Lars and Anime





This is an idea that’s been swirling around in my head for a minute but I’d like to think I know where Lars’ inspiration lies. His mindsent, after giving it some thought, reminds me a lot of the general anime male protagonist that you would find in a shonen manga. This can include shows like Naruto, Dragon Ball, Hunter x Hunter, One Piece, Toriko, Bleach, Yu Yu Hakusho, and even older works outside of shonen like Devilman and the obvious Captain Harlock. What I’m saying is is that Lars’ character is a very obvious off shoot of this but in a very interesting way.

If we were to look back on older episodes like Future Boy Zoltron we have Steven give us a manifesto on who he thinks Lars is:

“You should go to work because even though Lars won’t admit it he really likes to do a good job. Letting people depend on him fills his heart with warm feelings. Like love, and trust.”

This is the main thing people should be returning to when discussing Lars as a character as this gives heavy insight into who he is and it’s quite fantastic. Lars here is said to not just be a good guy, but a true blue hero in his mindset. Someone who legitimately wants to good for the sake of it ala Midoriya Izuku from My Hero Academia.

And like this character Lars is willing to go to mad lengths to protect those he cares about once he gets going. The moment Steven reawakens that side of him in Stuck Together Lars is just on. Refusing to leave Steven behind several times over and is willing to endanger himself for people he’s just met. Some cynical people will say that Lars abandoned Sadie to Topaz but saved some strangers (Steven’s a stranger?) but I argue that what Lars did was logical and motivated by fight or flight instincts and a very real panic attack, thus, not very heroic. How many anime heroes do we see with that “I never give up!” attitude where they just barrel through the big attack and the villian goes “IM-IMPOSSIBLE!!” and they win the day? Lars’ anxiety is one of many things that keeps him from that level of “turn your brain off” thinking and it took the idea that he was not only going to inevitably die but also that he was inherently lesser than everyone around him that allowed him to adopt that mindset. This of course gets him killed and brought back as something that can’t really be called human anymore. Someone who can fight for days, even weaks on end without need for rest, food or water. Lars’ new suped up form certainly seems fantastic and he’s shown the raw talent for not only being a space fighter but also a leader. So, what’s the catch? Well…this is still Lars we’re talking about here and there’s always a catch to him.

Lars’ development is truly some of the best in the show. Him breaking out of his cage and stepping out to form bonds between those he feels close to. While seeing Lars be a badass is great seeing him also be extremely caring to Steven and Connie (and by extension Stevonnie) highlights just what kind of person Lars is, and always was beneath his aloof facade. But he will always be Steven’s foil and thus represent a different kind of heroism. We see from Rutile’s comments about how Lars has taken so many risks on their behalf and his initial insistence on confronting Emerald alone in the Star Skipper that Lars has still been going it solo. One has to think that since Lars is the only one immune to the scanners that he’d have to be going it alone in quite a few of their missions. And given Rebecca Sugar’s confirmation that Lars has made a large amount of enemies who all answer to Emerald that’s a scary thought imagining him running around and having to deal with all manner of gems completely alone. There’s no way he avoided conflict so he may have had to actually fight, and though he has powers and an essentially non-mortal body the idea that this kid has just been going from conflict to crash landing to heists with no real breaks is a terrifying thought. In any other show this would be awesome and while it’s certainly cool here Steven Universe takes great care to ground the show in a form of reality. The human side and the science fantasy side. Lars’ actions and mindset come across as so incomprehensible that they would be entirely unsustainable within a normal setting. As we know Lars’ big hero moment is deconstructed by the reality that he’s just a human who can die easily. But now that he doesn’t have to worry about that Lars can go buckwild and dash into the face of danger like all the heroes he clearly loves and emulates. But considering all the lack of self-love that lead him to perform these acts I genuinely hope he finds the same balance of human comfort and alien adventure that Steven has.