You could make an argument that character likability is sometimes more important than actual depth. Just look at a show like Evangelion for proof, you can't deny that all of the cast are great characters, but I just can't get into most of them because they are all horrible people, well, at least for the most part. Simply put, if you like the cast of a show and their interactions, chances are you'll like the show itself, and that's fine. But sometimes, when crafting a truly good story, sometimes you aren't supposed to like everything about a character right off the bat. It takes a good writer to utterly change your perspective on a character, but at the same time, not really changing the character themselves. It's hard to pull off, and disastrous when done incorrectly, because it just seems like the character's personality changes at the drop of a hat. Oh, but when done correctly, as I've seen it done a couple of times, well, I'm pretty sure they usually become my favorites of the entire show.
Hello people of "The Wired", my name is Quan, and just to prove I can in fact count past five in one of these countdowns, today it'll be the "Top Ten Anime Ugly Ducklings", those characters that you hate at the beginning, but by the end you love. It could be from just earning my respect, to them being awesome then I originally intended, but one way or another, these characters have found a place onto this list. Let's begin at Number 10#.
10# - Shana from Shakugan no Shana
Shakugan no Shana was always been one of those "epitome of average" shows for me, because it was always such an anime. What do I mean? I mean that it has all those typical tropes checked off on checklist, the boxes including school setting with supernatural twist, semi-serious plot, and a main female tsundere lead. And it was this certain girl I had a problem with. She is at the bottom of this list because I never could really find it in me to truly hate her, and let's be honest, her character design is awesome, but at first, whenever a battle wasn't taking place and the show was all slice-of-life, she was just so annoying. She was always permanently pissed off in a typical tsundere fashion, and it didn't help that she had to yell "urusai! urusai! urusai!" about every ten or so seconds. As the show went on though, I started to find some good points with her, namely that she was capable of "dropping the act" every once and awhile, and the anime actually took the time to explain why she acts the way she does, in quite an effective manner as well. Ultimately, I'm not going to make a real big judgement on her either way because I still have yet to see the two follow up seasons of Shakugan no Shana, and I don't know where her character goes. However, even though she's far from my favorite character, I can find it in me to like her, and that is an accomplishment judging from my first impression of her.
Undoubtedly, a mob is currently circling my house right now wearing green wigs on their heads, so before I'm pelted with copies of episode 5 of Bebop: "The Ballad of Fallen Angels", let me make my case, remember, I don't hate this guy. At least not anymore.
My first introduction to Spike as in the Cowboy Bebop movie, and while he did have some pretty cool and smooth moments, he just came off to me as a prick. A cool prick, one with the voice of Steven Blum and knack for saying great one-liners, but a prick nonetheless, and I think I can guess why I came out of that movie with that mindset. While I have yet to watch the thing in its entirety, I have watched a few episodes of the original anime since then, and I guess I just understand Spike's character more. The movie sort of half expected you to already know the characters and the masks they wear, but since I didn't have that context already, I supposed I must have misjudged the guy. I still don't love him as other people seem to, but he's a good character, and that's all I can ask for before the anime goes out with a bang.
I already touched on Hajime in my Gatchaman Crowds review, so I'll keep this short. When I first met Hajime in 'Crowds', like Shana, I found her an extremely annoying girl, who didn't take anything seriously and always had this big grin on her face that was asking for someone to punch of. But as it turned out, she wasn't just the stereotypical cheerful-girl that she was presented as. As the show went on, I began to realize there was a lot more to her, from her beliefs, to her actions, to the way she occasionally made awesome speeches to motivate her team-mates. I won't spoil it for you but by the end she gave more than I expected from her, and that is one of the most pleasant surprises you can have. Granted, most of her development is hinted at at best, possibly left for the upcoming second season of 'Crowds', but if there is one thing I know, is that I'll be looking forward to seeing her and the rest of the Gatchaman team back.
6# -Waver Velvet from Fate/Zero
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| Sorry for the poor quality, but to be fair why would you make a Waver wallpaper when you have character like Saber and Rider? |
I won't elaborate on this one much, because in a anime of fantastic characters, Waver is sort of the one where you can see his development coming from miles away. That's not exactly a bad thing, and the development itself is very well handled, but arguably not as better as it has been in the past with other characters. In a nutshell, Waver is that character who is a coward at the beginning, but is able to overcome his fear and find what's important besides just proving himself, mostly thanks to Rider, yes, but he still pulls off the development. I want put him any higher than 6 though, because when I saw him screaming at a high pitch and fainting from fright at the beginning of the series, I was always half expecting him to become a stronger person by the end of the show. It was predictable development per say, and in a list where utter surprise is a key factor, he'll stay at number 6.
