Tuesday’s Top 5: Totally Narcissistic Characters

Posted on by Karandi
Tuesday's Top 5

Today I am turning my attention to the narcissistic characters of the anime world. I’m going to clarify, this is not just a list of narcissists though. It’s pretty easy to make a character narcissistic. What is difficult is to make the audience actually like the self-loving individual.

So who would you have put on a list of narcissistic characters from anime?

Please Note – There are spoilers below. You have been warned.

Honourable mentions this week go to Claire Stanfield from Baccano and Kurama from Kamisama Kiss. Kurama kind of failed to make the list because even though he seems self-absorbed he just doesn’t have the confidence of a true narcissist. Not like those who made the list below.

A more recent honourable mention goes to Takato from Dakaichi. He’s the best kind of narcissist. One with an inferiority complex.

Dakaichi Episode 13 Takato Definitely one of the narcissistic characters I've fallen in love with anyway

Number 5: Kazuya Shibuya from Ghost Hunt

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The guy is nick-named Naru the Narcissist within a day of Mai meeting him. He is completely convinced he is brilliant (not helped by the fact that compared to the company he keeps, he is). Kazuya is 17 years old and running his own company. He hunts ghosts for a living. Not to mention, while the other spiritualists may not approve of his methods they have to approve of his results and track record.

However, just when you start really hating they guy, you get some more insight into his life and his personality. Honestly, the show just wants you to like him (given it is mostly narrated by Mai and she clearly does like him) and it does a good job of helping you see past his narcissistic exterior. At times.

Number 4: Loki from Fairy Tail

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I know that there’s a whole other side to this character, but focussing on how he is when Lucy first meets him, he is a womanizing narcissist. The later character arcs for Loki do a lot to make you empathise with him and understand him, and he also just develops beyond the shallow existence he was living, but he is still definitely a narcissist.

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Number 3: Seiya Kanie from Amagi Brilliant Park

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This one is too easy. The guy loves himself. A grown up child star who completely believes he is amazing. I really wouldn’t want to meet him after the events in the series because I am certain that while he has grown emotionally in some ways, his success will just make him more of an unbearable narcissist. But that is why he is on my list. Because he does grow and develop throughout the series so even though you still don’t much like him, you want him to succeed. I found that was some very affective writing that made me actually want him to win.

Number 2: Yumichika Ayasegawa from Bleach

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We could just look at his picture and realise, yep, this guy is definitely a narcissist. Even his seat number (fifth seat) was chosen because he didn’t want to take the third seat from his friend and he liked the number 5 more than 4. Really? And this guy won’t even fight against ugly people unless they really annoy him. He is so incredibly vain. You have to laugh when his hair, outfit or face get messed up. It’s just too perfect.

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Number 1: Alex Louis Armstrong from Full Metal Alchemist

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I couldn’t resist this one. Yes, there are greater narcissists in the world, but none of them as lovable. And that is why Alex Louis Armstrong tops out my list. True, it is only his physical appearance and alchemy that he is self-absorbed with and he is well aware of his limitations in other areas (hard not to be with so many people willing to point that out).

There’s just something completely charming about him even as he is completely crazy. While I think more of him in the series would have been a bit hard to swallow, his appearances were regularly marked by humour or sweet and touching moments that made his character all the more memorable.

So, who did I miss? Share your thoughts on the narcissists of the anime world below.

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Karandi James

Tuesday’s Top 5: Weird Episode Titles

Posted on by Karandi
Tuesday's Top 5

Frequently you don’t really know what an individual episode is called but when you buy the DVD or start searching for a particular episode online you suddenly realise the title and you are thinking… what the? Some anime go for thematic titles whereas others just go for long and strange. Here are my top 5 weird episode titles.

Share some of your favourite weird episode titles below.

Please Note – There are spoilers below. You have been warned.

Honourable mentions this week go Akame ga Kill and Black Butler for their thematic episode naming. That wasn’t enough to get them onto the list but it was enough for them to be considered.

Number 5: Not Enough Pool Safety (Amagi Brilliant Park)

Not Enough Pool Safety is a weird episode title that comes to us via Amagi Brilliant Park.

Amagi also went with thematic naming (for most of the series) with episode titles such as ‘Not Enough Time’ and ‘Not Enough Money’. While those are pretty straight forward, I pulled out episode 7’s ‘Not Enough Pool Safety’ because of the episode content. While the title seems straight forward you aren’t really expecting magical pirate invaders to take control of the theme park’s pool area. The title is descriptive but deceptive and certainly caught my interest.

It also helps that this weird episode title is attached to one of the more action packed stories in the series that is also pretty hilarious as it goes very over the top.

