[OOC] anemoi_rp Application
Name: Fetchie
Personal LJ: made_in_wonder
Contact Info: gibberditz39@yahoo.com
Character Name: Ken Ichijouji
Character Series: Digimon Adventure 02 (Note: this encyclopedia uses terms from the English dub. I'm using Japanese, but the plot's the same.)
Background: Digimon Wikia - Ken Ichijouji
Point in Canon: Post-drama CD (three months post-canon)
Personality: Ken is a constant, conscious work in progress. All his life, he’s observed and interpreted his surroundings, trying to find his place within them and live up to the person he’d like to be. For the longest time, this person was his older brother Osamu - Ken denied himself in an attempt to be a “perfect human” like he’d mistakenly believed his brother to be. Nowadays he’s realized the importance of accepting and liking himself, and is trying his hardest to discover exactly who “Ken Ichijouji” is.
As a result, he’s introspective: every new piece of information or detail Ken tries to relate back to his own situation, and he obsesses over his own behavior. Though he possesses incredible attention to detail, he tends to lose sight of the big picture, or only grasps said big picture once a detail alludes to it. (For example, he doesn’t notice spring has come in the drama CD until he sees a cat sunning itself in the new warmth.) He also thought for the longest time that erasing the physical proof of the mistakes he’s made would set things right. Accepting that such a “reset” is impossible, and learning to live with the consequences and guilt, has been one of his biggest challenges.
Earnest and serious, he’s also easy to rile: confronting Ken with his own weakness is a great way to get him mad, and if he thinks you have information he wants he’ll have no choice but to put up with you. Ken’s no genius anymore, but he wants to understand why things happen the way they happen. If an answer doesn’t satisfy him, he’ll keep prying for the truth. That things sometimes happen for no reason - and that it’s okay for something to have “no use” - has never crossed his mind. (Combined with his attention to detail, this obsession with usefulness and worth has made him quite the pessimist. Ken tends to draw the most negative general conclusion possible from disappointing specifics: because of his attention to detail, every molehill can seem like a mountain.)
Ken is also determined to do the right thing. He wants to be a good son, cherishing his parents’ love for him, and when given a purpose in life he’s unstoppable. Even his guilt over being the Kaiser takes on a noble tinge: because he’s the one who committed a terrible error, he’s also the one who needs to set things right. Ken simply won’t leave any issue alone until he’s satisfied with the results, and thrives on being able to make a difference. He just needs to work on telling his allies what he’s up to a bit more.
His social skills in general need improving. On the flip side of his stubbornness, Ken becomes avoidant in situations that make him uncomfortable. When placed in new situations he’ll either blank out, try to leave as quickly as possible, or both. He also has a bad habit of not finishing his sentences, or of finishing a deduction aloud that, without an explanation, seems like a non sequitur. New opinions and points of view may still surprise him, as he’s so used to only the thoughts within his own head, but he’s come to admire the traits in his friends that he doesn’t possess.
Though he needs to spend less time picking everything apart, Ken has come a long way, and truly makes a wonderful friend. His defining trait in canon is “Kindness”: though his worldview is self-centered, he cares a lot about others and feels terrible when he makes his family worried or sad. He’s thoughtful and considerate even in battle, though ruthless to his enemies, and has proven surprisingly good with younger children. (His partner Wormmon receives the most special attention: Ken treasures Wormmon like family). Ken’s a worrier, but it’s because he cares.
Most importantly, he’s embraced that he’s only human. Ken can’t get over being the Digimon Kaiser; that’s not something one can ever put behind oneself. But he can live accepting that he made a mistake, cherishing himself in spite of his flaws, and focusing on what he can do in the present instead of the errors he can’t erase in the past. This acceptance of his own weakness and determination to live in the present day drives him now - he even admits he never believed acknowledging weakness could feel relieving -- and he’s focused on keeping his life that way.
Sample Entry:
[Ken's sitting by himself in a restaurant corner, where he trusts he won't be bothered (but anyone technically could). Voice and video chatting make him a little nervous, particularly when he's starting the conversation, so his message appears as text on the screen.]
Good afternoon, everyone. Sorry for intruding.
Does anyone else know how to play soccer? I - think I remembered something. The edges are hazy, but if I reach, perhaps I can make them clear....
Thank you for your time.
[And transmission over. Thus finished, Ken leans forward and sighs. There was a little bit more to his memory than that - he'd been playing in a soccer game, that much he was certain of. People were counting on him, he was the star - it felt great.
And there was someone else there, someone just on the edge of his vision. Sliding in to prevent a goal....someone important to him. Someone he'd hated, but he can't feel any hatred now, trying to make out the face. Things had changed, later, between this boy and him.
Ken's hands clench into fists and wills himself to remember, eyes scrunching shut, detesting himself for not recalling just a little bit more. Just a little bit more!
He might, after all, have had a friend.]