Forum - View topic

REVIEW: Platinum End GN 1

Of course, those arrows essentially bind someone's love against their will, meaning this volume's big fanservice tableau is a sequence of a famous comedian with angelic powers sexually assaulting a group of young idols. This awkwardness points to the fundamental awkwardness of the whole creation: Ohba's inhumane character writing.

Unfortunately, Ohba's talents don't really extend beyond constructing narrative beats, and his character and thematic writing is particularly abysmal. There's only ever two character types in an Ohba story: the smart, talented, under-appreciated male leads, and all of the idiots that surround them. Ohba crafts characters with the empathy of a dedicated solipsist, meaning most of the characters in Platinum End are either one-note villains or sycophants.

Welp, I guess someone here never touched their last series "Bakuman" at all.

danpmss wrote:

Welp, I guess someone here never touched their last series "Bakuman" at all.

Review author here - I actually read the whole thing! It ultimately only solidified my impression of Ohba's character writing.

"There's only ever two character types in an Ohba story: the smart, talented, under-appreciated male leads, and all of the idiots that surround them."

In all the cast of 30+ characters, I've seen 3 or maybe 4 that falls in the category you just mentioned (including the L wannabe character), and those aren't even the main characters themselves in there.

Can you specify how exactly Bakuman solidifies your opinion about their character writing at all?

Just reminding of your generalization:

Quote:

"There's only ever two character types in an Ohba story: the smart, talented, under-appreciated male leads, and all of the idiots that surround them."

danpmss wrote:

In all the cast of 30+ characters, I've seen 3 or maybe 4 that falls in the category you just mentioned (including the L wannabe character), and those aren't even the main characters themselves in there. Can you specify how exactly Bakuman solidifies your opinion about their character writing at all? Just reminding of your generalization: Quote: "There's only ever two character types in an Ohba story: the smart, talented, under-appreciated male leads, and all of the idiots that surround them."

I mean, aside from that one other genius character, that's pretty much how the rest of the cast ends up. Anyone who seems to have been a genuine rival to begin with (the novelist, the super-crude guy who lives off ramen, the shoujo-writer-turned-shonen-mangaka) gets downgraded. The crude guy never gets a breakthrough hit, the shoujo writer gets hitched and then sidelined for the painfully unfunny otter-guy, and the novelist has her work suffer drastically due to her crush on her editor. The endgame "I don't need people, I have the internet" villain is also handily dismissed by the narrative itself. (I think the same thing happens to someone who basically makes a manga production company, but I might be mistaken; can't quite recall that bit.)

When comparing the signs of their success (an anime adaptation), only the otter-guy and the genius reach the same level the two leads do, and the otter-guy is clearly supposed to be some kind of ironic form of success in that he seems to deeply resent his work. The genius, on the other hand, often acknowledges their work as equal to his, so he's still basically in the "smart, talented" category. Everyone else is very obviously supposed to be seen as "lesser" than the two mains.

I agree 100% with Nick's summation of Tsugumi Ohba's writing strengths and weaknesses (great cerebral thriller plots, abysmal character writing), but I wanted to clarify one point--isn't Tsugumi Ohba a woman? (and a bonafide misogynist. Yes, it's possible to be both).