2009-09-08, 08:31 | Link #41 | |||
Emotionless White Face
Join Date: Feb 2008
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He's courageous enough to take the exams to Todai again and again. But he lacks some things, and is shy. I think LH (the manga. I didn't watch the anime), is a good story. Not mean to be realistic (I guess no RL man is immortal like keitaro is), but in which you can see people evolving, and somewhat modify their pov about him. Not only Keitaro, but also the other people around him. For example, Motoko sees him as a weak and stupid person (somewhat), but also learns to appreciate his kindness and his "hidden" courage throughout the story. Quote:
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Now if I was wrong, I apologize. But please, watch your words, especially when you reply to a generalization. Thanks in advance. |
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2009-09-08, 08:36 | Link #42 | ||
Baka Inu~
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2009-09-08, 08:54 | Link #43 | ||
Emotionless White Face
Join Date: Feb 2008
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Now Keitaro "might" be put in the jerks bag by some people if you consider that during a good part of the story, he doesn't say clearly to the other girls that he aims for Narusegawa. The problem is that he is oblivious about other girls feelings, even if I think he has some doubts, but maybe because he fears to look like an idiot if he asks it, he prefer to stay quiet. ( Being oblivious about other people' feelings, is something that can happen IRL too. In this case, the person is not a jerk who acts like that on purpose to hurt other people feelings. Now, as i said, i didn't watch/read a lot of harem series, and so I don't talk about the characters (girls and boys) who are aware that many people love them, and don't clearly reject them if not interested. ) About the promise, I think it affected him in some way. Because it gave him a goal. If he tries so hard to enter Todai, it's because that girl is important to him even after all those years, and because he made a promise. It sounds silly because it's a promise made between little kids, but he actually needs some kind of courage to actually stay true to it. I don't believe every people actually choose things "just like that". Like "i will enter a law school", pouf. A lot of people have reasons, goals, dreams behind their decisions. And I believe it can help them to make some step in their life. So the promise, in my opinion, was the trigger that helped him to build his future in a nice way. I think Akamatsu might have tried to tell his readers that you can have a goal, and work hard during a veeeeeeeery long time before achieving it. But he also tells us that you need a bit of luck, and also that having people around you to cheer you up can help. Quote:
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2009-09-08, 09:07 | Link #44 | |
耳をすませば
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Toronto, Canada
Age: 34
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In the anime Spoiler:
In the manga Spoiler:
By the way I don't think retaking Toudai exams over and over again is courageous. The way he's portrayed is more of a loser who has no aims or goals except this one hazy memory that he pursues with little hope, and even then he doesn't exactly give it his all.
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2009-09-08, 09:55 | Link #46 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2008
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Well Keitaro is basically the prototypical male lead so his archetype is used in many other harems as well. A lot of harems end up being similar to Love Hina in one way or another with the same trope about girls eventually coming around to like the male lead.
I think the gist of the some of the argument here is that kindness and generosity shown by the male lead "misleads the girls" around him. But I don't think that's the case at all. The story is written such that the girls like him because of that attribute, and not that he's using that attribute to lure girls in. Conversely it's like saying a girl being nice and friendly towards you implies that she likes you, which is of course not true. Actually this scenario parodied a lot in anime where we see the guy--usually the sidekick--ending up disappointed because he mislead himself into thinking that. On meekness, I'm reminded of when Burt Reynolds, Trans-am driving mustached celebrity 'badass', often joked about (and a funny person himself), but still viewed as a manly man, said this about Willie Nelson on an interview with Jay Leno regarding the 2005 remake of the Dukes of Hazzard: (unfortunately there's no video clip online) Quote:
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2009-09-08, 11:38 | Link #47 |
Banned
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Another thing to adress in harems is the impossible way the lead ends up with a harem in the first place. It is always some magical or too ideal way where he is alone all his life and then 5 bishoujos end up in his life at the same time.
Is it his charms, darn luck, fate, plot elements that lead to this? From what I see, the leads never wanted girls around them in the first place. It's the girls coming in their lives uninvited and demend attension, marriage, sex, whatever. The reasons are more or less far fetched as well. Childhood friend, binded by destiny, best genes for offsprings. So, who are the real jerks here? |
2009-09-08, 12:09 | Link #48 | ||
Baka Inu~
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Here's another realistic harem scenario thing: The "leads" in question have no male friends. Sure, they may have one best friend who you will see occasionally, but these boys have really low social skills. All they do is hang around with the girls and usually do not hang around with other people or try to get to know other people. And there's usually no explanation for why they are anti-social, they just...are. I also wonder why this happens. |
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