How many times has this happened to you? You're watching this great anime! You like the animation, the soundtrack rocks, the story's got you mesmerized and even the dubbing isn't bothering you! It's one of those let-the-machine-get-the-phone anime features. You actually consider stopping the tape and calling your favorite gang of otaku over to share in your new discovery.
Then it happens...
*begin rant*
There's this one character that really caught your attention. He/She was different from the others. They were smarter, faster, cuter... (or maybe they just had a bigger gun) You really pinned your hopes of a good ending on this character right from the opening credits. He/She was the "cool guy", and probably everyone would agree. So why, in some fit of insanity, do the animators ALWAYS see to it that our favorites die in some horrifically, unceremonious way???
Sometimes the "cool guys" are at least graced with a meaningful death... but that's about as likely as Goku having the same voice actor for two consecutive episodes.
I got the idea for this rant while watching Ninja Scroll for about the 50th time. Those of you who who have seen this know that this is a perfect example! The movie starts out with this guy named Hanza. We find out that Hanza's the leader of a Koga Ninja team, there's a glimmer of a love interest, and he's just a really cool, honorable, hero-type guy. Unfortunately, that's ALL we find out about him because he goes and gets himself torn asunder by a huge rock-demon named Tessai. Oh well... Bye Hanza! Ninja Scroll is an absolutely incredible movie... but having Hanza die like that just doesn't fit. We do see him again... well, sorta. He's kinda dead and stuffed with explosive gunpowder though. I guess the animators thought they didn't already emphasize the fact that Hanza's death was profane.
Even Sailor Moon isn't safe from this demented theme. Let's not forget Nehplite, the first bad guy with a plan to show up in the whole series. He's showing real promise, he breaks the monotony of the Sailor Moon cycle (which is: fight. scouts hurt, remember secret weapon, fight, scouts win, bad guys look dumb, wacky misunderstanding, embarassing moment, giddyness, ending credits) and he actually seems to pose a reasonable threat. Best of all though, he's the first villan love interest in the series. Just as things are working out and we begin to find out about him... he ends up meeting with the business end of some inter-dimentional spikes thrown by a jealous co-villan.
I don't know about you, but I don't even know how to act when something like that happens. I repress my initial impulse (to write a strongly-worded letter to the producer) and just follow my second inpulse which is: hit rewind and stare in disbelief as the scene plays out again.
It even happens in Manga and videogames. Think Aeris getting skewered mid-prayer.
So let this be a warning to you. If someone's really cool right from the beginning, they're going to accidently fall in a hole or something equally stupid soon thereafter. The heroes have to brood for at least 10 minutes in the beginning... they'll get cool after the original cool guy turns a corner too fast and does a face-plant on something pointy. Grrr! They don't even get time for the "death speach"! Cool Guys get robbed, I tell ya!
*end rant*
