DaWaRou Posts: Sabrina the Teenage Witch, The Magic Within volume 1

Hello all! It's been a while since my last post and for that I'm sorry. Now at this point I should've had my School Days/Harem post AND my Ranma 1/2 post up but...this'll have to suffice instead. Ladies and gents, I'm John Cortez and this is my seventeenth post for...The Broken Infinite.

Today...we're talking about Witches. Witches have been a part of our culture since we were swimming, stoning and  hanging them back in colonial times though that all seems to be ignored in favor of burning them for...some...reason. The draw of the supernatural is always an irresistible one so naturally many well remembered series of the past and present use Magic and Witchcraft as their focal point. Bewitched, Charmed, Harry Potter, Madoka Magica, Wizards of Waverly Place and others are so wonderfully ingrained within our pop culture that it's hard not to like them and see how their popularity has endured. But above all, there is one Witch who's managed to endure for quite some time and her name is Sabrina Spellman.

Created by writer George Gladir and artist Dan DeCarlo, and first appearing in Archie's Madhouse #22 in October 1962 was the wonderful Witch, Sabrina Spellman who was somewhat of a spinoff of the Archie comics. Sabrina, unlike most Witches in pop culture, is only Half Witch as her mother is a mortal and her father is a Warlock. She lives with her two aunts, Hilda and Zelda who are also Witches and most stories generally center around her using Magic to help someone or her life as a teenager. The series was mostly confined to comic book format until 1970 where it was made into a Filmation cartoon. It lasted for about 4 years. The series wasn't adapted again until 1996. A made-for-TV film called Sabrina the Teenage Witch aired and what followed was a 5 season sitcom, two television movies and a soundtrack back when they'd make a CD for anything relatively popular. The sitcom then spawned another animated series called Sabrina the Animated Series which kind of changed things up a bit with Sabrina still being in middle school but knowing she was a Witch. And that lasted for one season and then there was another shot at it with Sabrina's Secret Life in which she was not only going to mortal school but also practicing Magic at night or something but that's not what we're here to talk about because I rarely talk about Western works. See, somewhere along the line, someone decided to make a Sabrina the Teenage Witch MANGA and that's what we'll be talking about today.

Yeah, because western ideas always translate well to manga format, we've got this and now I've got to talk about it. The first thing I should tell you about this manga is that its' an American manga. Those...rarely work to my knowledge with more experienced manga readers but hey, the younger ones'll say "Look! Vampire Cheerleaders! I wanna read that!" And on another note, YES there is a manga called Vampire Cheerleaders and my thoughts on it as a title alone are rather negative. But let's get on with the review of this.

So...we've got Sabrina and you already know that she's a Witch, no surprises there but now she's going to TWO schools...cause you know, Hilda and Zelda are just wallflowers who can't be bothered to properly teach their niece Magic. Then again, the Weasley's don't teach Ron Magic so why should the Spellmans teach Sabrina? And as if double schooling wasn't bad enough we can't have the Sabrina story without love problems. As usual, Sabrina's crushing on Harvey Kinkle (weird last name) but now a new boy has entered the ring and his name is...Shinji Yagami (why?) a blue haired (why?) warlock from the Magic Realm who's come to the Mortal Realm to woo our teenage Witch. Other characters appear to either help or hinder Sabrina in her mortal melodrama or her Magical mishaps but it seems that there's a threat looming in the background so the question is when will it present itself and is Sabrina ready to face it?

This manga is really pretty episodic. Each chapter its' something different but characters from previous chapters continue to show up in future ones. It's kind of like reading Ranma 1/2 where there's kind of an ongoing plot, but it's done episodically. There are hints though of a much bigger story in the works here though, so props for that. The art...the art is the hardest to get over. While it looks...presentable to a degree, I'm not a big fan of the designs, namely Sabrina's. It just BUGS me because it looks so amateurish and this is supposed to be professional but hopefully with later volumes the design will get better.


You know, I kind of understand WHY people despise anime and manga. It's first of all complicated to read to those new to the medium and if you're going by anime it's hard to really find a series that'll appeal to you. The characters are stereotyped even MORE than they are in western comics and cartoons and it's all just WEIRD! Physics are thrown out the window in favor of over emotional speeches about the powers of love and friendship and the world often revolves to fit the whims of the characters. This though is mainly applied to the anime marketed towards kids here in the United States. Even if things go wrong, it'll all turn out right in the end. Then there's the fanservice and all the tropes that go with it and the fact that the stories involved are rather overly complicated for the sake of absolutely nothing. But I think that in a way all of that contributes to what makes anime so popular in the first place. There's also the fact that Japan gives no fucks about inserting "questionable" material into their series and aiming them at a younger audience. The story lines are often deeper and more complex than what most of us are used to in our Disney or Cartoon Network programming and the shows often treat us like we're smart enough to understand what's going on without having to spell things out.

The problem with incorporating any kind of anime/manga ANYTHING to a Western work is that Westerners just DON'T get Japan and Japanese things the way that Japanese people do. Sabrina the Magic Within is drawn like a manga and has all the over emotional melodrama of a shojo or Magical Girl series. It's written to be like that. It also has this annoying habit of using JAPANESE for the MAGICAL SPELLS! WHEN MOST OF THE CHARACTERS ARE AMERICAN (presumably. Shinji's kind of allowed to get away with it as he DOES have a Japanese first and last name but I can't really imagine that way back when Hilda and Zelda were as young as they look, they were using Japanese for their Magic). WHY DOES THIS HAPPEN?! BECAUSE IT'S MANGA OF COURSE! And everyone knows that a manga isn't complete without SOME Japanese in it! I also feel that the story has kind of raised it's stakes by having this big looming mystery threat in the background and in doing so MUST deliver on that end otherwise, I and everyone else reading this will be VERY pissed off. It's not like Sabrina hasn't battled evil before in her previous incarnations.

To the comic's credit, I actually found myself enjoying it. Even if I could see everything coming from a mile away I still rather liked it so it's enjoyable on some level. Check it out if you want but realize what you're getting into. DaWaRou~!

DaWaRou Posts: The Shonen Idiot Protagonist

Good day everyone! HAPPY 2013~! Yes, we are in a new year, cool isn't it? Pretty much the same as the start of last year except no Apocalypse bullshit to worry about! And so, what better way to ring in the new year than to talk about something I've talked about in my own blog?! Yes! Today I'm going to repost something word for word from my old blog but it should still be a good and very very very long read. Ladies and Gents, I'm John Cortez and this is my ninth post for The Broken Infinite!

Welcome to my Introduction to Shonen series! Here I'll be covering the usual staples of a Shonen manga/anime and giving, what I hope can be, an opinionated and in depth analysis on these topics. I figure that with so many common things that appear in these series, it's best to start with what's probably the most common and that is the Idiot Hero.

Ahh yes, the Idiot Hero. What Shonen series don't have you as the shining star? (Death Note, Soul Eater, Yu-Gi-Oh, Detective Conan, FullMetal Alchemist, To Aru Majutsu no Index, Spiral: The Bonds of Reasoning, Bloody Monday, Negima, Bleach, Fairy Tail, Nurarihyon no Mago, Ruroni Kenshin)
Well, anyways, the vast majority of Shonen series usually star an idiot as the central protagonist. He (and it's usually a he) will be of school age and failing miserably, getting low grades and being hounded by his teachers and mocked by his peers. Some series have a justification for having such a person as the main character for example little Son Goku of DragonBall over here! Son Goku was a Sayian baby sent to Earth and at one point hit his head on a rock. Raised by his "Grandfather" Gohan in the mountains and being taught only language and martial arts, Goku is not the brightest bulb in the box although he does seem to get progressively smarter as the series goes on. Goku's main deal though was that he lacked interaction with other people for most of his early life. Once Bulma showed up and took him away from his little mountain home, Goku started learning more about the world. In addition to this, once he began training with Master Roshi, he received some education from the old pervert in between his training. Goku's stupidity also played into his main character flaw in the early series of being very gullible and susceptible to manipulation. Despite this, Goku remained pure of heart and ever the optimist who always believed that things would turn out right in the end and it also made him very enjoyable to watch. Goku lacked the social skills and street smarts of Bulma and Krillin but remained the one who'd always risk his life to save any and everyone he possibly could, even a rat. As stupid as he was though, Goku wasn't foolish enough to not fully recognize a threat when he saw one, at least as the series went on. By the time DragonBallZ rolled around, Goku was able to recognize every single enemy that appeared and dealt with them without actually killing them himself. This is in stark contrast to his behavior in the original series where Goku was quite willing to kill those who murdered his friends or tried to harm innocent people.


