Forum - View topicMost Improved Character Tournament: Participants/Minigame
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Dorcas_Aurelia
 Posts: 5344 Location: Philly |
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Voting against:
Reki from Haibane Renmei The point that she is able to pass as not only a well-adjusted individual, but the most reliable resident of Old Home for most of the series, and notably from the start, runs counter to the idea of improvement. Since her flaw is not revealed until well into the series, we do not get the opportunity to see her working to correct it, and even upon rewatch and knowing what to look for, the span wherein she is at a low point is later in the series rather than sooner. Furthermore, her particular problem explicitly requires someone else to solve it for her. |
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Tris8
 Posts: 2114 Location: Where the rain is. |
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NOMINATING: Haruko, Air (TV) Who She Is: Haruko is Misuzu's (the main female lead) aunt and guardian. Haruko is irresponsible and bordering on neglectful as a parent, but even so she cares deeply for Misuzu. She purposefully keeps an emotional barrier between herself and Misuzu, as Misuzu has an illness that her doctor doesn't fully understand and she's not getting better. How She Improves: Although it is clear from the beginning that both care for each other, Haruko keeps Misuzu at arms length by purposefully working long hours, coming home late and drinking. She isn't Misuzu's legal guardian, so she fears Misuzu will be taken one day by either her father or her mysterious illness. Misuzu's father does indeed come for her, but Misuzu runs back to Haruko, calling her mother. After that, Haruko devotes herself to truly being Misuzu's mother and stops emotionally running away from the situation. Picture Yuka Sugimoto, Twelve Kingdoms Who She Is: Yuka is an ordinary Japanese high schooler when she gets transported to the fantastical land of the 12 Kingdoms along with classmates Youko and Asano. She is thrilled at the chance for adventure and believes she was destined to be brought there. When she finds out that it is Youko, not herself, who is the 'chosen one', she becomes insanely jealous. How She Improves: When the 3 are transported to the 12 Kingdoms, Yuka thinks very highly of herself. She believes herself to be special and better than others. When it is Youko, not her, who is chosen her jealousy drives her to fight Youko, and Yuka lets herself be used by the Emperor of Kou. When she finally learns she was just a tool to the Emperor, Yuka realizes that her desire to be a 'destined savior' was only to suit her own ego and not born out of kindness. She is then able to put her differences aside and aid Youko. Picture VOTING FOR: Shizuku Tsukishima, Whisper of the Heart Last edited by Tris8 on Sun Dec 30, 2012 3:29 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Errinundra
Moderator
 Posts: 6584 Location: Melbourne, Oz |
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Nominating
The unnamed protagonist aka "watashi" / "I", The Tatami Galaxy Who the character is: The unnamed protagonist is a student at Kyoto University and lives in a 4½ mat tatami room. He looks forward to a "rosy campus life" filled with amusement and romance. The truth is he is shy, awkward, easily led by his devilish friend Ozu and can't see what's right in front of his eyes / dangling from the ceiling: that the impressive young woman Akashi might like him. After stuffing everything up, he gets a second chance only to stuff it up in an entirely new way. Time after time he finds new ways to get it all wrong. How the character improves: Eventually he finds himself trapped in an endless maze of 4½ tatami mat rooms for two years. He comes to understand that however he spent his time at Kyoto University, it was far more rewarding than a life alone. He also finally grasps the significance of what is hanging from his ceiling and acknowledges that he loves Akashi. Now freed from solitude he takes charge of his life, partners up with Akashi and turns the tables on Ozu. A bright new future awaits him. Picture Supporting Reki, Haibane Renmei That's she's got issues is apparent early on. In any case, why can't significant transformation take place over just a few episodes? Shizuku Tsukishima, Whisper of the Heart Waver Velvet, Fate / Zero |
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marie-antoinette
 Posts: 4136 Location: Ottawa, Canada |
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Voting for
Yuka Sugimoto, Twelve Kingdoms I really need to finish watching that one, I actually own the whole thing but have never seen the second half, which I assume is the reason I have no idea who the other nominee from the series who isn't Youko is. |
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Ggultra2764
 Subscriber Posts: 3966 Location: New York state. |
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Nominating:
Tomoya Okazaki, Clannad Who He Is: Tomoya is a high school student known for his delinquency as he regularly skips classes and stays up all night long, as well as having a strained relationship with his father. He comes to encounter a girl named Nagisa Furukawa, a soft-spoken girl with low self-esteem, who wants to re-establish the school’s drama club for a play with Tomoya’s help. While unwilling at first to help Nagisa in her efforts, Tomoya decides to help the girl out with trying to recruit members and plan out a play for the club’s first performance. How He Improves: Because of tragic events in his past, Tomoya had little interest in attending school and had a strained relationship with his father hence his delinquency. The boy desired a change to the so-called dull life he lived in his hometown. Tomoya would get that change in the form of Nagisa whose desire to reform the school’s drama club gave him motivation to slowly ease out of his delinquency and help out several other girls in the school with differing personal problems. Tomoya also came to develop a surrogate family relationship with Nagisa’s parents which replaced the strained bond he had with his father. The bond became strong enough where the family allowed Tomoya to live with them later in the show to get away from his father. Through Nagisa and her family, Tomoya would become a better person as his faith in the value of family was restored and he found a new purpose for himself when helping Nagisa with her play. Image Supporting: Haruko (Air) |
