The tenth post in “100 Characters For 100 Otaku.”
It’s the halfway mark in “100 Characters For 100 Otaku!” Did you think we’d make it this far? This is certainly the biggest post series I’ve ever done in one time-span! But it’s still very exciting! Today we’ll have numbers 55 down through 51 and things continue to get even more exciting! Let’s see what’s in store!
(sorry that this post was so late, today was a really fucking insane day, but at least it’s out within the time limit!)
55. Faye Valentine (from Cowboy Bebop)
Why I Like Her: The case has been made well for Faye Valentine by such bloggers as Ghostlightning and Anime Kritik, and I can’t do much better than either of them. I’d say that I love Faye because she is enchanting, and possibly because I’m just used to her, what with Cowboy Bebop having been my first anime. I hadn’t been such a huge fan of her in my youth when I thought she was just a sexy badass, but I fell for her in adulthood when I realized that inside, she had her weaknesses.
A Mirror For Otaku: Faye Valentine is perhaps strong in comparison to many, but her heart falters and is easy to break on the inside, while ostensibly, she seems like a cold and cool badass. Otaku often put on a facade on the internet – they pretend to be some tough motherfucker and put others down while in real life they are a weak little bitch (see: Link from Megatokyo Forums. Online, evil bastard, met him at otakon, sunny, happy, nerdy bitch.)
Reflecting My Otakudom: I could say that on the outside, I make it look like I care more or less about certain series than I actually do. I often do this for dramatic effect in posts, where I may over-emphasize my feelings in order to convey a message that I want you to feel, when in actuality, I couldn’t care less. This got me in trouble yesterday when Ghostlightning thought I really meant that Kampfer was awesome, and I actually don’t care much about it.
The First Episode of Crest of the Stars: Much like the Abh travel in spaceships, Faye is an excellent pilot. She can pull off an Itano Circus like nobody’s business.
54. Hatsune Miku (from Vocaloid)
Why I Like Her: I couldn’t justify putting Hatsune Miku further up on this list simply because she has no set personality – she’s a voice program with a character design, but it also happens to be my favorite character design of all time. Evidently many people feel the same, because she alone has an almost Touhou-scale fanbase. Miku can be your anything, and therefor is hard not to adore. Plus she gave us Black Rock Shooter.
A Mirror For Otaku: Just as Miku has many interests and looks (almost like an anime version of Barbie) otaku can have a broad range of anime-related interests, as Miku shows us. Miku has games, an upcoming anime, figures, and is in fact a vocal program, branching across all otaku interests.
Reflecting My Otakudom: …which is exactly why I love Miku as much as I do, because I have a broad range of interests. I love her figures, I love her games, I love her songs, and I already know her anime is going to be fucking awesome.
The First Episode of Crest of the Stars: Okay, so Crest of the Stars is an epic space opera, and as such is part of a natural progression of space operas in anime. Because it contains heavy romance elements, we can say that there is a possibility of it having been influenced in some way by Macross. In Macross, one of the recurring themes is of the idol character, originally Minmay, and just as she is an idol, so is Hatsune Miku a virtual one.
53. Kino (from Kino no Tabi)
Why I Like Her: I have a very soft spot for androgynous women (and ones who ride motorcycles). Kino is like the king of androgyny, and would lead to more androgynous travelers in the future (Shoulder a Coffin Kuro). Anywho, besides that, I think it’s somewhat interesting to see how Kino decides to handle the various situations she finds herself in. She seems to lack a moral compass at times, and yet she will bend things to her liking when it fits into the natural progression of the situation. Is she passive, or vicarious towards the situations? Sometimes a little of each? Kino’s entire being seems to hinge on such ambiguities.
A Mirror For Otaku: Kino never stays in one place for more than three days, and otaku can be said to only stay in one series for a small amount of time. There are a great number of otaku who actually singularly love certain series and franchises, but a lot of us are the types to beam between every new creation in a way of trying to experience everything and not necessarily experience it as fully as imaginable.
Reflecting My Otakudom: I could be said to do the same, because while I do have my Epic Journey to get deeper into shows (which I will be comparing to Kino in a post all it’s own at someone’s request), I also watch a lot of shows that I do little more with. I doubt I could have seen as much anime as I have if I put the same amount of effort into viewing each one, but that’s what defines a favorite series.
The First Episode of Crest of the Stars: Once again, my thoughts turn to the possibilities of what went on aboard the Lief Erikson. This exploratory vessel must have gone long and far, so how much did it see of every place it visited? And what kind of judgments did it pass on the people and civilizations that it discovered along the way? I wonder how much Kino’s approach was taken.