The question is why? Why have a character like this? What's the point? What does it accomplish? What does the reader get out of rooting for some dumbass who can't even count past 12? How does it benefit the story and what kind of development, if any, can come from having a character like this? Well, let's look at a few more idiot heroes and see of those questions are answered.
I guess it'd be best to just kind of answer these questions one by one or all at the same time for each example I give on this page. Hmm, well I'll figure it out but once again back to those questions. Namely the first one, why have a character like this? Over the years, I've seen MANY Idiot Heroes but I'm pretty sure that America was exposed to one rather decent one during the 90's!You thought it was going to be Ash from Pokemon...didn't you? Well I'll get to Ash at a later point. The first example we're going to look at for this example is Taichi Yagami/Tai Kamiya from Digimon Adventure. Staring a group of kids that got sent to an alternate world and paired with strange creatures called Digimon, Taichi was the most distinctive among the entire group it it won't take you long to figure out why. One of the things I should've mentioned earlier about the Idiot Shonen Hero or the I.S.H as I'll refer to them is that this character is usually more Western or American looking in contrast to the usually more Asian or Japanese looking Rival. There are exceptions to every "rule" and Tai here is one of them. At the start of the series Tai was a standard Shonen Lead character. Strong willed, impulsive, brash and always the first to voice his opinion on what to do next. Tai was also ALWAYS first when it came to having his Digimon digivolve whenever a new form was available. His reason for being an idiot? Well, Tai wasn't really an idiot, not exactly. Tai was more naive, no, more...explosively emotional, if that. Tai was a fighter. He was the dynamic and action oriented leader that the group would later look to when in need of someone to make a decision. In the series Tai is often contrasted and foiled by Yamato Ishida/Matt who was the level headed over-thinker. This level head is something that Tai would later start to develop as he'd become a true leader, the glue that held his group of friends together. Generally, Tai would be the one to say and do what many of us watching the show would've done if in the same situation. Explore the island, fight the monsters, climb the mountain, beat the bad guys...whatever the decision was that needed to be made, lots of us were behind Tai when he made his. So maybe this is why we have the I.S.H. We're meant to be able to relate to them and picture ourselves in their situations. But isn't this somewhat the point of ALL main characters, idiots or not? Aren't we meant to relate to them in some way from the start? Well let's look at another example and see what we get out of it!

Now, this is probably scraping at the bottom of the barrel in terms of great shonen protagonist but, this is one that I really like. Shonen heroes are usually average kids thrown into strange or fantastic situations and part of the joy of watching them is to see how they react and adapt to their new life. Some take it better than others though as Tsunayoshi "Tsuna" Sawada from Katekyo Hitman Reborn is among the most unsuited protagonists to his story that I've ever seen. Now unlike Tai who could really only be called an idiot in part due to the overwhelming maturity of those surrounding him, Tsuna is a scholastic nightmare as far as most people are concerned. He has the worst grades, can't do anything athletic to save his life and is overall a pathetic loser that only bothers going to school because of the girl he has a crush on and she barely even knows he exists before the plot kicks in. Tsuna's life changes forever when a baby in a suit appears and claims to be his new Home Tutor and the greatest hitman to boot. Reborn, as the baby is known, takes an active an over the top approach to turning Tsuna into that which he is destined to be, the 10th generation heir to the most powerful Mafia family in the world. This includes physically beating him up on a daily basis and putting him through hell as well as shooting him with magical bullets that resurrect him with his dying will. Tsuna is likely an idiot because the writer said so. He's more similar to a Harem Hero if anything. Well, scratch that, he's actually very much like Shinji Ikari from Evangelion. He's a coward with little to no backbone and utterly fails to stand up for himself. He's indecisive and almost useless and not at all worthy of being a Mafia boss. Similar to Tai though, Tsuna has shades of being the normal one among his friends. Tsuna is always the one who wants to avoid fighting or confronting the enemy but always the first to put his life on the line for his friends and he brings a very humane element to his Family. Also similar to Tai, Tsuna is a character that I'm sure people can relate to. A useless wimp with no real talents when it comes to anything that suddenly finds out he's destined to do something he'd never even dream of. It's his compassion that makes him an endearing character but for Tsuna it speaks volumes for him as a person. He's got no business trying to lead anyone but is so often looked to when shit goes down that he eventually becomes somewhat comfortable with his position enough to inspire his friends to fight battles of epic proportions. So maybe this is why. Regardless of what we start off as we're fully capable of being greater than what we appear to be. We're capable of rising up from the depths of our own uselessness and mediocrity and become something or someone worthy of leading a group of trusted friends to what could most definitely be certain death. We are meant to empathize and at the same time criticize Tsuna because as great of a leader as he becomes, its' out of necessity and not a natural thing he just has from the start of the series. His idiocy and desire to distance himself from the life that's already been chosen for him is a contributing factor to his being an idiot because he doesn't want to be involved with that world. He wants to be normal which is something that many heroes like him also wish for but can usually never get. And now that I've mentioned them...it's time to talk about the next kind of Idiot Hero.

The Harem Idiot Hero...GOD I HATE SOME OF THESE PROTAGONISTS! Never the less, I need to talk about them as I need to cover all kinds of Idiots in this post. This idiot is Keitaro Urashima from possibly one of the best Harem manga ever written by Ken Akamatsu, Love Hina. Staring a high school graduate that's been trying desperately to get into Tokyo University to fulfill some promise to a girl he can barely remember, Keitaro ventures to his grandmother's inn and learns two things. The first is that its' no longer an Inn it's an all girls dorm and the second is that he's the new manager. All guys reading this and thinking of how awesome it'd be, WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?! The life of a Harem Hero is among the lowest positions for ANY protagonist and Keitaro has it the worst. Why is Keitaro an idiot? Well he keeps failing to get into the school of his choice Tokyo University. But to but this into context for you, Tokyo University is the highest ranking University in all of Asia, the most prestigious in Japan and 21st in the entire world. He's basically trying to get into one of the GREATEST schools in the entire world and fails about 3 times in his attempt to do so before finally getting accepted. Why else is he an idiot? Because he's the main character in a Harem series and they are bound by the constraints of their role as resident punching bag. Keitaro suffers from a nearly endless bout of bad luck as being the only man in an all girls dorm, no one is smart enough to lock the doors or make sure that there's no way anyone can see you naked or walk in while you're changing. It's not so much that he's an idiot, because Keitaro is fairly smart. It's just that he ends up in stupid situations because everyone else in his life seems to conspire to make his life horrible. The point of a Harem Hero is roughly the same as the main character of a Visual Novel or a Twilight novel. Men are meant to plug themselves in and pick their favorite girl and then hope they can get with them in the end. It's entirely obvious who Keitaro will end up with in the end if you've never read the series and decide to try it, but it's rewarding to see how hard each character has to work in order to get the happy ending that they want. Unfortunately polygamy isn't legal in Japan to my knowledge so only one girl gets the gold and the others keep pining after him even on his wedding day but are otherwise respectful enough to not get in the way of his happiness. Character development is a MAJOR factor of this series and while the characters keep their basic personalities intact, they're allowed and somewhat forced to mature due to the main focus of the series being love...and comedy. So Keitaro is an idiot because, of course, no girl wants a man that's perfectly premade for them. They want someone who's being pursued by several other females and despite all of his short comings, grows into a man worthy of their affections. It also helps to have a man that's slightly immortal and later learns archaeology and martial arts.

So by this point we've covered three very different but very similar characters and what questions have we answered? Well let's ask those questions again. Why do we have characters like this? Probably to give us someone to relate to. Few people want a story in which there are no relatable characters and we especially want to empathize and sympathize and relate to the lead character. We see the world through their eyes and most of the time the world is fairly unkind to them simply because the plot says so. The three examples listed above are all examples of characters that developed significantly past their basic I.S.H. status. They became capable of holding their own and carrying a good portion of the story on their own backs. Now, let's look at some more. These next ones will be a bit more...I don't know. They're typical but they're not at the same time and my opinions on them are a bit more...well...here we go.