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One-Eye
 Posts: 2267 |
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I'm not sure I can support Yuka Sugimoto, Twelve Kingdoms. Perhaps someone could refresh my memory, but I recall her as being somewhat stuck in her own fantasies in the real world and when she is transported with Youko to a different world she goes literally insane and then after a few encounters she made what I found was a heel faced turn to clear-eyed sanity. Its been a while since I saw Twelve Kingdoms, but I recall thinking that it came a bit out of nowhere without much groundwork for it and I found it hard to swallow such a turn out of the blue. Again my memory maybe a little foggy on this one, but I feel a little iffy on this one.
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18458 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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I've been very delinquent about attending to this thread over the course of the past few days, and I do apologize for that; while I was putting in a lot of time on my Year in Review piece, simple laziness was also a big contributing factor. I am working on making a summarized candidate list/vote report, though, which should be up later tonight.
One concern that I do want to bring up right now: Some of you have been very naughty about how you're formatting your character descriptions. At this point I've gotten through the first two pages and I've already run across two titles that were not in official English form (if one exists). This is required by the posted rules, boys and girls, so if you didn't do that on an entry you wrote then go back and change it NOW. I don't care if you're a Japanese elitist who insists on only using the Japanese version of the name even when there's a commonly-known English version; them's the rules, and if you can't abide by them then I'll disqualify your entries. And yes, this is a personal pet peeve of mine. (Heck, I still know one prominent American-based anime-related Internet personality who still insisted on referring to Neon Genesis Evangelion as Shin Sekai Evangelion. I despise that with a passion.) Oh, and a few people haven't been good at all about including links to pics with your entries. That is also required, people, so if you didn't do it then go back and edit it in NOW. EDIT: Oh, and the English name thing applies to character names, too. Change your entries so character names are in English order if you haven't already entered them in that way. |
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Key
Moderator
Posts: 18458 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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Okay, I finally got a list assembled, and it will be posted shortly on the OP. A couple of clarifying comments:
*I changed Tomoya's source to Clannad franchise, as that feels more appropriate. Same with Piccolo Jr. and the DB franchise. *I propose changing Saber to Fate/stay Night and Fate/Zero, as I think you need both to get the full picture on her character development. I want to get second opinions from people who have supported her based on F/SN, though. *Homura is on the Cut List. Now some Vote For votes of my own: Chihiro, Spirited Away Fakir, Princess Tutu (I will not support Mytho and Rue as I think they're far weaker options) Mima Kirigoe, Perfect Blue - Not a strong choice but deserving of being here. Piccolo Jr., Dragonball franchise Vegeta, DBZ (although this one is more marginal) Saber, F/SN Shoukei, The Twelve Kingdoms Simon, Gurren Lagann Tomoya Okazaki, Clannad franchise Waver Velvet, Fate/Zero I am not voting for Yuka Sugimoto because there's simply a better third option from the series: Nominating: Suzu, The Twelve Kingdoms Who She Is: Suzu is a girl in her mid-to-late teens who was born to a poor farmer in Japan in the Meiji era. She was transported to the 12 Kingdoms by a shoku (an interdimensional storm) after being sold off by her family to pay a debt. Upon arrival she had a rough time and was unable to communicate, so she pledged servitude to a noble woman in exchange for being made immortal (and thus getting the give of universal translation) but got stuck that way for almost a century. After suffering a lot of abuse, she finally fled her master, came under the protection of the Queen of Sai, and from there traveled to Kei because she had heard that the new Queen of Kei had also come from Japan and thus might sympathize with her enough to send her home. After an adventuresome time getting to Kei, she eventually got mixed up in a building tax rebellion, where she met fellow nominess Shoukei and Youko (though she did not know the latter for who she was at first). How She Improves: For much of the part of the series that she's involved with, Shouko is pretty much a crybaby who always feels sorry for herself and believes that no one else can understand how she's suffered. Though a variety of misadventures, some tragedy, and discussions with Shoukei and Youko, she gradually comes to understand how pathetically she's been behaving, that others have suffered, too, and that she needs to radically adjust her attitude about things. As a result, she becomes a helpful player in Youko's efforts to expose and crush corruption and comes out a significant more emotionally stable and self-assured in the end. pic bonus chibi pic of all three girls Here are a few characters that I feel are very worthy of nomination but won't have time to write up properly until sometime Tuesday (i.e., if someone else Nominates them then I'll automatically Vote For on them): Mashiro von Windbloom, My-Otome Yakumo Fujii, 3x3 Eyes franchise Leina, Queen's Blade 1st and 2nd series Yuji, Blue Gender Yuji Sakai, Shakugan no Shana franchise Ryuki Shi, The Story of Saiunkoku (okay, so he definitely plateaus fairly early, but he does improve form where he starts) Arthur, Tears to Tiara |
