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Thoughts on the 'villians's sad backstory' trope.

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Sep 21, 2021 3:48 AM
#1

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Sep 2021
213
I don't like it personally. But I just want to know your thoughts on it.

EDIT- I don't like it because sometimes the audience begins considering the villian a good guy just because of backstory. Its annoying asf.
The_Villian_XSep 21, 2021 4:26 AM
Sep 21, 2021 3:52 AM
#2

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Oct 2014
2354
You probably don't like it because you think it's a justification, rather than simply an answer to the question of "Why?". I have no issues with it, and see no reason for there to be a problem either way.

Small critique about your question. The villain trope is of course going to be mostly seen in villains.


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Sep 21, 2021 4:00 AM
#3

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Mar 2019
2085
Lol you edited your comment.

Anyway, personally i like villain's backstory trope. One of reasons i like my favorite character is the tragic backstory.

'Why?' is the most important aspect of villain. Knowing the heart and motive of the villain is something i like seeing most from anime that have villains.


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Sep 21, 2021 4:13 AM
#4

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Oct 2014
2354
nakedapronmember said:
Lol you edited your comment.
Thanks for pointing that out, now my reply doesn't look as weird.


I don't believe in the Devil.
You should. He believes in you.
Sep 21, 2021 4:15 AM
#5

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Mar 2020
3583
I only care about the quality of the execution.

Tanji Washijou has an extremely sad backstory and is easily one of the greatest antagonists of all time. (Haikyuu)

But there’s also someone like Tomura Shigaraki who has a s ad past but I don’t give a shit about him or his past since they’re pretty bad. (MHA)
Sep 21, 2021 4:17 AM
#6

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Mar 2020
3583
The_Villian_X said:
I don't like it personally. But I just want to know your thoughts on it.

Why do you meed to make a fake account for that?
Sep 21, 2021 4:17 AM
#7
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Jul 2018
564533
It depends on the whole context. Sometimes it is misused not only to create sympathy for the character, but also excuse their behavior.
Sep 21, 2021 4:19 AM
#8

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Sep 2021
213
Lunilah said:
You probably don't like it because you think it's a justification, rather than simply an answer to the question of "Why?". I have no issues with it, and see no reason for there to be a problem either way.

Small critique about your question. The villain trope is of course going to be mostly seen in villains.
The real problem is when the audience seriously begins calling them heroes or something just because of a sad backstory. I have seen many weirdos in Naruto fandom who say Pain was right, he was doing the right thing and such shits LOL.
Sep 21, 2021 4:22 AM
#9

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Oct 2014
2354
The_Villian_X said:
Lunilah said:
You probably don't like it because you think it's a justification, rather than simply an answer to the question of "Why?". I have no issues with it, and see no reason for there to be a problem either way.

Small critique about your question. The villain trope is of course going to be mostly seen in villains.
The real problem is when the audience seriously begins calling them heroes or something just because of a sad backstory. I have seen many weirdos in Naruto fandom who say Pain was right, he was doing the right thing and such shits LOL.
It's a case by case basis thing, because a villain could end up just being an antagonist, or an anti-hero type. Or someone who was never actually the villain.


I don't believe in the Devil.
You should. He believes in you.
Sep 21, 2021 4:22 AM
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Mar 2017
178
always help to have a cool backstory. There aren't a lot of good villain without any backstory and usually they compensate for that with charisma which is a very subjective aspect of a character.
Sep 21, 2021 4:23 AM
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Jul 2018
564533
I have no problems with it if they show it in a decent manner
Sep 21, 2021 4:26 AM

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Mar 2021
414
If I didn't like a villain in the first place, it doesn't matter to me even if they show the character's sad past. my opinion of them usually doesn't change.

For example I really liked Yut-Lung from Banana Fish from the start. He was such an interesting character. It didn't matter if he was a villain or not and my love for him didn't change when they showed his past.

But I never liked Akutagawa from Bungou Stray Dogs, he never interested me and when they showed his sad past -He was living in the slums and Dazai treating him bad..- I never felt bad for him, I just couldn’t because he wasn’t a likeable character from the start.
This is Nanba Prison. No one has ever escaped successfully from this prison. -Nanbaka

Sep 21, 2021 4:30 AM

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Feb 2020
5797
When Hody jones from one piece was asked why he is being as*h*le, he told he doesn't have a backstory to tell, he was just being a as*h*lo for the kicks of it. and that was a great answer because I hated him for being stupid. But that was the point of the story. The same thing when hiro from inuyashiki did, I hate the anime instead of character because they were trying to be compassionate about it.

Moral of the story is I love back stories, I want to know why they are doing the shit they are doing. So I can understand them to some level.
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Sep 21, 2021 4:35 AM
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Jan 2020
24
I think It can be cool when done right, and an ass pull when done wrong. It can be annoying if every villain in the show has this but if not it can be cool as it will stand out to you. I see this as an easy way for the writer to make the villain lovable
Sep 21, 2021 4:36 AM

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Feb 2020
1642
i like it actually, but it sure depents on the writing and what this villain did before.


i also think it's not always the intention to consider the villian as good guy immediately, i think it's more about empathy and understanding his motives and why he did what he did.
Sep 21, 2021 4:45 AM
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Jul 2018
564533
Villains gotta have some reason to be one. In shonen, the good guys mostly have sad backstories too, this leads to dialogue such as:

"I had a bad past"
"Me too, but I didn't try to destroy the world because I found my precious nakama!"
"Friendship is a lie! Everything must burn aaaaaa!!"
Sep 21, 2021 5:09 AM
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Nov 2020
188
Well , it better than having a bland non-character villian who only does evil things cause he's evil
Sep 21, 2021 2:33 PM
Kii_Ibarra

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Dec 2020
2433
One of my favorite tropes. I like villains who feel like real people rather than "mustache-twirling Saturday morning cartoon villain"-types (although I do quite like those when pulled off well, too)
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Sep 21, 2021 3:30 PM

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Aug 2019
5516
sometimes villain backstories are really stupid, for example the newest episode of Battle Game in 5 Seconds showed the backstory for the antagonists in the show and frankly I was laughing at how minuscule it was compared to the things the antagonists are currently doing; I think a lot of the time writers try to use this trope to make viewers sympathize with the villain in question but I never was the type of person to believe that just because you had a shitty upbringing you should use that hatred on others especially when it’s against innocent people, but that’s a whole other topic

but regardless of all of that I think it’s worth while for an anime to have a backstory for a villain to at least see why they ended up this way
snowykevinSep 21, 2021 3:35 PM
Sep 21, 2021 3:33 PM
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Mar 2021
1424
I don't like it when it's used as a crutch, or a way to absolve the villain of guilt. It should be an explanation, not an excuse, and if it makes the character too much of a victim, it can make them feel like a victim of circumstance, like anyone in that situation would break and go bad, when that's not true. Some people break under tragedy and some endure. and some people, in great, positive family environments, become the worst assholes you've ever seen.
Sep 21, 2021 8:56 PM

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Jan 2021
483
I'm fed up with it while watching Demon Slayer. Fucking redundant.
Sep 21, 2021 9:06 PM

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Jan 2020
66666
It can work if it's a compelling flashback or works with with the narrative. Though if mishandled, it can come off as cringe or unimpactful in my opinion



Sep 21, 2021 9:14 PM
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Jan 2021
400
I like it most of the time cause it shows us how they became a bad guy, I don't care if it's to redeem them or not but HOLY SHIT is demon slayer annoying with it. Demon boutta die? Roll in the oh so sad backstory, like bro Idc about a villain whom I didn't even know of 2 minutes ago just kill them
Sep 21, 2021 9:14 PM

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Jan 2021
336
Almost every anime does this sh*t. Personally I don't mind a villains backstory but Tbh it pisses me off seeing Villainous Carecter losing their edge just because the anime/manga tried justifying their ideology.
Sep 21, 2021 9:16 PM

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Feb 2010
11935
villian having a backstory makes them more believable then "because i'm evil."

evil' is just a word. Under the skin, it's simple pain.


"among monsters and humans, there are only two types.
Those who undergo suffering and spread it to others. And those who undergo suffering and avoid giving it to others." -Alice
“Beauty is no quality in things themselves: It exists merely in the mind which contemplates them; and each mind perceives a different beauty.” David Hume
“Evil is created when someone gives up on someone else. It appears when everyone gives up on someone as a lost cause and removes their path to salvation. Once they are cut off from everyone else, they become evil.” -Othinus

Sep 21, 2021 11:46 PM
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Mar 2021
1424
hazarddex said:
villian having a backstory makes them more believable then "because i'm evil."

evil' is just a word. Under the skin, it's simple pain.




sure, but "trauma leads people to do evil" is ultimately kinda a messed up message, which is accidentally communicated by having every other villain have a tragic backstory. in the real world, the origin story of a bad person is often just "my dad did this job, I had nothing better to do, it pays well". Backstory is all well and good, but it shouldn't be used to excuse or mitigate crimes, or even be the sole cause of villainy.

one doesn't simply try to destroy the world because of a shitty childhood.
Sep 22, 2021 1:57 AM

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Feb 2020
1286
I can either love it or hate it. The problem with this kind of backstory is that I very often have the feeling that the show is trying to justify the villain's actions with that, or to make me accept a rushed redemption. Another thing is that it is just as often some lazy attempt to give the villain an origin story, because it is a fact that triggering the viewers' empathy is often enough for them to accept anything.

Now as I said, I can also love this trope when it's well done. If the backstory isn't lazy and is actually used to provide the character real depth, and if it doesn't try to justify their actions but simply give believable explanations to why they did what they did, then it can be great. I also have no problem with these backstory portraying these characters as good people on the inside if the execution is great, actually if done correctly that's one of my favorite tropes because it can make the character all the more complex and interesting and provide much more depth to the conflict than simply "good vs bad". But for that the backstory really has to be used to explain the character, not to justify everything or to trigger empathy without any depth behind that.

Overall I'd say that this trope isn't a bad one at all in itself and it being very common makes sense, after all most of the time (even if there are a lot of exceptions) a villain having a messed up story is a given, or else why would they have such a twisted view of the world ? But just like for any trope, the problem resides not in the trope itself, but in the execution.
Sep 22, 2021 2:04 AM

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Jun 2015
5754
depends on how well its executed, the villain can turn into a hero.

backstories that turn villains into heros: griffith, askeladd
well, its not a back story, its the entire plot of 3 movies that turn griffith into a villain for what the last ten minutes of the 3rd film? askeladd isnt that villainous to begin with.

its more the the trope : hero of another story.

backstories that dont make the char likeable: shigaraki tomura

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