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Originally Posted by hyl
Sorry, but can you explain why changing the appearance of some characters would have changed the dynamics of a story? Personally i think changing the personality traits of characters would have a bigger impact on the story rather than the appearance though, unless the change is extreme (like a gender change, but that would probably also effect the personality a little)
An example why i disagree with that statement are live action adaptions of anime or mangas. While some characters don't even look close to their manga/anime counterpart , the story itself was not that effected (of course we have take into account the limitations of live action).
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Definitely changing the personality of characters would have a direct impact to how stories would be written, but alot of times, the personalities of characters are decided based on their appearances as well. A good writer must be able to take into account the appearance of characters, why they look like they are and how people interact with such appearance.
Let's use my example of Mikuru being taller than Kyon. This as well as the other examples were thought up quite quickly and randomly, not exactly very well thought design decisions. But lets see what kind of changes would this bring to the character dynamics, interactions and how the story will need to be rewritten.
Mikuru being taller than Kyon is probably the biggest change, if she's taller than Kyon, would Kyon still have the same level of attraction towards her? Kyon would still find her pleasing to his eyes, but will not be as attracted simply because she's taller than him. Mikuru would have super model proportions and would be 'out of his league'. Originally Mikuru's petit frame is also why she is easily bullied by Haruhi, would a larger frame make her more confident and less of a pushover?
By changing Mikuru's vulnerability and attractiveness, it would change the outcomes of various events that happened in the original story. This would mean that it would change the objective of the 'higher ups' that sent Mikuru to the past. Because Kyon would be less attracted to Mikuru and Haruhi not going to push Mikuru around as much, there would be a much lesser chance of Mikuru driving a wedge between Kyon and Haruhi. In order to make Mikuru as significant to the story as she was originally, she would need to sent from the future for another purpose.
If I were to include pink hair Yuki and bald Itsuki, there would be even more changes. Would pink Yuki be as transparent and have as little presence as the original? She would probably attract much more attention and easier to spot, the Data Entities probably sent for a more engaging purpose that surveillance. Especially when all normal people have normal coloured hair, Yuki's pink hair would make her very outstanding, Kyon may find her more interesting and approachable. If Itsuki was bald, he would be less of a bishi and would tick off Kyon less. Kyon would probably find him more of just a brainy guy than obnoxious.
EDIT: About your argument on movie casting.
There's a reason why casting actors is a very big decision when making a film, actors have to fall into a set of criteria. In the case of Batman, all he needs for his appearance is a square jaw, since the rest is covered in costume. And Robin just needs to be shorter than Batman. If Batman has a sharp chin and Robin is taller, we know something is terribly wrong. There are lots of people who can work as Batman, but much more who can't. Like Batman has to be caucasian, this means at least 75% of the world can't be Batman.