When the Villian was Right | Collab

 This blog will be about the most interesting parts of anime, villains. In the industry the villains always seem to be more interesting than the heroes in most cases, as I feel that more thought is actually put into them and love from the creator. It’s why series like naruto or hunter x hunter, the villain seem better as a character than the others. Well, all my villain fans, you are in luck as I have gotten me and my friends to talk about antagonists or villains that could be good and were right all along. This is a special collab that we have worked hard on, so please like this post, read and maybe comment you thoughts

By Mike Lee

Shoya Ishida

Shoya Ishida (Silent Voice) at the beginning of the manga is shown to be a little boy who is extremely bored. He sees boredom as his enemy and wishes to conquer it. At school, he is a popular yet feisty kid. Upon the arrival of the deaf child, Shouko Nishimiya, Shoya thinks she is a burden to the class and his classmates. She repeatedly raises her hand to ask the same question pausing the whole class, and during music class she would mess up the tunes. At first, the students were eager to help the girl with her daily schoolwork. But as time passed by everyone became more and more reluctant at assisting Nishimiya. Other girls in the class were fed up with Nishimiya's inability.

This is the time around when Shoya starts to perceive Nishimiya as strange and weird, almost like an "alien" and starts to tease and bully her. I do not condone any of Shoya's bullying actions. But he wasn't the only one bullying her, the girls in the class refused to help her and spoke poorly of her behind her back, wrote nasty words on her desk, and outright ostracized the little girl. The only difference between the class's way of bullying and his way of bullying was that Shoya was more verbal and would actively take part in her bullying while the others hid behind the scenes passively tormenting the girl. But from Shoya's perspective, he saw Nishimiya as his little plaything, he could toy with any time he was bored. But he didn't know what he was doing could potentially harm Nishimiya. This can be well understood in the film through the use of music, when Shoya bullied and teased Nishimiya, playful and upbeat music is played. This means that Shoya is completely unaware of the consequences of his actions but it hurts and mentally scars Nishimiya. He is immature and views his actions as petty fun. He was the class clown of his class, wanting to make his classmates giggle and laugh.

It is when the principal comes to his class to discuss this matter, he realises the seriousness of the situation. But he was extremely shocked and perplexed. His teacher pinpoints and regards Shoya as the one to be doing all the bullying, he humiliates the boy in front of the entire class. His friends take the easy way out, placing all the blame on Shoya. Now the tables turn on him and he is in the spotlight for getting bullied. His friends start treating him less like a friend and more like a foe. This time the music is soft, subtle, and sad showcasing the state Shoya is in. He is vulnerable and defenseless. And in the manga, when Shoya informs his class teacher about his getting bullied, he dismisses the matter as a lie. He mentions that this was karma hitting him and he deserved it. That's a detrimental thing to say to a child. It makes Shoya believe that he deserves to get bullied and be left alone and isolated. No one deserves to get bullied, even the bully shouldn't be bullied. People seem to forget this.

Shoya is one of the best-written bullies in anime. Normally the bullies are shown to be just plain evil or the motive behind their actions is a troubled and chaotic family or background. In other anime, after the main character is bullied, he magically becomes super strong the next episode and we see an epic and badass action sequence between the main character and the bully. It keeps the audience on the edge of their seats as the main character proceeds to win the fight. Even in Silent Voice, a fight breaks out between Nishimiya and Shoya but this fight is quite different. The fight is clumsy and very much realistic and emotional, it makes the viewers uncomfortable because that's how real-life fights are.

Soon after this incident, Nishimiya transfers to another school. Leaving Shoya alone to face all the bullying and isolation. He is put in Nishimiya's shoes and finally understands her perspective.

He realises the irreversible damage he has caused to Nishimiya. He feels extremely guilty. "Guilt"- An emotion common to all. We viewers sympathise with Shoya which is very rare with anime bullies. Upon this realisation, he promises himself that he'll change for the better and he does change indeed. That shows that even the worst of people can change and bring out the best version of themselves. He is an inspiring character with the perfect portrayal of guilt and the best example of redemption.