This is an interesting one for me, and it's kind of ironic seeing just how much I absolutely adore Clannad and the sequel Clannad After Story, so let me take my time with this one and explain why I didn't like Nagisa at first, and why I think she is awesome now. If you think back to the original Clannad, and the three other main love interests: Tomoyo, Kyou and Kotomi, I think that I would argue, in the first season, Nagisa is probably the least interesting and even developed out of all of them(well, besides from Kyou). Nagisa just didn't feel like a character I wanted to care about more than the others, even though the anime wanted me to think otherwise; there just wasn't enough to her, her nice and caring personality was all she really had going for her, and while she did get an arc at the end of the first season, it just didn't hit as hard emotionally as the others for me. That's a big problem as well, as that was supposed to be the climax of the first season. I guess it also just got annoying when she would just get sick from the mysterious Emotionally-Manipulative Syndrome and disappear for half the show, a plot-point which never really gets explained. I never disliked her, but she just never grabbed my attention.
But notice how that show next to her name at the top doesn't say Clannad, but Clannad After Story, because it's in that show when she becomes a great character. It's not like the writers changed her character dramatically, but suddenly, with all the hardships she goes through in After Story, you realize just how strong a person she actually is, development that is clearly set up in season 1, solidifying my belief that you can simply not watch After Story without viewing the original show first. I mean, when you take into account all the crap she has to soldier forward from, including stopping her husband from punching his hands off on a cement wall(long story), it was suddenly hard for me not to admire her. And with all these positive thoughts in full swing, that might be why a certain spoiler caught me off guard so much.
4# - Akemi Homura from Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica
Yeah, this is one most who have seen Madoka Magica for themselves were completely expecting probably the moment they saw this post. In fact, Homura herself pretty much epitomizes everything I'm talking about in this post. Remember how I talked about changing your perception of a character without actually changing their personality in the beginning of this post? Yeah, I was basically just talking about Homura, because undoubtedly she pulls off the most development in the entire series, all without actually changing acting how she acts at the start of the anime. Yeah, Homura just appears to be a unjustified bitch, but then you learn why she's a bitch, exactly why she has done all the cruel/compassionate things she has done in the show, and all this...was built up from the very first scene of the series. Madoka Magica is an extremely re-watchable anime, and mostly because you can see all of the many, many hints the anime gives foreshadowing Homura true intentions, and that's kind of awesome. Arguably, by the end of the show she becomes a more important character, then the actual main character, and the anime gives her a resolution at the end which ties up her character arc rather nicely. So with all this positive stuff about her character, you might be wondering why isn't she like 2# or 1#? Well, two reasons.
Firstly, while nowhere as strong as it was with Waver, I always had an inclination that Homura might be a better character the she was giving on, and that sort of ruined the reveal slightly for me, and my second and most substantial reason is because of the Madoka Movie: Rebellion, which once again, completely changes your viewpoint on Homura once again. Hell, the entire movie is basically a huge character study, and ended up taking Homura to a place by the end I really did not expect, and unlike other people, while the development might not be necessarily positive for Homura herself, I think it's really interesting and a huge risk. There's the problem though. Especially considering Homura's actions at the end of Rebellion... I'm just not sure if I like her anymore. She's a great character, but now, isn't she techinacally...well, I guess we'll see in the inevitable sequel movie or television series. And let's be honest, that is going to happen no matter how much I don't want to see this franchise be milked anymore; at least we will see where Homura's character stands with me when the smoke clears.
I don't think I exaggerate when I say that Nedeko is probably the best developed character on this entire list. There comes a problem in explaining why she turns out to be one of the best characters in an anime which makes a point of creating some of the best characters I've seen in anime period, because if I tell you why, it would spoil all the fun.
