Master Roshi (Dragonball); Meliodas (Seven Deadly Sins); Jiraiya (Naruto); Sanji (One Piece)
This is a topic that I’ve been tempted to do for a long time, but I was never sure how it would go over. Wednesday’s ‘7 Tips’ post is probably going to be worse. Yet, I’ve been wondering a lot about this archetype after finishing ‘Naruto’, continuing ‘One Piece’, starting ‘Inuyasha’, and talking about ‘Dragonball’. You’ll notice that all of these are animes and mangas. To be honest, I can’t think of an American show or movie with a perverted character who isn’t a villain. So, why is that?
Much of it has to do with cultural taboos. I think. Here’s the problem. I tried to look all of this up and found essay after essay on the topic. Half of them explained that Japanese culture is more open to nakedness and male desire (not female desire), so this is an acceptable character. Meanwhile, America has been heavily influenced from the beginning by Christianity, which demonizes nakedness and sex. So, we would put perverts down as villains while the Japanese have them more as comical heroes. Still, I couldn’t quite get a full understanding because the Internet is filled with articles by Americans complaining about the perverted characters. There was a feeling that our cultural sensibilities and standards were being used in place of the one where the stories were created. This makes it a difficult opinion to go by because it only shows one side. In the end, I think it does come down to one culture being more open to these types of characters while the other doesn’t like them. (I’m pretty sure many people who read my blog are already rushing to the comments in order to voice their complaint about the archetype.)
Now, this seems to be only male characters, but I’ve heard that there is a trend of female perverts starting up. I’ll touch on this a bit more on Friday. As far as scope, these characters tend to be shameless womanizers who peep and hit on for the most part. An exception in the picture above is Meliodas who gropes one of the female leads. (This is one reason I prefer Ban who is a gentleman.) Still, there is typically a punishment for their actions too. This is done for comedic effect because the result is always violent. A slap that sends them skyward, a punch that puts them in the hospital, nosebleeds, heavy objects being smashed on top of them, or something else that befalls the pervert. Weirdest thing is they will shift right back to a stable character and this ‘quirk’ is put on the back burner until more comedy is needed.
There are some accidental perverts too. Keitaro from ‘Love Hina’ tends to blunder into situations where he sees one of the female characters naked. Then he’s punched and sent into the stratosphere. Not sure where this falls into the category. Unlike Meliodas, he doesn’t do these things on purpose. In fact, there are many degrees here. Sanji (One Piece) mostly hits on female characters by praising their beauty, which is different than Miroku (Inuyasha) asking for women to bare his children. There is a plot reason for him doing that in case you were wondering and I just realized that he gropes too. Going further we have Jiraiya of ‘Naruto’ actively peeping on bathing women. Then you have the gropers like Meliodas and going further we have. . . Well, ‘Neon Genesis Evangelion’ is on Netflix now. Anyone who has seen the whole series probably knows what I’m talking about. My point is that this character type does seem to have levels, but all of them boil down to ‘pervert’.
In the end, this is something that I don’t think would go over well in an American story. It might get some laughs in a sitcom, but you’d have many complaints about the character’s actions. The classic womanizer is one thing, but peeping toms and gropers, regardless of the punishments, are crossing a line for many people. At least in this country because much of it depends on what is acceptable in one’s society. As I said, I saw many articles condemning these characters while others talked about how well-rounded they are since the perverted behavior is a single part. For example, Jirayai is a peeping tom, but he is a powerful ninja and a wise mentor to Naruto. Could he be those things without the pervert aspect? Yes, but that isn’t how he was made and the perverted old mentor does seem to be a thing at times. They fall under the ‘dirty old man’ label.
Well, I’ve opened Pandora’s Box here. I’m sure anyone who hasn’t watched anime or read manga will have a little trouble here. Perhaps these characters are the reason you never got into them. I have read plenty of series where there isn’t a pervert like ‘Fullmetal Alchemist’, ‘Black Cat’, ‘Cowboy Bebop’, and many others. Just seems this is a fairly common archetype. Let’s just try and stay civil in the comments, especially if I try to play Devil’s Advocate.
