Today I rant.
For way to long (~6 min.) about a character that way to many people like
If the anime industry were a living, breathing person, she would likely be diagnosed with cancer. This cancer has a name; Pandering, Faceless Protagonists. Oh yeah, you’ve seen these guys around; anti-social drama queens like Kirito and Ouma Shu; bland bleeding-hearts like Tatsumi (Akame ga Kill); overpowered pretty-boys like Ayato; and, more recently, folks like Ikta Solork, the invincible, lazy pillock. These characters, and the shows they inhabit, are like Swiss cheese; they look good at first, but they’re full of holes, and if you keep them around too long they’ll stink to high heaven.
These “your-face-here” protagonists shamelessly pander to their audience by fulfilling their fantasies; often surrounded by drama, veritably drowning in women, and eventually showered with the praises and victory the audience believes they deserve. Except for Tatsumi. Tatsumi dies. Tatsumi doesn’t get a happy ending. No I’m not mad, why do you ask? Baka!
Don’t be fooled though; these characters are superficially attractive, designed to sucker in poor scrubs who don’t know better. They are, in the opinion of some, a proverbial sickness within the medium of anime. And guess what;
that cancer just hit stage four.
Alderamin on the Sky doesn’t deserve much praise, and the root if it’s many problems is none other than our resident lazy sod. Meet Ikta Solork, a character so bankrupt he makes studio Manglobe look rich. (sorry Manglobe) Ikta is a pathetic waste of hard-working animators’ precious time. Perhaps the worst protagonist I’ve seen this year, his character is full of contradictions and bad attributes that made the show an actual burden to watch.
Here’s where things get complicated.
It is indescribably frustrating and difficult to explain WHY a character like this is objectively terrible. The two biggest reasons for this are that enjoyment of a show and its characters is largely subjective, and can’t accurately be judged by one man’s standard. Although this holds true to a degree, it has become the rallying cry of people who’ve run out of sound arguments to defend their favorite shows and characters. The phrase “That’s just your OPINION!” has become a mantra for these guys; a convenient cop-out that you’ll hear everywhere on social media. Secondly is that, historically, the kind of people who admire an MC like Ikta are mainly lazy Otakus. People who would like nothing more than to have their lazy way of life affirmed. And Ikta Solork does exactly that.
You don’t need to take MY word for it; lets let the story speak for itself.
I wasn’t Joking about all those contradictions, and since they’re far less subjective we’ll start there.
How about we begin by addressing the elephant in the room; the blatant disconnect between Ikta’s worldview and his skill set.
From the get-go, Ikta is portrayed as a rather carefree, lazy person. Seriously, the dude worships hammocks; in the PV, he’s in a hammock; the first time we meet him on screen, he’s in a hammock; his group is trapped behind enemy lines and what does the magnificent bastard do? He builds a hammock. And while I did get a laugh out of his apparent hammock fetish, the point couldn’t be more clear; Ikta Solork is lazy.
Despite this, by the end of the first few episodes, Ikta displays an inexplicable amount of tactical proficiency and knowledge of military strategy. Additionally, as if the ‘chessboard’ scene in the OP wasn’t enough, they paint him as a brilliant strategist, able to call the shots of a chess game he isn’t even watching. Brief rabbit trail, but using chess as an analogy or metaphor for someones genius is a trite and broken trope in and of itself; it’s an easy go-to when you want to make a strategist look cooler, and Alderamin seems to use it just to check a box on the ‘main character checklist’.
On that note, lets get into the finer details. The gist of this contradiction is that it is highly unlikely, bordering on impossible, that anyone with Ikta’s worldview (lazy, arrogant attitude, disregard for authority, dislike of the military, general selfishness) would be able to, or would even want to, achieve a high level of knowledge and competence in military strategy. In short, I’m calling BS on his strategic genius, and here’s why; Achieving such a high level of skill in something as complicated as military strategy would require a lot of diligent study and practice; It would require years of hard work, something Ikta Solork actively avoids. Also, we learn as early as episode one that Ikta Solork doesn’t like the military, and he states on a couple occasions that he wants nothing to do with them. This flies right in the face of his abilities; WHY, when he’s that lazy, would Ikta devote so much of his time and energy to master the art of war, especially when he hates the military? It doesn’t make sense! Consider this; Ikta, for better or worse, is a real smooth talker, and apparently has the skill (or connections) to forge a new identity. Why then, if he’s that good, would he not choose an easy place, far from war and full of women, to live his lazy life, since that’s what he clearly desires? It just doesn’t add up!
“OBJECTION!” a fanboy squeals, dropping his pizza to hammer on his greasy keyboard,
“Ikta’s father was a general! His dad must have taught him all he knew! He only hates the military now because they put his father in prison!”