Ahh, the very epitome of a MANLY hero! When people speak of Team Dai-Gurren's fearless badass leader...they're talking about Kamina from Gurren Lagann. This little number came out of a studio called Gainax. Sound familar? No? Well what about Evangelion, FLCL and Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt? Yeah, Gainax did those and this. In perfect honesty, Kamina is NOT the protagonist or even the main character of TTGL despite the fact that he's the driving force behind nearly EVERY single action and he's mentioned in EVERY SINGLE EPISODE OF THIS 27 EPISODE SERIES! Yeah, he also gets a statue and a city and seriously the most awesome pair of sunglasses and the most attractive male of this series so he must be important, right? WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK HE IS?!  Well, Kamina is at first glace the typical Idiot Shonen Character. He's LOUD! He's PASSIONATE! He's an IDIOT of the highest caliber with the drive and determination to lead and inspire others to do their absolute best. He fits the bill much better than our actual protagonist Simon who starts off as someone very similar to Shinji Ikari. Kamina will face a giant Mecha with a sword, peep on girls in the bath, and try to win fights with pure will power. He's most definitely an act first, think later type of person...but he's not. Underneath all that masculine badassery and overwhelming passionate idiocy, Kamina is a far more complex character. True, Kamina is an idealist and a determined manly badass, but the idiocy is more or less a facade to mask his more or less truly grounded in reality mindset. Kamina is a strategist and despite it not seeming so, he's QUITE sharp. He merely acts this way so that the others around him, mainly Simon, won't be too afraid to do anything when the shit hits the fan. His actions are usually dumb but at times he's capable of brilliance that makes you say, "Hmm, that actually sounds pretty smart." And so we've already answered the question of why Kamina is an Idiot. It's out of necessity because his team needs someone with his foolish arrogance and unrestrained pride, willpower and determination to lead them out of the darkness and into the light of a new world and a new life. And I think that's all I'll say about Kamina before I get into spoiler territory.

Now he's a story I'd have LOVED to see become it's own spinoff manga. I mentioned earlier that Ruroni Kenshin was one of the few manga I've read that doesn't star the usual I.S.H. but that doesn't mean that there isn't a character like that in the series. I present to you Yahiko Miyojin as one of my interesting examples. At the beginning, Yahiko was just a bratty kid that Kenshin and Kaoru took in and despite my always liking Kenshin, Kaoru, Megumi and Sanosuke I always really liked Yahiko's story lines and subplots. He was the kid character, the one that most readers were probably meant to relate to. As for why he's an idiot? He's a street urchin so it's justified. As the series went on, Yahiko became a far more active character than his teacher Kaoru and was even able to take out some pretty heavy hitters along the way all by himself. At the end of the manga, Yahiko was 15 years old and the kind of character people wanted to read more about, well at least I wanted to read more about him. Sure, his happy ending was already set up. He got Kenshin's reverse blade sword, mastered the Kamiya Kashin Style and even got Tsubame as a girlfriend in addition to being able to catch swords and break them with his knuckles! That's everything you need for a continuation, but I guess that's what fanfiction is for isn't it? You know, I can see why Kenshin was a better protagonist than Yahiko and Sanosuke. Kenshin had a mysterious past and a troubled history. He was a former assassin and a complex character. But as I said in my review of the series, if this were a typical Shonen series, Yahiko or Sanosuke would've been the main characters. But now I feel like I've gotten off topic. Yahiko was interesting because he was the little kid character that wanted to be a man. He wanted to be taken seriously and respected and treated like he was a valued member of the team insetad of that kid that was just allowed to tag along for the ride and fight a few times. He brought that childish outlook to the series that made it a bit more enjoyable and he grew into a strong man when everything was all said and done. And I guess that's why he didn't get his own spinoff manga. Not only did we finish Kenshin's story but in doing so we also finished Yahiko's. We saw the little kid who wanted to learn swordsmanship grow into a capable man and that's really all we needed to know.

First let me start by saying that I LOVE THIS PICTIRE! Second, we've reached...what can probably be described the Dork Age of DBZ with this picture. Yeah, I'd like to know what editor proclaimed from on high, "We should put Gohan in High School!" Well, I think we can also agree that this was probably the worst arc of the entire series. So why am I even bringing it up? Well to start off I was searching the internet for a picture of Gohan going to school for about an hour so that's one reason. And the second reason is that while I'm well aware that Gohan isn't an idiot in the intellectual sense, he still can be described as an idiot in some ways due to his actions at this point in the story. See we all remember that Goku died trying to beat Cell ONLY because Gohan over here didn't kill him when he actually had the chance to do so. Then Gohan killed him and we had a Time Skip! The point of this was that Toriyama felt that Goku's story had finally come to an end and it was time for him to pass the torch to his oldest son, Son Gohan. This arc focused on Gohan going to High School and playing superhero to avoid people pestering him about his powers, you know simple shit that's been done the world over by this point. Now to be perfectly honest...I LOVE THIS ARC! No joke, it's probably my favorite arc of the entire series. Why? Well because we get to watch Gohan act like an idiot. We the audience are laughing at him as opposed to with him due largely to how near needless this arc is. In personal opinion though I still like it, even if it does make me feel embarrassed for Gohan at times. Gohan would've made for a rather decent protagonist had Toriyama decided to keep Goku out of the picture. The kind and gentle nature, the need to help everyone in need and the well of unused power resting within him makes Gohan a character that I'd enjoy watching go to high school and try to struggle with keeping his powers a secret while fighting increasingly powerful opponents as opposed to having Buu come in right from the get go and I kind of think that that's what Toriyama wanted to do but I guess the world hadn't gotten enough of his idiot father and thus the world got the goody goody that failed to kill pretty much any major villain throughout the entirety of the series. Now how does Gohan fit into this discussion on idiot heroes? Well Gohan has the same traits that I think a lot of more intelligent Shonen heroes usually suffer from. Gohan is smart and intelligent but he's also socially awkward and like his dad, not very in touch with how the modern world works. He's an idiot in the sense that he just doesn't really use common sense. Any logical person in his situation would simply let the police or Videl handle the bad guys but Gohan being Gohan can't allow any innocent person to be harmed or any wrong doer to go unpunished. So, he dons a colorful costume and makes a fool out of himself and it doesn't take long for Videl to figure out who he really is especially in the manga where she discovers him the first time he uses his new hero identity. I guess one can also make the case that Gohan is an idiot for letting his father die during the Cell Games. Yeah, that might be a low blow but it's true. Once Gohan finally snapped, EVERYONE knew that he was perfectly capable of killing Cell and ending this shitstorm. What did he do? He drew the battle out and played with his opponent like Vegeta and this is largely due to lacking two things that his father and Vegata both possess. Gohan lacks his fahter's tactical battle skills, if you can call them that and the killer intent of Vegeta. This would've been a WONDERFUL chance to explore the potential problems these flaws could've caused but no. Goku comes back and the rest is history. Such a waste. Honestly, have Videl get kidnapped by someone or something with ACTUAL power, nothing like Buu but something challenging for the young hero and then let's have this guy...wipe out a few major cities, kill some innocents and to cap it all off...mortally wound Gohan's family and loved ones while still threatening his lady love. This sounds like something I'm sure some fanfic writer has come up with and out of the first 10 pages of the DBZ section on fanfiction.net only 10 stories focus on Gohan in high school and none of them seem to utilize that idea. Oh well, I think we'll look at two more atypical examples of this before looking at the three that EVERYONE seems to love for some reason or another.

Now, as I'm sure you're starting to notice, for these examples I'm not using the actual protagonists of the series. This is because of a certain trend I've noticed. When reasonably intelligent, level headed or outright average characters in a shonen series are in fact the main character, they're often paired with an idiot. Why this happens is anyone's guess but I guess I'm supposed to be the one to answer this question, aren't I? Well much like in the case of Kamina, let's see how these next three (yes three, hell I might even do 4) characters help to shape our lead.

