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Resurrected Spotlight Character: Kusuriuri "Medicine Seller" (Mononoke)



MAL Character Information Page: Kusuriuri "Medicine Seller"


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Original Spotlight thread: Kusuriuri "Medicine Seller" (Mononoke)


For the next two weeks I would like to have everyone familiar with this character discuss what they think makes it an exceptional character. What attributes make it stand out in the ocean of interesting characters that exist in the realms of anime and manga.

Unlike the other two subjects I will not force this conversation to fall into any set structure. Characters that are nominated typically get here because they are adept at breaking the existing character molds and defying definition.

Because of this freedom I encourage everyone to do their very best to stay on topic and keep any and all debate civil. Have fun and I look forward to seeing what everyone has to say about this character.

RESULTS OF THE YOU DECIDE POLL

Kusuriuri was NOT inducted into the club Character list:
17 Yes - 42.5%
23 No - 57.5%

36 Don't know this character - 43.3% of the total number polled
7 Abstained - 8.4% of the total number polled

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RESULTS OF THE RESURRECTION POLL

06-27-2011
Kusuriuri "Medicine Seller" is now PERMANENTLY dead:
20 Yes - 57.1%
15 No - 42.9%

23 Don't know this character - 36.5% of the total number polled
5 Abstained - 7.9% of the total number polled

The ultimate sexy and mysterious pretty male character of anime. He makes an excellent protagonist because of this. Erm...what else is there to say..

Besides that, mai husbando.

I think everything I feel about this character was said in the original spotlight.

He's very mysterious and simple character that is done extremely well. His lack of backstory only adds to the appeal of his character. Just because a character does not have a built history does not make them a bad character. His unique charm and personality really carries the show and he is irreplaceable in the Mononoke series.

also,

I am left in a really awkward, annoying position right now, where I am torn between my subjective love of this character and my objective inability to justify a yes vote for him. Which is to say, I really want to vote yes for him, but can't think of a good reason to do so.

The problem is that everything I love about Kusuriuri is just built up from the directing and the acting behind him. It's the result of the series he's in playing him so well that he's such an entertaining, charming character, but when it comes down to it he doesn't really have any character traits or any real characterisation besides being mysterious.

This really becomes a problem in that while what makes him an interesting character is how little we know about him, and yet knowing nothing about him leaves him a one-dimensional face for the series to carry itself on. Of course, actually explaining anything about the medicine seller would ruin him, so you would think that he's better off this way... but in reality, all I honestly would have needed was the acknowledgement that there was something there. I wouldn't want to know what that something was, just that there was something to know. And as a funny fact, we actually have a character in the relations list already who perfectly exemplifies this: Kino. In my opinion, she's a better version of the same character style in that we are given enough details about her to know that there's depth behind the mystery, but she remains a mystery because in the end it still explains nothing.

So, while I love this character and I actually sorta want him to get in the list, I still have to vote no. Unless someone can give me a good reason not to.

I've been trying to finish Mononoke for at least a year now. It seems I can only get myself to watch one episode every two or three months. It doesn't play out well for me voting yes for Kusuriuri. His character is like Lind has already mentioned, monotone and static. There seems to be some great truth working just underneath the surface but alas, now that Lind and everyone else in this forum has confirmed that his character never changes and remains static I am less inclined to vote yes. However this spotlight is a good reason to make another attempt at finishing this short series once and for all.

@Lind:

I'll be posting a reason to vote yes, so please don't cast your vote till I come back to edit this post by tomorrow ;) you might be convinced.

I will be interested in what you have to say about him too, and what separates him from similar characters such as Akagi Shingeru (who is permanently dead while Kusuriuri got inducted).

Or, as another example, L. Since they're basically characterised the same way (through entertaining, enigmatic personalities and character quirks) but both fall to the same problem of knowing absolutely nothing about them in the end. Hell, we actually know more about L by the end of Death Note than we do about Kusuriuri.

Life got too busy, sorry. But my long-to-be post about him would have explained how this character is based on theatrical Noh characters. And how in his class, he is really well-written. Too late though but if you're still interested I could try and write more about him when I get the chance.

I'm still quite interested, so I'd appreciate that. Thanks.