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What are your views on GAR?


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KanjiiZ



Joined: 28 Jun 2009
Posts: 661
Location: Central Coast
PostPosted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 9:49 pm Reply with quote
The best definition for GAR would be along these lines:
UrbanDic wrote:
term used towards male characters and individuals who are so overwhelmingly manly that your own masculinity is absolutely *buried*, leaving you naught but a whimpering, swooning girl-child before them.


Personally, I see it as GAR for middle-aged men...and me. There's this certain appeal that comes from two guys (or women) beating the crap out of each other that Kanon or Clannad can't give you.
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Kruszer



Joined: 19 Nov 2004
Posts: 7995
Location: Minnesota, USA
PostPosted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 12:36 pm Reply with quote
GAR: -A silly term invented by rabid fangirls when adjectives like "hot" or "hunky" were apparently not "EXTREME!" enough. Laughing
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Top Gun



Joined: 28 Sep 2007
Posts: 4876
PostPosted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 2:47 pm Reply with quote
As strange as it may sound to some, I always felt like the full-fledged definition of GAR as outlined here resonated with me in a fairly profound sense. It really is a concept that we don't have a great word to describe in modern English, so GAR works as well as anything else. I've become rather annoyed with the whole bishie trend that's blossomed in anime over the past decade or so, since to me it seems like the utter opposite of the ideal of manhood that I myself aspire to. In real life, I'm probably one of the least GAR people you'll ever meet, but that doesn't mean that it isn't a concept I want to strive to uphold. Anime needs a few more old-fashioned manly characters showing the emotionally-insecure bishies how to get over their issues and throw down when they need to. Smile
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MazinGO!



Joined: 21 Mar 2009
Posts: 39
PostPosted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 3:17 pm Reply with quote
Kruszer wrote:
GAR: -A silly term invented by rabid fangirls when adjectives like "hot" or "hunky" were apparently not "EXTREME!" enough. Laughing


But the term is (in theory) used exclusively by males. It's an expression of a man-crush.
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walw6pK4Alo



Joined: 12 Mar 2008
Posts: 9322
PostPosted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 3:47 pm Reply with quote
That it definitely shouldn't used to represent screaming manchildren like Domon or Kamina.
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Top Gun



Joined: 28 Sep 2007
Posts: 4876
PostPosted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 4:14 pm Reply with quote
walw6pK4Alo wrote:
That it definitely shouldn't used to represent screaming manchildren like Domon or Kamina.

Don't know who Domon is, but there was quite a bit more to Kamina than "screaming man-child." Hell, if he was nothing more than that, could he have exerted the influence he did across almost the entire cast over the full course of the series? At least from where I'm sitting, the definition in that image I linked to fits Kamina to a T.
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Kruszer



Joined: 19 Nov 2004
Posts: 7995
Location: Minnesota, USA
PostPosted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 5:37 pm Reply with quote
MazinGO! wrote:
Kruszer wrote:
GAR: -A silly term invented by rabid fangirls when adjectives like "hot" or "hunky" were apparently not "EXTREME!" enough. Laughing


But the term is (in theory) used exclusively by males. It's an expression of a man-crush.


I wouldn't know, I'm strait and don't have man crushes, it was just the most logical solution I could think of. Neutral
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MazinGO!



Joined: 21 Mar 2009
Posts: 39
PostPosted: Wed Oct 28, 2009 3:25 am Reply with quote
Top Gun wrote:
walw6pK4Alo wrote:
That it definitely shouldn't used to represent screaming manchildren like Domon or Kamina.

Don't know who Domon is, but there was quite a bit more to Kamina than "screaming man-child." Hell, if he was nothing more than that, could he have exerted the influence he did across almost the entire cast over the full course of the series? At least from where I'm sitting, the definition in that image I linked to fits Kamina to a T.


