As some of you might now know (if you didn’t already), I’m a Darker than Black fanboy. It’s all about Hei and the extent of adoration that heterosexual males like myself can profess without veering into dangerous territory, which means that I think that posts like these are lame. I prefer rational discussions rather than brilliant diatribes myself, though (for an example of the latter, check out Randall’s posts here and here regarding the fiasco surrounding Kodomo no Jikan), so here’s my case on why I vehemently disagree.

By the way, TJ Han showed me something he wrote almost a year ago that’s similar in subject and invited me to link to and laugh at it, but the only thing I found hilarious were the mismatched pictures, and I wish he could write like that more often, because it was awesome surreal humour that’s so unlike the more reserved tone he’s been taking on recently, and would also resemble Kyoya acting like Tamaki all of a sudden.

Mismatched expectations aren’t anything new in fandom, and I shouldn’t expect them to go away any time soon all because I’m conscious of the fact, but it still manages to irk me in places I never knew existed. In this season itself you have people expecting the humour of Lucky Star to be like Azumanga Daioh instead of Ichigo Mashimaro. You’ve got those wanting StrikerS to live up to the fast-paced action that was A’s and its first episode, nevermind how A’s was practically a direct continuation of the first season, and comparing it to StrikerS doesn’t make good sense. Then to top it all off we’ve got in the corner here, this oddball attack on Darker than Black, who’s had its superpowers labelled as “simply fanservice”.

First of all, let’s take a look at what Wikipedia says about its definition. The article suggests that the term fanservice itself “is sometimes derogatory when used in criticism of clumsy, pandering use of visual fashions, or if the stories lack substance, such that fashions are the only thing notable about a series”. Overlooking how that article doesn’t cite any references or sources, this further invites us to take a look at the powers exhibited to us so far, and whether or not it deserves such a label.

Right from the gripping introduction we’ve had gravity. Teleportation, or material transference. Internal combustion. An transparent whip-like device that cleaves. Fire. Concentrated rain, working together with a freezing power. And last but not least, electricity. Are these all clumsy, pandering visual fashions? Presumably this is what part of the argument lies on; the assumption that the superpowers displayed by the Contractors so far are indeed all style and no substance.

What is the basis for this assumption? Realism, or lack of. The poster, gaguri, cites November 11 and the lack of guns as an inherent flaw in the framework of DtB. He questions the lack of usage of firearms in what is presumably November 11 and Hei’s faceoff. Nevermind how Hei’s coat becomes bulletproof when he puts it on, there’s the other nagging question that’s dying to be asked — why guns?

This is where my classification of shounen battles comes in, and how it fits into my theory that mismatched expectations inevitably skew one’s perception of an anime beyond reasonable belief. Impressing your view of how things be, as I mentioned earlier, isn’t by any means objectionable, but is it reasonable? If we’re talking about the norm, things such as animation, soundtrack, voice acting, and narrative, there’s no reason not to. However, what about the expectation of story and world mechanics?

Simply put, a world’s mechanics and story setting affect which type of shounen battles take place. And if you’re unsure as to what this world can and cannot do, the context in which it’s taking place in, and what the anime’s about, you immediately go off your rocker. You demand things that just don’t seem right to anyone else, and because opinions like these tend to shape a person’s perception of things, you don’t see how wrong you are either. Much laughter ensues, and your opinion ends up being posted somewhere on the internet and dissected as an example, much like this one.

I see three defining types of battles here:

The Realistic.
As the name implies, this takes place in a realistic setting. Not a lot of anime or manga fall into this category, those that I can think of at the moment are Rurouni Kenshin together with two boxing titles whose names I can’t recall just yet. Power levels, if not within reasonable human ability, are explained through the person(s) having above-average or simply insane innate natural abilities. Real world physics apply, which means that if they’re dead, they’re gone for good. Falling from a great height usually means death. People die when they are killed — I cannot stress this enough.

Suspension of belief comes in and slaps the viewer or reader in the face when plot advancement requires the antagonist to survive way beyond his sell date so that he can turn up for “just one more” monumental battle with the protagonist. Blood, sweat, and tears (usually on the end of the heroine) ensue. The protagonist will lose enough blood to cripple a national bank for days yet manage to survive through it all, usually with a peaceful smile on his face.

The Hybrid.
Over 90% of shounen battles, no ifs and buts, comprise of this. There are no exceptions, it is not impartial. The only requirements are that it must have a supernatural/unrealistic element of some sort (read: not available in real life), and that physical strength is required in order to support said element (otherwise it’d fall into the next category). This variety is immensely popular due to there being equal parts realism and fantasy; on one hand we’ve got someone who’s got this kick-ass power, yet despite all that he still needs to train because there’s the need for real muscle to back up that magical mojo of his.