Miroku getting the usual reaction from Sango
By the way, I really don’t know if I’m going to ever write a character like this. I tried a little with Fritz Warrenberg in Beginning of a Hero, but he really was more of a dirty flirt than anything like I’ve talked about here.
From Final Fantasy
So, I’m going to do the Dawn Fang interviews, but I’m putting them in groups. People will get to vote on the combos. There will be some repetition in names since they don’t always match up perfectly. I will give thoroughly explanations with the post and people can vote multiple times. Here’s the poll:
That’s Monday, so here is Wednesday. People really enjoyed voting for Windemere Monsters, so I’m going to do it again. This time with the ones that didn’t make the cut in 2017. Here’s the poll and you can vote for multiple monsters:
(One of the big songs of the summer.)
The big event is that I went back to my Teaching Assistant job on Tuesday and got a taste of what the future holds. I’m working in what is called the Life Skills program, which is a lot of fun. Now, I can’t go into what the students are like because that’s confidential, but I do think this program is amazing. Thought so when I helped for one period last year and I’m thrilled to be in it for most of the day. We do cooking, help out around the school, go out into the community down the road, and focus on real world skills. The days are busy, but I end them with a smile because I really like this. It’s making me want to take courses on special education and work towards a masters in that, which I can add a literacy part to as well. Anyway, that’s the big fun of the week.
In other news, I managed to edit War of Nytefall: Eradication and now I need to contact my cover artist. The goal is to release around Christmas time. Probably should work on the blurbs next weekend when my son is with his mom. I’ll go over the outline for the next volume too. I’m still not 100% certain on how this came out even though I did some big rewrites and jumping around near the end of the process. I went back to earlier scenes to make sure the reveals fit better and cleared up some things I remember that no longer made any sense. This is why I prefer to edit in one big run and not have long breaks between days. It isn’t easy since it’s rare that I get a lot of time in a row, but I think this worked out. I’m going to begin writing War of Nytefall: Ravenous once I get the blurbs and outline done too. Need to do a big rework there to remove part of the story or at least move it into more of a secret.
Managed to get back into biking, but I’m inconsistent. Can’t do it in the morning and I don’t always make it home from work in time to bike and shower. I might have to fit it in when I can at night since I’m only using weeknights for blogging and puzzles. Managed to finish all of the November posts and Derailing Bedlam is all scheduled until it ends just before the end of the year. No real idea what to do after that for Thursdays and I make a post about that in December. Oddly enough, I considered being really bad and posting section by section the two books I wrote in high school. Unedited and raw, but it might be funny to show where I started from. Seriously, I designed it when I was 15 and wrote both before I hit college and developed any sense of structure. It could be painful though, so we’ll see.
My son came home from his mom’s on Tuesday night and started 5th grade on Wednesday. There was a lot of panic and fear leading up to the day, but he was brave and got on the bus without a problem. He was whimpering and cuddling up to me before I left for work, which may have been an act to get attention. Seems he was fine as soon as I was gone. He got a few rewards for a good week too. Buying a plush Princess Peach today to go with his other Mario toys and I bought a Lego Slave One (Boba Fett’s ship) for us to put together . . . This may also be a reward for daddy making it to the weekend. I’m his assistance on these projects now, so we’ll see what happens. Both of us just need a relaxing weekend before we tackle our first full weeks of school. I’m already dreading that this school year is going to go by so fast that I’ll miss on getting other things done.
Not much else to report. Tried banana bread for the first time both in tasting and baking it. I . . . Yeah, I got nothing. I have another set of polls going up tomorrow to get the rest of October set up. It’s going to be ‘War of Nytefall’ interview groups and ‘Windemere Monsters’. I’m almost done setting up the ‘Monster Maker Fun’ posts. Life caused a few issue with the nights, but we’re almost back on track.
So, what are the goals?
