Quote:
Originally Posted by Ledgem
I saw you mention this before, and I'm afraid that I don't really understand what you mean. The characters are works of fiction - how can they have freedom, or get away from the writers? Can you give me some examples of characters that are the opposite? (Ideally from series that aren't from within the past two years - I haven't watched anime heavily in quite a while!)
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It's a little hard to describe, but basically, a good character has to be someone I'm interested in seeing an entire movie or book about. They either have to be someone who feels like they can exist, or if they're unrealistic, they have to be really comfortable with that fact. They should NEVER exist just to represent something. They should be characters first and symbols second, similar to how female characters should be characters first and females second. Let's look at some examples:
This isn't anime, but one show that had great characters was the 90s Batman cartoon, particularly the villains. They felt like real people with complex motivations. They felt alive because you could tell why they were doing bad things, plus the show felt like they controlled the plot rather than the writers. Okay yes, a bunch of them sort of turned generic in future episodes, but I loved how when Poison Ivy wasn't ruling the world with plants, she was hanging out with Harley Quinn to go shopping or prance around the house in just a shirt and panties.
For a character that's unrealistic, but still great (and not the Joker), I would say Ed from Cowboy Bebop. She's so batshit insane, but she's comfortable with who she is, because that's how she gets by. I think that's what a lot of kooky characters lack these days. Being comfortable with being a kook. Take away that comfortableness, and you get someone who obviously exists because the writers says he/she exists.
A wimp I really like is Yuki from Future Diary because he's meant to be a sycophantic jackass, plus his cowardly nature makes his relationship with the female lead more interesting. It's fun to see him digging himself deeper into a grave, plus you can actually see why he's such a wimp and the show actually uses his wimpy nature to its advantage. GC doesn't really take advantage of Shu's wimpiness other than for something comedic (that I don't find funny) and usually uses it to slow the plot down. But that's just me, as I don't think many people would consider that as a good reason to like a character.
One character I really hate (even more than the GC characters) is Nathan Drake from the Uncharted video game series. Talk about Hollywood-constructed. I hated how every time a bad guy threatened him, he just made a smug face and went "Oh no, he's threatening me" to the point that I just wanted to smash his face in. And that's just one of his many MANY problems. He had no flaws that he had to overcome, he had no problem killing shitloads of people (even pulling an innocent security guard to his death in Uncharted 2), and he's always motivated initially by greed. The only time he showed depth was in Uncharted 3, but even then, that was squandered because they didn't go in-depth about it. Oh, and he never faces consequences because the game was specifically made to make him invincible.
There's also a character from a movie called Airborne that I really hate. The main was a pacifist, but his pacifism wasn't the least bit convincing because he quoted Gandhi all the time, but he still talked tough to people, and then he pulled a guy's pants down at the end. And he never faces the consequences of his actions. It's like he's a pacifist because it's a fad.
I think Shu shares the same problem with the kid from Airborne in that he seems to be a coward because it's a fad. I wouldn't go so far as to say as he didn't face the consequences of his actions, but it's obvious he was created just to be the character you were supposed to project yourselves onto. He also shares Nathan Drake's problem in that the only reason he's so great is because the anime treats him like he's the only character who matters while the others get bit parts that's disguised as help. I'm glad he's not Gai, because I hate the 1-D confident types more than the 1-D wimpy types, but I still can't get into him.