I seem to take varying amounts of time to get attached to my favorite characters.
I knew I liked Kenshin when I was reading the manga. He was the first time I ever had a "favorite character ever." But I didn't realize that until long after I had finished reading the series. Partly because I hadn't put much thought into my "favorite character ever." I actually realized it when I got one of those (infuriating) mystery box toys and Kenshin was in it.
Garnet I liked very early on (before I actually liked the series). In the "Together Breakfast" episode, there was one moment where I went, "ah, I like her!" And then"Stronger than You" sealed the deal. She took over as my favorite character.
And finally came Hector. At that point, it had been a very long time since Pixar made a movie I loved. I didn't think I'd care about it. For literally a couple of days after my first viewing, I was surprised that I couldn't stop thinking of that movie. I was very slow to realize how much I loved both the film and Hector. Although in Hector's case, it's probably not surprising that it took so long. After all, his introduction is not the least bit heart-warming.
The newcomer is Scarlemagne. I knew that I would end up liking him long before I actually liked him.
At the end of season one, we found out that Scarlemagne and Lio had a history. Which meant that Sarlemagne had some sort of tragic past. After all, how else would he go from being "pals" with Lio to being a crazy tyrant? That was the first time I knew I'd end up liking him. After all, I tend to love animal people with tragic back stories (going all the way back to Mewtwo. I just want to hug them and give them a good home TT^TT ).
They even warned us about the tragic back story. That episode is called "Sympathy for the Mandrill." And sure enough, from that episode on, I loved him more and more. I was disappointed that he was so evil in the season 2 finale. But the ending gave me hope. After all, he was Kipo's prisoner. I was certain that Kipo would reform him. He could no longer escape her influence.
That's why I was so shocked when season 3 started. It had been months and Scarlemagne was still a jerk locked in a box. I couldn't believe that Kipo hadn't tried to rehabilitate him in all that time. Sure, she was tracking down Emilia, but she could have made an effort. Especially since she's so casual about letting him out when she finally does give him a second chance.
Though in the end, I was right. Hugo became a good guy. And his happy ending was so short-lived. TT^TT
Scarlemagne is the first time that a character has entered my "top favorites" without taking the top spot.
The ranking is something like this:
1st: Hector
2nd: Garnet
3rd: Scarlemagne
4th: Kenshin
Kenshin and Garnet are good choices for favorite characters. They're cool, very strong, and very caring. Then my tastes seemed to skew a bit. Hector is not in the least charming when we first meet him.
It's a long time before you get down to the good center. To prove my point, I asked Nick to guess which character I liked the most from Coco. He literally listed every main character and many of the minor characters, without mentioning Hector at all. When he finally realized who it was, he thought I was joking!
Scarlemagne is even weirder. He starts out as a crazy tyrant that mind-controls every human he catches, and wants to rule all of the non-humans.
But even for him, there's a good person deep, very deep inside. Deep.
And yeah, I'll forgive an animal for almost anything.
No comments:
Post a Comment