………………………………Okay, I guess this was inevitable.
Trite and lazy as this explanation is, it’s the best, and most logical response I’ve been able to find, but its still wrong. Here’s why; If you visit any high school, and even places like my college, you’ll find people who don’t want to be there; they take a seat in the back, clearly indifferent to whatever they could be learning. Many of them are actually decent people, but they’re lazy. They’re there because they have to be, or don’t have anything better to do. Just because you lead the horse to water doesn’t mean he’ll drink. I bring this up because Ikta is in a similar spot. In all honesty, I think it’s perfectly reasonable to assume his father’s imprisonment, and later death, sparked Ikta’s hate for the military. However, this doesn’t change the fact that Ikta Solork is, and was, a lazy, arrogant turd. It is unlikely that his father, as a general, would take his family with him on deployment (especially in that world/time period) and even more unlikely that he would have the time or patience to instruct a young Ikta in the ways of war. But even if you did try to burn some smarts into little Ikky’s brainpan, you can’t make him care; He just doesn’t have to, and I’d put money on the fact that he wouldn’t. Why? Well, they say like father, like son; his father, as mentioned before, died in prison. We learn in episode two that Ikta’s old man didn’t respect authority either, after disobeying orders one too many times, he had his command revoked and got thrown in the joint.
Yes, Ikta Solork had a fine role model indeed.
But even if Ikta did, for some reason, want to be a soldier as a kid, it strains credulity to think he could learn all that before his father’s humiliation and, we assume, his corresponding change of heart toward military affairs.
None of it adds up. Nothing. Zilch. Nada.
Oh look! The fanboy returns! Actually, this next objection came from a friend of mine who, in case you’re wondering, lives in his mum’s basement, and has probably forgotten more about hentai than you and I will ever know.
Listen to this,
“Well… Maybe he (Ikta) is just naturally talented, y’know? Some people take naturally to things. maybe he’s just good at it.”
……………………………………………………………… Story time: As I’m writing this, the Olympics are happening in Rio, and Michael Phelps is out there doing what he does best; swimming. I don’t doubt that Phelps took quite naturally to swimming, but talent alone didn’t win him Olympic gold.
I don’t need to explain this to you.
Folks, if you think people like Ikta Solork are “going places”, or that laziness breeds success, life is gonna give you a hardy bitch-slap one day. “Maybe he doesn’t have to try, maybe he’s just that good at it.” This argument is morbidly depressing, and I have only one thing to say for it: You wish.
But they do. And Ikta Solork turns right around and says “wish granted”.
The contradictions don’t end there.
Ikta is lazy, but he mastered advanced skills.
He’s selfish, but he jumps into the ocean in a storm to save a girl he doesn’t know.
He doesn’t think much of others, but gets sentimental when they bury a fallen enemy.
He threatens the princess’ life for badmouthing his mum, but has no reservations about having sex with his squad sergeant’s mother. Seriously. If the dude's that protective of HIS mum, could he really do that to someone else without flinching? Thats a fucked up (and inconsistent) set of ethics.
And on that subject, what about a few old ‘rules’ of storytelling? ‘Cause he screws them too, right up main street and not gently. It’s hilarious; the handwriting is on the wall in bold print by the end of episode one when the narrator drops the line “He will come to be known as the invincible, lazy general”. This statement renders all emotional stakes null and void. After all, why should we worry, let alone care about a character that can’t lose when his military exploits are the focus of the show? It’s a foregone conclusion that he’ll become a general, and when he does he’ll be the same old lazy bum he’s always been. Where are the stakes? This declaration of Ikta’s impending success tells us that Ikta is never going to change or develop as a character, he’s never going to lose, and he’ll never be required to exert any visible effort to achieve his goals. I’m baffled that they thought this was a good idea, but I can still see why; you see, Ikta Solork is first, and foremost, a product, carefully designed to sell to his audience. Despite Ikta’s obvious problems, his character is tailored in a way that makes its easy to rationalize absolutely everything about him, including his unrealistic skills. Its absurd; it makes me want to laugh and vomit blood at the same time. Even now I can hear the voice of that old fish dude from Star Wars in the back of my head saying “It’s a trap”.
In the end, Ikta Solork is just a fictional person, and this aint the inquisition. Is he a bad character? Yes. Did I go a bit overboard? Yes, and for that I apologize. I like to keep things light, but after Alderamin I forgot how to smile. Guess I’ll be re-watching Konosuba again.
There. I’m done.
Contrary to popular belief, I actually care what you have to say, so if you liked this, or think I missed anything important, let me know, I’d be glad to hear it.
Anyway, thanks for reading.
---The Peasant