52. Kusanagi Suito (from The Sky Crawlers)
Why I Like Her: God damn she looks sexy when bowling! Plus she does well on the checklist (Short hair, androgynous, has a child, smokes, drinks, drives). Kusanagi is a bit of a train-wreck going through the movie, and a sort of broken girl that opens a pretentious avenue into connecting moe with the greater body of arts out there (she’s like the missing link, so to speak). Kusanagi goes through a very sexy emotional whirlwind, and I enjoyed the ride.
A Mirror For Otaku: Kusanagi doesn’t really know what the fuck to think about this whole idea of ‘life’. She knows that her existence is meaningless, and as such, she seems desperate to end her life. Otaku have a very similar mentality that keeps them down. One of the biggest reasons otaku never try to progress in their lives is because they are addicted to the idea that it is impossible. Thus, they become hikkikomori.
Reflecting My Otakudom: Kusanagi beats through life like a bat out of hell sometimes, and I could be said to do something similar with my otakudom. I consume like I’m desperate to get it all done for fear of dying unfulfilled at any given moment.
The First Episode of Crest of the Stars: The Abh are a race of war in many ways. They are an empire that collects planets like nobody’s business in the interest of conquering. Similarly, the Kildren are literally children born in the name of war. Kusanagi is one of them.
51. Chiba Kirino (from Bamboo Blade)
Why I Like Her: Kirino is like the sun, and not just because she is thematically yellow. She gives life to those around her and truly keeps them going. Kirino is the backbone of her kendo team, and were it not for her, not one of them could have held on the entire time. Kirino’s strong conviction, eternal motivation, and generally fun, chill attitude make her one hell of a cool cat. After all, she even almost won the 2009 Megatokyo Forums Anime Grand Prix!
A Mirror For Otaku: I can’t try to claim that otaku have sunny attitudes like Kirino, but perhaps they share her conviction. There are quite a few things that could make you want to quit otakudom (societal pressure, other otaku being annoying, shitty anime), but otaku manage to hang on through all of this.
Reflecting My Otakudom: After all, I’ve been tried at many turns. Society was never a problem for me because I just don’t give a fuck, but I can say that other things have made things hard at times. It gets difficult to put up with certain elements of otaku culture, but in the end, it’s all worth it when you see a great show like Bamboo Blade and a great character like Kirino.
The First Episode of Crest of the Stars: Kirino doesn’t give up when it comes to kendo, but more importantly, she never gives up on her friends. Human kind didn’t want to give up their way of life by giving in to the Abh, but Jinto’s father saw something more important and didn’t give up on life itself, thereby making his deal.
There’s 55-51, tune in tomorrow for the next five! We’ve got a great teacher, an axe-wielding girl, and who knows – maybe your favorite character!
My Sword Is Unbelievably Dull 
Faye has boobs. ‘Nuff said.
lol Kusanagi really was damn sexy though. Someone should do a thorough analysis on what makes her so appealing, and then use the results to create an equation for achieving sexy over 9000. Her emotional ride successfully kept me glued to an otherwise boring-ass movie, and for that alone she deserves her spot here. She just felt very real, somehow. Maybe because she didn’t wear her true feelings on her sleeve. Plus, she’s a badass like Starbuck and could kick your ass in a dogfight. Maybe True Tears would suddenly be awesome if they threw in aerial battles. Hmm… No, it would probably still suck.
lol, hey, True Tears is an excellent show, but one that fills me with rage. And subsequently, Sky Crawlers is also amazing. I’ve seen it twice, and have been meaning to do an epic journey post on it when I get the chance. May need a third viewing. Kusanagi is amazing though, completely the type of girl I love but know I couldn’t handle.
Gods be praised, a man after my own heart. Sky Crawlers was one of the most enthralling experiences all year for me, Kusanagi and beyond. As I’ve mentioned on Ghostlightning’s Anime And Manga Difficult To Write About post, I’ve attempted to put Sky Crawlers into words several times already and have yet to succeed. It’s just too… big for me to condense the emotions into words right now. Tell me when you get around to it and I’ll do a co-post on it so we can compare thoughts. I’m really busy right now though. Just got done moving.
A side note: That Kino image may be my favorite image in this entire series. God DAMN that is hot shit.
You got lazy with Faye, fuckup.
