This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Gus Does the title of this entry reflect the contents? Is this comment here if no one ever reads it?
Dark Sasami: Well, from a quantum physics perspective, it makes sense. Schroedinger's assertation was that quantum mechanical theory was incomplete because in his gedankenexperiment the cat in the box would be in an absurd state of being simultaneously alive and dead — which, in a way, so are the characters to which this trope applies. Interestingly, in the Presea example from Rayearth, it appears that the waveform eventually collapsed.
Also, this article has serious spelling problems. It should really be Schrödinger; failing that it's usually Schroedinger, as in the entry. The title is problematical.
Citizen: It's not a serious problem. The ö would be too annoying to type, so leave it be. SchrödingersCat can be the redirect to here, since people would more often type Schrodingers Cat than SchrödingersCat.
Ununnilium: A couple of the examples are just characters who are dead in one medium and alive in the other, without requiring any change. Should those be taken out?
Andyzero: That depends. Does the plot of the medium where they're alive resemble the plot of the one where they're dead at all? If it does, than it is an example. The point is that characters with differing "life" status in one medium than another are "fuzzy." They're far less likely to do anything that really matters.
Charred Knight: deleted this because I have no idea why it was added in the first place. Scar is portrayed about the same in both the manga and anime, and both get a lot of screen time. The manga version of Scar starts getting protrayed sympathetically when he gets a Morality Pet, and starts petting the dog with it.
- Not to mention Scar himself, who comes across more sympathetically in the anime… so that the audience will be sadder when he sacrifices himself.
Rebochan: I pulled this entry because...seriously, it's not an entry, its just a hard-to-read rant. It really just looks like its talking about Adaptation Decay than this trope. And Complaining About Shows You Dont Like.
- The Neon Genesis Evangelion manga adaptation suffers from one of the worst cases of Adaptation Decay-fueled Schrodinger's Cat Syndrome in recorded history, as well as one of the longest overdue conclusions in the history of adaptations, and despite Sadamoto's tendency to cut scenes — and in fact entire episodes and plot arcs — left and right only eleven volumes have come out in thirteen years, the plot currently hanging at the point of the JSSDF Invasion, as GAINAX is producing remakes of the original series. (of course you can't really call this an overtaking of the manga, as Sadamoto's first chapter came out months after the anime had completed its first run) But of course, the most juicy morsel is the plot-crippling Character Derailment: Sadamoto having a preoccupation with Rei, she ends up developing feelings for Shinji about halfway through the manga, the author apparently having forgotten about Armisael, leading to long, unnecessarily and frustratingly ambiguous and redundant scenes mirroring the TV series, and in the process reducing what was in the original a heroic moment of self-sacrifice and realization of her own humanity for Rei into a blatant and idiotically executed Diabolus ex Machina; then of course we have Shinji, who underwent a magical transformation from quiet, broken boy willing to do nearly anything for some sign of affection to a sullen Jerkass who spends half his time brooding angrily and the other half pulling idiotic but cowardly stunts just to flip everyone the bird, and whenever Sadamoto realizes that the plot of the original was actually character driven, suddenly descends into cardboard cutout Wangst and just as suddenly jumps back; and I won't even go into Asuka.
Clarabell: Does this apply for the Cowboy Bebop movie? Or does the movie actually fit within the continuity of the series (or after it ... somehow)?
SpiriTsunami: What about spin-offs? A Western example that seems to fit would be Bobby Ewing—killed off in Dallas, his death has plot implications on simultaneously-running spinoff Knots Landing, then his death, and an entire season of Dallas, gets Hand Waved away as All Just a Dream. The interweaving broke up then, and little Bobby Ewing of Knots Landing remained named after his dead uncle.
