User blog:DustpeltX/The Design of a Character Part 1 - Character Types

Hey Fanon Dust here with a length blog that's probably another ramble fest but still seems like a good topic to brush up on since:

It's mostly the first point but the second point allowed me to really think critically about the nature of a character and its design as a whole. The third point was just the ignition.
 * 1) We're in the middle of dead season
 * 2) I'm in the middle of editing our RWBY shitstomping show
 * 3) Somebody asked about character redesign and I have a lengthy answer

I'll be jumping back and forth from RWBY and other shows (mostly anime) for examples so I hope this ride isn't too boring.

Character Type
The first thing I want to talk about is character type; I personally theorize there are two types of characters, let's call them R-Type and G-Type. You can call them whatever you want but I'm just giving some unknown variables some names for now so we can talk and standard terms here. Let's start with G-Type.

G-Type or "Gimmick-Type"
Don't get me wrong,  I like these kinds of character, and they are in no ways bad. The defining trait of theses types are that they're FUN in the sense that they are enjoyable to watch but are niche and mostly unrelatable.

Examples of these types of characters would be most Western children's cartoons and arguably anything by Trigger, Kill la Kill may be an exception here, I don't know.

However, Tenga Toppa Gurren Lagann is probably one that fits well in this category. The reason I like to use TTGL as an example of Gimmick-Type characters is because you can't critically look at TTGL and its characters and tell me they're REALLY relatable characters, or that TTGL is a thought provoking show.

TTGL is not a good show. It's a dumb show about drills and the essence of humanity.

But it's fun.

Like, rediculously fun.

And that's how Gimmick-Types work, they have to know what they are and not try to pretend to be something else or meaningful.

R-Type or "Real-Type"
Real type characters are ones that are developed enough to be hyper-relatable to almost everyone.

These are your "slice of life" characters that experience everyday problems similar to us and while their experiences may not be exactly the same, their display of emotion is something that almost anyone can sympathize with on some level.

So some examples would be shows like Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai!, K-On!, Ore no Imouto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai, Lucky*Star, and of course most recently Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon.

However, I know for sure is EVERY CHARACTER IN THE MONOGATARI SERIES is this type of character. It should be noted however, that Monogatari si my all-time favourite series and am absolutely biased towards it, AND I base my standards for character design after this show, take that as you will, but I digress.

Now for those who don't know what Monogatari is... well it's hard to explain in just a few simple words but it's essentially a show that's very critical about the nature of people and their tendency to take the easy route. While I could have used something simpler like Dragon Maid, I won't, mostly because its too basic of a show to warrent any extremely good examples.*

So lets use three characters from the first season of Monogatari as examples, namely the first 3 characters introduced. Huge spoilers ahead so if you plan to watch this anime (which I higly recommend you do) skip this part.

Senjougahara HItagi
The main love interest and actual girlfriend of the main character in a semi-harem-esqe anime. Senjoughara is perhaps the most notorious for completely redefining the standard of "tsundere".

Anyway, the interesting thing to note about her character introduction is how much information is presented to us in perhaps the first 10 minutes in which she appears on screen.

We learn of her disability, how, when, and why she aquired it, and the motivation of why she wants to keep it a secret from society. For those who don't understand why I'm refering to, Senjougahara weighs a whopping 5 kg (about the weight of a demoestic cat) despite being an 18 year-old.

Now the lack of weight is later attributed to some ghost or "god" which took away her weight when she experienced a traumatic event resulting in the breakup of her family. She herself, ALONE, later restores her weight. In this sense, "weight" is an allagory for "emotion" in which she is responsible for bearing the weight of her emotions.

The thing to take note here is that her character is very centered around trauma but not in the sense of "my parents divorced and I'm sad" which, in my opinion is a very shallow way of looking at divorce, but rather the more common feeling of the responsiblity a child feels in a family's breakup. The thoughs of, "did my parents separate because of me? Maybe they wouldn't have divorced if I did things differently".

