Last week I covered a few buzzwords that are typically used by the anime community in order to outright dismiss and bash a show that they feel is unworthy of praise. Usually this is due to their own personal biases and opinions, despite their statements being passed off as facts or otherwise immutable observations of the work itself. There are much smaller facets of a show that can be treated this way, not just the broad strokes of “writing” and “animation.” Smaller aspects of what make up an anime can come under harsh scrutiny by detail-oriented fans along with the larger characteristics, and these distinctions are certainly not immune to being slothfully dumped into categories. This is incredibly true when it comes to the treatment of characters by fans as well as how appropriate they deem the treatment of those characters.

The easiest way to push off a character is to submit them under the label of a well-known character trope. As TVTropes.org supplies, a trope is a convention of story-telling, or a pattern that a writer can rely on to convey narrative and attributes in a way that is typically used elsewhere in a given medium.[1] While tropes are not inherently bad for a story nor for the characters or plot elements that embody them, they are usually seen negatively among fans of anime, whether they work well within the given work or not. There is sometimes a feeling of being cheated by the author, or that the author was too lazy himself to think of something more creative or unique. Hell, in a way, trope can itself be a buzzword, but using the word without any specification on which one is being used is almost nonexistent. Tropes do not immediately downgrade a work just for existing within the stories that use them. They become cliché sometimes due to overuse, but that in and of itself does not necessarily mean that that element of story telling is harmful. Use of a trope is bad only when it distracts the reader or viewer from what is going on in the story. Otherwise, it is perfectly valid and reasonable if the story-teller can utilize it well and make the trope meaningful to the narrative itself.

While there are plenty of universally recognized trope types, it would be more appropriate to focus on those that are labeled as they are within anime, even if they may go by other names elsewhere. Examples of these would be the ‘Dere girl archetypes (tsundere, kuudere, yandere, etc.[2]) as well as the Useless Male Protagonist[3] just to name a few. Although not exclusive to anime by a long shot, Mary/Gary Sue[4] protagonists are also prevalent among anime viewers’ moans and groans, typically in reference to shows that would fall under the action, romance, or fantasy genres. While we all have our own personal ideas about the use of these character types (and I know some examples probably came to mind as you read these labels) I still posit that they are fine as long as they are used appropriately in a work. This all really comes down to personal opinion and bias as well as tolerance for the use of archetypes in general, especially in certain genres.

Sometimes it can be difficult to separate a personal dislike for a character or trope from a specific example of one in a show. It’s profoundly easy to dismiss a character because it falls under a well-known character trope when you don’t like that trope, but it would be almost irresponsible to express that bias to a person who is ignorant of the context of the character you are putting down, or even the show itself. Let’s look at a few examples of these criticisms in action:

Asuka Langely Soryu is nothing but a generic tsundere whose only character traits are bullying others, making Shinji’s life miserable by being mean one minute and seductive the next, and constantly seeking approval for her one and only skill. Speaking of Shinji, he is the most useless protagonist I have ever seen in an anime. His piloting is only due to luck and all he does is bitch and whine about how hopeless he is or how weak he feels, despite being surrounded by people who encourage him.

Skipping over the fact that Neon Genesis Evangelion is very widely known to be a deconstruction of the mecha genre as a whole (which is for another article entirely,) these are heavily biased ideas right off the bat just by using the labels as the primary way to describe these characters. Everything they ascribe to Asuka is what is essential to being a one-dimensional tsundere (loud, bratty, bullying, and randomly affectionate) and makes no mention of any qualities that might fall outside this label or give her more depth (intense self-hatred, abandonment issues, etc.) The same goes for Shinji, whose perceived uselessness is mainly that of his own reasoning, which can sway the audience to agree with him despite being shown that he has potential otherwise. This author is undeterred by the context the characters are in and any changes they undergo in the show. They have already made up their mind about how to regard Asuka and Shinji and is likely unwilling to change their opinion at all.

It’s possible that the viewer above dislikes Asuka and Shinji just for falling under their perceived archetypes for the sake of it, but there isn’t enough evidence to say that for sure. To further expound on the use of archetypes to define characters, let us look at the flip-side; some characters that are typically labeled as tropes that are decent examples of the actual thing:

Amano Yukiteru (Yuki) from Mirai Nikki is the perfect embodiment of the useless protagonist in a way that is hurtful to the story. His being stressed and crying is understandable in his situation, given that he is forced into a battle royale-type game and his only chance at surviving is another character that perfectly embodies her trope, the yandere Gasai Yuno. Together with her murderous obsession for him and Yuki’s occasional resourcefulness but overall mainly serving as a raison d’etre for Yuno, they work their way through the ranks of the game as little more than an invincible duo because the plot requires it, with a forced romance because they need more drama and an excuse for them to stay together.

