How do you know you've reached new levels of nerdery? This is how.
OMG CANNOT WAIT FOR COUNTDOWN I'VE BEEN READING REPORTS AND I'M KIND OF RIDICULOUSLY EXCITED. I MAY HAVE SHRIEKED A LITTLE AT THE PIN STUFF. :| SHUT UP. :|
Anyway.
So, lazulisong needs to get out of my brain or I need to get out of hers, because COMPLETELY INDEPENDANT OF EACH OTHER, we both went, "Huh, you know, Arthur/Merlin kind of reminds me of Kagami/Tendou...." and that's just never going to end well. I was actually talking about it with tammaiya the other day because she is A VERY GOOD PERSON to indulge my Kabuto natterings still and we were discussing how similar the two epic OTPs are in a lot of ways.
Mostly it's with the whole, "You two were destined for each other, now go be totally gay at each other and kind of fail at having het relationships with your female castmates, oh and toss in a sun/moon theme while you're at it, would you?." and the whole, "Well, of course you look up to me, it's only natural. Also, you're crap at everything you do." vs "OH MY GOD YOU ARE SUCH A PAIN TO DEAL WITH." thing.
They're not perfect analogues to each other, some of the more interesting points is in how they differ, of course, but. It really is like this is England's answer to tokusatsu and what made Kabuto such a dear series to my heart. Right down to the red vs blue color theme!
And I know. Like, THREE OF YOU are going to get this. orz
(While there are none for Merlin, I would say this contains spoilers for Kabuto at least up to about the halfway point, possibly all the way through. I tried to be vague, but you'd still be spoiled, I think..)
Tendou vs Arthur:
Probably the biggest way in which Arthur and Tendou are similar is in that they are both ridiculously good at just about everything they do, both having polished surfaces that cover something a lot more complex and human. Both of them carry heavy loads on their shoulders, Arthur has the kingdom of Camelot that he will rule and Tendou has decided that he will be the one to kill all the Worm and protect the world for his important people. They both have the help of someone that was fated for them, both being kind of not exaggerating on that whole "destined" point.
They are both very firmly not sentimental and both like a good dose of Ignore It And It Will Be Repressed, but not to the point of denial about themselves. They both would wish to vomit at soppy endearments, except that would be uncivilized. They're both incredibly charismatic people who aren't really that close to more than a handful of people and both are kind of "....no thank you" to the more squishy emotions and would consider vomiting a lot should their partner inflict these things on them.
(I like Meg's post here to illustrate this nicely. It's the same for Tendou, he'd be fine with thoughts of Kagami fucking him over the table--well, not the one they ate on because you just don't do that where you eat--but creeping thoughts of curling up on the couch to watch bad movies while cuddling or holding hands would make him want to kill a lot of things in very nasty ways.)
Where they start to differ is in the burden on their shoulders and how it affects them. With Arthur we see past the polished surface much more quickly, he seems to be a lot more balanced than Tendou was, a lot more stable, a lot more able to put aside the attitude he wears in front of others. They both put a lot of energy into a facade of perfection, always above everyone else and always with a quick word to cut them down or dole out superior advice. But Tendou puts a lot more of himself into this facade than Arthur does and when he cracks, it isn't as slow a process. Instead, you see that Tendou really has put everything of himself into this mission and when things go pear-shaped, he falls apart because he's not balanced and never really was.
Perhaps Arthur hasn't been tested on the same personal level, losing a loved one that way, but he has seen his kingdom nearly on the brink of ruin and Camelot is as important to Arthur as Tendou's loved ones are to him, and Arthur continued to fight, even when there was nothing for him to do. Tendou, on the other hand, is nearly crushed by his failure when Hiyori is taken away from him.
Arthur is also far more of a people person, he is touched by other people's lives much more genuinely and cares about their wellbeing on a personal level far more than Tendou. Who isn't uncaring, but seems to be kind of a really huge introvert. Sure, Tendou's charismatic and people worship him and he smoothly deals with them, he is incredibly capable around people, he's just not. Driven to it. Given a choice, Tendou doesn't naturally gravitate to people and there are times when he is TOTAL CRAP at dealing with people in a meaningful way. When it truly matters to him, that is. Otherwise, he is as polished and perfect as ever. Arthur, however, thrives more on that connection to other people and helping make people's lives better.