Everything falls into this, and I mean like everything. The unholy trinity of Bleach, One Piece, and Naruto. Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. Dragon Ball. Get Backers. Scryed. Newer stuff like Claymore and Kaze no Stigma. People get resurrected arbitrarily. They don’t die when they are killed. Stuff blows up, and I’m talking all the time here, with no prejudice as to who or what. If you’re lucky enough, worlds get blown up too, or at least have the potential to, which means yet another arc in the endless loop, or the “final stand” that the hero and his posse have to make against the villain and his posse.

As a side bonus, power levels are ridiculously off the scale, but not as bad as the next category. Battles fall into a multifarious category best known to shounen, where they either end up with a) the protagonist’s defeat and humiliation, where he subsequently is motivated to train more b) the antagonist’s defeat and humiliation, where he subsequently is motivated to train more c) protagonist and antagonist battling (occasionally, also to show off the results of their motivated training). If aforementioned protagonist or antagonist has trained a bit too much or not at all, they either end up gaining a level or dying, depending on the situation.

The Superpower.
This is significantly more than the Realistic but still way below that of the Hybrid, thus named due to superpowers not requiring any physical prowess of the sort. There is a simple, painless, and easy way to classify this, and it’s by asking the question, “Does the person using the power rely on it alone?” If you see a character going through “training” of the physical sort, it’s a Hybrid. No ifs and buts. Superpowers don’t need training, they’re already buffed from day one. Power levels are of the world breaking sort, like if you took the cross-pollinated offspring of Freeza, Cell, and Buu, before mating said male freak offspring with a female Super Saiyan at SS4.

Battles are done cowboy-style, a showdown more than anything — no, let’s not get into Brokeback right now — it isn’t so much a battle of strength as it is a battle of wits, of reaction time, of two minds. Strength isn’t relevant here, it’s the infinite possibilities you’re facing that’s the problem here. Wait, he can do WHAT? Oh, that’s right, I’ve got a counter for that. I’ve got a counter for everything come to think of it, because my superpower’s so damn versatile, and I’m hot that way. Figures I’m the protagonist, to think of it.

Darker than Black falls into this category. I’m hearing people say right now, “What about Hei?” Well, what about him? He’s a rare Contractor that happens to be well-versed in martial arts and armed combat aside from his powers, and he could’ve well been a character who, well, zaps people into non-existence all the time while just standing there looking glumly at his feet, it’s just that it would’ve made for a boring series. No other Contractor has been seen to require physical prowess of any sort, and it’s this that makes DtB a Superpower.

Which brings me back to the absurdity about DtB and its “simply fanservice” powers: I’m pretty sure it’s due to a misclassification of the nature of the series itself. There’s a very fine line between the Hybrid and the Superpower in my opinion, and it’s this line that, when not detected, makes for unreasonable demands. You want guns, nevermind how that’s already Realistic to begin with, in a Superpower (protip: infinite possibilities make the concept of guns dumb, you’re already dead) show, so that would make your perception of DtB some sort of queer Hybrid? Or do you want that oxymoron called Realistic Superpowers with your order?

admit it, I’m sure this has probably crossed the mind of you haters out there, right? questions like, “why don’t they skip the manzai routine already and get crackin’, and by get crackin’ I mean getting their freak on with each other?”

Another thing I’m loath to discuss right now but which needs immediate attention due to occasion is how reason goes out of the window altogether when people start with the misidentification. While I bashed Air for its horrid story and was only half sold on Kanon, I never questioned the actions of its characters, or the “coincidences”, things along the lines of “Why is it a coincidence that Mr Purple Hair Fag so happened to have met Ms Gao Gao Stegosaurus at the beach?” or “How is it that five girls can fall for the same loser at once, three of them having supernatural origins of some sort?”

In the same vein, why is there always fallacious analysis of some sort when the ability of a person to grasp a series in its proper context breaks down? Maybe I should begin doing long-winded posts asking why is it that in sola, Yorito didn’t rape take advantage of Matsuri as she lay on his bed and other moronic questions in the same vein; I might just be onto something there. Heck, like I said here, let’s question why Peter Parker had so many bad things happen to him at once while we’re at it!

This entry was posted on Friday, June 1st, 2007 at 7:20 am and is filed under Anime, Manga. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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