Michael is Low on Hit Points
Those minor characters that appear only for a moment, yet captivate you nonetheless
- Posted February 3rd, 2009 at 3:59 PM ET
- Subjects Toradora
- Tags short editorial
- Image sources
1- Kihara Maya [unknown]
2- Monica, the Knight of Twelve [unknown] - Video searches
none
The main heros get all the love. Often enough, the main villain will be the one we truly wish the story was following. Yet, no matter how much time an author dedicates to his leads, sometimes it's a minor character that steals the stage. What follows is that strange impulse that leads me -- and maybe you too -- to want more story-time with a character than is actually available.
Of course there are those side characters that had their share of screen time; I just wish they had more. Teresa of the Faint Smile made Claymore for me early on. The "Desert Tiger" Andrew Waltfeld upstaged Gundam SEED's main villain for me. Hubb and Quent getting top billing led to my favorite episode of Wolf's Rain. And Yukine's story was strong enough to make her a lead girl in Clannad.
Of course, many of these characters quickly became quite popular. Kenpachi was practically just a number on a list of Shinigami captains before his fight with Ichigo launched him into popularity. These characters sudden popularity often lead to either more screen time later, or more fan works all over the internet. But I want to focus on those even more minor roles.
What about those characters that barely make a blip on the radar, but for some reason or another, resonate more strongly with you than they should. Was it truly the fang that made Misao from Lucky Star stand out after so little attention? Matt's design from Death Note grabbed my attention, but maybe my desire for more Matt came from my desire for more time delving into Mello, and thus, associates?
Heck, all it took was one silly little eye catch from Code Geass to make me want more Monica, the Knight of Twelve.
And I know I'm not the only one who can get caught up with a minor character. Baka-Raptor will write a review of any anime you'd like, if you can find Kibure in episode 14 of Infinite Ryvius. Consider it Where's Waldo, the Animation. Sounds like fun, and I'll have to get on the task whenever I get around to that series.
So what made me all of a sudden want to sing the song of these minor characters -- these unsung heroes of the anime world? Kihara Maya from Toradora. She caught my interest as soon as she walked into the diner in episode 17. While her character design (and cute outfit) initially caught my eye, my mind quickly turned to "what's she doing here all of a sudden?"
It's the moment that answer comes pouring out that has won me over. It's the way she sort of rambles into it, and then, looking Ryuuji straight in the eyes, declares "I'll support you!" Ok, the background music along with Ryuuji getting closer to the revelation that he may have feelings for Taiga help make this scene stand out. And of course, the scene standing out makes her stand out too.
But something about that moment just clicked with me. The sound of her voice, the music, the plot point, that look in her eyes... it's still on my mind well after it's over. Sure, her role going forward is similar to Taiga's, but whereas our lead girl had to slowly win me over, Maya's got me right from the start.
Why? Well, it's hard to explain. But a lot of these things are. They're even a bit irrational. That's what makes us all human. So, what about you? What minor character has irrationally won you over the moment you laid eyes on them? What did you do to get more mileage out of a character who has so little material available to obsess over?
1 IKnight
Andrew Waltfeld really was rather memorable - I think he's part of a Gundam tradition of likeable antagonist-mentors.
CCY (of Mega Megane Moe) once suggested that being a minor character can, in and of itself, stimulate the fans' interest: seeing someone exciting, but knowing that he or she won't get much screentime, might somehow make the fans feel partisan for that character. He called it 'fourth wall moe'.
Re Michael is LoHP
@ IKnight
Gundams tend to do good antagonists period, from what I've seen. They usually occupy the role of the other side of the argument, rather than simply having wicked intentions. Of course, that may not hold true for the entirety of the series. That reasonable bad guy may all of a sudden end up having some crazed desire during the final act that is so ridiculously evil that you just have to root against it. Man, that cheapens the ending; I'm looking at you SEED and SEED Destiny.
I think I'm trying to view minor characters here only through the lens of the show's production, while that post by CCY is looking at it from the aspect of real world fanboyism. Or at least that's my take on things. Good article too, and thanks for the heads up on it. Reminds me of a post I saw a while back critiquing editorial blogs and how the new ones write about all the same topics older ones have already covered before!
2 Baka-Raptor
I've looked. I've had people look. Nobody's found her. She's gone. Forever. Unless they stick her in the special edition blu-ray or something.
