Amake wrote:The technical term is "story hook", but you were close.
One that I like is the beginning of the first episode of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, where you see the characters atop the head of the enormous robot atop the gigantic battleship on the head of the cyclopean robot fighting a battle of astronomic scale. Just your basic "look how powerful our heroes are going to become eventually" preview, but it does such a good job of showing the show's concept of going to the absolute most ludicrous limits of excess and then a step further, and it does it with such fluid grace. If you went into it not knowing what to expect (somehow), I think that introduction would give you a good idea and make you want to watch more of it. So, an effective hook.
Oh, yes, of course. I know the term. Just somehow slipped my mind.
I do mean specificly hocks at the start though as obviously with any ongoing thing they try to introduce new reasons to keep reading as they wrap up others. (at least when written well, leaving too many hocks unresolved is just asking for trouble latter). I also love Warren Ellis writting but I confess I cant remember any starts. I would check my own collection - but somehow I have ended up owning Planetary Vol 3 and 4 but not 1 and 2. I got NextWave somewhere but not sure where. [/not organised]
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That anime sounds like my sort of thing.
Sounds like it might have inspired Xenoblade - a game where at one point near the end a guy in a mech suit climbs into another robot which itself climbs into a robot controlling the whole games world....which is a robot.
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Anyway a few from films;
"Stranger Then Fiction" - Starts with a narrator summing up a guys life and habits. Almost Amelie or Pushing Daisy's like in tone (highly detailed numbers and stats).
But then the protagonist hears the narrator.
"City of Ember" - Footage of a important package being sealed and being passed from generation to generation then abandoned. Not sure why it hocked me exactly. Just elegant I guess. Might have worked better without the voiceover though.
Paprika - Too much to some up. Just awesome. Couldn't look away.