Kagami vs Merlin:
It's actually a lot easier and a lot more difficult to draw comparisons to Merlin and Kagami because, in some ways, Merlin isn't nearly as defined a character as the other three are, for all that he's the star of the show. They're both the put-upon character in their series, the one more at peace with being kind of a spaz at times and getting a really big headache from the prat in their lives. They're both the ones that are partnered up with this other person that kind of drives them crazy, but they quickly become attached and see beneath the surface polish of the person, they're both the catalysts for change in their destined person.
Merlin is especially like pre-Gatack Kagami--there's the complaining, there's the unsureness of self, etc. But that's where I keep seeing the differences in these two characters, because Merlin already has his magic and knows his destiny (even if he's sort of reluctant to accept it), while Kagami being partnered with Gatack was a big moment of change for him and he found himself through that. Perhaps there will be an important event in Merlin's future that will change him and the dynamic he has with Arthur, the way Gatack changed everything about Kagami and Tendou, but I don't think it can be the same.
Merlin already has his magic, he already has his power, he's had it all his life. He's learning more about it and becoming more comfortable with using it, he is becoming more sure of himself, but... he already knows his destiny. For all that Kagami was born to be partnered with Gatack, he didn't know this until much later in his life and, while it gives him a connecting point to Merlin (being born for this destiny), Merlin's is wrapped up in helping Arthur, while Kagami's destiny stands on its own. Even without Tendou there, he was still destined to fight the Worm. (Though, you could argue that Tendou was born for the same thing, but it didn't seem like Kabuto and Gatack were meant to be partners from the moment they were created, that it seemed more like it was Tendou and Kagami who decided that they were partners. Setting aside the amusement of the inverted colors between Kabuto and Gatack, that is.)
There is also a certain self-awareness that Merlin lacks that was one of the most interesting parts of Kagami's character. Even when Kagami was confused and kind of clueless in the beginning, he was always struggling to understand more and realize things about himself, to realize how he was acting and he grew into a surprisingly aware character. There's always time for Merlin to grow into that as well, but there was very little in the entire first season that showed Merlin coming at all close to realizing how self-centered he could be. (Which I would touch on more, but this post is going to be long enough as it is. Still. I feel badly just saying, "Merlin's so self-centered!" without explaining where I'm coming from, since not everyone may have reached the same conclusions I did, but I can only digress so much in an essay that's not about that. XD)
One epic gay OTP vs another epic gay OTP:
Destiny plays a big role in both of these pairings. The dragon directly says that Merlin and Arthur are two sides of the same coin, that their fates are destined to lie together. With Kabuto, the closest you'll get is Tachikawa, who calls them the God of the Sun and the God of Fighting, giving them important names, but they're never directly linked by a wisened character's words. Instead, they are linked by the actions in the show, the way neither Kagami nor Tendou could have defeated all the Worms together, it's not until they realize it themselves, until they themselves say the words.
There's bickering between the two of them, the "superior" one whom the "lower" one doesn't treat like he's that much more special, who calls him on his behavior. There's the excellent headache faces and obviously caring about the prat, despite that he's a giant prat.
But I think, for all that Arthur does need Merlin, he doesn't need Merlin in the way that Tendou needs Kagami. That Merlin will probably always need Arthur in a way that Kagami will never really need Tendou.
Both series make a point of the two of them being stronger together--Kagami couldn't defeat the final Natives on his own, but the show was also careful to show that Tendou couldn't do it on his own, either. His final speech was about changing from that attitude, because he'd been wrong to try to change the world and people around him the way he'd been doing. They worked together. I think eventually Merlin is heading in that general direction, that Arthur and Merlin will be stronger together, that one will be constantly saving the other, they've already gone down that path several times.
But their dynamics are different, because Arthur is a prince, because he's going to be a king and, without him, Camelot falls. There is a chance that Camelot can go on without Merlin, as long as Arthur has the strength of character to do it, and I think that's not out of the realm of possibility. It might be a bit of a long shot, but not impossible. But Arthur is and always will be Merlin's king, no matter how much Merlin eventually rises in status. Merlin can never do Arthur's job, Merlin can never replace what Arthur brings to the table.
On the other hand, the dynamics of Kabuto are much murkier, because Kagami and Tendou are much more similar in terms of how they fight against enemies, because it's really sort of difficult to tell which one of them is stronger. We can never really know for certain, who knows what agendas were hidden in the series or who wasn't fighting with everything they had for one reason or another, but my best conclusion (after a ridiculous amount of time analyzing all of this) is that Kagami/Gatack has more raw power, but Tendou/Kabuto uses his power better and has a head start on hyper zecters and special moves. I tend to believe that, in theory, Kagami could have taken Tendou's place. (Not that I would want him to, not that he would want to, not that it would be a good idea, etc.)