 By far probably one of the best examples of being paried with an idiot charcater happens with Yugi Mutou from Yu-Gi-Oh! In his case, the small boy was paried with this guy, Katsuya Jonochi/Joey Wheeler. Joey started off as merely a playful antagonist to Yugi at the start of the series. A more unlikable and bullyish version of Kamina from Gurren Lagann. But Joey never physically caused Yugi harm or put him in danger...intentionally. Joey, for some reason or another, wanted to make Yugi a man and as previously stated, treats him in a similar manner to how Kamina treats Simon. But the thing that turns Joey into arguably the second most important character in the series among the supporting cast is when Yugi defends him and Hiroto Honda/Tristan Taylor from a bully. Joey returns the piece of Yugi's Millennium Puzzle to him and the two boys become best friends. Now Joey is straight up stupid, no doubt about that. He's headstrong, hot blooded and constantly rushes into thigns without thinking them through. He often relies on Yugi's help to win duels against far stronger and mroe experienced opponents and when that's not enouh, Joey relies on straight up dumb luck. Now why do I even bring up this character? Well, even if Joey isn't the main character he's still an idiot shonen character which is what this post is about. Since Yugi is the smart one in his group, Joey is the dumb muscle. But there's more to him than just that. As I'll cover in a later post, the power of Friendship is an important force in the land of Shonen and here it's among the strongest forces in the universe. The bonds of Friendship shared between Yugi and his friends resonate strongest in his friendship with Joey. In Japanese "Friendship" is translated as "Yujou" which and is made up of the first sylables of both Yugi and Joey's names. Their friendship is brought up constantly and is one of the reasons why Yugi is able to grow and develop into his own person. Because Joey was always there supporting Yugi, the boy was able to grow into becoming his own man...despite the fact that he also relied on the spirit of a 5,000 year old Pharaoh. Anyhow, the friendship between these two has been tested in just about every season to my knowledge and each time they're able to overcome this obstacle and become even stronger which culminates during Battle City where Yugi confesses that he loves Joey from the bottom of his heart, not as a LOVER but as an irreplaceable friend that he'd gladly risk his life and die for. Say what you want about this show but you've got to admit that the Idiot made a Man out of our main...sort of. That and FRIENDSHIP!

Once again we return to Ruroni Kenshin for a supporting Idiot. Now here we have a rather...unusual case...in a way. Often when paired with the idiot supporting character, our lead will be of reasonable intelligence but lacking in masculity or a backbone. Thus the idiot will often be the most masculine member of the cast and the best friend to our main and will try to man him up. Not so much in the case of Sanosuke Sagara. Kenshin's already a 28 year old man by the time he works his way into the plot and despite the protests of some that Bishonen characters aren't manly for some reason just because they're pretty looking, Kenshin is the established man with a backstory and everything. He's the one with the vow to never kill and goes out of his way to save people. Suck it up, Kenshin's more of man than Sano. Back on topic here, Sano serves to knock some much needed sense into our favorite former Hitokiri. Sano also served a similar role to Yahiko, being a character others could have an easier time relating to and he was also like an older brother to Yahiko. He was also the resident second badass and more or less second in command...if you could call him that. As the male character closest in age to Kenshin (for the first part of the story), the two were able to easily have conversations and bounce off each other so why is Sano an idiot? Well because of that personality of his. Sano was...I'd dare say at the lower end of intellectually average but he knew his way around the battle field. He was a support character and like Yahiko and Kaoru, he quickly realized that he was...not quite up to snuff and needed to get stronger during the Kyoto Arc. Like all the characters, Sanosuke got a significant amount of development. He started off as a simple fighter for hire and eventually became something of a wanderer himself at the end of the manga.

Just about the only really contributing side male character in a Harem series is Kotaro Inugami from Negima. Similar to the two above, he started off as something of an antagonist to the lead (are we seeing a pattern yet?) before switching sides and becoming Negi's friend. Now of all the characters in this series why would I bring up this one? Because Kotaro has a much more obvious effect on Negi than any of the girls do. Kotaro was introduced in volume 5 during the Kyoto Arc (wow that's two series with a Kyoto arc now) as an antagonistic obstacle in Negi's way. Kotaro is a Hanyo or Half Yokai/Half Demon specifically an Inugami or a Dog Spirit and he makes it very clear that he has a hatred for Negi during their first fight because Negi is not only a male Western Wizard, but he also depends on a girl to protect him and do all the physical fighting for him. In his second battle with our main character, Kotaro is beaten by Negi who despite doing most of the fighting for himself still has to rely on the help of one of his partner's with the ability to read thoughts. After the Kyoto arc is finished, Kotaro returns in volume 8 as a main reoccurring character and a friendly rival to Negi. Now like Joey and Sano, Kotaro is an idiot in the intellectual sense but he shines brightest on the battlefield. He might not understand things like philosophy but Kotaro has street smarts and battle experience and is an invaluable ally to Negi. Now, this might not be the best time to bring this up but when I say "in depth analysis" I mean I get what I get out of it. I'm no expert on this stuff so like I say, grain of salt. Back on topic, why does Kotaro matter? Well let's look at what Kotaro is. He's a Dog Demon. On the one hand, he sees himself as a lone wolf but it's obvious that he's more like a wounded street puppy. Kotaro has been shunned away from his family due to what he is (this is implied within the series). This makes Kotaro value the relationships he's able to make with Negi and some of the other girls. In turn Negi, who up till this point has really only had female friends, values Kotaro as a playmate and a true example of what a male to male relationship is like. Kotaro inspires Negi to think a little outside the box and act like an idiot while Negi inspires Kotaro to become stronger and eventually become a Magister Magi himself. Kotaro is a rare character in Harem series because the males that do appear often fuck shit up as best they can which isn't funny. They often give stupid advice to the lead male who takes it against his better judgement. Kotaro has no interest in romance. He often tells Negi to stop getting caught up in so many different relationships with girls and in a way kind of thinks them inferior to men on the battlefield in his first appearance. Kotaro is chivalrous though as he refuses to physically fight girls under any circumstances and is always there to help the girls if needed.

So, we've looked at three typical examples, three atypical examples and three supporting examples. The Idiot Shonen Hero comes in many flavors and the best part is that most times he doesn't even have to be the main character. But now we've reached the three that just seem to roll right off the tongue. These are the last three examples before we wrap this up with my favorite Idiot Shonen Hero.

So for this one we'll start with the new and go back in terms of series. Ichigo Kurosaki from Bleach, is what happens when you take InuYasha and try to make him into a combination of Yusuke Urameshi and Kazuma Kuwabara and fail to do it the right way, if there is a right way to do so. He is practically those three characters all rolled into one scowling package. Unlike most Shonen heroes, Ichigo isn't really an idiot in an intellectual sense since he ranks 23rd in his class in order to not get shit for his grades and natural orange hair. He's troubled and he's got a sad sob story that involves the death of his mother and he's weird in that he can see ghosts and people pick fights with him because of his hair. He's got friends, a loving family, good looks and an unusual talent so what's his goal? Well, he doesn't have one. Ichigo is one of the "normal" Shonen main characters that gets dragged into the story and has no set goal in mind nor any aspirations to do much of anything with his life. Ichigo suffers from what I like to call "Plot Power Disease" meaning he gains new powers for no logical reason other than "Oh yeah, the plot requires you to get stronger!". Now many other Shonen series are afflicted with this disease but its' not always a bad thing when the threat will be resolved in a timely manner. NOT WHEN THE VILLAIN MAPS OUT THE ENTIRE PLOT AND IS AROUND FOR THE GRAND MAJORITY OF THE SERIES! Sorry about that, I've got issues with this series. In many ways Bleach was off to a fairly decent start and the way it was structured wasn't horrible, but very enjoyable! Even with the shitstorm of characters that kept flying out of Kubo's ass and the walking abomination that is Aizen who makes Haruhi Suzumiya look like a stage magician in comparison to the power he wields. IF Aizen was killed...in like...2 more arcs after the Soul Society arc, I wouldn't have minded him so much but no. And once again I've gotten off topic but not really. Anyways, Ichigo isn't a horrible protagonist, not really. He's just not a very compelling one when you get down to brass tacks. He fights for his friends and to save the world but...really what else? What does he get out of it? Why does he exist? Well, don't ask me! I could care less! In a lot of ways I don't have too many problems with Ichigo's character or many of the other supporting characters either. My MAIN problem starts with Aizen and then the plot itself. It's like it's on this grand journey to nowhere but wants you to think that it's actually going somewhere.

