Ok, besides some obvious things in Gen Urobuchi’s writing tool box will be ignored for this post. Especially since I want to talk about them in a little more detail later. But in general, Gen Urobuchi is very good at what he does for the most part. There are some duds that he has worked on or left early on that have ended up pretty bad or just mediocre. Looking at you, Aldnoah.Zero, Godzilla Film Trilogy, and other things. Yeah… But in general, you can expect something interesting out of Gen Urobuchi’s writing even if you know what tropes he is playing with. To me, that is why seeing the new thing he works on is always a treat even if the product does not end up well. His failures are just as interesting as his successes.
Gen Urobuchi is a person that write his characters more like concepts then actual characters. So yeah, he does play into some tropes every time that could be interesting. At the same time, how each of his character speak and embodies their trope in such a unique way sells them as characters. Or having them have their own lives outside of being a hero that makes them feel like they belong as real humans. I feel like he is the successor to Tomino’s own writing style in some ways. There is a certain level of play acting that Tomino has which Urobuchi’s writing also goes for, but you don’t feel like your mind is being put through a blender with Urobuchi’s writing. There is a certain naturalness that gives his writing work as well as it does that not many other writers can even do.
There is also the fact that Gen Urobuchi’s writing is also so versatile in the genre he has worked with. I mean, there is always some similar ideas and characters that play into each story he has worked on. From mecha to cyberpunk to fantasy to crime drama to Godzilla and who knows what is next. That’s true and writers always focus on similar tropes to their works here. Just like Anno and his writing or Shinichiro Watanabe in his writing. Yet, the amount of work that these character tropes and other things can be astounding. The fact that Gen Urobuchi’s writing fits these genres so well shows he knows what he is doing or how to adapt to any style present to his craft.
Next, there is the shear relatability in his work. Gen Urobuchi has tapped into something in his writing that knows the cultural consciousness. The dirtiness of society. People trying to cope with society around them. Especially with society not being perfect anymore and while that was true in the 2010’s when the unnaturalness of society was already revealed a bit more through internet at high speeds. There is something about society pressuring girls in Madoka that could be relatable. Same with the internet and social media pushes people in Psycho Pass. Or so many other things. Either way, there is something to connect with in his stories that works for so many people and it works well for all of it.
Lastly for this post thing, I want to discuss how much the fights in a lot of Gen Urobuchi’s series matter. I mean, that is something which depends on the series that is watched. For example, Fate/Zero’s fights aren’t as amazing as one would think they are or do you think people talk about the fight scenes in Madoka besides the Mami and Homura fight in Rebellion? (Yes, there are good fights in Zero, but they have a lot of pauses in-between with characters reflecting on their actions). I don’t think so. Same with Psycho Pass somewhat. For all of Psycho Pass’s excellent fight choreography, they last about two minutes each top. There is very ends justify the means in his fights unless you mention Thunderbolt Fantasy which is one of the highlights. The characters matter more then the fights even if they end up changing them in the end. Something which is good or bad depending on the viewer’s tastes.
So here you are. A few of the many reasons why I find Urobuchi’s writing here. Some of them. There are Ideas and thoughts that I don’t want to get into detail for right now because I will discuss them soon. You will see them in the coming weeks! Hope you are prepared for a few more weeks worth of somewhat enjoyable Gen Urobuchi content maybe. Not only anime, but looks into his reputation and what parts of his work really sells me on him. This is, once again, again a quick over view for things that could have been explored more deeply in longer blog posts. With only have a limited amount of time, sometimes a quick summary is necessary. Whatever is the case, we are here to explore the poor of Gen Urobuchi. The expert and professional writer.
Mechanical Anime Reviews 