>>281460804
LOST is an interesting example, because while it has many sub-goals and sub-plots and things that progress, which each individually could be very strong and well executed, there isn't really every a sense that everything is working towards a clear overall goal or thought out conclusion. Western TV tends to hinge on things going by "season by season", where there has to be room made for stuff to happen "next season", even if the previous season was great and ended in a way that would have made for a natural conclusion. You see this in things like Prison Break or Stranger Things, where each could happily have been single season shows with fine conclusions, but were made to continue on and end in ways that basically beg for more funding for he next part.
>>281459975
>japanese authors decide upon a "state" of the world or the plot that they want it to be in by the end of the manga
This makes a lot of sense of things to me, as this seems to be the 'special' element that western series tend to lack in comparison to Japanese, and why the lack of strong endings feels like it damages Japanese series more than it does western ones. When an anime starts, it will often deliberately establish this sense that things are at least supposed to be progressing towards a significant state of affairs different from how things are that is something to anticipate.
In contrast, a 'prestige' show like The Sopranos might have a state of affairs set up and develop and elaborate on it in all kinds of ways, which can change (often abruptly) from one season to the next, but there's never a sense that there's supposed to be a particular end goal or state in mind, the show is simply following the ins and outs of a mob family and using that premise to explore various things, it isn't hooking you by hinting at some greater destiny for things, like anime more often does.
