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Imperfect heroes


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SlasherFic



Joined: 24 Feb 2004
Posts: 6
PostPosted: Wed Feb 25, 2004 7:56 pm Reply with quote
Psychoanalysis time! YAY!

I am interested in something that sparked my mind after watching some stupid Rambo knockoff movie. Who likes imperfect heroes? By imperfect, I mean mentally and emotionally normal, like Shinji Ikari off of NGE, and pretty much all teen-or-above anime. I hate heroes like Rambo, etc. because they have a solution to everyone's problems, and are pretty much omnipotent and invincible. BTW, Rocky was imperfect, he was doubtful, had a soft spot for Adrian, etc.
I need more examples of imperfect characters.
Remember Supreme: "it is my experience that beings of great strength can also exhibit signs of great weakness." Or something like that.
Peace Out!
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HeeroYuy135



Joined: 23 Dec 2003
Posts: 150
Location: Sacramento, CA, USA
PostPosted: Wed Feb 25, 2004 9:26 pm Reply with quote
Um...can you count Heero as an imperfect hero? Confused
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phoelixian





PostPosted: Wed Feb 25, 2004 9:55 pm Reply with quote
Kamui from X.
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Inu-Yasha



Joined: 21 Sep 2003
Posts: 373
Location: Quad Cities, Iowa
PostPosted: Wed Feb 25, 2004 10:18 pm Reply with quote
Kenshin Himura and Inuyasha. They both got there problems, and are far from prefect.
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Nagisa
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Joined: 19 Aug 2003
Posts: 6128
Location: Atlanta-ish, Jawjuh
PostPosted: Wed Feb 25, 2004 10:31 pm Reply with quote
HeeroYuy135 wrote:
Um...can you count Heero as an imperfect hero? Confused


Heero's too rigid & super-soldiery. Of course, the fact he's completely incapable of properly interacting with other normal human beings could be an imperfection, but it's not in the deliberate, charming, well-written way of, say, Sousuke Sagara of Full Metal Panic! fame. Rather, it's just an unfortunate, obnoxious side-effect of being a totally one-dimensional character.

As far as imperfect Gundam heroes, I'd place Amuro Rey or Kira Yamato far above Heero. Both are basically civilians suddenly thrust into combat, and the way it takes a toll on them throughout the series is rather believable & well-executed.


Last edited by Nagisa on Wed Feb 25, 2004 11:40 pm; edited 1 time in total
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lianncoop
Past ANN Contributor


Joined: 28 Jul 2003
Posts: 1705
Location: Indiana
PostPosted: Wed Feb 25, 2004 10:35 pm Reply with quote
SlasherFic wrote:
By imperfect, I mean mentally and emotionally normal, like Shinji Ikari off of NGE, and pretty much all teen-or-above anime.

Ok, that sentence makes no sense to me.

But anyway...
I think that just about all "heroes" have some sort of fatal flaw with them, whether it be them being too emotional, too non emotional, mentally unstable, full of angst, etc. That's part of what makes them heroes. They're able to perform their tasks despite their hindrances. It also "humanizes" them to have flaws. What good would a "perfect" be? No one's gonna believe that since they don't exist. When everything is too perfect, that's when the show just becomes cheesy.
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Godaistudios



Joined: 12 Jun 2003
Posts: 2075
Location: Albuquerque, NM (the land of entrapment)
PostPosted: Wed Feb 25, 2004 11:39 pm Reply with quote
Hmm... while I'm not so sure that I'd call Shinji emotionally normal, would this fall more under the category of the idiot savant, or more appropriately, the last person you expect that could do the job, is the one who actually is the best in the end?

classic examples:
Tylor from Irresponsible Captain Tylor
and
Vash from Trigun
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eva05
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 26, 2004 12:05 am Reply with quote
Well from the anime school of less than pristine protaganists/heroes

Hiro from Venus Wars is a street punk who recruited for a new kind of military unit with an incredibly high mortality rate. This was especially pronounced in the manga version(the first series), which has one of the best endings of all manga....The first portion has been collected into a graphic novel by Dark Horse, the other issues (from the first series) are only available as individual issues...