Re Suito, what do you mean by pretentious, since you use this term so often. Who is pretending about what?
I got lazy with Faye? I didn’t think so. She was difficult, though, and I was beginning to wonder if I could do her, but I did it to the best of my ability.
As for the pretension in Suito, I say so because Oshii is a very pretentious director who doesn’t like the way anime is handled these days, with all the moe and all that, and he would put his movies on another level. However, I think Suito is a truly moe girl, and thus in spite of his pretension, I consider her a bridge over the gap between ‘moe’ and ‘high art’.
You didn’t answer my question. You pretended to do so. Is this the kind of pretension you’re talking about?
GL if you’re going to be all over my ass as you have been for the last two nights, then you need to get on AIM so we can fucking have a consistent discussion.
It’s not like I’m asking such difficult questions, or not speaking in english. Think hard, go deep into the bones of what pretension is. Draw a parallel with how you accuse directors and bloggers of pretension without making it clear what you mean and with how you pretended ‘trying real hard’ = linking to other people’s articles. Don’t fuck this up.
I don’t get how I was not making it clear what I mean in my last comment. Mamoru Oshii believes that he is above moe, but I think Kusanagi is moe, there’s nothing more to it than that, that’s exactly what the fuck I meant by calling Oshii pretentious. As for you, I called you pretentious because you put down shows like Kampfer for being silly or ‘moe’ which is a bitch-ass reason to drop a show when you watch shit like Macross 7 and like it.
And I don’t seem to remember anyone saying I wasn’t trying hard enough on Horo when I straight-up used Cunningham’s definition, but this time I linked to others who I felt gave a better description of Faye, and then I said exactly why I like her. There’s nothing more to my love for her than what I said up there. So if you think I’m holding back, you are the one fucking up with that presumption.
I didn’t say anything bad about Kampfer, only that I raegquitted. Where are my comments that you mention I give it hell for being moe and what else you accuse? No you’re not holding back, you’re just not getting deep into the bones of it JUST LIKE HOW THIS POST SERIES IS SUPPOSED TO BE DOING amirite?
I’m not even writing about Horo. WHY WOULD I COMMENT ABOUT HORO WHEN I HAVEN’T SEEN SPICE AND WOLF? I’m writing about Faye, where you only linked to ak’s and Lbrevis/my posts. Dude, get some sleep and then read CAREFULLY before responding to my comment.
Your criticism of Oshii does not go deep into the bones of it, fyi. You just imposed your own opinion on how moe a character of his is.
You ragequitted it, but you never gave a reason. And I don’t know where to find one, and the closest thing I could find is this: “I’m not as big on moe moe shows or harem” and even if it weren’t directly in regard to Kampfer, I’d still call you pretentious for that statement, because that’s how it strikes me. And even then, I’m making fun of you by calling you such a thing, as made evidence by the smiley after the statement itself. That’s a smiley that signifies ‘don’t really take this seriously, I’m fucking with you.’ and yet you decided to get on me about it anyway.
I never said you were writing about Horo, I am pointing out that I did much worse for her, but got no shit for it, and yet I am getting shit for Faye, who I feel I did perfectly fine with. you say I ONLY linked to your post? Open your motherfucking eyes, asshole, there’s a whole two more sentences there: “I’d say that I love Faye because she is enchanting, and possibly because I’m just used to her, what with Cowboy Bebop having been my first anime. I hadn’t been such a huge fan of her in my youth when I thought she was just a sexy badass, but I fell for her in adulthood when I realized that inside, she had her weaknesses.”
What’s more, I got into other elements of her personality in the next two portions of her section, and I feel I covered everything about her that I have thoughts on. I have nothing more to say about Faye than what I said above. I never said that because a character on my list had some profound fucking reason to be there, even if they are a deep character. I covered my love of Faye, nothing else about her contributes to my love of her.
My criticism of Oshii goes as far as there is to go, unless you want me to do a posts-worth of content about why he’s so pretentious (which I have considered before, actually), but I’d rather you believe in the fac thtat I wouldn’t call him pretentious if I didn’t know that he was. And his character is moe precisely because I say it is, because the very definition of moe is that it can conform to the way a particular person feels. I feel moe for Kusanagi, therefor she is moe. Oshii doens’t think she is moe, therefor he is pretentious. What the fuck more is there to say?
Work on your logic digiboy, srsly.