And now we get into uselessness territory. Naruto is the shit series ripped off of...I mean inspired by a series called Ninku and for some reason, it's become like the Twilight of the anime world. You have the people that like it but can see all of it's flaws and just don't watch it (like ME), and then you have the people that ARE FUCKING OBSESSED WITH IT AND TREAT IT LIKE IT'S FUCKING SHAKESPEARE OR LITERARY GOLD WHEN IT'S NOT! IT'S NOT DAMNIT! Okay, I...I need to calm down. It's just that this series ANGERS ME! Not because of how bad it is but because of it's many many many many many many many MANY MANY MANY FLAWS THAT PEOPLE CONTINUE TO IGNORE FOR SOME REASON! IGNORANCE IS NOT BLISS PEOPLE! IT'S STUPIDITY WHEN APPLYING IT TO THIS! Once again...I need to calm down. Okay, now where do I begin? Naruto is among the biggest idiots in his universe. He's loud, annoying, idiotic and of course he's got problems (don't we all?). Naruto's got a demon fox taking up residence inside his body and EVERYONE  in the village hates him for it :) :) So Naruto wants to become the most badass ninja in his village because then people will HAVE to look up to him and respect him or else die (or something like that). So in his quest to become a great ninja, Naruto CONSTANTLY skips school and plays pranks! TOP GRADE NINJA, RIGHT FUCKING HERE FOLKS! I've got SO many problems with this series, it's not even funny :(! First, the story is OLD AS SHIT! We've SEEN this story MANY times before, and we'll no doubt see it MANY times in the future. Despite this, I liked the series when it first hit America. I liked the idea of Naruto becoming Hokage not for the GOOD of his village but because he was tired of being treated like shit and wanted some damn respect! I STILL like that plot! It deals with a character having to find his place in a society that neither wants nor cares for his personal well being. Sure, Naruto's existence has saved the village but they all think he's just the fox in human form. Naruto's goal and plan to become the Hokage is a rather smart move and rational decision on his part as it would force the villagers to respect him REGARDLESS of the nameless monster fox living within him. I'm not going to really get into my reasons for not liking the series, or at least I hope I don't because I want to focus more on the character rather than the shit series as a whole. Now part of my dislike for the series stems from the fact that Naruto still wants to become the Hokage but now is primary motivation is gone. The villagers already respect him and he's among the most powerful of his class so what does he really have to gain by becoming the Hokage? What's his reason for aiming that high? Naruto's still stupid after the time skip, he wouldn't make a great leader in a time of crisis or war! Now if the village still hated him even after he saved their asses from Pein that would be different. He'd still have perfectly reasonable reason for wanting to become Hokage but why does he still want to now? Does the Hokage make him a babe magnet? Will he become smarter? What's his reason? If any of you can or wish to answer this question, PLEASE DO IN THE COMMENT SECTION! Now, I've talked about this idiot as much as I really want to without shitting all over it. Despite my MANY reasons for not liking it, I still do like it in a way.

Now we move onto my FAVORITE of these three series, One Piece and it's idiot lead Monkey D. Luffy! Shit, even his name has "stupid" written all over it. Luffy is...an idiot in every sense of the word. He's...he's just an idiot but I still like him. Despite being stupid, Luffy still manages to be likable and the kind of person you'd be inclined to follow on an adventure across the seas. Like Naruto, Luffy also has a (Truly truly truly) outrageous goal in mind. He wants to be the Pirate King. He gathers his crew (most of which is smarter than he is) and sets sail for the Grand Line. As stated previously, I find Luffy to be extremely likable despite him being an idiot. Maybe it's his childish determination, or that goofy smile he always has on his face or just the fact that YOU KNOW Luffy will get shit done that makes me respect him as a lead character. Why Luffy is an idiot is something that the world may never know and I don't really care, to be honest. I know that I bitch and whine about there being too many idiot Shonen leads but that doesn't mean that I hate all of them. Luffy here is my absolute favorite, to be honest. Who's you're favorite Idiot Shonen Character and Why and then who's the character you hate the most and why?

In conclusion, idiocy is the thing that humanity is stuck with. We can become smarter but we all make stupid decisions at some point or another and we learn from those mistakes, do we not? Maybe this blog was a stupid mistake of mine. But back to Shonen, let us now return to those questions that I asked before we got into the examples. Why have a character like this? What's the point? Well, I believe the point is to give the character a believable flaw. Their idiocy is their undoing sometimes but most times these characters are able to come away despite their stupid decisions. What do we get out of it? Well, humor for one. To be honest, I've never really seen idiocy played in a serious or tragic light where it REALLY has a devastating effect on the main character and as much as I'd like to see that, I doubt people would sympathize very well. Everyone has access to information with which to develop and improve their intellect so it's a flaw that's played for comedy and at times dramatic irony. SOME situations do exist where the character goes through a tragic ordeal because of a stupid decision they made but it's never really too big of a thing. We the audience are able to connect with the character. As for possible development, LOTS cam come from having an idiot for a main character. Their idiocy may be a result of immaturity and as the series gets more serious, the hero must cast off that childish immaturity and idiocy and become an adult. I hope that this has been an informative and insightful post and I hope that in reading this you were able to learn something you didn't already know. Join me next time for...I don't even know! DaWaRou~!

DaWaRou Posts: Tyler Perry's Madea's Big Happy Family

Hey everyone! It's time for...my last post of the year 2012! What a surprise! I never really thought that I'd be recruited for anything on the internet, much less a blogging site like this one. During the summer, I familiarized myself with blogging and I had my heart set on blogging the common aspects of the Shonen anime and manga demographic or in my eyes genre and I might go back to that, or I might just transfer those posts here to this blog or rewrite them. Who knows what the future holds for me and my blogging? All I can say is that it's been a good few months, and hopefully it'll be a great year. And so without further ado, ladies and gents, I'm John Cortez and this is my eighth post for The Broken Infinite.

Now, I've talked about anime and manga and I've done Youtube videos about movies but all of those posts have been largely about the genre that primarily interests me which is fantasy. I very rarely enjoy seeing movies or really anything that's set in reality because I find reality to be largely pretty boring and I often need the fantastical elements to keep me involved. That's not to say that I like only fantasy because to be quite honest, I don't. Fantasy is all well and good and it provides me with most of my inspiration as a writer but I can enjoy series set in a very firmly grounded reality. Movies like Speed, The Town, 12 Rounds, The Help and Sparkle are all capable of holding my interest for their duration and A Time to Kill is one of my favorite(ish) movies of all time. I've enjoyed Mission Impossible, Cloud Atlas, Sherlock Holmes, Rush Hour and others. But...then there are my (slightly) guilty pleasures which come in the form of the Tyler Perry movies and plays.

In Tyler Perry's productions black people go through good and bad times and usually the drama comes to a head and is partially solved by the aging, large, loud and thuggish Madea for whom most of Tyler Perry's productions are named after. Despite being a central character Madea is rarely the central protagonist and her role is often comic relief and giving some sage like advice in a ghetto way since most of the drama is often brought to or happening in her house. More often than not, the protagonist is somehow related to Madea and this relative and a number of others around them will be going through some tough times like dealing with an abusive husband putting them out on the street, being forced into an abusive relationship, helping couples get together or get out of bad relationships and all sorts of typical drama that you mainly see in movies about black people or minorities but mainly black people. The films are very similar to each other and while they're entertaining and dramatic all at the right times, they're very repetitive and often star some beautiful black woman down on her luck either being repressed by her lover or abused by him or trying to find love again and a cast of other black people to add additional drama and comedy. That aside, I quite enjoy these films and while I know people who don't like them, I can very easily see why. Today I'm going to talk to you about one such movie that, while I did enjoy it, I felt it to be probably one of the worst Tyler Perry movies ever created. That movie is Madea's Big Happy Family.

