| From: http://oasiszealot.blogspot.com/search/label/i%20heart... Labels: i heart... Sunday, June 28, 2009 Jerks with a heart of gold Sawyer. Spike. House. Vegita. Edward Rochester. Heathcliff. And what one trait do these characters share? Well, frankly, they are kind of mean and rude and pompous; in short, a jerk. Yes, why do we (especially me) heart them so? Well, there are several factors. They are self-confident to the point of pompousness, non-conformists, handsome, with mixture of sadness with anger in their souls. But underneath it all, they reveal glimpses of tenderness to show they have a heart. And as of late, the one who most exemplifies this but is still the most badass of characters has to be Saito Hajime from the manga Rurouni Kenshin. What makes Saito so cool? For one thing, he survived the Bakumatsu, along with Kenshin. Saito abides by his credo of Aku Soku Zan (rough translation of Death to Evil) from the past into the present. He, unlike some of the other killers of the past, has evolved into living in the peaceful Meiji era, while remaining true to himself. He hasn't wussed out on not killing evil and does mete out his brand of justice upon those who deserve it. Saito also has his ultimate move of the Gatotsu while has proven to be deadly and effective when used. Watsuki did a great job of letting Saito still be a strong force while you still believe that in the end, our hero Himura Kenshin, would be the ultimate winner. (And I am glad he gave the characters a fair out so that each character is able to retain his pride.''')* Saito also find a way to help these people he would never call his friends, but manages to explain it in a way that keeps him from losing his pride. It's even evident in his relationship with Sagara Sanosoke: he beats Sano to a pulp but only to teach him a lesson and also gives him an out so that Sano doesn't have to face his opponent in a death match. (Even Kenshin notices that Saito seems to concern himself about Sano very much.) The best was Saito's intuition into the opponent Usui who is the one most able to the truth inside people. And yet, it was Saito who was able to read into Usui and reveal his cowardice hidden behind Usui's own proclamations of greatness about his intent to kill Shishio himself.^ You have to read the manga but also watch the anime to really appreciate the character especially since the late Hirotaka Suzuoki did such a marvelous job providing the voice to Saito. He truly gave the character gravitas, menace, and a bit of hidden heart. Saito was too cool, man. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- '''Vegita was my favorite anime character for a long time, but like all the other DBZ characters - once they fight Goku and lose, they become a lame duck. Watsuki was able to create interesting opponents for his secondary characters so that they still remain badass and super cool (like Saito and Aoshi). DBZ could have done the same, but perhaps didn't care enough about the secondary characters. Too bad. *Read the manga, vol. 28. ^Read or watch the Kyoto arc of RuroKen. |
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