| Mainly talking about things like sequel series here, or series where a large amount of time actually passes. I know the default for anime settings is like Detective conan and Pokemon, where time doesn't really exists except when it's convienent, so I'm not really talking about those. I mean from like Naruto to Boruto, where much of the old cast has gotten visibly older and settled into a life where they aren't fighting all the damn time, it would make sense for those characters to have grown weaker in some ways, right? (Disclaimer, I have not touched Boruto, I've just seen a lot of talk about it) I know that for some people, that sort of thing can feel like a betrayal or out of character thing, but I don't think it is really. Most (Read: not-Goku) battle series characters are motivated to become stronger due in some part to an external force pushing them forward. If that external force (the plot of the show) doesn't exist anymore, it'd make sense for most characters to train less and thus become weaker. Now, I'm not saying these characters should become scrubs, that's just unsatisfying, narratively speaking, but just less powerful than they were before. |
| "Dreams are worth fighting for" Backloggery | YouTube | Heatmap |
| Naruto and other in Boruto are 33 yo... They are not over 50/60s to be visibly weaker, even in nowadays military around 39-40 is the max age restriction for enrollment, while retirment is 55-60 if not higher. So Naruto and others can be even stronger than before, although I have stopped watching Boruto at one point so I have no idea what happens later. It would make sense for character who got so older that it is natural for them to become weaker like Joseph Joestar in Jojo p3 and he was actually weaker than he used to be. I don't remember other characters who would be such older through series. [Excluding here obviously ridicoulus ages of centuries/milenias of each character who are special entities instead of "normal humans"] |
| If they are normal human martial-artist characters over 50 I'd say, yes, but in a shounen battle series where people have access to supernatural powers/magic/etc. then all bets are off. But...  |
| "The name's Gambit. Remember it." -Gambit "X-Men '97"  |
| If we use fighting game logic, the older you get, the more you should kick ass. I like seeing the elderly get underestimated only to body some young fucker. |
| Honestly age shouldn't really matter in most cases. When you have a fantasy setting with all these supernatural characters that possess immense godlike powers, growing old shouldn't really affect the overall power scaling. I also think Naruto is a terrible example of this. In Naruto, Shippuden, and even in Boruto, you have literal children becoming more powerful than actual adults with tons of years of experience. You're telling me all these 40 year olds are weaker than the average high school kid? See, there simply is no need for any kind of realism in these anime. If it were realistic, then the kids wouldn't even be thrown into actual fighting until they're in their 20's. Most martial art fighters irl, go pro in their mid 20's to mid 30's, and then retire at around 40. You don't see kids beat the shit out of experienced MMA fighters just cuz of their age. And that's the age of most grown up characters in Boruto. Naruto, Shikamaru, Sasuke, etc, should actually be in their prime at their current age if realism was included, yet they're all weaker than most of the kids... The only reason these characters are now a lot weaker, is cuz the author simply wants the new characters to get most of the spotlight. |
SimplyBrazenJun 20, 3:43 AM
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| Absolutely not, buff old master is one of my favourite tropes. Too much realism will just remind me that it's all downhill from here. |
| "Should battle characters grow weak with age?" Since the whole point of battle shounen is being unrealistic, it makes sense that older and even elderly characters are stronger and tougher. I think it comes from the chinese fantasy genre xianxia - the more they cultivate the stronger they become despite their age and the final phase is immortality. |
alshuJun 20, 1:09 AM
| Depends on the series. If the series involves supernatural abilities and if there's increasing returns in skill from practicing the abilities, then I think it's fair game for a character to just keep getting more powerful over time. That said, cognitive decline means characters should probably eventually become less efficacious in fights. |
| Depends on how anime logic works based on which series the characters are in. Some would get old and week, and some would age like fine wine, maybe not get stronger over time, but be more wise and be more skillful and precise with their actions that would outdo most opponents. I think there is a point to be made that a character's base strength peaks at their prime maybe in their 30's or 40's and slowly fade off, but for characters that could be hundreds of years old, or are in a series with magic, you could see them progressively get stronger to no end in sight, or whose strength is enhanced by magic and training and/or experience from battles. An example I can give off the top of my head is probably High School DxD. The leaders of all the factions are hundreds to thousands of years old, and are considered the strongest beings in the world (excluding gods and deities). Age doesn't affect strength as experience factors into a person's abilities (hence the Rating Games and seen in characters introduced past S4 of the anime). You can train to become stronger (which wasn't really considered by others before Issei got his Sacred Gear), and in Issei's and Vali's case, becoming in tune with their sacred gears and their abilities can greatly affect how strong you can become (spoilers: very fucking strong, enough to go head-to-head with gods). There is no set logic or rules that determine how characters age and how their strength changes over time. It all depends on the author or series creators. |
So I've been banned from MAL-Badges, after spending nearly two years of my time and dedication to helping out, being the club's spokesperson, and planning for the revamp, it all goes down the fucking drain. What a joke the club has become. I advise everyone to stop using the feature and stop showing their support for the site and the club. We were promised that we will see changes come to the site, and nothing's been done for the past year. I doubt the site will be touched for the foreseeable future. If you're angry and annoyed about the lack of development, then good, you should be. |
| Narratively, they should. But authors can keep adding more power ups on top of power ups because they can. |
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Should battle characters grow weak with age? No thanks, I don't want to be reminded of reality during my escape into fiction. |
This dance is the pinnacle of human achievement. |
| Sure :) I mean, I also like the trope of the hidden strength super grandpa martial arts master, but I always find the rare stories of people growing older and actually having to deal with their powers fading way more emotionally resonant. It's for example one of my favourite things about Tiger & Bunny S1, that Kotetsu had to come to terms with the effects of age. That said, 30+ year olds (like Naruto for example) aren't decrepit old men and women, you know? Even irl, that is a common age for world level athletes to still be active, depending on the sport, it's literally still within the range of peak human condition. You'd have to go MANY more decades into the future until you'd get actual natural loss of abilities, and that doesn't even include all the magic that doesn't have to follow the same way that physical might and mental capabilities would go. Though that could be an interesting story in its own right, actually. Running a retirement home for old shounen heroes with dementia who still can throw fire balls and delete planets with a snap of their fingers would be quite the job 🤭 |
| mishima family is still kicking ass today. maybe you have the right to demand them to die off if you've beaten plin plin plon |
| No but they should become smarter and wiser with age. |
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| why apply real life to anime? reality is often disappointing |
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