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Tris8
Posts: 2114 Location: Where the rain is. |
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NOMINATING:
Hiei, Yu Yu Hakusho Who He Is: Hiei is a fire demon, tossed to what was supposed to be his death as a baby. He grows up with revenge in his heart and develops a taste for killing. He enters the human realm to obtain 3 relics that will give him great power, but Yusuke Urameshi (the Spirit Detective) thwarts him. Koenma (the son of the spirit realm ruler) recognizes Hiei's power and offers to overlook his past misdeeds if he teams up with Yusuke and 2 others (Kurama and Kuwabara) to help keep the human realm safe. How He Improves: Facing many trials with Yusuke, Kurama and Kuwabara forces the 4 of them to trust each other with their lives or perish. Slowly, Hiei's cynical perspective lessens as he learns first hand there are people he can rely on in the world. His improvement can really been seen in the Chapter Black Saga, as at first he can't wait to get his hands on Chapter Black, a video with all of mankind's most horrendous deeds recorded on it. When he finally does get ahold of the tape, he turns down the opportunity to watch it as he now knows there is much more to humankind. Picture Ya, Suzu is another very good candidate for this tournament. It's really too bad so many great character transformations occur in a single series!  I almost nominated Suzu, but gave Shoukei the slight edge because I viewed her as having come farther. Suzu starts out as whiny and directionless, but she's not a bad person. She's just had a terrible time adapting. Shoukei on the other hand starts out extremely selfish and completely unsympathetic. When villagers yell at her, saying her father had them executed for missing a single day of work due to illness or injury, she doesn't think for a second what her father did was wrong. She calls them lazy and ungrateful and views them as beneath her. Both Suzu and Shoukei come to realize their own shortcomings and learn to take care of themselves, but Shoukei started off in a deeper hole.
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Galap
Moderator
 Posts: 2354 |
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Vote for:
Julian Mintz, Legend of the Galactic Heroes |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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Voting For:
Haruyuki Arita, Accel World Hikaru Shindo, Hikaru no Go Ichiko Sakura, Binbougami Ga! Julian Mintz, Legend of the Galactic Heroes Kenji Ichijouji, Digimon Adventure 02 Madoka Kaname, Puella Magi Madoka Magica Piccolo Jr., Dragonball franchise Rika Nonaka, Digimon Tamers Shizuku Tsukishima, Whisper of the Heart Taichi Mashima, Chihayafuru Vegeta, Dragonball Z Watashi (unnamed protag), The Tatami Galaxy Waver Velvet, Fate/Zero There are some candidates that I totally disagree with but voting against them is pointless - they've all got too many votes already. I'll save my arguments against them for the tournament itself. |
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jl07045
 Posts: 1527 Location: Riga, Latvia |
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Nominating:
Renton Thurston from Eureka Seven. Who he is: Renton is a boy of around 14, a son of a renowned hero. He lives with his grandfather, having lost his parents and elder sister. His greatest wish is to join a romanticized group of outlaws called Gekkostate. One day he meets one of that group, a girl called Eureka. How he improved: At the start of the series, he is carefree, naive and rash. He resents his father for putting work ahead of his family and wishes to escape the small town he lives in. He develops a crush towards Eureka, but doesn't really know how to approach her. During the course of the series, he realizes both the purpose of Gekkostate and the state of the world as well as personality and origins of Eureka. He initially has a very hard time dealing with it as well as with how the members of Gekkostate treat him. However gradually he changes into a heroic, considerate young man who has a loving relationship (with adoptive kids even), and sense of purpose. Image Voting for Tsume, Wolf's Rain Saber, F/SN Simon, TTGL Madoka, PMMM Kenshin Himura, Trust and Betrayal Ringo Oginome, Penguindrum Daikichi, Bunny Drop My position on Saber is include F/Z if you want to. I can't fully recall how much of her backstory and reasoning was in the F/SN anime so my opinion is of limited use, but F/Z doesn't bring anything significantly new and important to her character. It does stress some points a bit more during her interactions with Alexander and Berserker though, so if it helps you to get the full picture, go on. Also the tournament shows how little those 200 or so titles that I've finished is. This will give me an incentive to check out some older shows if I want to participate in the main event. Last edited by jl07045 on Mon Dec 31, 2012 10:07 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Vaisaga
 Posts: 13240 |
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I don't think that's necessary. Her character is well established in F/SN and all her improving happens there. Fate/Zero merely reinforces what her original personality was. If anything she actually gets worse in Fate/Zero. |
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marie-antoinette
Posts: 4136 Location: Ottawa, Canada |
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Home now, and since I know I have at least one supporting vote, let's go with Ryuki.