Domon is IN that image you posted.
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Top Gun



Joined: 28 Sep 2007
Posts: 4876
PostPosted: Wed Oct 28, 2009 3:50 pm Reply with quote
And that would mean I know who he is, why? Razz I just ganked the image from somewhere because I loved the text description.
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Bento-Box



Joined: 08 Sep 2009
Posts: 1049
Location: Florida
PostPosted: Thu Oct 29, 2009 7:38 am Reply with quote
I don't care for GAR types at all. Then again, I'm not into the super feminine males that Yaoi fangirls love so much either.

I guess I'm into something in the middle. My anime selection is usually determined by character design or box art first and THEN what the series is about since I like a wide variety of stuff. I'm just not into the whole hunky guys beating the crap outta each other. Although, I did enjoy YuYu Hakusho.
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MazinGO!



Joined: 21 Mar 2009
Posts: 39
PostPosted: Thu Oct 29, 2009 9:42 am Reply with quote
Top Gun wrote:
And that would mean I know who he is, why? Razz I just ganked the image from somewhere because I loved the text description.


Because it says it next to the picture in that image "Domon_kasshu.png"
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Kruszer



Joined: 19 Nov 2004
Posts: 7995
Location: Minnesota, USA
PostPosted: Thu Oct 29, 2009 7:00 pm Reply with quote
That might tell you his name but it won't tell he's from G Gundam or if/how he relates to the current topic. (Unless you look it up elsewhere.)
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Levitz9



Joined: 06 Feb 2007
Posts: 1022
Location: Puerto Rico
PostPosted: Thu Oct 29, 2009 9:03 pm Reply with quote
MazinGO! wrote:
Kruszer wrote:
GAR: -A silly term invented by rabid fangirls when adjectives like "hot" or "hunky" were apparently not "EXTREME!" enough. Laughing


But the term is (in theory) used exclusively by males. It's an expression of a man-crush.


Yeah, you hit the nail right on the head.

The term has faced loads of corruption, as some simply interpret GAR to mean 'cool', hence the rise of 'GARuto' and the like, but really, for me, the biggest example of GAR always has been, and always will be, Capt. Harlock.
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dtm42



Joined: 05 Feb 2008
Posts: 14084
Location: currently stalking my waifu
PostPosted: Thu Oct 29, 2009 9:46 pm Reply with quote
If by "views" the topic is asking for whether I like GAR or not, then I give resounding no. I hate it. I loathe. I look down on it.

Men have always held other men in high esteem, to the point of worship or feelings of (a sort of platonic) love. We call them heroes, and we wish we were them for even a single amazing adventure.

But GAR characters are not heroes. They are almost always portrayed as loud-mouthed idiots who get by on luck (i.e. plot armour) and very little (if any) skill. If a person in real life tried what they try, that person would be dead within the hour. Not because they aren't as capable as GAR characters, but because they have a sensible dress code. And of course they either A: refuse to scream at the top of their lungs every few minutes, or B: speak more than two lines of dialogue for every twenty-four minutes.

Ultimately, GAR characters are wish-fulfilment fantasies, where you don't have to be careful or intelligent to survive and prosper. Instead, just talk too much or too little (usually the former), harness the Rule of Cool as a power source, have big muscles (or a mean glare), and last but not least a crazy sense of fashion. If you do all those things, everything will be alright no matter how poorly-conceived your plan, at least until the plot calls for you to die a "heroic" (read as stupid and overly dramatic) death.

That adult males look up to such a shallow and overbearing archetype is just sad. I can see why, as it harkens back to the simplicity of childhood. It also harkens back to the one-dimensional stupidity of those characters we watched after school or on Saturday-morning television. Haven't the GAR fans grown up just a little since then?
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animeboy12



Joined: 15 Sep 2008
Posts: 160
PostPosted: Thu Oct 29, 2009 10:05 pm Reply with quote
Laughing
I'm sorry I just have to laugh at the amount of people taking things too seriously. I thought gar came from archer from fate stay night who was a rather composed fellow.

Anyway, I guess I either don't care for Gar or like it depends on how it's done. If it's something like gurren laggan then yea it's awesome other than that I can't think of anything else
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