Niijima from Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple

This is probably more about mixing genres, but I’m not sure exactly how to explain this story strategy.  Seems to be primarily comedy because it comes with a sense of oddness that you can’t really ignore.  So, I’m going to explain the character who got me thinking about this topic.

Haruo Niijima is from the manga/anime called ‘Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple’.  The story is about Kenichi being trained by 6 powerful martial artists to become stronger after a lifetime of being seen as week.  So, it’s a mystical martial arts story.  Niijima is his best friend and tormentor who is always up to mischief.  He wants to use Kenichi’s actions to push his own agenda of global domination.  Just like any best friend should do when you’re being threatened by bullies and gangs every day.  Niijima is really smart and cunning as well as being able to blend into the scenery, sense stuff, and . . . He looks really odd for a martial arts story, right?

Niijima is apparently an alien/demon hybrid set on conquering Earth.

Now, there is a lot of mystical abilities done in a martial arts style and people have superhuman physical abilities.  Yet, this one guy being an alien/demon and showing some actual powers is shocking.  He should be in a science fiction or magical ‘slice of life’ story instead of a martial arts action one.  Sure, he pushes the plot along and his origins don’t take the spotlight at all.  I didn’t even know him being an alien wasn’t a joke until I read about the manga stuff that occurred after the anime ended.  This makes Niijima stand out even more.  Reminds me of a video game called ‘Chrono Trigger’ where you have a robot join your party of medieval and prehistoric characters.  That still makes more sense since time travel is a key component of that plot.

The weirdest thing is that the ridiculous of Niijima doesn’t hurt the story.  It doesn’t amplify it either.  Yes, thinking too hard about his presence makes you realize he’s kind of in the wrong genre.  But you need to ignore everything he is saying and doing in order to reach that conclusion.  Take away his alien/demon stuff and he still plays the same role even though the few powers he demonstrates can’t be used when needed. Niijima is still the annoying, arrogant, boundary-breaking, underhanded, charismatic sneak of a best friend.  This ends up being why so many fans seem to like him too.  The origins are just window-dressing quirks.

I think that’s the why a genre jumper ends up in comedies and the only time when it works well.  They stand out because they’re in the wrong world, but nobody really seems to care about that.  Other characters note it, but they’re still an accepted entity that belongs to that setting.  More importantly, this uniqueness isn’t played to the point where it overshadows the plot and protagonist.  I’ve seen that a common thing is to have the audience wonder why nobody else acknowledges or notices the different character.  It’s even done where the art style changes when it’s a visual medium.  That’s because the difference isn’t added to distract, but to pull you into the setting.  Come for the strange alien/demon with a serpent tongue and stay for the martial arts action.

This is a gamble too.  You will always have purists that don’t want to see any other genre even near their preferred ones.  This happens with comedies too even though the mix up is part of the joke.  An author simply has to hope that they do things well enough that they entertain everyone who isn’t stuck in their ways.  I would think making things mild and not having it take all of the attention away from the main story can help you get there.  At the very least, it gives people a defense in that the majority of what you have written fits within the primary genre.

So, what do you think of out of place characters like this?  Have you ever attempted it?