Nominating: Ryuki Shi, The Story of Saiunkoku Who he is: The reigning emperor of Saiunkoku, who unexpectedly inherited the throne despite being the youngest of six sons. Ryuki avoids any political dealings and is rumoured to prefer to company of men to women, which have led to his advisers having serious concerns about the future of the country under his rule. How he improves: It is discovered fairly early on in the series that the above mentioned reputation Ryuki has is entirely of his own making, as he is hoping his brother Seien will return and take the throne. After meeting and falling for Shurei, however, Ryuki decides to become the respectable emperor she wishes him to be, revealing that he is incredibly smart and adept at dealing with the subterfuge and intrigue that surround his life. He also, over time, learns how to best act on his feelings for Shurei, as he realizes that even though he could keep her with him forever, if he actually wants her to love him he has to allow her to follow her own dreams. Picture Feeling on a roll (or just avoiding cleaning the house!) Nominating: Megumi "Nodame" Noda, Nodame Cantabile Who she is: A free-spirited second-year music student. Nodame is a complete slob: her cooking and cleaning skills are atrocious to the point of having mushrooms growing on her clothes and poisoning anyone who dares to eat her food. However, she is an incredibly talented pianist who primarily plays by ear. Despite her musical skill though, Nodame's dream is to become a kindergarten teacher. How she improves: Nodame's primary growth is in her music, as she starts to take it seriously for the first time, as she begins to participate in competitions and even studies abroad. And while this change is initially fuelled more by her desire to be with Chiaki, she does eventually recognize how important music is in her life and how she does want to become as skilled a pianist as she can. Her second growth is in maturity, particularly when it comes to Chiaki, as she goes from a puppy-dog love/crush to actually being in love with him and wanting the best for him, even when it means they may not be together. Picture I also have no idea who Suzu from Twelve Kingdoms is 
Last edited by marie-antoinette on Mon Dec 31, 2012 9:27 am; edited 3 times in total |
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Errinundra
Moderator
Posts: 6584 Location: Melbourne, Oz |
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Key, I like the idea of considering Sabre over both series. Fate / Zero is, among other things, about her and Kiritsugu Emiya's failure while Fate / Stay Night is her redemption through the agency of Shirou Emiya.
But that's the point, isn't it? In Fate / Zero she reaches absolute rock bottom. Her final moment of the series is one of utter desolation. Whichever way you do it, Key, I doubt it will have a big effect on how people vote for her. Nominating Masanosuke Akitsu, House of Five Leaves Who the character is: Masa is a down and out ronin samurai who can't hold down a job because of his pathological shyness despite his prowess and courage with a sword. His fear of social interaction and attendant shame even drove him from his family and home town. Facing starvation he takes on a last resort job as a bodyguard with a shady bunch of characters calling themselves the House of Five Leaves and who turn out to be a criminal gang of kidnappers. How the character improves: Masa is fascinated by the carefree and mysterious leader of the gang, Taichi. This encourages him to persevere where previously he would give up in confusion. Taichi, for his part, leads Masa on by deliberately piqueing his imagination but also by cleverly entrapping him. Masa comes out of his shell and finds himself accepted and appreciated by the other members of the gang who become a sort of family he has never had. By the end of the series Taichi has come to rely on Masa. Picture Supporting Tomoya Okazaki, Clannad franchise |
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