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| - Second in popularity only to the Tournament Arc, the Rescue Arc is one of the most popular plots for Shonen series. It boils down to this: One of the hero's close friends, usually a main character themselves, has been kidnapped by some powerful force, so the hero gathers his True Companions, saddles up his horses, and heads off to get them back, (inevitably) beating the crap out of anyone who tries to stop him. Storming the Castle is usually the climax to this plot. See also Tournament Arc and War Arc. Examples of Rescue Arc include:
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| abstract
| - Second in popularity only to the Tournament Arc, the Rescue Arc is one of the most popular plots for Shonen series. It boils down to this: One of the hero's close friends, usually a main character themselves, has been kidnapped by some powerful force, so the hero gathers his True Companions, saddles up his horses, and heads off to get them back, (inevitably) beating the crap out of anyone who tries to stop him. Usually, the villains of the Arc want to use the friend for some higher purpose or task, but the hero's rescue effort is motivated solely by a sense of duty and friendship. Since friendship always wins out, this means that the protagonist usually ends up on the victorious side. The rescuee is usually female and sometimes a love interest, but not always. A bizarrely common thread in these plots is that the rescuee doesn't want to be rescued (or believes they don't deserve to be), and has to be talked into returning by the hero. Expect lots of shots of them moping about in a cell, wangsting about their life. Storming the Castle is usually the climax to this plot. See also Tournament Arc and War Arc. Examples of Rescue Arc include:
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