But Merlin can never take Arthur's place.
One of the biggest instances of differences is rooted in how similar their situations are--both "superior" characters are helped by the "lower" one not taking their shit and treating them like an equal. But the difference is that Tendou's actions throughout the series seemed to prod at Kagami to step up to the plate and be the stronger of the two, that he needed Kagami to be there to stop him if he went out of control, to hold him together when he was falling apart, to be the one Tendou relied on to protect Hiyori if something happened to him, to basically be the one that held Tendou together. Whether it was conscious or subconscious, I think Tendou knew he needed that.
While Arthur is becoming a stronger, better person because of Merlin, he doesn't seem to be relying on Merlin to be the stronger one of the two of them. He's learning to rely on people around him as friends, but not someone to stop him if he goes out of control or to put him back together when he nearly breaks apart at bad things happening. His journey is about becoming strong enough to lead Camelot.
The point of Kabuto was that Tendou needed to not take all the burden onto his own shoulders, because he couldn't handle it.
The point of Merlin seems to be that Arthur needs to grow as a person to be able to handle his kingdom, even as much as the other people around him help invaluably.
Both series are also about the journey of someone (Merlin and Kagami) find themselves and becoming stronger, finding what they were meant to do in their lives, but once you get beyond that, there are a lot of really interesting differences, especially in relation to their other half.
Wrap this up already, would you:
Admittedly, I spent about half of the time pointing out why they're not similar as much as I pointed out why they're similiar, which is because... well, I suspect that anyone who has watched the two series and who had the idea planted in their head would immediately begin drawing parallels. That's the easy part! The fun part was in showing their contrasts! But, honestly, they are very similar at times and it's a lot of why I got sucked into Merlin so fast (aside from all that delicious fic out there), because it has that same appeal that Kabuto had.
The leads had chemistry and it's delightfully slashy and terribly silly, but there's also a genuinely interesting relationship dynamic going on there. There's a certain spark of something that really catches the audience's attention and makes them fall in love with the show.
Not that most of you who've watched one have watched the other. I think there's... what, three of you? orz orz orz
Anyway.
So, lazulisong needs to get out of my brain or I need to get out of hers, because COMPLETELY INDEPENDANT OF EACH OTHER, we both went, "Huh, you know, Arthur/Merlin kind of reminds me of Kagami/Tendou...." and that's just never going to end well. I was actually talking about it with tammaiya the other day because she is A VERY GOOD PERSON to indulge my Kabuto natterings still and we were discussing how similar the two epic OTPs are in a lot of ways.
Mostly it's with the whole, "You two were destined for each other, now go be totally gay at each other and kind of fail at having het relationships with your female castmates, oh and toss in a sun/moon theme while you're at it, would you?." and the whole, "Well, of course you look up to me, it's only natural. Also, you're crap at everything you do." vs "OH MY GOD YOU ARE SUCH A PAIN TO DEAL WITH." thing.
They're not perfect analogues to each other, some of the more interesting points is in how they differ, of course, but. It really is like this is England's answer to tokusatsu and what made Kabuto such a dear series to my heart. Right down to the red vs blue color theme!
And I know. Like, THREE OF YOU are going to get this. orz
(While there are none for Merlin, I would say this contains spoilers for Kabuto at least up to about the halfway point, possibly all the way through. I tried to be vague, but you'd still be spoiled, I think..)
Tendou vs Arthur:
Probably the biggest way in which Arthur and Tendou are similar is in that they are both ridiculously good at just about everything they do, both having polished surfaces that cover something a lot more complex and human. Both of them carry heavy loads on their shoulders, Arthur has the kingdom of Camelot that he will rule and Tendou has decided that he will be the one to kill all the Worm and protect the world for his important people. They both have the help of someone that was fated for them, both being kind of not exaggerating on that whole "destined" point.
They are both very firmly not sentimental and both like a good dose of Ignore It And It Will Be Repressed, but not to the point of denial about themselves. They both would wish to vomit at soppy endearments, except that would be uncivilized. They're both incredibly charismatic people who aren't really that close to more than a handful of people and both are kind of "....no thank you" to the more squishy emotions and would consider vomiting a lot should their partner inflict these things on them.