In Legends of Windemere, people are introduced to the gods and the only law that they are guided by. This is called the Law of Influence and was created by Zaria along with a council of other gods. It states that they cannot get involved in mortal affairs beyond visions, casual chats, and blessing their priesthoods with magic. Crossing the lines that are fairly vague results in being sealed. The length of containment depends on how badly you messed up. For example, a god might be sealed for a month if they slightly redirected a stream to help a farmer. Another might be sealed for a decade if they created several new species after drinking too much. The extreme is causing a big even like a war, which can result in eternal sealing. These punishments haven’t really been dealt out because the perpetrators can state their cases.
This brings up a question as to how powerful the gods and goddesses are. Some have even asked me what the point of them are if they can’t do anything big. I’ve been told that Windemere could operate perfectly without them if they aren’t allowed to get their hands dirty. This isn’t true though. The gods still watch over their spheres and each has a pocket dimension where those who worshiped them go after dying. So, they act like caretakers for the world and spirits in this respect. Priests wouldn’t have holy powers without the gods to bestow blessings, which is a subconscious action on their part. It’s only when they cut a mortal off for an established reason that they are fully aware of this power. Still, this is fairly minor in turns of influence since mortals are asking for the magic and use it as they see fit.
The main reason I added the Law of Influence is because I was seeing how people reacted to these powerful beings in other series. Audiences always ask why something didn’t bring about an easy solution. Gods are a big target for this. I find it a strange argument because you’re basically asking why the story even happened. Sometimes people who could solve a problem simply don’t care enough to take action or are unaware. That doesn’t work with semi-omnipotent deities though. This is why I made the Law of Influence because it explains why they don’t just wipe out threats like Baron Kernaghan and depend on mortal champions. It negates that argument and brings the weight of success entirely on the protagonists.
Still, some people found this silly because such powerful figures imposed a massive restriction on themselves. To understand the reason, one has to know the history, which is mentioned at times. Not the specifics, which will come out later and even be a few future stories. I’ve noted that there have been various disasters that have befallen Windemere and some of these threatened the gods. One of these was self-inflicted because they had been messing with mortals as they saw fit. This continued until a woman seduced the God of Innocence and used him to get her hands on the Staff of Solar the First God. She used this artifact to cast several gods out of their homes, transform others into monsters, and enslave the rest. It was only Zaria and her friends, one of which would become Baron Kernaghan, who saved the gods. It was revealed that Windemere would unravel if they weren’t put back in place too. She ascended to become the Goddess of Purity and created the Law of Influence to make sure mortals weren’t pushed to the point of attacking the gods again.
Does this make the gods less powerful? No, but they are hampered in a way that they can’t flex their muscles all the time. Gabriel the God of Destiny gets some flexibility since his job requires that he craft vague destinies for mortals. He can bestow this flexibility on others, but there are limits. He can’t kill whoever he wants, so he has to create agents that he can help to some extent. The Law of Influence prevents him from saving them from danger too. So, it gets a little convoluted at times, but that stems from the gods needing to have some interactions. This is why they hold court instead of going right to sealing and many can rationalize their actions. It comes off as them being powerless, but they can do a few things that help move the plot along.
The biggest challenge here might be preconceived notions of gods. We expect them to be the most powerful beings in the world as well as having no care about what they do to mortals. Mythology has taught us that gods and goddesses will always get involved in human affairs. This works for that, but it makes a mess with modern fiction. You can pose them as bad guys that need to be stopped, but everything else brings in that frustrating question I mentioned. You need to hamper them in some fashion, especially if they are physical presences. If they never appear then audiences can assume that they are more fictional beliefs of the world instead of actual entities. Maybe I should have gone that route, but that would make things weird with the Baron being a former god and Dariana being the daughter of him and Zaria. That would reveal that they are physically there somewhere.
I hope this helps clear up any questions about the Law of Influence and why the gods don’t get more involved. I’m looking forward to those stories that touch on how they got to this point. Hope I can get to them.
A fun interview to end the week on. Impressed by the cayenne pepper fact.
Hello! With me on the blog today is the amazing Jill Weatherholt, who has three publications to discuss: her latest Love Inspired novel, A Mother for His Twins; her novella, An Apple Orchard Reunion in the Autumn Hearts anthology, and “A Labor Day Reunion,” a short story in Woman’s World Magazine—just in time for Labor Day, the holiday that just passed.
