wish my imagination churned out fantasy like Miyazaki's. The whimsy of his movies is something all writers can aspire to have in their books.

YES Brotherhood all the way home. That anime stuck in my heart in twenty different ways.

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I forgot about FMA. I've gotten a bit of inspiration from Brotherhood, as well. Especially the final lines:
"A lesson without pain is meaningless. That's because no one can gain without sacrificing something. But by enduring that pain and overcoming it, he shall obtain a powerful, unmatched heart. A fullmetal heart."
That's a theme in itself. I also liked the original FMA series just because of it's overarching theme of redemption.

Boy Meets World anyone?

Also, I second Yeasayer's Dead Like Me! So freaking good, can't believe it got cancelled.

I forgot to mention I've also seen Princess Mononoke, Castle In The Sky, Sailor Moon, Dragonball and Dragonball Z. I'm sure I've seen more. Its just not all are memorable as anime is pretty much the only thing I watch.D: (Besides the news.)

Supernatural and Dexter are huge influencers for one of my YA WIPs. Everything else is influenced by books.

I find it interesting that Anime could influence YA, especially American YA...but I did just randomly name a minor character Nana (after NANA) and dressed her in gothic lolita...

Too many to list for both anime and TV shows.

My last MS was like a cross between Gundam Wing and Sailor Moon set in a medieval dystopia.

This current one is influenced a lot by Animorphs (which wasn't so much a TV show as a book series) but there's still some Sailor Moon in there because I can't escape it. I freaking love that show.

I'm working on two retellings of the beloved classics BEAUTY AND THE BEAST and THE LITTLE MERMAID.

I'm not going to lie--I also think it's evident by my avatar lol--that Disney was an inspiration. It's what everyone thinks of when these two stories come to mind, and what I grew up with as a child. In both cases, I'm trying to steer away from the Disney-path, and make my stories more unique by placing them in different settings and times, and giving them different themes. However, when I work on either one, I totally listen to "Be our Guest" and "Under the Sea."

CSI, Criminal Minds...

I think what really interests me about these (often flawed) shows are the minor characters. People who appear for one or two scenes and then disappear, red herrings, criminals etc. I find myself wondering about what life would be like if it was their story. The story that I keep rewriting and rewriting and rewriting is based on a stock character from all the crime shows: the oblivious girlfriend.

What makes American YA different from Japanese YA? I always figured YA was YA. Let me qualify that be meaning a dark contemporary school life is a dark contemporary school life everywhere.

JustSarah said:

Ghost In The Shell, Gantz, Monster, Ergo Proxy, Now And Then Here And There, Serial Experiments Lain, Elfen Lied, Gunslinger Girl, Texhnolyse, Saikano, Ghost Hunt.

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Yes, yes, yes to the bolded ones in your list. GitS:SAC also. I would also add Noein: To Your Other Self because I love, love, love parallel world themes and Sailor Moon will FOREVER be Queen of my heart. My other loves also include the sassy and flawfree ladies of Noir.

JustSarah said:

What makes American YA different from Japanese YA? I always figured YA was YA. Let me qualify that be meaning a dark contemporary school life is a dark contemporary school life everywhere.

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1. Not all anime can be considered YA.

2. You don't think culture makes a huge difference in one's life and outlook?

I just saw that this was supposed to be about TV shows and not movies, so my bad about the Disney stuff.

While seeing Les Mis and listening to the soundtrack non-stop (I know this isnt a TV show or anime, but bear with me) I found a lot of inspiration for my Little Mermaid retelling thanks to Eponie. She inspired me to write a more tragic heroine.

Belle_91 said:

I just saw that this was supposed to be about TV shows and not movies, so my bad about the Disney stuff.

While seeing Les Mis and listening to the soundtrack non-stop (I know this isnt a TV show or anime, but bear with me) I found a lot of inspiration for my Little Mermaid retelling thanks to Eponie. She inspired me to write a more tragic heroine.

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Well, there was a Little Mermaid TV show....

Oh I figured about the culture bit, I just wasn't sure what you meant by anime not being YA. Yea some of it would be considered Seinin, and Yenpress manga can something cold Older Teen. It just depends on the show.

katci13 said:

Well, there was a Little Mermaid TV show....

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Ah yes I forgot all about that. I used to love that show. Also, add Downton Abbey for something that influences me as my story is set kind-of-storta-near that time. Anyways, it deals with some of the themes.

My current WIP, Cross to Bear, is heavily influenced by the anime/mangas of Angel Sanctuary, Inuyasha, Black Butler, and a nice dash of Fullmetal Alchemist. I grew up on anime and reading mangas, so most of my stories are influenced by them one way or another. Hell, the first story I had ever written was in the fifth grade about my eternal crush, Sesshoumaru, and a character I made up. Writing Inuyasha fanfiction started me where I am today.

However, my current obsession right now a manga called Wolf Guy (the updated version). It's sick as hell, dark, and disgusting, but I absolutely adore it. It's funny how your taste changes over the years. However, I am also obsessed with Spice & Wolf. Sailor Moon was the first anime I was ever interested in growing up, but my dad, who is more obsessed with anime than me for as long as I can remember, got me interested in Dragonball, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Gundam, and Big O in elementary school.

It's great to know that anime is influential in a lot of writers' lives.

My YA fantasy wip was originally inspired by super-hero/sentai team stuff, like Sailor Moon/Power Rangers/Justice League/Ronin Warriors. It's probably becoming something else, though, like X-Men:Evolution or the H2O tv series.


(If you asked me several years ago, my story ideas were influenced by stuff like Pokemon/Digimon/Beyblade, along with Sailor Moon/Power Rangers, lol.)

One Piece and Fairy Tail. Not because either is particularly related to what I write about, but I enjoy their large ensemble casts, the focus on friendship and loyalty, and despite the fanservice in Fairy Tale I quite like how strong, independent, and goal-oriented the female characters are - they also have relationships with each other outside of the male characters in the story, so +1 for passing the Bechdel test, as well.

My next planned book is a YA Fantasy inspired by the "Once More With Feeling" episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. There aren't many similarities between the two aside from the main character being brought back to life, but I don't think I would have come up with the idea for the book overall if I hadn't watched Buffy.

If I were to narrow down three specific anime that specifically influenced my writing (As suppose to just casually watching), I would actually say Texhnolyse, Elfen Lied, and No.8.

The universe in my head started when I was watching the A-Team at 12 and was horrified at the token female character, so I made up a better one. That better female MC is now the mother of the MC in the novel I'm writing.

I watched way too much TV back then and was influenced by all of it.

Sometimes I worry that Buffy the Vampire Slayer has TOO much influence on my writing.