Essence of Characters

My other blog, Star of the Lancer, is focused on WoW and mathematics, but while I may be a mage, I'm also a writer. Paradoxically, I feel I don't read as much as I should, and some of that, I think, is motivated by fear. Perhaps it's just me, but when I read something or watch something (for television and film are as much an art as the novel), I find it all too easy to get attached to those characters and to grieve for them when the show or book is over, and sometimes, I don't want to grieve. Even still, from time to time, something really catches my interest. Of late, that something has been Ranma 1/2.

In short, Ranma 1/2 is a late 80's/early 90's manga and anime about a 16-year-old martial artist who, thanks to his bumbling father, falls into a cursed Chinese spring. The curse itself is rather simple: when splashed with cold water, he turns into a girl. Only hot water reverses this effect. Aside from that, Ranma himself faces a small handful of suitors, all vying for his hand in marriage, and from time to time, he squares off against martial arts rivals (though the "art" in question can be anything from "martial arts tea ceremony" to "race along the beach without getting your watermelon popped").

As a whole, the series is comedy, and as such, often the characters exaggerate their reactions to fit comedy. One of the prime examples is Tendou Akane, Ranma's principle love interest, with whom he enjoys an intensely denial-ridden relationship. Ranma and Akane are more often seen insulting each other than anything else, and should Ranma slight her (or if she even perceives a slight), Akane won't hesitate to punt him or beat him over the head with whatever available blunt object. Rarely do the two enjoy a moment where they can express their true feelings (since, for comedy's sake, something usually comes along to kill these moments). Even the end of the manga refuses to get them fully "together" (or anyone else, for that matter).

But, at any rate, Ranma 1/2 is comedy, and as I said, thus the characters bend a bit to fit the tropes of comedy, but this leads to problems when people on the internet try to evaluate the characters seriously. In such discussions, Akane is characterized as little short of a total...witch (or, conversely, people take the other extreme and dismiss her actions as entirely justified by Ranma's insensitivity). In short, however, I feel that little effort is made to understand the characters, rather only to judge them.

As a writer, I don't judge characters. In my story Echoes, I deliberately avoided characterizing people as evil in their own minds. Characters judge each other, but as a third-person narrator, I don't. Nor do I think it interesting to do so. I think when you get to the point as judging characters as good or evil, redeemable or forsaken, you take away an essential dynamic of conflict. I feel characters should always be well-intentioned, at least in their own world view. At the risk of Godwining myself, even Adolf Hitler must, in my mind, have seen his actions as morally just and for the betterment of humanity. We can condemn him as a person, for he's not a character but a real man from history, but I think the point still stands: few people see themselves as truly evil. When they do, often there's another reason for it--they consider themselves under out of control, slaves to urges they cannot keep in check.

After Echoes, I've planned to write a Ranma fanfic novel, and as such, I feel I must understand the characters in order to do them justice. Indeed, working with characters from another source, I feel it's even more important than with original characters or original fiction, for you have a long history of behavior and development to match.

How do I see Akane? In a word, insecure. Ranma (and several of his other suitors) are her superior in martial arts. Her homemaker skills are mediocre (though perhaps not as terrible as sometimes portrayed), and as a woman...well, that's everything Ranma insults about her. She is an "uncute, macho tomboy." Every time Ranma has an indiscretion (or if she even thinks he's having one), it calls into question her womanhood, puts one more nail in the coffin of her desirability. Naturally she fights back, and while I think the malleting and other slapstick overreactions must be considered in a more toned-down light if you want to make comedy serious, I think the quality of her reactions is still there. She's paranoid. She's afraid. And when she feels her place slipping from her, she can be jealous. She can be a bitch, and she will continue to be one until she really pushes Ranma away. Then, and only then, can she grow as a character. Then she can strive to better herself. It will only be a question of time and timing.

And Ranma? Ranma is all about ego. The last thing he wants to be perceived as is weak or feel humiliated, embarrassed. This is why he so vigorously denies his attraction to Akane, even to himself at times. This is why he insults her--he must have the last word in an argument, for trading insults is as much battle as a martial arts duel. True, there are some things he genuinely doesn't understand and can make him come off as a jerk, but he's not so ignorant all the time. We can see more often than not he's motivated by being better than others. The two times Akane got powerups to or beyond his level, Ranma greatly disliked it. When Shampoo came under the effects of the Reversal Jewel, he needed the satisfaction of her pursuit back, even though he's not seriously considered her for a wife. Ranma's all about ego, and admitting his feelings would require him to put that aside and, well, bear his soul. He doesn't do that. He doesn't want to let anyone in. Even in the small number of times he's let that wall down, as often as not Akane shoots him down for it. For Ranma to grow, he will have to put his ego aside, allow himself to put down that wall and be hurt. Then he can be stronger for it.

Writing, to me, is all about character growth. I structure my novels in a semi-serial nature, and as such, growth is gradual, with each sub-story setting it up. Some characters, of course, are static, and the tragedy is that they didn't grow. That's something to consider, too.