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Stories that surpass the original premise


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I'd like to hear about stories that surpass the original premise, that original "hook" that is meant to attract one into the story.

Many stories manage start with very enticing and unique premises, but sometimes they are such that if the premise gets resolved, the story has no future. Consider, for instance, the harem genre. Most stories in this genre have the hook of providing enticing scenes and drama with a group of characters, each attracting a given amount of fans, and then dragging this along as the story is built. Because the diverse array of characters attracts different fans, it is in the story's interest to never resolve this initial premise in any way, instead maintaining it and, for example, making the story a different genre that just happens to have harem.
In most cases, if the harem gets resolved, the story will die with it, not progressing much beyond that point.

One example I recall hearing about is a story about a girl who is super cold and mean to a boy, but she has the ability to become imperceptible to others, so she often activates it and expresses her affection in this way. Little does she know, he is actually the only one capable of perceiving her in these instances. So he's well aware of her affections, but he tries to keep it a secret because nobody is supposed to notice her when she's imperceptible. My feeble mind sees no way this story can continue once the initial premise is surpassed, but if it could, I feel it would be fantastic.

I believe that stories that can resolve their initial premise and then still progress beyond it for a reasonable length are the absolute best. Here's a few examples:

 

(Depending on what you consider spoilers, looking at this list given the topic of the thread may inherently be a spoiler. I will list the name of the story and then, in spoilers, explain why and how. The 'why and how' may be considered spoilers depending on tolerance, so please only open them if you do not mind that.)

Spoiler

 

Angel Densetsu

Spoiler

The protagonist gets his own group of people who completely understand him, despite the initial premise of being misunderstood by all.

My Monster Secret

Spoiler

A harem is born and resolved, and the story continues past that point.

Yamada's First Time: B Gata H Kei

Spoiler

The initial premise is shown to be Yamada wanting to lose her first time to a random loser so she can move on, but she sucks at it. She eventually gets falls in love with him and fails at the usual romance. Finally she gets together with him and the story continues for a while.

Kaguya-sama: Love is War

Spoiler

Despite the initial premise of both trying to make the other fall for them, once they do get together the story does not end.

No Matter How I Look at It, It's You Guys' Fault I'm Not Popular!

Spoiler

Despite the initial premise of being utterly unpopular, she gets a group of friends that she's popular with, and the story continues.

Yandere Kanojo

Spoiler

Initially set to be a secret relationship that's constantly being interrupted by others, it eventually becomes a very solid one that's acknowledged by select people.

Ojojojo

Spoiler

The protagonist is tsundere to people, but she surpasses that and forms meaningful bonds with people.

 

Does anybody know of more examples?

Edited by Mr Poltroon
Removed "manga". I don't care about the medium, just the story.
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1 hour ago, Fiddle said:

Others may disagree, but I've always believed Attack on Titan has a profoundly dumb premise, like it was pulled from a weird nightmare somebody had after sleeping for 10 hours. But somehow it turns into something amazing*.

*this is probably the part that others will disagree with.

we're about to have some words. or not? idk, you turned it around as you went along.

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I can agree that stories can be excellent when the initial premise is resolved or dealt with. That progress can help a story along or hinder it depending on anyone's point of view. However, it can be a problem if they progress too far in my opinion. I may be wrong, but some stories run far away from the concept it started on, that it isn't the same story anymore. I can't think of any examples right now, but I know some that have done this and it failed on them. But if done right, it is awesome.

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Well, Boku Girl starts as your typical fanservice genderswap manga, but the later half doesn't really have much fanservice at all, and turns into more "understanding yourself" kind of manga. Though, I guess, it's pretty standard for more modern gender benders.

If we count LNs (though there's a manga adaptation too), there's a recent license by Seven Seas, The Saint's Magic Power is Omnipotent. The general premise sounds like some kind of generic isekai story. Two girls get summoned to another world, one of them is named a saint, while the other is basically left to her own devices, while in reality is actually the second girl who is the saint. The whole thing actually gets resolved pretty quickly, and what I personally like about this series is that it doesn't try to make the other party look ridiculously evil, like many other novels like that do.

Can't really think about anything else, though I may remember something else if I think about it.

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3 hours ago, Dreamysyu said:

Well, Boku Girl starts as your typical fanservice genderswap manga, but the later half doesn't really have much fanservice at all, and turns into more "understanding yourself" kind of manga. Though, I guess, it's pretty standard for more modern gender benders.

Well, that certainly raised my interest. I typically love genderswap stuff if done right, they're just too rare though.

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Due to the spoilery nature of this topic, each spoiler box is only going to include a title.

Film:

Spoiler

Fight Club

JVN:

Spoiler

Subahibi (assuming you can even consider it to have a hook and/or premise going in)

JVN:

Spoiler

Euphoria

And to a far lesser extent:

Anime:

Spoiler

Charlotte

Video Game:

Spoiler

Yumina the Ethereal

 

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