Gasai Yuno is not the original instance of a yandere type of character being put into anime, but she has since become the go-to example for the archetype, and is typically used as an example of the way a yandere should be. This isn’t necessarily negative, neither is Yuki being another example of his trope. The issue comes about with how the author uses these tropes and how they want the audience to perceive them. Both the writers of Evangelion and Mirai Nikki want us to view the example characters as individuals with autonomy and depth in a serious and honest manner. While the former does this well by fully fleshing out the past’s influence and psychological states of Asuka and Shinji, the latter really only attempts to do this with Yuno, and the information they supply us serves to justify her personality and, to a degree, her obsession with Yuki. Yuki constantly struggles with whether he likes Yuno or not (with no reason for him to like her at all) and how terrified he is of death and little else in regards to an internal struggle.

Whether the creators that play off archetypes use them as a means of literary red herring/commentary or just as a crutch, it is clear that the above characters are generally disliked for their weaknesses. This is why the authors only bring up negative qualities about their individual personalities and ignores any semblance of positivity to them. However, the opposite is true of a Mary/Gary Sue character, where their intense and unrealistic strengths and luck are the driving force behind the dislike for this type of character.

Kirito from Sword Art Online is the easiest example of a Gary Sue, possibly in anime history. He is incapable of dying, he is better than everyone else he fights against, he is able to break the rules of the games that he plays in just by being himself, and constantly has a harem of girls all over him despite being no more interesting than a piece of indestructible stale bread. He is the ultimate self-insert character and it destroys any potential the show might have had to merit it taking itself so seriously.

Now, let’s be candid for a moment about my personal opinions and feelings regarding both the Sword Art Online franchise and, by extension, the Kirito character himself. These are my ratings for Sword Art Online and Sword Art Online II on Hummingbird:





Now, given this information about me, it somewhat hurts to admit that Kirito’s being a Gary Sue (which he is) isn’t negative by itself. As I’ve stated before, any character that falls under an archetype is still a valid character. What can hurt these characters is both how they are written along with the framing that they have in the rest of the piece of media that they are in (how well they fit in the setting, with other characters, in the plot, etc.) Despite Kirito’s inability to lose being an incredibly irritating part of watching Sword Art Online for me, I still must recognize it as a valid choice. It’s a struggle to find reverse-harems aimed toward girls with a female protagonist that doesn’t fit under the Useless Protagonist or the Mary Sue archetype, so it would be unfair to harshly criticize Kirito for filling essentially the same role.

The issue with his characterization arises with the tone and framing of the story of Sword Art Online. The race against time, dying in the game correlating into dying in real life (in the first half of the first season, though the characters continue to act that way through the rest of the series despite it no longer being the case,) the stress and various reactions from people who face death and hopelessness, etc. There is a lot of relatively dark and serious subject matter in Sword Art Online, but this clashes with many aspects of the plot, one chiefly being that Kirito is a self-insert character. He has a personality, albeit fairly bland, straightforward, and strangely dickish at times, but his almost god-like stance among his peers is what serves to undermine any tension the show might possess. Sooner or later the idea of Kirito failing will no longer be viable in the viewers’ minds, and once that level has been reached there can no longer be any tension revolving around him, which submits him under what is called plot armor[5], or a writing method that shields the important character(s) from death with plot events that conveniently keep them from being severely maimed or killed. Dragon Ball Z sports both of these tropes to an amazing degree, but suffers little because the show isn’t incredibly serious and doesn’t pretend to take itself that way or be anything other than over the top power fantasies. Sword Art Online does, however, and they are reasons that are usually cited (among many others) as to why the show fell apart.

Characters are the most important part of a story, besides the overall plot that they interact with and influence. While there is, and probably will always be, conjecture about whether well-written characters are more important to a well-written story, it is certainly easy to see that characters need to be appropriately written within a story that can support them. Whether they are easily described under a trope label or not, if the story and its cast fit easily within one another and do not clash inappropriately, then that combination should at least feel organic to a viewer and be respected, even if the viewer doesn’t particularly like or enjoy either of those aspects.

This is a multi-part series on buzzwords in the anime community. If you haven’t read the first part, please click here to be taken to the first post. I hope you enjoyed this iteration, and look forward to the next article!

Sources:

[1] – TVTropes.org’s Definition of a Trope (be careful, you can get lost on this site for days)

[2] – Bubblegum Senpai’s I ‘Dere You Article

[3] – TVTropes.org’s Useless Protagonist

[4] – TVTropes.org’s Mary Sue

[5] – TVTropes.org’s Plot Armor

The cover is a screenshot from Rebuild of Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance.

A big thank you again to my friends that have so far assisted me in coming up with words to cover. Comments on Reddit and Hummingbird have been helpful, and I will certainly try to cover as much as I can in the coming articles.