Antagonists in anime
*Note: The purpose of this writing is not to criticize anyone, nor any specific piece of work. It's just observational, and based upon my own opinions. No offense is meant toward anyone. Also, as usual, when I LJ cut the work, my formatting screwed up... being computer illiterate sucks, sometimes. >.< Sorry for the ugly result.*
By now, ( Read more... )
By now, ( Read more... )
Though there are stories which are good despite the fact that the villains are just some sort of amorphous non-sentient force of destruction. In this case the heroes' personalities and problems need to be very good, though, and their struggles and adventures particularly engaging and the reader must believe that they are really in danger.
On villain type three: I agree that fleshing those out and making them believable characters is damn hard. Haven't really found the solution yet but one thing I've learned is that none does and thinks evil stuff 24/7.
Yes, your villains is a murderous sociopath, but in his spare time he also likes taking long walks and painting. (So I guess that makes him a "Mad Artist", no? XD)
Plus there are probably plenty of people who he never hurt for one reason or another or who think fondly of him, perhaps even if they know him well.
And he must have (or had) a family and people he grew up with.
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I've personally never encountered a story that lacked a human face for its antagonists that I was able to enjoy fully, but my inner fanboy requires a villian like that for me to be content, so that's as much a fault for me as anything to do with the story.
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What kind of good guys/main characters do you usually enjoy? ;)
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With that in mind, I suppose my favorite leads would be the ones who have more moral ambiguity, and who aren't portrayed as the "right" or "pure" but just another perspective of the whole.
A good anime example, though his borderline incestuous fascination made him harder for me to like, and I typically prefer his elder brother, who was attempting the very same thing, in the end, is Lelouch from Code Geass.
Also, older protagonists tend to be much deeper and easier for me to appreciate, because they lack the posturing and whininess of shonen teen leads. Dr. Tenma of Monster is an example of one of these, since he technically embodies many traits common amongst leads, but being a middle-aged brain surgeon, he fits the role more naturally.
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Monster... I need to read the rest of that series one day.
And watch more than one episode of CG.
The only time a lead character has a serious chance of being my fave is if it's a female. Yeah, my bias is showing. Agreed on prefering adults over whiny teens as leads.
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I'm surprised you were able to start Monster and then drop it. ^^ It was recommended to me about a month back. She told me that if I loved villians, I'd love monster. I started reading, and got completely sucked in. Read all 162 chapters in 4 days.
It was a bit like Claymore, loved the background art, most of the character designs were lackluster.
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