Gussy
Eto Yoshimura

Eto Yoshimura from Tokyo Ghoul is such a strange character to choose right? Maybe not if you really look at their past and how they really got there. Eto big point and the biggest reason to hate the CCG is because they killed basically most of her gang. So she created the Aogiri Tree. The big idea was to make a better life for ghouls even if it means becoming a greater power or....forcing humans into the ghoul society like the main character Kaneki. The biggest reason her point became a big no-no was because of the slow descent in her mentality. She wasn't 100% in the beginning going after everyone from what it looked like and in the end Ken was able to get what she wanted but in the end, to destroy all humans who are completely innocent in this. Truly Eto's idea came from a really vengeful heart and may have been good in the beginning because ghouls were seen as monsters and nothing else. That is if you ignore the really awful things about the Aogiri Tree. Slavery,forced Ghouls,murders,hundreds of deaths,and all kinds of terrorist actions against humans and ghouls. Ken,who ended up solving this whole thing, had a twisted ideal and did cause some major casualties but got better results because he didn't let the pain Eto caused get to him even tho it did for the first half of the series. What made Ken end up being just a little more right but still not making Eto's points wrong just done in a much worse way is because Ken in the end didn't do all of his somewhat questionable actions out of malice. Most of his actions were to survive or to protect his closest friends that he made bonds with. Ito didn't truly understand the good in humans and even though the CCG killed some close friends of hers didn't mean the human race should be cut down,even if they did in the anime cause lots of pain to many ghoul characters.

Eto may not have been fully in the right but her point of ghouls being second humans,brutalized,families destroyed,close friends killed, and innocent non-violent ghoul being murdered just because they were ghouls is a good point. Why should Ghouls be second? Why should children,weaker ghouls,and even powerful ones have to live in fear and be murdered for existing. Ito and many other ghouls shouldn't have gone through. With that said though, she still caused even more pain by enslaving weaker ghouls,children,and even killing some because they didn't do work,steal,etc. Aogiri Tree and the other organizations for the one eyed king,which has a lot of lore behind that one, wasn't 100% bad but in the end Eto was still morally in the wrong even though she had a very good point and did take more action than most. Sadly it was in the wrong direction and in the end Ken Kaneki,the "One eyed king" ended it for the best.I,myself Gustavo/Pinksy may follow up at some point to blog about Tokyo Ghoul and it's anime adaptation...it's a bad adaptation. Thank Coma for letting a nobody make a bit unique take on an "anime villain who was right." Thanks for reading my section.

By Coma
Gendo Ikari

The villain I will be talking about is a character that would be evil in nearly everyone’s eyes when they watch this anime, this anime being Neon Genesis Evangelion. Shinji’s dad or Gendo Ikari, as much as he was neglectable to his son, his actions make more sense when you actually finally understand the lore of Neon Genesis. A man who is so head-strung in his own wishes that he puts a bunch of kids through abuse may be evil to everyone but I think what his plan involved outweighed these small details for the benefits of humanity. Where he also wanted to be with his wife again as he made Rei from Lilith and his wife, in the end of evangelion he tries to merge himself with Rei/Yui and gets denied and admits he was afraid to confront his son. Gendo went through the trauma of his loss and his job, he became bad with people because of his focus on reconnecting with his wife, in the end I feel like he actually woke up from Rei rejecting him. In the end he wanted forgiveness and did his retribution. He sacrificed himself after his plans with his wife failed and died, not joining the singularity as a punishment.

The human instrumentality project is passed over to the control of shinji where he is traumatised that he rejects the plan and decides to stay while everyone gets absorbed into Lilith as one body and soul. Gendo may have been too hindsight by work to help his son but he wanted to save everyone from the third impact and his wife. People who have the will to come back can come back to earth, however shinji kills asuka, and basically because of his own stubbornness kills the rest of humanity as some would interpret. As the end of Evangelion is very much vague and left up to the audience to understand, Shinji could very much be more evil accidentally than his father plus the hospital scene that Shinji did. I feel like everyone in the series has trauma and because of this everyone thought of themselves as the world was on the verge of ending. So I don’t think anyone is to blame but oh boy doesn’t the original series make you want to hate Shinji for being a little baby, but you can understand because of what he's been through and his age. Now this is my understanding of the story, you may completely disagree and that’s fine because that’s what NGE is about. It’s meant to be up in the air for you to make your own conclusions.