Hanekawa Tsubasa
Literally Class Rep-Chan, the character, but again, it's an exploration of this character trope working in the real world. The typical Class Rep-Chan is ther perfect student without being a teacher's pet and also somehow popular with everyone.

This is the essence of Hanekawa Tsubasa, and she is messed up.

Monogatari suggests that people like these cannot exist, and Monogatari would be correct on both fronts as Hanekawa is an expertly hidden "broken" character.

Massive spoilers as this is probably one of the best character arcs stretching 3 seasons of the show. You have been warned.

The perfect Hanekawa is perfect only in the sense that she has shut down her will to truly operate with any intention. Basically, she's not perfect at school or nice to everyone for any purpose but simply because it is the "correct" thing to do. There is no intention behind her actions and thus are empty and "fake".

Of course, everything in Monogatari is not somebody else's fault but always your own fault. Hanekawa's is her refusal to acknowledge the bad things in life, resulting in her brushing any sort of negative experience away until her stress manifests itself, a reflection of a mental snap.

Araragi Koyomi
I could have chosen a more flattering picture, but I didn't, because this one's funnier. Anyway, moving on.

Araragi is presented as the main character of main characters. In fact, he's the narrator of the story most of time. His introduction in the show is rather abrupt in which you as the viewer would have to piece togather his background as the story progresses.

In short, you find out he's a highschool student who only has one friend and is somehow part vampire because of a mistake he made during one of his March Breaks.

What's important to note about him is that he's presented as the traditional White Knight character, evident by his current condition (you find out in the prequel that he's part vampire because he let saved a vampire from dying) and his unconditional desire to help those who hurt him.

In addition, he also has the common problems that most teenagers at his age face whether it be familial troubles, academics, his own raging hormones, and the perception others have of him.

However, the main focus here is his White Knight complex. The author/writer specifically shows how a real-life White Knight would work through the character of Araragi and we see that consequences of such a mindset. Despite being the main, main character, he's the one that actively works against the core message of the series which states somethign along the lines of "People have to help themselves."

The progression of the story shows this extremely well as it acknowledges that White Knights are often well liked characters as their tendency to assist wins hearts. That is something that cannot be denied, however, it is the dependence on the White Knight that cripples the strength of a person. In essence, both the white knight is at fault for enabling this dependance, and the victim is at fault as well for not shouldering their own burdens. In fact he assists the above two characters in their own troubles but it bites him in the ass pretty frequently.

R-Type (contd.)
One should note that the R-Type is very time consuming to develop but allows for a richer experience on both the writer and reader's point of view. It is also, in my opinion, very hard to oversaturate or "edgify" a character this way as the traits are incompatible.

So where do RWBY character's fit?
RWBY characters are most definitely G-Type in the sense that none of the characters have any reasonable real-life equivalents save for some very general life lessons. Ruby is about the responsiblity of growing up and leadership, Weiss is about humility, Blake is about naivety and the middleground stance, and Yang is... actually Yang doesn't have any purpose until about Volume 4 and even that is quite selfishly dodgy of a life lesson. Ultimately, the show is about good versus evil at least in the presence of Volume 4 not unlike Star Wars.

However, the show itself tries too hard to cater towards R-Type characters with the amount TALKING and politics in a show about weapons that is also a gun in the first 2 volumes that it completely neglects world building and actually making plot that matter to our 4 characters in favour of pretending to be something it is definitely not.

Volume 3 is just a tournament arc and works because RWBY was made to be a battle school show.

And Volume 4... it goes back to the problem of Volume 1 and 2 where it's trying to be something that it clearly isn't. I'm not happy with the way I phrased this here as there is little stated evidence and that an actual argument will be a 10 page essay all on its own but maybe that will happen some other time as a video essay of some sort.

Conclusion
So this concludes Part 1 of this ramble/discussion. Part 2 will probably be about physical design or power/story progression or something like that. That will probably come a little later as I want to get some art stuff done so I can use some examples but feel free leave a discuss below.