History Main / Kishotenketsu

** [[spoiler:Ketsu: Eren’s former friends (and enemies) team up to stop him from exterminating the rest of the world, returning the series to its initial premise of saving humanity from the Titans.]]

* Despite following one side's [[Anime/CodeGeass material]] [[FusionFic closely]], ''Fanfic/CodePrime'' still manages to be somewhat structured in this way. The introduction begins with the Autobots and Decepticons landing on Earth and engaging with the Black Knights and the Britannian Empire respectively, the tension builds as both sides grow in power, the twist happens once [[spoiler: the Decepticons enact a multi-faceted plan to destroy Britannia and then flex further by moping the floor with the Black Knights and Autobots]]. ''R2'' is pretty much the resolution, though it's stretched to pretty much an entire season instead of a meager conclusive epilogue, though it is still present in ''R1'' when [[spoiler: Lelouch, the Black Knights, and the Autobots regain their resolve to continue the battle against the [[CrossoverVillainInChief now-dominant]] Decepticons]].

''Kishotenketsu'' (起承転結, pronounced "kee-show-ten-ketsu") is a traditional plot structure in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean literature and poetry, derived from the classical Chinese [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qijue four-line poems]]. Unlike the traditional Western ThreeActStructure, which is driven by a {{Conflict}} that is set up in the first act, reaches a turning point in the second, and is resolved in the third, ''kishotenketsu'' derives its narrative tension from the contrast between the baseline established by the first two acts and a twist applied to it in the third. The four acts are:

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' is effectively split in two halves: the World of Balance half contains the Introduction of the main party roster and the Development of their character arcs, leading up to their battle against the [[BigBad evil Emperor Gestahl]]. The Twist comes when Gestahl's own right-hand man Kefka turns on him, ascends to godhood, and ''[[ApocalypseHow ends the world]]''. The Conclusion then plays out [[TimeSkip a year later]] in the "World of Ruin", with the old heroes initially [[PartyScattering scattered all over]] a [[NothingIsTheSameAnymore largely redrawn world map]]. Even gameplay-wise, the World of Balance's tightly-scripted, largely linear plot, gives way to a much more open-ended, free-roaming exploration in the World of Ruin.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' is effectively split in two halves: the World of Balance half contains the Introduction of the main party roster and the Development of their character arcs, leading up to their battle against the [[BigBad evil Emperor Gestahl]]. The Twist comes when Gestahl's own right-hand man Kefka turns on him, ascends to godhood, and ''[[ApocalypseHow ends the world]]''. The Conclusion then plays out a year later in the "World of Ruin", with the old heroes initially [[PartyScattering scattered all over]] a largely redrawn world map. Even gameplay-wise, the World of Balance's tightly-scripted, largely linear plot, gives way to a much more open-ended, free-roaming exploration in the World of Ruin.

* Several ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' games, including ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'' and ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'', also use this story structure: initial exposition or an easy early victory; a first half of the game full of mounting tension, where something's wrong but you're not entirely sure what; a decisive break where the villain lands a major victory, and we learn what was really going on from the start; and then the rest of the game is a straightforward slog, where it's finally clear what needs to be done but there sure is a lot of it. ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' also uses this basic structure but with an InMediasRes approach: the Introduction, Development, and Twist already happened a century in the past, and it's up to you to find out the details through exposition, flashbacks, and [[StoryBreadcrumbs diaries]] all while spending the bulk of the game resolving these thread by defeating Ganon.

* Several ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' games, including ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'' and ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'', also use this story structure: initial exposition or an easy early victory; a first half of the game full of mounting tension, where something's wrong but you're not entirely sure what; a decisive break where the villain lands a major victory, and we learn what was really going on from the start; and then the rest of the game is a straightforward slog, where it's finally clear what needs to be done but there sure is a lot of it.

* Several ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' games, including ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'' and ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'', also use this story structure: initial exposition or an easy early victory; a first half of the game full of mounting tension, where something's clearly off but you're not entirely sure what; a decisive break where the villain lands a major victory, and we learn what was really going on from the start; and then the rest of the game is a straightforward slog, where it's finally clear what needs to be done but there sure is a lot of it.