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Sofuteni - Certain Character/Cast Setup




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Demonic+Elemental



Joined: 07 Aug 2006
Posts: 68
PostPosted: Fri Apr 08, 2011 10:34 pm Reply with quote
I have a question related to the Sofuteni page. The other three female characters in the anime (Chitose, Kurusu, and Elizabeth) are listed as secondary characters. I'm confused; weren't they supposed to be main characters also?
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Dan42
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 29, 2011 1:26 am Reply with quote
As per the guidelines when submitting cast
Quote:
primary: usually there are only 1 to 3 of those in an anime, basically "who the story is about";

Usually there's only one main character, one protagonist. A few rare titles have equal leads, but for the most part it's obvious who the story revolves around.

But it seems I was too late, someone already bumped up the other characters to primary level :-/
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EmperorBrandon
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 29, 2011 1:41 am Reply with quote
All of the girls in the tennis club are pretty much equally primary characters given what I've seen so far. There's not really any dividing line I could place there (the same I'd say for example, the main 5 in K-ON!!). I moved those mentioned except for Elizabeth (didn't appear in first episode so I didn't know if to place her up or not) up to primary before I had seen this thread.
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Dan42
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 29, 2011 5:07 am Reply with quote
You mention K-ON but in that show it's pretty clear that the lead character is Yui. Likewise, I've only seen ep 1 of Sofuteni but it was pretty clear to me that the lead character was Asuna. Or in any sentai show, it's always clear who the leader is even if there would be no show without the other 4 team members.
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dormcat
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 29, 2011 8:55 am Reply with quote
Dan42 wrote:
You mention K-ON but in that show it's pretty clear that the lead character is Yui. Likewise, I've only seen ep 1 of Sofuteni but it was pretty clear to me that the lead character was Asuna. Or in any sentai show, it's always clear who the leader is even if there would be no show without the other 4 team members.

Ahh, I see, so I just moved Mikuru and Itsuki of The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, leaving only Haruhi, Kyon, and Yuki* as the protagonists.



I think Dan has a higher requirement for protagonists: not just one of the "merry friends" who appears in every episode, but the character of which the story is being told from/for.



*Yuki had only been a secondary in the two TV series, but her role in the movie was significantly raised, probably even outranked Haruhi.
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EmperorBrandon
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 29, 2011 7:40 pm Reply with quote
Dan42 wrote:
You mention K-ON but in that show it's pretty clear that the lead character is Yui.


If trying to be as strict as possible with the dividing line, that would be certain for the first series. In the second series, a lot of it seems to center around Azusa - she's debatably as important or more than Yui.

Also, where exactly would you say the dividing line between secondary and minor would be? Some entries seem to be pretty excessive in secondary roles. One example in particular would be Index II, where there's a huge chunk, and some of them are in only a few eps., or only in one or two (would the villain of a single small arc still count for it?).
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Dan42
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 30, 2011 1:03 am Reply with quote
Good point about K-ON!! and indeed there's no rule that says the main character(s) of a second series have to be the same as the first.

In terms of dividing line between secondary and minor, I haven't seen Index II, so all I can do is point to the instructions:
Quote:
2. secondary: the story doesn't hinge around them but they are still very important to the storyline;
3. minor: few lines of dialogue and/or few episodes; their actions are not vital to the storyline;
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EmperorBrandon
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 30, 2011 1:22 am Reply with quote
Dan42 wrote:

In terms of dividing line between secondary and minor, I haven't seen Index II, so all I can do is point to the instructions:
Quote:
2. secondary: the story doesn't hinge around them but they are still very important to the storyline;
3. minor: few lines of dialogue and/or few episodes; their actions are not vital to the storyline;


I guess I'm wondering is what to do with characters whose importance is focused in one arc or episode and who seem rather insignificant as far as the series as a whole is concerned. For instance Yamisaka Oma is currently listed as secondary, but he only appears in the first episode. He is the antagonist of that episode (so not unimportant), but in a 24 episode series that's not much.
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Dan42
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 30, 2011 1:28 am Reply with quote
Heh, actually the first episode is the only one I watched, and I can only share your hesitation; that character is really borderline between secondary and minor. While the antagonist is the one who moves the story forward, this particular antagonist was kinda pathetic and didn't really *do* that much.
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