The Five Character Theory of Anime
Jul. 29th, 2003 01:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
camwynMany years ago, when I played Dave "Speaks-Like-Microsoft" Grishin as a Glass Walker Ragabash at Metro: Toronto by Night, Dave was offered the chance to join a hengeyokai pack (sentai, whatever). Dave looked around at the others - a kitsune sorceror, a Bastet lady with wicked claws, a were-ferret* thief - and asked, "Where's the other one?"
"Excuse me?"
"The other one. We need five."
Dave rose in the kitsune's eyes after that statement, because the kitsune assumed Dave knew the positions of a sentai and the wisdom of having one of each position. This was not the case, but Dave had the sense to hold his tongue.
No, Dave was operating from the point of view of the Five Character Theory of Anime, which states:
"A successful long-running group of anime characters must consist of no less than five core characters, and those five characters must include:
The Hero,
The Brain,
The Big Guy,
The Other Guy, and
The Chick.
Other characters may be included - the Ancient Mentor, the Wizard, the Spooky One, and the Kid being the best candidates - but the core needs to have those five."
I got the Five Character Theory of Anime from GarouMUSH long ago, and while it's needed some tweaking off and on it does seem to make a lot of sense when you see what's out there. I tried applying it to the original cast of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers and I think it works okay there as long as you assume that either the Yellow Ranger or the Black Ranger was the Big Guy, so there you are.
Today we had a staff meeting and I passed the time, as I usually do, scribbling pictures too small to have much detail on a piece of scrap paper. This time it was the League characters from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cadhla's game. I looked at them after a bit and then started labeling.
Tom Swift - Brain
Hugo Danner - Big Guy
Dorothy Gale - Kid
Mary Poppins - Chick
Wasn't sure whether Sgt. Preston or the Shadow should be the Hero, since the other one would be stuck as the Other Guy. The alternative would be to declare Mary the Hero, Dorothy the Chick, Preston the Other Guy, and the Shadow the Spooky One.
Just a thought.
*Long story short - some staffers like to use their position as staffer to play Caine the Almighty, and some would rather play were-ferrets
"Excuse me?"
"The other one. We need five."
Dave rose in the kitsune's eyes after that statement, because the kitsune assumed Dave knew the positions of a sentai and the wisdom of having one of each position. This was not the case, but Dave had the sense to hold his tongue.
No, Dave was operating from the point of view of the Five Character Theory of Anime, which states:
"A successful long-running group of anime characters must consist of no less than five core characters, and those five characters must include:
The Hero,
The Brain,
The Big Guy,
The Other Guy, and
The Chick.
Other characters may be included - the Ancient Mentor, the Wizard, the Spooky One, and the Kid being the best candidates - but the core needs to have those five."
I got the Five Character Theory of Anime from GarouMUSH long ago, and while it's needed some tweaking off and on it does seem to make a lot of sense when you see what's out there. I tried applying it to the original cast of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers and I think it works okay there as long as you assume that either the Yellow Ranger or the Black Ranger was the Big Guy, so there you are.
Today we had a staff meeting and I passed the time, as I usually do, scribbling pictures too small to have much detail on a piece of scrap paper. This time it was the League characters from
cadhla's game. I looked at them after a bit and then started labeling.Tom Swift - Brain
Hugo Danner - Big Guy
Dorothy Gale - Kid
Mary Poppins - Chick
Wasn't sure whether Sgt. Preston or the Shadow should be the Hero, since the other one would be stuck as the Other Guy. The alternative would be to declare Mary the Hero, Dorothy the Chick, Preston the Other Guy, and the Shadow the Spooky One.
Just a thought.
*Long story short - some staffers like to use their position as staffer to play Caine the Almighty, and some would rather play were-ferrets