Let's start with why she isn't number 1, and that's because I didn't exactly hate her at first as much as I questioned why she was even there. As I've said, Monogatari is filled with brilliant characters, but where Senjougahara was witty, Shinobu was awesome, Hanekawa was complex and Hachikuji was just Hachikuji, Nedeko was just there, not doing much for the entirety of Bakemonogatari and Nisemonogatari. That is until Monogatari Second Season, a third franchise installment which not only renewed my passion for Monogatari, but also took the time to focus on some of the characters, both old and new. And guess who got center stage attention. Again, I won't spoil anything, but from the way it was subtly built up to the grand reveal, it was pulled off perfectly, and I still say that the episode that concludes her character arc is one of the best of the series, even when comparing it with such moments like "The Starry Sky Scene" and the ending of the "Shinobu Arc". And if you've seen Monogatari and the individual moments of genuine greatness it provides, you know just how much that is actually saying.
Let's start with why she isn't number 1, and that's because I didn't exactly hate her at first as much as I questioned why she was even there. As I've said, Monogatari is filled with brilliant characters, but where Senjougahara was witty, Shinobu was awesome, Hanekawa was complex and Hachikuji was just Hachikuji, Nedeko was just there, not doing much for the entirety of Bakemonogatari and Nisemonogatari. That is until Monogatari Second Season, a third franchise installment which not only renewed my passion for Monogatari, but also took the time to focus on some of the characters, both old and new. And guess who got center stage attention. Again, I won't spoil anything, but from the way it was subtly built up to the grand reveal, it was pulled off perfectly, and I still say that the episode that concludes her character arc is one of the best of the series, even when comparing it with such moments like "The Starry Sky Scene" and the ending of the "Shinobu Arc". And if you've seen Monogatari and the individual moments of genuine greatness it provides, you know just how much that is actually saying.
2# -Jacuzzi Splot from Baccano!
Similar to Waver, Jacuzzi starts of in the bundle-of-fun show that is Baccano as a weak, whiny wimp, with a voice too high pitched for his own good. Unlike Waver however, I never really expected him to be anything more than that. In a show with almost too many characters for its own good, I never really thought Jacuzzi would be anything more than just that one really annoying character that every anime apparently needs to have. However, unlike other wimpy characters in anime who eventually grow into bad-asses in their own right (e.g Simon from Gurren Lagann) it turns out that Jacuzzi was a bad-ass the entire time and just never bothered to tell anyone about. His whole development was just handled so well, unraveling why Jacuzzi isn't a typical weak person, and actually if we are talking about what he accomplishes in the anime, he does some awesome stuff. Again, I have been doing my best to avoid spoilers in this post, but I will say that his personal philosophy is one of the coolest things ever, and if all this doesn't sell you him as a character, just wait until the fight on the top of the train, and his iconic quote which can pretty much summarize his character in one sentence. Then we'll see.
1# - Kaiki from Monogatari Second Season
Yeah. Remember how I mentioned how I said Monogatari Second Season took the time to develop its already awesome cast? Well, let's just say Nadeko wasn't the only one who got ample progression as a character. Yeah, if we are talking complexity Nadeko is probably the better character as a whole, but I chose Kaiki to be at the top because he represents everything I've talked about in this post, from changing perspective of a character without changing their personality, to changing a character you hate into a character you love. And getting this straight, I absolutely hated Kaiki when he was first introduced in Nisemonogatari. I thought him sort of a lame "villain", with a stupid character design and little to know actual motivation as far as I'd could tell. Monogatari has always proven itself as an anime which understands people, but Kaiki when he was first introduced, I simply didn't get what his deal was or why he did what he did.
Until the last arc of the season, where he is reintroduced, only with one small change, that is is that the thing is now from his point of view and we can hear all his inner monologues. And they are amazing. Again, it's not like he undergoes a huge personality change, he is still the money-hungry slow-talking prick that he was introduced as in Nisemonogatari, but once you start to hear his own personal philosophies about always being "the fake"(that makes more sense in context of the show), it's hard not to start to understand him a little, and like him at that. As you watch him progress throughout the arc, becoming so good at faking the hero that he actually becomes one, you can feel his character building up towards some kind of grand conclusion. Now his character arc's finale isn't exactly grandiose, but it ends in such a way that was just perfect for both him and Monogatari, as Kaiki essentially talks the bad guy out of it. Yeah, that actually works, and it's freakin' awesome. If you want to know more than that, you're just going to have to watch the show for yourself.
Goodbye for now guys.
My Top Ten Studio Ghibli Films countdown is here.
My book review of A Game of Thrones is here.
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