Grey from Grey, Yoshihisa Tagami's masterpiece, is a survivor first and foremost. He won't get killed for anyone...but someone who is already dead. Released by Eclipse in the late 80's now in print via Viz Comics.

Shin from Area 88 starts out believing he is a normal guy in a unfortunate situation but the series is about him realizing how his situation has changed him and how it has made him what he never wanted to be. Area 88 is another masterworks that has dropped off the radar since the first half of the series came out in the USA during the mid-late 1980's.

Cosmo from Ideon has a hard time letting go of his hatred for the race that killed his parents. Actually Ideon in general delves into the prejudices religion and manifest destiny instill in people and where it leads.

j
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gnollman



Joined: 05 Oct 2003
Posts: 535
Location: Richmond, KY
PostPosted: Thu Feb 26, 2004 12:13 am Reply with quote
Houichi Kanou from Cannon God Exaxxion. He wants to be a hero, and struggles to save the world from fascist aliens, but winds up killing or hurting so many other people in his quest, and it really eats him up.


Which reminds me, I still need to pick up volume six....
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littlegreenwolf



Joined: 10 Aug 2002
Posts: 4796
Location: Seattle, WA
PostPosted: Thu Feb 26, 2004 1:09 am Reply with quote
I enjoy inperfect heros. You get to connect with them more easily then the perfect ones.

My fave imperfect hero is probably Utena of Revolutionary Girl Utena.
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Goshin



Joined: 27 Aug 2003
Posts: 288
Location: Illinois
PostPosted: Thu Feb 26, 2004 2:00 am Reply with quote
Hmm…I would have to say Naruto. His eagerness (to become better than Sasuke) can get him in to trouble at times.
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Dilandau



Joined: 06 Jan 2004
Posts: 525
Location: Tea House
PostPosted: Thu Feb 26, 2004 5:37 am Reply with quote
I think the term we are searching for is perhaps "tragic hero".

And in that since, perhaps Chise from Saikano would fall into this niche perfectly. On one side she is weak, scared and doesn't want to be a hero...but then there is cruel reality that forces her hand for her.
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kamiboy



Joined: 29 Nov 2003
Posts: 570
Location: CA
PostPosted: Thu Feb 26, 2004 7:01 am Reply with quote
I like the selfish and reluctant heroes. You know the guys who don't really give rats’ ass about the cause but fight for their own personal reasons; most often greed. They usually end up doing the right thing in the end, but would much rather bail when the going gets though. Han Solo is a classic.

I also very much like it when bad guys become heroes trough strange circumstances. Often the ways the bad guys get things done are quite different from what true good guys would. Mel Gibson’s character from the movie Payback is my favourite incarnation of this; that movie rocks in so many ways.
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eva05
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 26, 2004 9:51 am Reply with quote
kamiboy wrote:
I also very much like it when bad guys become heroes trough strange circumstances. Often the ways the bad guys get things done are quite different from what true good guys would.


Desslar from the 2nd Yamato movie.

Man oh man, what a great moment...

j
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Tony K.
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Joined: 18 Nov 2003
Posts: 11441
Location: Frisco, TX
PostPosted: Thu Feb 26, 2004 10:12 am Reply with quote
I'd have to agree with Kamui and Himura.

When I first watched X (TV), Kamui gave off this really bad vibe of being a jerk, but of course, he became something otherwise.

Himura's vow not to kill is kind of a mixed bag for me. He always wins without killing, but if he did kill, I'm sure life would be much easier for him.

And for the longest while, I also thought of Vash to be an imperfect hero too.

As for Heero Yuy, I agree with Nagisa-sama in that he was pretty one-dimensional, what with being raised from birth to only be a soldier and all. But for some reason I still like his mentality though.
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