Jill is represented by Jessica Alvarez. After Jill and I talk, stay tuned for a giveaway announcement.
El Space: Four quick facts about yourself?
Jill: 1. I’m afraid of heights and will not ride on an escalator, but I’ve always wanted to go skydiving.
2. When I was twenty-years-old, I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease.
3. I once won a limbo contest while vacationing in Key West.
4. I love cayenne pepper and I put it on most foods.
El Space:
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As usual, here is your warning that this story has cursing, sex (not graphic), innuendo, and violence. It’s my Rated-R action adventure called Derailing Bedlam. This is the fourth outing (third official) for Cassidy and Lloyd, so feel free to click on one of the two covers to see how it started. Each one is 99 cents!
Cover by Jon Hunsinger
Cover Art by Jon Hunsinger
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Time for another teaser leading up to publication of my next book. Tap the video and turn your speakers up. Then ponder Lisa’s poster and see if you’re imagination gives you any clues about this story.
As always, feel free to use Lisa’s poster for your phone background, or whatever. She makes for great Pinterest pins.
How about it, gang? Any idea what this Halloween story might be about yet?
Hate to say it, but that quote is pretty spot on. The human heart is a very fragile thing when it comes to love. If one person in a relationship changes without the other and no attempts are made to bridge the gap then pain is the only result. Our emotional state is tied to our physical and mental states, so heartbreak can have a domino effect that some people never get out of. Depression, gaining weight, anxiety, phantom pains, lethargy, and the list of ailments that can be traced by to heartbreak is pretty long. Geez, I’m started to get some phantom chest pains just writing this one. We’re going to see how far I get because this is a subject that hits pretty close to broken home.
As authors, I think many of us enjoy the concept of romance. There’s a complaint that it’s found too often in fiction, but it’s a journey that most people go through or hope they can experience. If we are to create believable heroes then we have to consider if they would be interested in dating or getting married. Romance makes sense for some heroes because they are already caring about other people, so it’s almost like they’re destined to fall for somebody. There’s a higher level of emotional connections from them and love is the most powerful positive one in the book. That isn’t to say it’s mandatory, but it can make a lot of sense that these characters have romantic encounters. A way to avoid this is to make them cold and interested only in sex if they have any interest in relations at all. Still, I think this is one reason why relationships turn up even in non-romance stories.
The other side of the coin is heartbreak. With romance, you always have the risk of things not working out. That’s just how reality works and this might be harder to do than the initial connection. You need to build up a reason for things to go south because a sudden ‘we are through’ might hit with a dull thud. The dumper would be seen as a jerk and, if a hero, would have a cloud over their heads for the duration of the story. If it is sudden then you need a reason such as a villain forcing them to do it or something that clears up any mystery. Yes, there are break-ups that happen in real life where one party will never learn the reasons, but fiction does require more. Even shock value heartbreaks need to be explained later or they come off as empty. This can be as simple as the character no longer being in love and admitting that they didn’t know what else to do. My point here is that you need to plan your breakups almost more than you plan the initial romances.
Another part of the romance and heartbreak that some authors forget is that you need to maintain the emotions. Lovers need to show their affections to some extent either physically or verbally. Almost used the wrong word there. You can’t have them start a relationship and never act like a couple. Saying ‘I love you’ means nothing if you don’t act like it too. On the other side is heartbreak where at least one of the characters needs to be in pain. I’m sorry, but very few people shake off heartbreak after one night of drinking and a pep talk from friends. Even if they are significantly better, you can still see flickers of the anguish from no longer being in a relationship. Much of this is determined by the degree of the relationship too. Breaking up after a week won’t hurt nearly as much as a divorce after decades. Unless there is a mutual agreement to split, you’re going to have to write about the characters getting through the inner turmoil. This is a great place for growth and development too. We talk about how obstacles build heroes and heartbreak can be one of the worst.
I’m running out of steam here since this is a difficult topic for me. I’m writing this up in late June too, so I might be in better spirits come September. Anyway, tell me what you think about romance and heartbreak in fiction? Not if it belongs in there, but how you think it should be used and any tips you have for using it.