Number 4: From Dusk Till Dawn (Dance in the Vampire Bund)

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Horror references abound in the episode titles of Dance in the Vampire Bund. ‘Interview with the Vampire’, ‘Teen Wolf’ and ‘Howling’ all feature in the line up. ‘From Dusk Till Dawn’, episode 6, kind of feels like a turning point for the series in terms of atmosphere and the character arcs which is why I liked the reference.

Seriously, this is one series that almost as fun to watch for the various references to horror movies as it is for the story it is delivering and the story kind of works.

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Number 3: The First Semicolon (Astarotte’s Toy)

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All of the episode titles in Astarotte’s Toy seem to use punctuation and none of it seems to make a lot of sense. ‘Ampersand of the Party’ and ‘Secret Apostrophe’ feature, but I chose ‘The First Semicolon’ because mostly no-one really knows how to use a semicolon and because it is the second episode of the series which is where I noticed what they were doing with these titles. The first episode uses exclamation but I didn’t realise why they had used that word until the rest of the episode titles were revealed.

Number 2: My Cell Phone Doesn’t Get Many Calls (Haganai)

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Again, all of the episode titles in this series are kind of long and descriptive. I just find this one amusing because it is understating a situation and leads us into quite an amusing episode where are characters realise they can use their phones to call places other than home and they can add numbers and emails to their phones. While there are other anime out there that do similar things with their titles, I just find this one particularly funny.

Haiku Kotaro Bokuto

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Number 1: Czeslaw Meyer is Forced to Rework His Tremble-Before-the-Specter-of-Immortals Strategy (Baccano)

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I could have chosen any of the episode titles from Baccano but this one really resonated. Each title starts with a character name and then reveals something fundamental about the character and the plot, only you won’t really realise it until after you have watched the series and really gone back and looked at how it all lines up.

In this episode (part of it at least) Czeslaw attempts to convince Ladd to kill the other passengers but miscalculates his approach and is shot himself. This moment is more revealing than it seems at first and as you learn more about Czeslw you start to get a really interesting picture of his character and motives. That said, it is just a funny title. Seriously, say it three times fast.

What episode titles have caught your eye? Share them below.

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Thank-you for reading 100 Word Anime.
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Karandi James

Amagi Brilliant Park Series Review

Posted on by Karandi
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Overview:

Kanie Seiya, an extremely narcissistic human being, is asked on a date by Sento Isuzu to an amusement park. At gun point. Turns out Amagi Brilliant Park has a secret and Kanie Seiya is the only hope the inhabitants have.

Review:

Right from the start it is obvious that this anime is more interested in setting up punch lines than in delivering quality characters or plot developments. The whole saving the park thing really does become setting more than an actual driver of tension throughout the series. And while many of the jokes and punchlines are repetitive and flat, this show still somehow manages to make it work.

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I’m not going to argue that Amagi Brilliant Park is actually a brilliant anime or a work of comedic genius. It is neither and to be honest it isn’t trying to be. What it does is simple. It takes characters where each has one fundamental personality trait that is inherently funny (or can be played for laughs) and they find reasons again and again to put the characters in situations where the humour can be found. By that description, I shouldn’t like this series. The story exists but is hardly compelling and the characters are all stereotypes that are played for laughs. Somehow though, Amagi makes me smile.

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Actually, the story is at its weakest when it tries to play for drama. Particularly toward the end of the series when time is running out for the magic theme park. While we finally see some actual character development from our narcissist, to be honest by that point you just don’t care. And this is what stops the story from being brilliant. They don’t manage to combine the comedic energy they enfuse in some scenes with the drama that should exist throughout the entire series. Saving the park means life or death but the focus doesn’t manage to convey that convincingly to the audience. Instead, while we know that there are consequences for not saving the park, the characters’ absolute lack of progress is played for laughs.

The question is: How many absurd schemes can you have to save a magical amusement park from going bankrupt?

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Discount tickets? Bikini clad girls for advertising campaigns? Sell off part of the property? Close the park for forced maintenance? When all else fails, host a sporting event?

In the meantime, have characters who hate each other and can’t cooperate, performers who are hopeless at their jobs, mascot characters who hate kids, oh and the park can get attacked by pirates because why not.

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If you are looking for something with depth, move on. However, if you are after some cheap laughs (and a large number of direct references to other anime), and you don’t mind cliché characters and situations, Amagi is kind of all right. It never pretends to be something it isn’t and that works. Although I guess ‘kind of all right’ is not exactly a glowing recommendation.

Amagi Brilliant Park is available on AnimeLab if you haven’t seen it before.