The plot is this: Saintly Ms. Shirley (Loretta Divine) receives the bad news from the hospital that her cancer is back. She takes it in stride and tells Aunt Bam (Cassi Davis) that along with her funeral arrangements and to stop smoking weed (since that's what we black folk do) she wants to have a family dinner with her children and their families so that she can break the bad news to them all at the same time and lighten the grieving blow. Mr. Brown (David Mann) and his daughter by Madea (Tyler Perry), Cora (Tamela Mann) are also at the hospital where Brown is told that he needs a colonoscopy and Madea drives her car though a cheap burger joint because she wants her breakfast and she ain't gettin' any. So, the dysfunctional families arrive at Shirley's place and there are three of them. 18 year old Byron (Shad "Bow Wow" Moss) and his...girlfriend Renee (Lauren London), Kimberly (Shannon Kane) and her husband Calvin (Isaiah Mustafa) and the final sister Tammy (Natalie Desselle) along with her husband Harold (Rodney Perry) and their two beastly and ghastly children who aren't even listed in the cast on the Wikipedia page for this movie. Anyways all three siblings (Byron, Kimberly and Tammy) are so swept up in their own drama that the dinner plans go awry. What's the sitch? Well there's trouble in paradise all around as the women all belittle and berate their significant others though I'm frankly not sure who's got it worse. Byron's the youngest of the three and not only is he a former drug dealer but he's got two horrible girls in his life. Aside from his current girlfriend Renee who refuses to help Byron raise his baby and constantly begging him to get back into dealin' dope there's the annoying and frustrating baby mamma Sabrina (Teyana Taylor) and she's a BITCH with capital "BITCH". Both girls should just...die in a fire with their constant bickering and yelling and complaining and getting Byron not only arrested and fired from his job but insulting and extorting money from him and keeping him from what his real focus should be, his son. Then we've got Tammy and Harold and their horribly detestable children who refuse to respect anyone since they see their mother showing no respect to their father. Finally there's Kim and Calvin and...know what, don' even get me started on dat straight up bullshit cause dat's what it is! Honestly, you'd think that Calvin was Shirley's son and Kim was the daughter-in-law from the way she acts. Of course, Madea has to step in to set these black folk straight.

Oh where do I even beGIN with my opinions on this film?! WHERE?! Well, for one, let's look at the actual good stuff. Tyler Perry, repetitive and trite as his films are in their formula, does manage to do a very good job at balancing humor and serious drama within the same film sometimes within the space of five minutes. There's lots of jokes about weed, Madea's methods of discipline and solving problems, Mr. Brown and Cora's drama with Madea and other things that mostly black people will laugh at. The drama is dramatic! Tyler Perry often uses his own life experiences and other things to make you sympathize with his characters. Out of everyone in this film, Ms. Shirley is probably the most sympathetic character in the movie as we're forced to see the pain and anguish she suffers as her time runs out and how the issues of her children's personal lives have the worst possible effects on her. The acting and actors are also very good. Another thing I really like about Tyler Perry's movies and plays is that his actors play characters that don't seem like just fictional characters but people that you know or that you know exist within this world. I'll praise the fact that for once in a Madea movie, it's the men who are the one's receiving the abuse but even looking at the wives, you can kind of sympathize with them...kind of. They're made out to be the villains, which isn't a good thing, but...well, considering that most of Perry's female characters are the one's getting abused by the men in their lives it's just...refreshingly disturbing to see women in the role of abusers when it's not being played for laughs the way it normally it is with Madea. Madea herself (or himself as she's played by Tyler Perry) is also a positive for the film in the advice she gives and the methods she takes in resolving the family issues.

SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!

But now we must get to the bile spewing from this film. I apologize now for any horrible or insensitive things I may say in this part but...dis shit need's to be said! First of all, THE WOMEN! THE WOMEN IN THIS FILM ARE HORRIBLE! Kim, Tammy, Sabrina and Renee are some of the most horribly written and utterly evil women I've EVER seen in a Tyler Perry film or play. Let's start with Sabrina and Renee. Sabrina is probably the closest thing to an antagonist this film has and she is the biggest bitch in the movie! She spreads rumors about Byron humiliating him in front of his family and turning his mother and older sister against him by saying that he's dealin' dope again and she's constantly nagging him about child support! What's more, she ends up getting him arrested for failure to pay child support or something and comes by to start the biggest family dinner meltdown I've ever seen. Renee's a demanding bitch who wants more money and doesn't give a rats ass if Byron goes to jail for dealing drugs or not and abjectly refuses to have anything to do with his son. Byron breaks up with her at the end of the film and DAMN STRAIGHT HE SHOULD'VE DONE THAT EARLIER! Next up, we've got Tammy who's probably the nicer of the siblings and not as horribly vilified as Kim and the other tricks. Tammy's relationship with her husband is verbally abusive with all of the abuse coming from her. Poor Harold just takes it because that's what men are kind of conditioned to do when women throw their bitch fits. Not even his own children respect him and call him and their mother by their first names or "Punkass". Were I to call either of my parents "Punkass" I'd have been beat within an inch of my life and I'd never do it again! Now it's not a bad thing to have relationship drama in a film in fact, it probably makes the message of coming together as a family that much stronger in this film. The problem is that other than Harold being weak and submissive, we don't know where the hell Tammy's anger comes from! It's never stated during the film but once Harold puts his foot down, we see their relationship beginning to improve. Worst of all is Kim who's spouting VENOM AND BILE DURING THE ENTIRE RUN OF THE MOVIE! Dammit all to hell this bitch! This bitch is the most successful of the siblings and can't stand to be around her family because they're "too ghetto" for her. THEN at the dinner it's revealed that she got pregnant at the age of 13 and let her mother raise the baby who turns out to be Byron. WHAT A TWIST! Haha, NO! Turns out that Kim was raped by one of her uncles as a child and so she shut out everyone and acted like a bitch to cope or some bullshit like that. Eventually she's redeemed at the end by apologizing to Calvin who's probably one of the best husbands ever portrayed in a Tyler Perry movie alongside Harold. Oh, and most of the issues are resolved AFTER Shirley's funeral. Madea just tells off all the idiotic family members and says exactly what we've all been thinking or what should've been said years ago! And then...it just ends. The only resolution at the end of the movie that I felt to be decent was Byron's ending of the relationship with the black skank slut trick bitch Renee.

*Sigh*, I like Tyler Perry movies as much as...I suppose is possible to like them. I mean, I'm not saying that you shouldn't go see this movie because I recommend it! It's enjoyable, it's dramatic and it's Tyler Perry at his best while also at his worst. The main problems I have with the film is the complete demonetization of the women, the barely flawed men and the resolution of the problems. I mean, honestly, I felt that EVANGELION had a better ending than this film because at least all the issues were resolved in some way! At the end of this movie, yeah the issues are resolved but it's after a funeral and it's just a hug and a break up after the old black woman sets everyone straight and reality doesn't work like that. People are more complicated than that. There's a reason why family drama is some of the hardest to deal with and resolve and if all of life's problems could be solved with a Madea setting people straight then...well I don't know. So, here's what I have to say on the issue of family secrets and respect. Don't keep secrets. There's a difference between intentionally keeping something from your family that's honestly no one's business and a secret that's been looming over everyone for most of their lives. Issues need to be discussed because if they're not, they'll become much harder to deal with in the future. Respect your elders...even if at times they don't fully respect you. Unless reincarnation proves to be true (which I believe that it is) we only live once and it's best to address issues and love one another while we're still around to do so. So...I suppose that's it from me this year! Happy New Year everyone, I'm John Cortez and this is The Broken Infinite. DaWaRou~!

DaWaRou Posts: Sailor Moon Season 1

Oh boy, it's the holiday season! The End of the World as we know it by the Mayans has failed to come and Christmas is around the corner. Also, I've finished revising my first chapter of my novel Spellbound and I might decide to post that somewhere soon, but more on that later. Ladies, Gents and others, I'm John Cortez and this is my 7th post for...The Broken Infinite.

So...first of all, I need to apologize. This post was originally requested by a friend and follower of mine on Twitter who showed me all of Neon Genesis Evangelion and asked me if in my next post, I could explain to him the character of Asuka Langley Soryu since she's my favorite character of the series. At this time I'm unable to properly explain anything about Asuka that the Internet hasn't already covered but I promise that in a future post, I'll get around to it, just not today. Instead we'll be taking a look at one of the oldest and most well known anime to ever premier in America, Bishojo Senshi Sailor Moon. I'm really sorry for changing the subject of the post like this!

Yeah, I know. Instead of talking about one of the most interesting and misunderstood characters of the Evangelion series, I'm going to be writing about the first season of this trite, cliche, fem fluff, over romantic, series that revolutionized the Magical Girl genre. But, honestly, it's due to my own idiocy that it's come down to it. I've got time management problems and I'm a lazy fuck by nature and what's more, I just finished the first season of Sailor Moon while Evangelion is something that I finished about a week ago and while it's still fresh in my mind, this is extremely recent and something I can get done in a day. Please forgive me.

