Spotlight Character: Tarou "Maria" Sekiutsu (SZS) MAL Character Information Page: Tarou "Maria" Sekiutsu MAL Favorite Character: #?? (with 10 favorites) For the next week I would like to have everyone familiar with Maria discuss what they think makes her an exceptional character. What attributes make her 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 Tarou "Maria" Sekiutsu did NOT get inducted into the club Character list: 1 Yes - 1.45% 47 No - 68.12% 21 I don't know this Character - 30.43% of the total number polled |
8GaugeBrettAug 14, 2008 11:29 AM
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| ...how did she even make the spotlights? o_o She's... interesting. She's the most original girl in Despair-sensei's class (which is not that good of a thing if you consider that said class is made up of cliche parodies), but her scenes are always funny. ...oh, c'mon. I can't take any of the girls of this show seriouly enough to give a review for this club. SZS was awesome, yes, down to the less important comedy side-characters, but I can't imagine any of those less-important comedy side-characters as a character relation for this club. Sorry, Maria-chan. I'll be voting a 'No' here. |
KiralyAug 3, 2008 12:35 PM
| I can only echo what Ancalyme said. I'm not sure how she's got to be a spotlight, but I don't think she's a memorable character in any way (I had to check the characters page to figure who she is!). A definite no from me. |
| What a day! What a lovely Day! |
| As the person who kicked in the first 12 nominations (but not the last 2), I guess the onus is on me to justify this nomination. So here goes... Back when the club was created about five months ago, ZSZS was in the middle of its run and the subs were coming out ever so slowly. I had liked Maria from the first season mainly because every scene with her in it had a push the envelope quality to it. However, it was a little 90 second piece of inspiration in episode 9 of the second season that made me throw out the first nomination (I'll get back to that later). Maria is introduced in episode 3 an illegal immigrant who has managed to find enough money to buy the identity of the real Sekiutsu Tarou, who had sold his identity to her in a statement against class-based society. Later, while doing nothing more than being naïve and childlike in her interactions with the new world around her she convinces everyone to support her. She comes away thinking Japan is a place where everyone is nice, if not truthful. In episode 7, she creates a 4-koma of the Tsuyama Massacre. A brave moment for sure, which illustrates an ignorance of the society that she's in (I found it a hilarious and brave attempt at comedy) And now back to that episode 9 of ZSZS that I mentioned earlier. She gets dragged to an ultra nationalist compound in her search for people in a boke (couldn't think of anything better to use here) state. In the process the show goes straight for the "third rail" of Japanese politics in describing the state of the nation after the war in the manner it does. Maria then goes in front of the Diet and the prime minister (Koizumi in this case) and delivers textbook nationalist talking points and a call for action against various groups (including illegal immigrants who are causing rising crime in her words). This episode served to cap a startling episode of character development for me. She had gone from an ignorant character who had benefited from hypocrisy in others had now become a hypocrite herself in her admonishing illegal immigrants. So while I admit that she has about as much chance of getting in as I do of winning the 100m gold at the 2012 Olympics, I hope this doesn't discourage those plowing a lone furrow in their nominations. I could also go leave the club if she doesn't get, say 4 yes votes, but I would never get to see how long my streak of my yes votes never winning would go on. So before a string of shounen protagonists get voted down simply because they are shounen protagonists, at the very least this will unite the club behind something at least. *prepares for disappointment, like a poor kid opening gifts at Christmas time* |
| She was funny, energetic etcetc. But not that memorable. I give 7 for her. |
| Ehm, no. I do not find any of the girls in Zetsubou-sensei's class to be intriguing. So, no. |
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| As far as the "Natural Girl" archetype goes, This nutjob is clearly an on a whole different level, as the rest of the "Zetsubou Shoujotachi". I can't say I am opposed to allowing her into the Affiliation list, but among the Zetsubou girls, there are others I would rather pick for the seat. |
| I remember that she was some sort of odd illegal immigrant girl... thats about it. She certainly did nothing to keep me watching the show (I dropped it after watching 8 or 9 episodes) and was hardly a memorable character. |
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| A 5. In a word: Unmemorable. |
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| haha no...this is a highly unremarkable secondary character. If there was a thirdary she'd be apart of that. How she gets passed and some of the others don't is beyond me. |
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| Yeah, I gotta add to the echoes of "cute and funny, but nothing special." Some of the other SZS girls might have more of a chance for a yes vote from me, honestly. |
| I'll go with the no vote. Of all the various characters that appear in SZS she's probably the least developed, least funny and certainly the most annoying. There are other girls in the series more deserving of being spotlighted. |
Gremlin's World - School Daze - The Comedies III |
| EmpJ: well written summary of Maria :) I was waiting to read it. personally, none of the SZS characters got much time to develop except Sensei, so I don't really have much of an opinion on her. I did think the jokes surrounding her were probably the best in the series. Or maybe since illegal immigration seems to be a pretty prevelent issue in the US i just found it funnier than the whole set of Hikkokomori jokes, and other jokes catering to the japanese culture/society. |
| No. I took out a life insurance on her and if she's inducted into the list people might start to look after her interests. Simply doesn't work. |
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| She's my favourite character in SZS. I didn't like her at first, but when rewatching both seasons, she really grew on me. I give her an 8, and since I know that there's no chance in hell she'll be making it in, I will vote yes just because I like her so damn much. Maybe. |
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| While she had her moments, I just wouldn't consider her fascinating enough to even consider voting a yes for. She was extremely one dimensional (as are all the characters. That's the point!) and wasn't even a main character. She was after all physical comedy aspect of a lot of the jokes. I haven't seen the second season (not sure if I will) but I can't imagine that that is where she breaks her mold. |
| . |
| Maria gets a 7 from me, and that's pretty high. he was one of my favorite characters from SZS. but I'm voting no on a club relations vote. |
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