Is it better for a manga to have an absolute end-game or to just go with the flow?

Fantastische Hure

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Most manga have an end-game even if it is just their first arc. E.G.: DragonBall (finding the DragonBalls & making the wish)

Manga have an absolute end-game. E.G.: One-Piece (finding the One-Piece), Detective-Conan (taking-down the organization & becoming normal again), Inu-Yasha (defeating Naraku), Yu-Gi-Oh! (regaining his memory)

but are there any manga with no absolute end-game? I don't know. I had the impression there were before I really thought about it, but maybe not.

Either way what is best?
 

Kyo

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It's hard to imagine that something that's been running as long as say Golgo 13 ever had an endgame. Never read it though.
 

Fantastische Hure

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Well yeah, now that you mention it. Stuff like Naoki Urasawa's Master Keaton too. Even Pokemon had the very vaaa~ague end-game of "I WAAAAAAAANNA BE THE VERY BEEEEEEST...".
 

Warmmedown

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I guess by an end game you mean a character's goal? Or just an ultimate climax in general, even if the character isn't aware it's coming? (every female pornhwa character)

There are a lot of manga that have an end game that isn't revealed until late on and I think that's usually more interesting than having a known end game tbh. Example would be I am a Hero...end game is...die somewhere? Become a zombie? Kill all the zombies? Cure all the zombies? Find out where the zombies came from and then die?
Some manga have an end game for one main character, but not for the others, like Dorohedoro (Kaiman's end game is to find his identity, but there isn't really one for the others).
Vinland Saga seems to have no stated end game and I think that makes it more interesting (not that I like it).

Drama type stuff usually falls in the same boat, even ones that aren't slice of life. I mean things like Oshimi's manga, Lookism and The Fable. And then the slice of life ones usually don't have one either, but I guess you're not talking about those.
Overall, looking through my list I really think most don't really have any strong pre-stated end game.

I guess individual arcs need an end game just to give them some structure, but again they don't necessarily have to reveal the end game until later in the arc. I think whether it's better to reveal it early or late just depends on what's needed to tell the story the author wants. Like in Dragon Ball the entire point of Goku and Bulma travelling together is to find the Dragon Balls, so they have to introduce that end game at the start. Meanwhile there are arcs like the Lookism one where they go on a school trip to the woods and you think it's just another arc about the MC trying to navigate school life (no end game in his mind and none shown), but then there's a kidnapping pervert and they beat him up, which becomes the end game of the arc - unlike the DB arc, the author had a choice of whether or not to show the pervert as the end game from the start, but it works better if it's a surprise. That's the only example arc I can think of, but you get the point.
 

Fantastische Hure

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I guess by an end game you mean a character's goal? Or just an ultimate climax in general, even if the character isn't aware it's coming? (every female pornhwa character)

There are a lot of manga that have an end game that isn't revealed until late on and I think that's usually more interesting than having a known end game tbh. Example would be I am a Hero...end game is...die somewhere? Become a zombie? Kill all the zombies? Cure all the zombies? Find out where the zombies came from and then die?
Some manga have an end game for one main character, but not for the others, like Dorohedoro (Kaiman's end game is to find his identity, but there isn't really one for the others).
Vinland Saga seems to have no stated end game and I think that makes it more interesting (not that I like it).

Drama type stuff usually falls in the same boat, even ones that aren't slice of life. I mean things like Oshimi's manga, Lookism and The Fable. And then the slice of life ones usually don't have one either, but I guess you're not talking about those.
Overall, looking through my list I really think most don't really have any strong pre-stated end game.

I guess individual arcs need an end game just to give them some structure, but again they don't necessarily have to reveal the end game until later in the arc. I think whether it's better to reveal it early or late just depends on what's needed to tell the story the author wants. Like in Dragon Ball the entire point of Goku and Bulma travelling together is to find the Dragon Balls, so they have to introduce that end game at the start. Meanwhile there are arcs like the Lookism one where they go on a school trip to the woods and you think it's just another arc about the MC trying to navigate school life (no end game in his mind and none shown), but then there's a kidnapping pervert and they beat him up, which becomes the end game of the arc - unlike the DB arc, the author had a choice of whether or not to show the pervert as the end game from the start, but it works better if it's a surprise. That's the only example arc I can think of, but you get the point.
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Yoshi

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It’s better for them to just go with the flow. That’s what Dragon Ball did and it revolutionized Manga.
 
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