Jeebs
Light Yagami

Anyone remember when villains were…’villains?’

As time went on, the perspective of these old-school villains changed, as people began to revere them as cool, edgy, alternative, and just flat-out more interesting than the protagonists that bested them. It didn’t change what they did and they were certainly still evil, but it caused individuals to view villains as polar opposite to the heroes, prompting for future works to incorporate more complex villains with profound backstories and compelling motivations.

Certain archetypes would rise in popularity: the tragic villain, who was forced into being evil because they were wronged and have grown into a menacing force so they would not be wronged again, and the misunderstood villain, who is actually trying to achieve a noble goal, but they are constantly being thwarted because of the nature of their actions and methods.

However, none are more alluring to most as the evil genius villain: a cunning, calculating individual with grandiose aspirations and goals.

Enter Light Yagami, a high schooler with a genius-level intellect.

He is intrigued by the prospect of it claiming to end the life of any individual whose name is written within its pages, as well as the writer knowing their face. He initially dismissed it as being some sort of hoax, but gives it a go anyway and is stunned to find out that its powers are real. Killing individuals always call into question many moral dilemmas, but for the most part, it is frowned upon and anyone that attempts and even succeeds in such an act would be faced with severe ramifications. However, Light seemingly justifies this by initially going after criminals that are already in prison and are merely being removed from the equation to ensure that they will never do harm again.

Putting aside wrongful convictions or people waiting to be prosecuted, having less criminals from going back into the streets is a notion that many would be hard-pressed to argue against. So, when Light fills pages and pages of criminal names in the Death Note, understandably, the only ones to initially be concerned over it is the various governments for which these criminals died during their incarceration. It’s interesting to note that Light is definitely the villain at this point. Aside from appointing himself as “the god of this new world,” he is not at all remorseful for the murders that he has caused so far. He truly takes a turning point when he murders a man who claims to be L in order to prove a point, which only helps the real L.

It is also interesting to point out that L is not all that pure. He too takes drastic and criminally questionable tactics in order to catch Light at all costs, one of them being the live murder of this individual that masqueraded as L. He serves as a ‘good’ reflection to Light, as they are both polar opposites in personality and interests, as well as how they go about trusting and utilizing other’s skills. As pressure begins to mount on Light, his tactics become more extreme and morally compromising. He eliminates government agents and civilians that get too close to unmasking him, manipulates others that worship him in an attempt to use them to further his agenda, and he is able to persuade the worried masses to his cause.

It gets to a point that those masses begin to accept Kira as their righteous savior, dealing swift ‘justice’ to those they could have acknowledged as wicked and deserving of such outcomes. Again, Light is very much the villain and stopping him is still a priority, even in a world that is quickly beginning to accept this reality. Light time and time again has proven his intellect and ingenuity. He is very much a proactive antagonist, planning and scheming around most predicaments, as well as establishing several contingencies should things get out of hand. He was dead set in his original goal that he never lost sight of it, which could’ve been easy once he had achieved the power and recognition he had been clamoring for.

Unfortunately, there are many times when swift action must be taken in order to ensure the well-being of the majority, even at the cost of a minority. While we might question such actions in the moment and outright disapprove them in the future, it’s hard to argue with the results at times. Sure, to the higher ups in society and government, it would be hard to really see where Kira’s allegiance might lie, but to the common masses, seeing the “bad guys” get punished for their wrongdoings is refreshing and keeping those in power on their toes is also a bonus.

Let me be perfectly clear.

I do not condone Light or his actions in any way.

There have been countless number of cases of hackers being hired by the government for their expertise. Whether it be directed towards publicized executions or secret assignments, the power of the Death Note can actually benefit society far more than Light could’ve possibly envisioned. Regardless, Light did bring about significant change in the world, where the majority of his victims who were at least in trouble with the law, and the common masses were seemingly left unharmed and spared from the violence and death that some of these victims could’ve brought about.

Thank you for reading, this collab that I have been holding since last year after being busy then things keep stopping me from completing it. As I wanted to get my part right for the collaboration as Evangelion is hard to get your head around, I might do more brain tangent of the series as it’s a very complex series that I could speak about a lot. Did you agree or disagree with any of the points? If so, please be respectful when commenting. Have a great day