Did it ever cross your mind that I purposely did not want to trash a show I quit? That I wouldn’t see the point of doing so anymore? Did I trash Strike Witches? Did I go out of my way to say how awful it was? All I said was that I quit it. animekritik said he HATED it; he even made a post about how Canaan fails. Does that make him pretentious? Compare that to what I said. Get deep into the bones of it. Draw the parallels. Stop fucking it up.
There are shitloads of things that I’m not as big on: Super Robot Shows prior to Nagahama’s, except Mazinger Z, several Gundam shows, Macross 2, Orguss, etc.
Am I being pretentious for not liking them? You jumped into conclusions without knowing the fuck you’re talking about (ME), and saw it fit to tell everyone who’d listen how pretentious I am.
And don’t even think of saying you’re kidding LOL hahaha, or saying that this is just all tongue-in-cheekery. You called me out as pretentious everywhere you went. You called Biankita out as pretentious on WRL. When you call out someone; you BETTER be able to back it up. You can’t even back up your own claims on anime, on directors in your own post.
When I said ak hated something I meant Kampfer.
You tell me not to say I’m kidding, though you once again dodge the key issue of the smiley. And why did I say it everywhere I went? Because you wouldn’t FUCKING get on FUCKING AIM, and I couldn’t figure out where the FUCK we were supposed to have this conversation. I’ve been waiting for you to come out of the fucking woodwork to have this talk, and now I see that you just used this post as a way to get a platform for this discussion, seeing as you’ve now left the post behind entirely and driven into personal shit.
Yes, I would call anime kritik ‘pretentious’, I would call a lot of things pretentious. Maybe I don’t even know the fucking definition of the word. I certainly don’t see it as an insult, like you seem to be taking it. I have considered the word to mean that someone is putting themselves or their opinions on a pedestal above certain lesser concepts. Is that perhaps a misnomer on you? Maybe it is, but that’s because I am making an effort to make fun of you. Not to say that you are a bad guy or anything, but I want to tease you for dropping Kampfer. Because I CAN tease you, because we are supposed to be friends. Instead of making a big deal out of making me expand on the definition of pretentious, maybe you should have just told me ‘hey, I don’t appreciate being called pretentious’ or ‘hey, you’re misusing the word.’
I didn’t call fucking Biankita out, because as I said in the comments, I wouldn’t have said it was pretentious if I had known it was her. That post was something I would expect out of most people, but not out of YOU. The post would have been pretentious for one of YOUR posts.
And why do I get this pretentious impression? Because you’ve sold yourself as a mister sunshine. Because you DONT complain about shows, because you DONT talk about shows you dislike, it makes it look like you are exhibiting a rare pretention when you start to talk shit about a show. And you didn’t just quit Kampfer, you RAGEquitted. One does not RAGEquit unless they find the show offensively bad, and therefor it’s totally safe to assume that you felt a strong failing on the show’s part.
And I backed up my motherfucking director claims.
AND IF YOU WANTED MY REASONS, WHY DIDN’T YOU ASK, LIKE I ASK YOU? INSTEAD YOU GO RUNNING YOUR MOUTH WITHOUT THINKING.
WHAT HAPPENED LAST TIME I ASKED YOU?! ABOUT FUCKING KURENAI?! YOU TOLD ME THE PROPER RESPONSE WAS TO INSULT YOU, YOU FUCKING ASSBACKWARDS PIECE OF SHIT.
Kirino made it really far, but didn’t Taiga win this year’s AGP?
FUCK, you’re right, why the fuck did I think Kirino won? Was she in the final match or something?
Changed it to ‘almost’ won ,I of course can’t check where she fell since the sub-forum is gone.
“Fucking up” seems to be some terribly serious business. I don’t really want to get involved in that discussion.
Just letting you know that I’m continuing to read and enjoy this series. Cheers.
so you like Miku more than Faye…hmmmm….
Also, how come you don’t use an avatar thingy??
I’ve tried to make the avatar thing in the past and it would never work. Maybe I’ll try again. EDIT: now i can’t seem to figure out where the hell to change the settings.
To be honest, I had to restrain myself to not put Miku in the top 20. There’s a further story to that which will come out if I go through with my idea of a ‘100 character behind the scenes’ post. But yeah, I am fucking obsessed with Miku. I have a $100 Black Rock Shooter figure on the way. I’d never spend money on a Faye Valentine figure.
@digiboy about the avatar thing: I just use Gravatar. Makes it super easy.