Now, I think that I should probably start off with my history with Sailor Moon. I really don't have one. While I'm well aware that it aired on Toonami while I was growing up, I didn't start watching anime until about 5th grade and by that point I'd never been exposed to Sailor Moon though given my history with Disney's Princess Films, I'd have just gone nuts over it, I'm sure. Girls transforming and using elemental powers to defeat evil? Reincarnated Moon Princesses? CARTOON?! I'd have just lost my mind to see this! But I didn't. In fact, I don't think I ever even heard of Sailor Moon until middle school and while I barely got into it during high school, it was the English dub of it which I found funny, namely Luna's English accent. I've always been a fan of Magical Girl anime, really. My first actual exposure came from the FoxBox/4kids Entertainment's dub of Ojamajo DoReMi/Magical DoReMi here in America and Tokyo Mew Mew/Mew Mew Power and I loved both of them, yes in English and I still do. I've recently discovered the joys of Cardcaptor Sakura, Princess Tutu and Madoka Magica so a while ago I torrented the entirety of Sailor Moon just so I could get some exposure to it in it's original incarnation. Boy oh boy was it something. But, let's get into the review now shall we?

The plot is this: Usagi Tsukino is an average idiot middle school girl. She's a crybaby, an idiot and a blonde but somehow the series insists that she's a natural born Japanese with no foreign ancestry. This also clashes with her family's hair colors as her mother has blue hair, her father's is black and her brother's is brown. Hmm, Blue, Black, Brown and Blonde...must be a thing. Anyways, Usagi wakes up late for school, again, and on her way she sees some kids gang banging a cat and when she chases the brats away, she finds that the cat has a crescent moon bald spot on it's forehead under a band-aid. Who puts a band-aid on a cat?! Lord knows how angry it'd be to have one put on but just imagine the wrath that follows pulling one off! Anyways, the cat ninja jumps away and Usagi arrives late to school where she's chewed out by her Christmas Cake teacher and she hangs with her friends Naru and Umino who's the resident Urkle. She gets like 30 points on her test which means that she failed and on her way home she and Naru decide to go shopping because, hey what better way for a girl to fee better about her self than to waste her money on needless accessories, right? Also, it's a SALE! But there's something afoot! In some undisclosed corner of a dimension from Lord knows where, our villains plot. Queen Beryl wants energy dammit and she and her androgynous lacky Jedite have bewitched the jewels in Naru's shop to sap the energy from the ladies wearing them. Let this be a lesson to you girls. Next time you see a sale that's too good to be true, it might just be a ploy to drain you of your very life essence! Anyways, Usagi meets the cat from earlier once again who introduces herself as Luna and informs Usagi that she's Sailor Moon, a warrior of legend who's job it is to defend the world from the Dark Kingdom's evil forces. Usagi is later joined by Ami Mizuno the genius girl Sailor Mercury who manipulates water and doesn't get an offensive attack until like the third season, Rei Hino a slightly psychic Miko Sailor Mars who maipulates fire, Makoto Kino a tall super girl Sailor Jupiter who manipulates plants and lightning and finally Minako Aino the beautiful blonde Sailor Venus who manipulates...light...or metal or something. There's also Tuxedo Mask who shows up to Deus ex Machina the monster before Sailor Moon finishes it off.

In this season, the girls, with the exception of Sailor Venus are all newbies to fighting evil of any kind and none more so than our main protagonist who's practically pathetic in every way but she manages to get shit done in a pinch at the least by finishing off the monster. The main drama comes later from Tuxedo Mask getting brainwashed and Usagi having to save him with her love and scant other issues that the other girls face. In short, while Sailor Moon may have been the DragonBall of the Magical Girl Genre, it's really nothing all that special in and of itself. This is largely because I've already been exposed to this kind of Magical Girl before in series like Ojamajo DoReMi. Then again that's not to say that Sailor Moon  is without merit. It's generally enjoyable and while the reveals are predictable the drama is quite real and at times touching. It's main struggle stems from choosing to do what you believe is the right thing to do and doing what others think or is objectively the right thing to do. For example, Ami gets something of a love interest at a later point in the series who can see the future and has seen him turning into the monster of the week and killing her. He tells her to kill him if he transforms and she struggles with this briefly before deciding that she can save him. Sailor Venus at one point has to fight someone dear to her who's been turned into a monster and pleads with Sailor Moon to save her instead of killing her. It's nothing particularly outstanding or groundbreaking but it might've been at the time.

The flaws of the series lie in it's utter predictability and blatant repetitiveness. Usagi and the others talk about something, the monster appears, they transform and beat the monster rinse and repeat. Most of the decisions that are made can be seen coming from a mile away and while this isn't "bad" it can get rather annoying. Also...Usagi's voice is annoying as hell most of the time but I gather that it's supposed to show her immaturity. Actually, Usagi herself can be seen as a flaw in the series. She's the main character and meant to be the leader to the other warriors when this honor probably should belong to Minako/Sailor Venus who's been at this far longer or Rei/Sailor Mars who's generally the most composed in battle or even Ami/Sailor Mercury who's the smartest. Usagi would've most likely have been killed without the other girls helping her and her immaturity is frustrating at times but it works to the series credit in that she is capable of being a leader and savior when needed.

And so, my thoughts? I quite like it. I like some quality about each of the girls and even the villains got some pretty good moments as well, namely Nephrite, Zoisite and Kunzite. While the series animation isn't glorious by any stretch of the word, it's still rather good looking and seems to improve each season. It's enjoyable and recommendable to those who haven't seen it. And that's it from me! Sorry the post was so short and dull this time around, I'll get on that Asuka post at one point but Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! DaWaRou~!

DaWaRou Posts: The Tsundere

Greetings everyone! This post was originally going to be about Ranma 1/2 but I decided that enough was enough and it's about time I set up the overhead projector and prepare for a lecture. Yes that's right, everyone, during this post you're actually going to learn something and don't worry, I'll do a follow up video to go along with this at a later point. Now pay attention class because I'm John Cortez and this is my SIXTH post for the Broken Infinite.

Now the world of anime and manga is ever varied, ever changing and always strange as all get out. You get people with blonde hair who you assume to be American or just White in general as it seems to be the Japanese consensus that blonde hair and blue eyes equals Foreigner but then you've got Sailor Moon, Tamaki Suoh and Naruto Uzumaki and they're supposed to be Japanese, though Tamaki's a bit more forgivable as he's stated to be half French in canon and Usagi from Sailor Moon is well...from the moon or something. You've got people with ever hair color under the sun, young girls that manifest the powers of some nondescript force dressing up in strange costumes and fighting evil, ninja's that run around wearing orange and shouting "BELIEVE IT" at the top of their lungs, boys that turn into girls when splashed with cold water, and giant robots, oh and Tokyo Tower seems to always be targeted, what's up with that? Well, today class, we'll be talking about a character type and a rather infamous one at that. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you...the Tsundere!

She's really cute in that Sailor Uniform...until she gets her riding crop and beats you with it all night long!

 Yeah, let's get started. The Tsundere is a typical anime/manga character type with a number of traits and quirks that contribute to the large hatred and love for them. Now please note that I'm describing a character that's more often than not female and often used in Japanese settings and media. I apologize now if I say ANYTHING that can be considered rude or insulting to Japan or Japanese Culture but please note that these are also my personal opinions and you're welcome to take them with a grain of salt. Thanks! Now, this type of character is more often than not female with brightly colored hair and in most common depictions a rather negative and violent personality as their default way of dealing with people. The word is derived from the Japanese words tsuntsun which means "to turn away in disgust" and deredere which means "to become lovey-dovey" at least according to Wikipedia. In essence, the Tsundere is a person who often shifts between being harsh and violent to being lovey and affectionate depending on the situation. This translates to most people as "The damn bitch is bipolar" which is not an accurate description of the Tsundere character.

Now Bipolar disorder is a mood disorder in which people experience disruptive mood swings. Those who are Bipolar fluctuate between moments of great happiness and EXTREME anger. While Tsundere characters typically go through the anger part, the extreme happiness thing isn't their default mode or their deredere mode either. Bipolar disorder is a medical condition people, not a "personality" trait. Got that? Got that you stupid Otaku?! Sorry, I just get really angry when people call Tsundere characters Bipolar as it DOES NOT describe the character and what's more, I think it's kind of insulting to people who ARE Bipolar. They didn't choose to be that way, they can't help that (to my knowledge), and they probably don't enjoy those radical shifts in their emotional state.

