Welcome to another edition of The Anime Deep Dive where I will look over various stories from movies, shows, games, and anime to discuss the ways writers can improve their work. Today’s post will be the first in my character analysis series. In this series, I’ll review anime and take a deeper look at the characters within the show to examine how the writer crafted their complex identities based on the character’s wants, needs, and wounds. The topic will be based on the anime 86 (SPOILER WARNING AHEAD FOR THE ANIME!!!!) From top to bottom, 86 is an exceptional anime in every regard. The animation is stunning and filled with love. Its story is enthralling and captures the audience from beginning to end. The music is phenomenal and one of a kind. The action is fluid and engrossing, and I could continue to go on and on singing its praises. Yet, one of the aspects that made me love the story came from the characters. 86 has a vibrant cast of characters, each with distinct personalities and roles, but it’s the main character, Shin Nouzen that carries the show. The key behind Shin’s captivating nature lies in his internal conflict; the struggles that he deals with due to the war define him. They consume him, almost ripping his humanity away. Like all good characters, Shin experiences some sort of wound, a negative experience that shapes him. In his case, the primary wound he endures is when his brother tries to kill him. This experience has scarred him both emotionally and physically, leaving a mark upon his neck and acting as a parallel between him and the severed heads that now pilot the Legion. That wound only intensified upon his brother’s death. Based on those negative experiences, one feeling resonates deep within Shin, abandonment. Between his brother’s abuse, his subsequent death, and the lack of closure Shin attains from it, he feels abandoned by his brother. It’s such a tragic, yet poetic irony. Shin, a child soldier forced to fight for a country that doesn’t love him, a nation that exiles and forsakes his people, feels a greater sense of loss from his brother’s abandonment. It becomes such a powerful moment in his life that he spends years fighting on the battlefield for a single purpose, killing his brother. But for him, it’s not as simple as revenge. No, his wound leaks into his desire for vengeance and morphs into a contradictory new desire, one that acts as the foundation of his character. He wants to kill his brother and others captured to the Legion, thus saving them from being abandoned by the rest of humanity. It is dark, tragic, twisted, and expertly done. Shin literally can’t let go of people he cares for if he has a choice. That abandonment he experienced haunts him, and he has no desire to allow others to feel that pain. So, he dedicates himself and tosses away his humanity to save those that have been taken by the Legion, forever abandoned, forever suffering, if not for his intervention as the Reaper. Despite coming off as stoic and uncaring, he cares for people far more than he lets on. By taking the decals from the machines of those he kills/saves, he always wants to carry a piece of them. Though he says it’s to carry them with him to the end, it seems, in truth, to more so lessen the pain from that feeling of abandonment once more. But that is the genius of his character. That wound, though disguised by noble and admirable intentions, still festers. Sinking into a pit of depression in the second season, Shin comes to fear abandonment so much that he seeks death on the battlefield to escape it. The wounds suffered by a character are critical to successful character development. It is from the wounds that the wants and needs are presented, allowing for the full arc to occur, leading to a character’s highest and lowest points. From there, we can dive into Shin’s Wants and Needs, the topic for the next segment. |
Book ListThe Order: Shadows of the Apostles Archives
September 2022
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