For the record, Mamoru Oshii IS a pretentious fuck, and by pretentious I mean he is an arrogant asshat who thinks he’s the greatest, most visionary director in fucking history (kind of like the asshat who directed Evangelion), and goes out of his way to make movies overly preachy, philosophical, and detached, and his works are often difficult to connect with because of it. Best example: Ghost in the Shell: Innocence. What a fucking waste of time. That Sky Crawlers was amazing in spite of Oshii being the director is entirely thanks to Kenji Kawaii’s emotive soundtrack and Suito Kusanagi being the best emotional ride since Code Geass, which I thank the writer of the books for, not Oshii.
Definition of pretentious from free online dictionary:
pre·ten·tious
adj.
1. Claiming or demanding a position of distinction or merit, especially when unjustified.
2. Making or marked by an extravagant outward show; ostentatious.
Thesaurus:
tasteless – lacking aesthetic or social taste;
Definition of pretentious from Merriam-Webster dictionary:
1 : characterized by pretension: as a : making usually unjustified or excessive claims (as of value or standing) b : expressive of affected, unwarranted, or exaggerated importance, worth, or stature
Examples:
-Arguably, this comment.
-The previously mentioned Mamoru Oshii.
-Uwe Boll is pretentious because he makes awful movies and, like Oshii, thinks his movies are the definition of art.
-Weeaboos are pretentious because they act like they know everything about Japan from watching Haruhi Suzumiya.
-I am pretentious because I like to talk fancy in posts, especially when ripping pretentious movies like District 9 apart. This is thanks to reading way too much CGW and EGM.
-Baka-Raptor deliberately styles his blog to be pretentious, in the spirit of Maddox.
-Ghostlightning and Animekritik are pretentious because they drop or grudgingly endure serious/silly shows like Canaan while placing on a pedestal significantly worse offenders like Macross. You guys appreciate camp, but you deny the Nadesico Law which states that silliness is essential for keeping an otherwise gritty and dark show emotionally survivable by the audience. Quite the contradiction.
-Sagematt is either pretentious or has an inferiority complex for consistently dragging me into pissing contests on the AnimeBlogger IRC and trying to get me kicked ever since he made fun of my preference for Zechs over Char, and I flatly told him that Mu La Flagga and anything else connected with Gundam SEED sucked boatloads of ass. Which I will pretentiously maintain to the grave.
-Every blogger has at least a little bit of pretension for thinking their opinion is important enough to post online for others to read. If they aren’t, then it’s not a blog, it’s a private journal.
The internet is serious business. Ghostlightning and Animekritik, don’t take my pokes too seriously. I’m not looking to join the fight.
Seriously Ghostlightning and Digital Boy, cool down and end the angst. It’s only hilarious for so many posts before you both start to look like pretentious asses.
Peace.
Best comment ever.
For the record, as much as a pretentious asshole Oshii is, I still love him. I’ve seen him in the bonus features on Sky Crawlers and he seems like a great guy, and I do think he’s a great director. But he is pretentious no doubt. When asked about Ghost in the Shell’s popularity he once stated ‘I didn’t want people to like it.’ What an ass.
Many thanks for including the definition of pretentious, and I don’t feel like I’ve used it incorrectly, so that’s nice. ROFL @ mentioning Uwe Boll. In GL and AK’s defense, I think their dislike of Canaan is more about personal issues than flaws on the shows part itself, and yet GL likes to use phrases like ‘Canaan sucks’ and then get pissy when I call him pretentious.
You haven’t read enough of my archives to make that accusation. You will notice that I purposely do not review shows and do not make claims to objectivity nor act as an arbiter of taste/guardian of consumers; and I state these things explicitly as well. WRL is not We Remember Discerning Taste. So you see why I don’t go out of my way to say a show is objectively bad?
You call people objectively assholes and pretentious fucks. You like doing that? Enjoy yourself. I’m no Oshii fanboy, but this isn’t really about him or you.
K.
You can’t hide behind that digiboy. I didn’t say SW or Kampfer sucked. Read again. Did I insult shows you liked? No, I quit them and it had nothing to do with you. I never said you’re wrong or your taste sucked etc etc. You go out of your way to call me pretentious (Biankita too — way before we had that conversation) all over the place.
You’re reaching hard man and have run out of excuses, not that any have made sense.
I feel cheated — you have a Yamamoto Yohko group picture at the top, but no Starship Girls among today’s five (and I forget — have you listed someone from that show?)
Alas, I have only seen 7 eps of Yamamoto Yohko and somehow the show disappeared from my computer. Although I just realized I may have it on a disk somewhere…. NEED TO SEARCH NOW