Re Michael is LoHP
@ Baka-Raptor
I saw that post on your site, and now I want to watch Infinite Ryvius just to play "find Kibure" every episode. I don't know a thing about the series and I'm already sold.
3 Omisyth
I can't say anything about a minor character who captivated me at first sight (mostly because I don't think there are any) but I found Kihara to immediately stand out to me since she was irritating. And I think the only reason for this was because she was a minor character who suddenly appeared next to the ensemble cast. Prejudice it may be, but I don't want anyone interfering with the mechanics between the main characters in Toradora.
Re Michael is LoHP
@ Omisyth
That's a fine point, I'll give you that. If something works, of course you wouldn't want someone to come in and screw it all up. Still, I think there could have been potential with her, but I doubt in the end they'll give her much screen-time.
4 Nazarielle
Teresa made Claymore for me too. I didn't take to Yukine like most people did, but I really liked Sayuri from Kanon. Another one off the top of my head is Accelerator in Index, although he's actually getting an arc devoted to him right now, so it's not exactly right to say that he's an undeveloped side character.
Actually, come to think of it, there were a lot of characters in Claymore that I really liked that either were killed off much earlier than I would have liked or just weren't really revisited and just vanished into the night. Irene comes to mind, and also Flora. I would've loved to see more of their stories and battles. One plus to reading the manga of Claymore is that later on there was an Extra Scene involving Teresa, which was very cool to see, although I do wish it could have been longer.
Re Michael is LoHP
@ Nazarielle
All four Extra Scenes in the Claymore manga are quite good. Of course, where the anime ends is where the manga starts getting really good. Too bad stuff in the anime ending directly contradicts major plot points in the manga. If the crew at Madhouse had any balls, they would have ended the anime with everyone dying *cough* at the end of the Northern Campaign. Now that would have been one hell of a "to be continued!"
5 Nazarielle
The entire manga itself is really amazingly well done, but that Extra stood out because I couldn't believe my wish of more Teresa actually came true :D
I would have heartily approved of that ending, even though it would have been confusing for those who hadn't read the manga. I do hope sometime, when the manga is all finished that they decide to revisit Claymore and redo the first season and leave room for a second season (and maybe a third, depending on how long it goes).
But that's getting rather off topic. Since I just watched some of the later episodes of Toradora again, I can really feel Maya's pain. She's getting shoved off to the side even by her own friends in favor of someone else, so she is really trying to find someone to side with her. With everyone working against her, she really doesn't stand a chance. Any chance she does get will get taken away by their meddling. But the killing blow really was the latest episode when even Kitamura pretty much admits that he has no idea that Maya likes him.
Although, I don't get the feeling that I need to have more story concerning just her. It might be nice for her to have a little more depth, but I won't feel outraged if she doesn't get it.
One last rambling thought: Code Geass is a big offender of having many minor characters that steal the stage away and make me wish there were triple the actual amount of episodes, just so we could learn about the other characters. I really wish I could have learned more about Kagura. We see a lot of her, but we don't really know a whole lot about her. All we know is that she was part of Kyoto and that she supports Zero as someone who can liberate Japan. Then there's Anya and as you mentioned, Monica. Plus, I wouldn't mind knowing a bit more about the other Knights of the Round that weren't really featured very much. And the list goes on, so I'll stop here before this gets any worse.
Re Michael is LoHP
@ Nazarielle
I hope whatever studio ends up continuing Claymore wouldn't have to go so far as to redo the first season. Maybe they could do some sort of recap OVA, where they surmise everything and then redo the ending? I think that would be fine. And I too was stoked at the surprise gift of more Teresa.
Yeah, as of late in Toradora, every time Maya even so much as raises her voice to speak, someone shoots her down. Ouch. It is kind of weird that they made sort of a big deal about her at the end of episode 17, but have barely used her since. I thought the current arc would highlight her, and then move on. I guess she's being saved up for something later? We'll see.
As far as Code Geass, you're right smack on one of the major issues with R2. All the new side characters they added for season 2 meant that not only did they end up undeveloped, but all those side characters from season 1 got left behind to. All these characters just ended up as teases.
How much cumulative airtime did Monica get? Two whole minutes maybe? Then what was the point? The creators get fans interested in something, and then simply don't bother to follow through. I'm not saying they needed to give her episodes full of development, but some backstory before her lightning fast death wouldn't have hurt. Either that or don't even bother introducing said character, and instead focus on the other side characters you already have.