(I like Meg's post here to illustrate this nicely. It's the same for Tendou, he'd be fine with thoughts of Kagami fucking him over the table--well, not the one they ate on because you just don't do that where you eat--but creeping thoughts of curling up on the couch to watch bad movies while cuddling or holding hands would make him want to kill a lot of things in very nasty ways.)
Where they start to differ is in the burden on their shoulders and how it affects them. With Arthur we see past the polished surface much more quickly, he seems to be a lot more balanced than Tendou was, a lot more stable, a lot more able to put aside the attitude he wears in front of others. They both put a lot of energy into a facade of perfection, always above everyone else and always with a quick word to cut them down or dole out superior advice. But Tendou puts a lot more of himself into this facade than Arthur does and when he cracks, it isn't as slow a process. Instead, you see that Tendou really has put everything of himself into this mission and when things go pear-shaped, he falls apart because he's not balanced and never really was.
Perhaps Arthur hasn't been tested on the same personal level, losing a loved one that way, but he has seen his kingdom nearly on the brink of ruin and Camelot is as important to Arthur as Tendou's loved ones are to him, and Arthur continued to fight, even when there was nothing for him to do. Tendou, on the other hand, is nearly crushed by his failure when Hiyori is taken away from him.
Arthur is also far more of a people person, he is touched by other people's lives much more genuinely and cares about their wellbeing on a personal level far more than Tendou. Who isn't uncaring, but seems to be kind of a really huge introvert. Sure, Tendou's charismatic and people worship him and he smoothly deals with them, he is incredibly capable around people, he's just not. Driven to it. Given a choice, Tendou doesn't naturally gravitate to people and there are times when he is TOTAL CRAP at dealing with people in a meaningful way. When it truly matters to him, that is. Otherwise, he is as polished and perfect as ever. Arthur, however, thrives more on that connection to other people and helping make people's lives better.
Kagami vs Merlin:
It's actually a lot easier and a lot more difficult to draw comparisons to Merlin and Kagami because, in some ways, Merlin isn't nearly as defined a character as the other three are, for all that he's the star of the show. They're both the put-upon character in their series, the one more at peace with being kind of a spaz at times and getting a really big headache from the prat in their lives. They're both the ones that are partnered up with this other person that kind of drives them crazy, but they quickly become attached and see beneath the surface polish of the person, they're both the catalysts for change in their destined person.
Merlin is especially like pre-Gatack Kagami--there's the complaining, there's the unsureness of self, etc. But that's where I keep seeing the differences in these two characters, because Merlin already has his magic and knows his destiny (even if he's sort of reluctant to accept it), while Kagami being partnered with Gatack was a big moment of change for him and he found himself through that. Perhaps there will be an important event in Merlin's future that will change him and the dynamic he has with Arthur, the way Gatack changed everything about Kagami and Tendou, but I don't think it can be the same.
Merlin already has his magic, he already has his power, he's had it all his life. He's learning more about it and becoming more comfortable with using it, he is becoming more sure of himself, but... he already knows his destiny. For all that Kagami was born to be partnered with Gatack, he didn't know this until much later in his life and, while it gives him a connecting point to Merlin (being born for this destiny), Merlin's is wrapped up in helping Arthur, while Kagami's destiny stands on its own. Even without Tendou there, he was still destined to fight the Worm. (Though, you could argue that Tendou was born for the same thing, but it didn't seem like Kabuto and Gatack were meant to be partners from the moment they were created, that it seemed more like it was Tendou and Kagami who decided that they were partners. Setting aside the amusement of the inverted colors between Kabuto and Gatack, that is.)
There is also a certain self-awareness that Merlin lacks that was one of the most interesting parts of Kagami's character. Even when Kagami was confused and kind of clueless in the beginning, he was always struggling to understand more and realize things about himself, to realize how he was acting and he grew into a surprisingly aware character. There's always time for Merlin to grow into that as well, but there was very little in the entire first season that showed Merlin coming at all close to realizing how self-centered he could be. (Which I would touch on more, but this post is going to be long enough as it is. Still. I feel badly just saying, "Merlin's so self-centered!" without explaining where I'm coming from, since not everyone may have reached the same conclusions I did, but I can only digress so much in an essay that's not about that. XD)
One epic gay OTP vs another epic gay OTP:
Destiny plays a big role in both of these pairings. The dragon directly says that Merlin and Arthur are two sides of the same coin, that their fates are destined to lie together. With Kabuto, the closest you'll get is Tachikawa, who calls them the God of the Sun and the God of Fighting, giving them important names, but they're never directly linked by a wisened character's words. Instead, they are linked by the actions in the show, the way neither Kagami nor Tendou could have defeated all the Worms together, it's not until they realize it themselves, until they themselves say the words.