Anyways, now what makes a Tsundere...Tsundere? Well I'm so glad you asked! Tsundere characters are often girls, but male versions do exist. They're often characterized by being either a Type A or B Tsundere. Type A Tsundere characters exhibit the tsuntsun personality as their default way of dealing with and interacting with others and the world in which they live. They're often scowling and respond violently to those who annoy or anger them with verbal or physical lashings being their M.O. as  it were. They usually have a harsh relationship with a certain someone or someones in their lives. They often have either very deep psychological issues and problems which give them a reason for acting horrible with other people or they just have horrible relationships with others around them period and anyone unfortunate enough to get on their bad side without knowing about them is in for a horrible treat. The Type A Tsundere is therefore the most overused anime character types due to the simplicity of writing one as well as the contrast to the more idealized typical Japanese love interest. The Tsundere takes that, tears it up forms it into a baseball bat and HITS YOU WITH IT'S REJECTION! The Tsundere is fetishized because it's not what Japanese people are raised to want (to my knowledge). They don't embody the typical values in feminine nature that Japan worships such as grace, unattainable mature beauty, a gentle and demure nature, and a subservient  disposition to men for men. The Tsundere is VIOLENT if Type A as default. She will lash out and speak her mind on anything that she thinks is deserving of her opinion. She bows to NO ONE and if taken to an extreme often thinks that everyone should bow to her, but then we're not dealing with the Ojou now are we? The Type A Tsundere is often fetishized due to the fact that if she's in a Harem Visual Novel, the player can "tame" her. Yes, that's right! Is the girl you like not submissive or subservient enough to you? Do you desire to break down her walls and crumble the barriers between the two of you? Well...just make her fall in love with you and fuck her brains out! This Tsundere is often visually different from other characters, sometimes. Often times this Tsundere will have bright colored hair, often red to highlight the violent and fiery nature she has. Recently, now there's this trend to make them small in stature, flat chested, prideful, red headed of some sort and voiced by Rie Kugimiya. This type of Tsundere will also usually be the main female character in a Harem type series and thus everyone watching the series will be scratching their heads in confusion when it's made abundantly clear that ANY OTHER GIRL IN THE SERIES WOULD BE A MUCH SAFER MATCH FOR HIM! But I digress. These girls will also usually have little romantic experience so when they do start to have feelings for a guy they'll be so stuck in denial that they react violently towards him. Expect lots of blushing and "I-it's not like I l-l-like you or anything..." and "(insert name here) no BAKA!/IDIOT!" Also, they'll often have long hair put into a ponytail on each side of their head. And don't expect them to be held accountable for any abuse they dish out to the main character despite the fact that if the roles were reversed it wouldn't be very funny, no would it? In a Harem, if she's not the main girl, she's the male lead's childhood friend and if she's not that she's the class rep. Exceptions do exist.

The Type B Tsundere is a stark contrast to the normal and most overused depiction. She more closely resembles the traditional Japanese idealized female to a certain degree. She's deredere by default and thus she's nice, pleasant to be around, helpful to others in need of help and all around the type of girl you'd probably want as a girlfriend. Unfortunately, she's not this way with her love interest. Oh no. When this girl needs to be tsuntsun there's ONE person she's saving it for and that's the one person who's caught her eye and unfortunately its' often because she's not sure HOW to deal with these feelings. Personally I think that this makes the character rather flat in comparison to the Type A Tsundere as while they often have a legitimate reason for acting the way they do that should  be explored over the course of the series, the Type B Tsundere is very much capable of acting like a decent person and often does so except for with the one person she likes. Eri from School Rumble above her though is something of an exception to that personal opinion though. She's a combination of the Tsundere with the Ojou or the Rich Bitch that's also fetishized to an absurd degree but then again women want to marry a rich man, so why can't men want to marry a rich woman? We'll deal with the Ojou at a later point but Eri's one of the more genuinely justified Tsundere as most of her tsuntsun isn't just reserved for her love interest but the other love interest of her love interest who happens to be the younger sister of one of her best friends. In fact Eri is also slightly tsuntsun with her friends who know how to push her buttons. As opposed to being hateful with everyone, this Tsundere will often only be angry when dealing with her love interest which Japan loves to take advantage of putting in lots of sexual tension and Will They/Won't they moment. Many girls who are otherwise Yamato Nadeshiko in training are often this kind of Tsundere.

Now the Tsundere is one of the most hated anime character types in the West, particularly in America and it's not very hard to see why. While a Tsundere's respective manga may offer insight and depth into her character and explain why she's the way she is any anime adaption will inevitably flanderize or ruin the character by making her more into a Type A if she was more of a Type B or had mixed traits originally. One Tsundere that particularly suffers from this is Akane Tendo from Ranma 1/2. If ANY of the characters in that series had justifications for acting the way they did, it was most DEFINITELY Akane. Let's look at the facts shall we? First of all, Akane's the youngest daughter of a Martial Arts instructor and from what little flashbacks were shown, she seems to have been very attached to her now dead mother. In response, her oldest sister Kasumi took up the mantle and became the mother while Akane spent more time with her FATHER, learning how to beat the ever loving crap out of people! Second of all, Akane's typically shown with short hair both before and after her Season 1/Volume 1 haircut. As a child this had the effect of making Akane look like a boy and most likely contributed to her tomboyish behavior as well as the fact that she was chosen to play ROMEO in her grade school's production of Romeo and Juliet. Akane is also lacking a parental unit to show her how a traditional female should act and really thinking about it I wonder if a lot of guys would get intimidated by a girl who's capable of breaking every bone in their body with relative ease. Kasumi is her sister and thus doesn't really count as they're only 3 years apart in age. So all that in account, Akane makes it to High School and what happens? School pervert Kuno RUINS any chance Akane has at a normal relationship with a boy by DEMANDING that the only way anyone can date her is by defeating her in combat. Add to the fact that the guy she's crushing on is madly in love with her older sister and any girl would be ticked off by the males at school who all jump her every morning in a sick display of affection. And then at the sweet age of 16, Akane is told that a boy she's never met will be living with her family and will be able to marry her or one of her sisters. How would you like it if your potential life partner was chosen for you and not by you. Then Ranma shows up in girl form and when the cat flies out of the bag, Akane learns that she's been defeated by a boy who she now just saw naked and has now been handed to on a plate by her sisters. Making matters worse for the already insecure Akane is the fact that her new "husband to be" changes into a much better looking and better built girl than she is naturally and as if to add insult to injury, all of these other fiancees come crawling out of the woodwork meaning now Akane has to fight to prove herself worthy of being Ranma's wife against three other girls with far superior fighting and domestic skills. Also Ranma's much better than Akane is at Martial arts which I suppose can be excused by the fact that in comparison Akane hasn't really had the same training as Ranma and the fact that as a male he's physically stronger and sturdier than she is. Everything goes wrong for this girl so when she looses her temper at Ranma, when he deserves it, she's completely justified in doing so. She's not mentally unstable or unbalanced, she's just had a string of rotten luck and her life's gone to hell with the arrival of a man she's been given to. If you'd like to see unbalanced I could probably try to go over Asuka from Evangelion but I won't.

But what's my thoughts on the character type? I kind of like Tsundere characters when they're done well. When they're put in a more serious setting, their anger is often completely justified as the entire world seems to be against them. When it comes to love, they're often way to inexperienced to know how to properly deal with these kinds of emotions and feelings and when they're deredere it's often very sweet. Also I like how Type A Tsundere characters act with others, especially men when they're in a society and country that has traditionally very low values and aspirations when it comes to women. The more vulgar ones like Asuka from Evangelion are enjoyable to me because they don't care who they're talking to and they'll give their opinions whether they're wanted or not. They can get away with being total bitches to people and you just know that somewhere in the world there's some guy watching the series who drops his pants every time the Tsundere comes on screen. I like the cultural contrast they make as well when portrayed in Japanese media especially if they're paired with a more traditional Japanese female character like the Yamato Nadeshiko or the Shrinking Violet which happens to be my favorite Harem character type. The Tsundere is the girl who won't put up with your crap in real life. If she's your best friend she'll call you on every single flaw, berate you for them and then still have your back and want to walk to and from school with you when all's said and done. In a more action packed setting, she'll make sure that anyone who comes after her (not)boyfriend pays dearly if he's not very inclined towards violence...unless of course she's Asuka. They're strong female characters when they're female and they don't take shit from other guys or girls and know how to take care of themselves and when they're male...they're normally those brooding bad boy types that make girls go nuts for some reason I can't begin to imagine. So, I hope that this provided a more in-depth look at and explanation of the Tsundere character. What're your thoughts on this kind of character? Why do you hate or like them so much? Until next time~! DaWaRou~!