| In other words, are there characters whose backstory, trauma and/or development really made you feel "yeah, all these behaviors are logical", and felt real in that way? A few examples :
Please use spoiler code if needed! |
 罪に罪を重ねるだけだよ if you erase sin with a sin, you just add to your sins . |
| well Shinji of Evangelion is clearly having social anxiety and the hedgehog dilemma that says the closer people get, the deeper they hurt each other really makes sense for mentally sick people (like me) |
| Definitely agree with the Monogatari series and Evangelion but I'd also say a good example of backstories making sense would be the Fate series and specifically Fate/Zero and Kiritsugu becoming who we see in the show |
| characters like All Might (My Hero Academia) and Jiren (Dragonball Super) are embodiment of the saying "might makes right" same in the real world that USA is the world police right now because of their military might or in everyday life those who have authority like your boss usually are right and you cannot question them easily |
degJun 24, 2019 6:45 AM
| I agree with Eva and Monogatari. I would like to point out also Phos from Houseki no Kuni. He tries the most to be liked by others to the point he hurts and changes himself.He easily feels guilty about everything he makes and tries in everyway to remedy to his own mistakes |
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| This seems like a weird thread to me, essentially asking what stories had character development that wasn't bad like a recommend me stuff thread. It doesn't have to be logical for ourselves in the sense if we were in the characters shoes, it just has to be believable for the character. This is true for all genres, good or bad character development is all that is and if something breaks your suspension of disbelief then it definitely wont sit right with you, basic storytelling. |
 I don't believe in the Devil. You should. He believes in you. |
| I thought Amuro (Kidô senshi Gundam) made perfect sense in his youth and got a very interesting progression beyond. As interesting was the man facing him, Char, but this one often failed to make sense to me (although his repeated mental turnarounds looked human in a bad way). |
Lunilah said: This seems like a weird thread to me, essentially asking what stories had character development that wasn't bad like a recommend me stuff thread. I was a big vague, I'm sorry for that! The reason is I'm interested in reading subjective experiences. Lunilah said: It doesn't have to be logical for ourselves in the sense if we were in the characters shoes, it just has to be believable for the character. This is true for all genres, good or bad character development is all that is and if something breaks your suspension of disbelief then it definitely wont sit right with you, basic storytelling. /thread hahaha I'd be interested knowing which characters impressed you the most, character development / storytelling wise. Your posts are always rich in details, and I'm hungry for them! |
| 罪に罪を重ねるだけだよ if you erase sin with a sin, you just add to your sins . |
| Characters like Gon from Hunter X Hunter. It shows how a child will always be a child and never be able to accept a harsh reality. |
JakkunJun 24, 2019 9:28 PM
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| The way you phrased it with Violet Evergarden... Couldn't say it better Everything you said + Makishima Shougo, even though his backstory is never depicted clearly, the world is such an important and developed point in Psycho-Pass' story that Makishima's character makes perfect sense. Emiya Kiritsugu, no spoilers. Erwin Smith, no spoilers. |
  『 The truth has power because it’s the truth. And because it is the truth, that makes it just. It’s persuasive, isn’t it? Don’t you want truth like that? 』 |
ugnDVNC said: Psychological anime are pretty out of my depth in terms of explaining characters deeply (in general too) as they're rooted in philosophy with the narrative extremely character driven, calling those characters complex is a blanket term i use when describing them and go from there. Lunilah said: It doesn't have to be logical for ourselves in the sense if we were in the characters shoes, it just has to be believable for the character. This is true for all genres, good or bad character development is all that is and if something breaks your suspension of disbelief then it definitely wont sit right with you, basic storytelling. /thread hahaha I'd be interested knowing which characters impressed you the most, character development / storytelling wise. Your posts are always rich in details, and I'm hungry for them! For a protagonist it's definitely Motoko Kusanagi (The Major in Ghost in the Shell) and Kiritsugu Emiya (Fate/Zero), and for antagonists i just have one Shougo Makishima (Psycho-Pass). All of these characters are so incredibly rich with detail and exist so palpably outside of their own narratives, Fate/Zero is one you need to finish, but for Psycho-Pass that you're currently watching i hope you keep a close eye on as you can already tell it's very dense philosophically even if it's explaining everything for you it's very accessible. GITS on the other hand not so accessible, particularly GITS:SAC is top of the food chain for me in both a deep protagonist and even deeper narrative. It's influence as a whole on the sci-fi and military/police genres is undeniable and you'll see it plain as day in Psycho-Pass after watching GITS. It really beats your head up and isn't so merciful to the viewer in the best possible way, i'm very much against hand holding. Motoko is my favorite character in anime. Surprised Death Note hasn't been mentioned, perhaps because it's so popular, but it's not without reason. It's an insane roller coaster only because of how good the writing of the characters are, it's so easily able to put you exactly into the characters and feel everything they do as they really just take you on a seemingly endless ride. It's a clear definition of how a thriller is supposed to do it's job. |
I don't believe in the Devil. You should. He believes in you. |
