Anime’s Hidden Four Act Story Structure

Most people are familiar with the monomyth and the Western 3-Act story structure. But when it comes to critiquing anime, there is one term that is rarely mentioned, despite being one of the cornerstones of Japanese composition: Kishoutenketsu, the four act “structure without conflict“. In this video I try to give an overview of the structure, how universal it is across anime and manga (not just yonkoma), all using Kimi no na wa (Your Name) as an example. Please check out Joe from Pause and Select’s video on Kishoutenketsu here: 00:00 - Ki 起 03:09 - Shou 承 05:16 - Ten 転 08:29 - Ketsu 結 Music Used: Various Tracks from the Kimi no na wa soundtrack Nandaka - Kurihara Masaki gloomy sky - Dee Yan-Key Tokyo Ondo ものしりのそらへ - mekoisu Sources Used: Tofugu article on Kishoutenketsu -