There's bickering between the two of them, the "superior" one whom the "lower" one doesn't treat like he's that much more special, who calls him on his behavior. There's the excellent headache faces and obviously caring about the prat, despite that he's a giant prat.
But I think, for all that Arthur does need Merlin, he doesn't need Merlin in the way that Tendou needs Kagami. That Merlin will probably always need Arthur in a way that Kagami will never really need Tendou.
Both series make a point of the two of them being stronger together--Kagami couldn't defeat the final Natives on his own, but the show was also careful to show that Tendou couldn't do it on his own, either. His final speech was about changing from that attitude, because he'd been wrong to try to change the world and people around him the way he'd been doing. They worked together. I think eventually Merlin is heading in that general direction, that Arthur and Merlin will be stronger together, that one will be constantly saving the other, they've already gone down that path several times.
But their dynamics are different, because Arthur is a prince, because he's going to be a king and, without him, Camelot falls. There is a chance that Camelot can go on without Merlin, as long as Arthur has the strength of character to do it, and I think that's not out of the realm of possibility. It might be a bit of a long shot, but not impossible. But Arthur is and always will be Merlin's king, no matter how much Merlin eventually rises in status. Merlin can never do Arthur's job, Merlin can never replace what Arthur brings to the table.
On the other hand, the dynamics of Kabuto are much murkier, because Kagami and Tendou are much more similar in terms of how they fight against enemies, because it's really sort of difficult to tell which one of them is stronger. We can never really know for certain, who knows what agendas were hidden in the series or who wasn't fighting with everything they had for one reason or another, but my best conclusion (after a ridiculous amount of time analyzing all of this) is that Kagami/Gatack has more raw power, but Tendou/Kabuto uses his power better and has a head start on hyper zecters and special moves. I tend to believe that, in theory, Kagami could have taken Tendou's place. (Not that I would want him to, not that he would want to, not that it would be a good idea, etc.)
But Merlin can never take Arthur's place.
One of the biggest instances of differences is rooted in how similar their situations are--both "superior" characters are helped by the "lower" one not taking their shit and treating them like an equal. But the difference is that Tendou's actions throughout the series seemed to prod at Kagami to step up to the plate and be the stronger of the two, that he needed Kagami to be there to stop him if he went out of control, to hold him together when he was falling apart, to be the one Tendou relied on to protect Hiyori if something happened to him, to basically be the one that held Tendou together. Whether it was conscious or subconscious, I think Tendou knew he needed that.
While Arthur is becoming a stronger, better person because of Merlin, he doesn't seem to be relying on Merlin to be the stronger one of the two of them. He's learning to rely on people around him as friends, but not someone to stop him if he goes out of control or to put him back together when he nearly breaks apart at bad things happening. His journey is about becoming strong enough to lead Camelot.
The point of Kabuto was that Tendou needed to not take all the burden onto his own shoulders, because he couldn't handle it.
The point of Merlin seems to be that Arthur needs to grow as a person to be able to handle his kingdom, even as much as the other people around him help invaluably.
Both series are also about the journey of someone (Merlin and Kagami) find themselves and becoming stronger, finding what they were meant to do in their lives, but once you get beyond that, there are a lot of really interesting differences, especially in relation to their other half.
Wrap this up already, would you:
Admittedly, I spent about half of the time pointing out why they're not similar as much as I pointed out why they're similiar, which is because... well, I suspect that anyone who has watched the two series and who had the idea planted in their head would immediately begin drawing parallels. That's the easy part! The fun part was in showing their contrasts! But, honestly, they are very similar at times and it's a lot of why I got sucked into Merlin so fast (aside from all that delicious fic out there), because it has that same appeal that Kabuto had.
The leads had chemistry and it's delightfully slashy and terribly silly, but there's also a genuinely interesting relationship dynamic going on there. There's a certain spark of something that really catches the audience's attention and makes them fall in love with the show.
Not that most of you who've watched one have watched the other. I think there's... what, three of you? orz orz orz