| I think generally characters have some sort of justification for their backstory; it's not really just a "psychological" anime thing. And I never really thought about this separately, but I think characters with well-defined explanations for what they do are actually pretty common, it's just that some shows go into it in more detail than others. And basically any show that gives a rich backstory for characters can do this. The Nanoha series for example is great at this, in how it very often humanizes the antagonists. That said, very often it's less about "character has these motivations so it's logical that they do these actions", and more often it's actually "character does these actions, how can we understand why they did them?". ugnDVNC said: I think thinking in tropes doesn't jive with thinking about character psychology because a psychological assessment interprets a character as a real person, while seeing tropes means interpreting characters as devices of storytelling. Not saying that either is bad, but rather, that to do the former, it doesn't make sense to think in tropes.Evangelion and Monogatari - most characters in these two try to answer this : what trauma would justify this character's trope ? (like tsundere for Asuka and Senjougahara, etc) ? Anyhow, I haven't watched *monogatari, but I definitely feel that Asuka and Shinji are very well-characterized. ugnDVNC said: I personally felt that MadoMagi was filled with examples of people doing strange things that either made little sense or felt very cheaply justified, YMMV I guess.Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica - no spoilers Jakkun said: Did you...paste your recently watched pic into the main body of your post rather than in your sig?Characters like Gon from Hunter X Hunter. It shows how a child will always be a child and never be able to accept a harsh reality.  |
GlennMagusHarveyJun 24, 2019 10:02 AM
| Avatar character is Gabriel from Gabriel DropOut. |
| I agree with Evangelion and Monogatari. Others I like in this regard are: Welcome to the NHK, which deals with psychological problems very well. As someone who isn't a stranger to those myself I did connect with the characters and praised myself lucky I didn't fall that deep. Hibike! Euphonium, a charming character drama disguised as a music anime. It's been a while since I watched it though so I don't remember the reasons very well. |
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| Magata, Shiki from Subete ga F ni Naru is the most psychologically realistic and logical character. An ethical person that follow their desire to the end. |
| @GlennMagusHarvey Backstory can't and shouldn't justify or excuse a character's actions, but it can explain and help understand them. Sagara's lack of social skills in Full Metal Panic reflect the fact he didn't have a normal childhood. At the beginning he doesn't care about that, and most of the problems caused by it are to him nothing more than a midly inconvenience. But gradually he starts to fall in love with Kaname, and that life starts to matter to him more, till the point he doesn't like the idea of being separated from her. Despite this, because all the years he trained, he still can act rather cold. I think most people could compare this character with Violet Evergarden, and the things they got in common. Also, despite I'm the first person to recognize the meme "Griffith did nothing wrong" is one of the worst memes that ever existed because of everything wrong with it, Griffith actions during the eclipse make sense once you start thinking about his motivation and situation. Understable, but still reprehensible. |
 |
| @GlennMagusHarvey Backstory can't and shouldn't justify or excuse a character's actions, but it can explain and help understand them. Sagara's lack of social skills in Full Metal Panic reflect the fact he didn't have a normal childhood. At the beginning he doesn't care about that, and most of the problems caused by it are to him nothing more than a midly inconvenience. But gradually he starts to fall in love with Kaname, and that life starts to matter to him more, till the point he doesn't like the idea of being separated from her. Despite this, because all the years he trained, he still can act rather cold. I think most people could compare this character with Violet Evergarden, and the things they got in common. Also, despite I'm the first person to recognize the meme "Griffith did nothing wrong" is one of the worst memes that ever existed because of everything wrong with it, Griffith actions during the eclipse make sense once you start thinking about his motivation and situation. Understable, but still reprehensible. |
|
| Dante's philosophy from Fullmetal Alchemist. It is scary how everything she said made sense to some degree. |
| 1.Squealer (Shinsekai yori) He was treated horribly (but was destined for greatness). 2.Matsuzaka Satou (Happy Sugar life) With an Aunt like that, it could have been worse. 3.Elias Ainsworth (Mahou Tsukai no Yome) I would sacrifice anyone to save or protect the one I love. 4.Gitsune Hagoromo (Nurarihyon no mago) She wanted to give birth and was asked to, before being killed and she became evil. Are the ones I can think of. |
 |
GlennMagusHarvey said: I think generally characters have some sort of justification for their backstory; it's not really just a "psychological" anime thing. And I never really thought about this separately, but I think characters with well-defined explanations for what they do are actually pretty common, it's just that some shows go into it in more detail than others. And basically any show that gives a rich backstory for characters can do this. The Nanoha series for example is great at this, in how it very often humanizes the antagonists. That said, very often it's less about "character has these motivations so it's logical that they do these actions", and more often it's actually "character does these actions, how can we understand why they did them?". ugnDVNC said: I think thinking in tropes doesn't jive with thinking about character psychology because a psychological assessment interprets a character as a real person, while seeing tropes means interpreting characters as devices of storytelling. Not saying that either is bad, but rather, that to do the former, it doesn't make sense to think in tropes.Evangelion and Monogatari - most characters in these two try to answer this : what trauma would justify this character's trope ? (like tsundere for Asuka and Senjougahara, etc) ? Anyhow, I haven't watched *monogatari, but I definitely feel that Asuka and Shinji are very well-characterized. ugnDVNC said: I personally felt that MadoMagi was filled with examples of people doing strange things that either made little sense or felt very cheaply justified, YMMV I guess.Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica - no spoilers Jakkun said: Did you...paste your recently watched pic into the main body of your post rather than in your sig?Characters like Gon from Hunter X Hunter. It shows how a child will always be a child and never be able to accept a harsh reality. Ahh i didn't realize i can put it there instead. Thanks for telling me. |
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| People name dropping Kiritsugu in this thread while ignoring the amazing (although the various anime feels like it didn't hit the mark so I really cant blame you) psychology of Shirou is something I can't ignore. The visual novel really did so much to delve into his psyche inside out in three routes. Like. DAMN. |
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