Category: Character Studies

What do the characters we like say about us?

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Apparently I am easier to read than a picture book. It seems that people are rather easily able to tell which characters I like from series that I watch. This revelation led Narutaki and I to have a long conversation not only about what types of characters we liked but what did it say about us as people. Do your favorite characters give you and others insight into who you are? Do they reflect any pattern in the types of friends you make or people you date? Do they say anything about how you view yourself or others? Narutaki and I are going to share three different charters that exemplify types of characters we enjoy and one oddball character that does not fit our standard categories. We then have a little challenge for all of our readers.

A good deal of us put a lot of love into the characters that we like and there is no denying that sometimes it can go over the top. But that is neither here nor there in this case. There are grand ideas abound! Specifically, I am constantly wondering just how much the characters people like actually say about them. And I move in wide circles from thinking it is the window to someone’s soul to convincing myself it means absolutely nothing, and then back again. It would be egregious not to mention that I am thinking about the personalities of characters rather than looks. Frankly, looks tell me nothing about anyone, sure I may be able to pick out another character they enjoy on the surface but it doesn’t delve very deep.  Now who a character is, there there might just be something to be learned about someone. To further matters along in a fun way, we will be giving you a glimpse at some of the characters that are near and dear to us. Happy analyzing!

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Nagi Sanzenin: In Praise of the Ota-Queen

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My favorite character in Hayate the Combat Butler is without a doubt, Nagi Sanzenin. Not that I don’t love Maria with all my heart. Maria is exactly my type of character: strong, smart, independent, and willing to speak her mind while still being supportive and kind. But for a wide variety of reasons I actually like Nagi more. I am more romantically attracted to Maria but Nagi speaks to me as both a changing character and someone to root for. But despite being an excellent and thoroughly enjoyable character there is a good deal of hate out there for Nagi and I just can’t understand why.

Nagi Sanzenin is a 13-year-old orphaned heiress to a multi-billion dollar estate. This has made her the target of frequent kidnapping plots and assassination attempts. Because she is so often the target of ne’er-do-wells she has grownup strangely and has become reclusive to the point of being a hikikomori also making her a major cynic. She has also grown into quite the otaku. In fact, she has several rooms in her mansion filled with nothing but doujinshi and several others devoted to every video game system. She is scholar and aficionado of anime and manga of all stripes and she even draws/writes her own bizarre “ultra high level” manga called End of the Century Legend: Magical Destroy. Nagi can be stubborn, spoiled, lazy, and quite naive about how the actual world works outside her own bubble. However, she is also strikingly sharp, fiercely loyal, and adamantly determined.

I will admit that one of the main reasons I like Nagi is I feel a very strong kinship to her. I see many of my strengths in Nagi as well as many of my weaknesses. We are both hardcore otaku. We are both types who want to be friendly outgoing people but find our inherent mistrust of others always keeping us back. We can both be very sullen and withdrawn;  sarcastic and cynical; and selfish and self-absorbed. And we both can be very lazy when it comes to things we are not a fans of, skipping chores and drudgery but throwing ourselves completely into the things we loves. Is that not the hallmark of the otaku? On the positive side we are both quite intelligent people. Both of us go above and beyond for the people we love. I see much of myself in Nagi and it makes me sympathize with her.

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The thin line between moe and masturbation.

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Talking about moe was the third article we ever did for the blog. Moe is, for a wide variety of reasons, a topic that Narutaki is forced to discuss and debate with me on a regular basis. So this is an article that has been fermenting in our minds for quite awhile. A small discussion about the nature of moe and sexuality broke out on twitter. Scott VonSchilling was arguing that moe and sexuality are separate traits and should not be considered connected. I then used one example that turned the whole conversation into a fire storm of debate, Mikuru Asahina. She is a character who is famous for being extremely moe and extremely sexualized but more importantly sexualized for and by her moe. The conversation quickly spiraled out of anyone’s control.

It has been many moons since we last discussed this growing term and I don’t even remember what spurned on our first article. I honestly try to avoid such discussions when I can, it’s true but it still comes up pretty often whether I see it on Twitter or on a bus ride to Otakon. Sometimes I participate and sometimes I just take in the discussion going on around me. Moe, everyone’s got an opinion about it so what we are adding here is not just our overall perspective on the genre/term/thing, but rather a specific instance of it.

As I mentioned in our Otakon 2009 report I am still not sure people in the anime business in Japan comprehend the full meaning of moe let alone anyone else. I am better at defining what moe is and detecting it when it exists in a show but on the other hand I am still light years away from a perfect understanding or acceptance of the term. As far as I can tell moe has maintained its bizarre dual meaning. In a general sense it means an attraction and devotion to any trait. You can be moe for maids with glasses, blond boys who are in gangs, or curry joints that serve their dishes on trains. In a more specific, pure, and otaku sense it means the desire to protect weak characters that cannot protect themselves. In its ideal and stated definition there is no sexuality in moe. You want to protect the moe character and have a chaste love for them. Some describe it as a fatherly need to protect and nurture someone weaker. This more specific definition is the one that causes the most problems and is the focus of the discussion.

Up until a couple of years ago I had no idea this word even existed or held a place in fandom. Obviously, since then a lot of anime watching has happened, a lot of reading has gone on, and numerous discussion have taken place and still there is no consensus on what exactly moe is. Luckily, we are telling you which popular theory of the word is up for debate. Moe is about security and affection given through supporting and protecting a character who for some reason can’t do so on their own. There are a myriad of reasons why characters exude this need. Despite the many things I could say about this scenario (and the many problems that arise), they aren’t all relevant to this particular discussion. It’s worth noting that while some moe characters are very young, many fall into the high school age so always equating moe and lolicon is a stretch even though that is a popular assumption. And by extension moe does appeal to the lolicon crowd. However, what is important for the current theory we are undertaking is that the characters aren’t supposed to elicit eroticism but rather endearment.

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