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ArkhanTheBlack · 2009-07-14, 09:34

Actually, I read some novels myself, and I didn't had the impression that she changed that much. Maybe she got a bit more 'harder', but I wouldn't necessarily consider that as an exceptional character strength.

Tessa usually shows an exceptional amount of willpower when it really matters. In the first series when Sosuke chooses her for a hostage exchange instead of Kaname she isn't exactly thrilled about that. No fear or panic at all, instead she's pretty much pissed off.
Though the ultimate character test was the end of the first series when she was in the hands of Gauron. She caused a diversion to let Kaname escape and then gets threatened, beaten, thrown around and humiliated for 2 - 3 episodes by Gauron (Actually I found it very painfull to watch.). However she didn't give up and even tricked him knowing that this meant pretty much a death sentence for her. In the last scene before Sosuke came Gauron threw her against a wall and she was just laughing at him with bleeding face.

Okay, that's for the 'just a pretty face' nonesense! I wonder what Kaname would have done in such a situation. So far the most theatening thing she had to endure were probably Leonards kiss attacks. That's nothing against her, but being a tomboy doesn't automatically mean that a girl also has a lot of courage. There's a saying that you can only have courage if you know fear. Since Tessa is a very kind and sensible character that makes her courage even more exceptional.

Her weakness is that she tends to collapse a bit after the action. This is of course problematic in a long term war situation because it can negatively affect situations where you have make critical decisions like unavoidable sacrifices. Therefore you have to be a bit of a badass for such a job. However, in the second season and also the novels, she seems to get a bit more 'tougher' in this part.

Though, there's also a limit to how much psychological 'toughness' can be considered good. For example, there are two other good animes out there, Death Note and Code Geass which have a main character that shares some similarities with the Tessa character: Superior intellicence and physical weak or at least normal. Both Light Yagami from Death Note and Lelouch Lamperouge from Code Geass share those traits with Tessa but are otherwise completely different characters.
Light Yagami could be considered the perfect 'commander' since he's not only tough in a psychological sense, he's pretty much completely ruthless to a point where he can be considered as completely evil. You can be sure that he wouldn't hesitate to sacrifice or shoot anyone (including his only family).
Lelouch ('Anakin' also would have been a fitting name) is only slighly better since there are at least 'some' people he cares for. He has no problem to kill people if he thinks they are in his way (which equals evil in his view) which can happen quiet fast because of his exceptional power hungry character. There are also lots of situation where it wouldn't have been necessary to kill his opponents (not even counting the fact that he often had a lot of fun doing that). The fact that his Geass could be used to enslave people made most of his action in the first series pretty dumb anyway.
Anyway, the key point is that being able to sacrifice people isn't necessarily a character strength. A character like Tessa would always try to avoid bloodshed
if possible, but she would accept it if she sees no other options. Characters like Light Yagami or Lelouch would just choose the way of bloodshed just to satisfy their own lust for power and revenge. Actually they were interesting but nevertheless very weak characters characterwise (Just my opinion...).
Actually one of Tessas most exceptional traits is that although she gets a bit tougher later on she doesn't just degenerate like many characters of other shows in comparable situations.

Tessas very unique combination of cuteness, kindness, courage and smartness makes her my all time anime character favourite so far. However, I DO think that Kaname fits better to Sosuke since normality is probably what he needs most. And Kaname represents undoubtly a lot more 'normality' than Tessa does.

2009-07-14, 09:34	Link #28
ArkhanTheBlack Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2007	Actually, I read some novels myself, and I didn't had the impression that she changed that much. Maybe she got a bit more 'harder', but I wouldn't necessarily consider that as an exceptional character strength. Tessa usually shows an exceptional amount of willpower when it really matters. In the first series when Sosuke chooses her for a hostage exchange instead of Kaname she isn't exactly thrilled about that. No fear or panic at all, instead she's pretty much pissed off. Though the ultimate character test was the end of the first series when she was in the hands of Gauron. She caused a diversion to let Kaname escape and then gets threatened, beaten, thrown around and humiliated for 2 - 3 episodes by Gauron (Actually I found it very painfull to watch.). However she didn't give up and even tricked him knowing that this meant pretty much a death sentence for her. In the last scene before Sosuke came Gauron threw her against a wall and she was just laughing at him with bleeding face. Okay, that's for the 'just a pretty face' nonesense! I wonder what Kaname would have done in such a situation. So far the most theatening thing she had to endure were probably Leonards kiss attacks. That's nothing against her, but being a tomboy doesn't automatically mean that a girl also has a lot of courage. There's a saying that you can only have courage if you know fear. Since Tessa is a very kind and sensible character that makes her courage even more exceptional. Her weakness is that she tends to collapse a bit after the action. This is of course problematic in a long term war situation because it can negatively affect situations where you have make critical decisions like unavoidable sacrifices. Therefore you have to be a bit of a badass for such a job. However, in the second season and also the novels, she seems to get a bit more 'tougher' in this part. Though, there's also a limit to how much psychological 'toughness' can be considered good. For example, there are two other good animes out there, Death Note and Code Geass which have a main character that shares some similarities with the Tessa character: Superior intellicence and physical weak or at least normal. Both Light Yagami from Death Note and Lelouch Lamperouge from Code Geass share those traits with Tessa but are otherwise completely different characters. Light Yagami could be considered the perfect 'commander' since he's not only tough in a psychological sense, he's pretty much completely ruthless to a point where he can be considered as completely evil. You can be sure that he wouldn't hesitate to sacrifice or shoot anyone (including his only family). Lelouch ('Anakin' also would have been a fitting name) is only slighly better since there are at least 'some' people he cares for. He has no problem to kill people if he thinks they are in his way (which equals evil in his view) which can happen quiet fast because of his exceptional power hungry character. There are also lots of situation where it wouldn't have been necessary to kill his opponents (not even counting the fact that he often had a lot of fun doing that). The fact that his Geass could be used to enslave people made most of his action in the first series pretty dumb anyway. Anyway, the key point is that being able to sacrifice people isn't necessarily a character strength. A character like Tessa would always try to avoid bloodshed if possible, but she would accept it if she sees no other options. Characters like Light Yagami or Lelouch would just choose the way of bloodshed just to satisfy their own lust for power and revenge. Actually they were interesting but nevertheless very weak characters characterwise (Just my opinion...). Actually one of Tessas most exceptional traits is that although she gets a bit tougher later on she doesn't just degenerate like many characters of other shows in comparable situations. Tessas very unique combination of cuteness, kindness, courage and smartness makes her my all time anime character favourite so far. However, I DO think that Kaname fits better to Sosuke since normality is probably what he needs most. And Kaname represents undoubtly a lot more 'normality' than Tessa does.