You Got a Grown Up Heart Now?
Primarily in any story, there is a plot. And within that plot there is a beginning a climax and anti climax and then an ending. Within this rising and falling of the plot there is usually a story being told of an evil that good prevails over, thus rainbows and happy endings right?
There are in a lot of instances where that same arc of plot process happens WITHIN a character. A story within a story. There are times where we watch a person internally fights and evil and prevails at the end, and we watch (in a proverbial sense) rainbows shoot out their ass and a happy ending for themselves.
After discussion of villians who failed that task, lets take a look into some “bad” guys who ended up not being so bad after all.
Mukuro Rokudo of Reborn!
Mukoro had a…different upbringing. Born into a family that opted to experiement on him due to his abilities than take him to the park and play, no one can really blame him when at the age of 10 he ended up killing all of them and recruiting his own small army to take revenge on a world that would allow such treatment. Throughout the series he is a relentless and unmerciful killer, either by his own hands or those he controlled. He joins the mafia, gets arrested and breaks free to start his own gang, all the while killing when neccissary. Eventually however, he sees the error of his ways, in a sense of the word, and by the end has taken a neutral stance, helping his former enemies and placing a solid wall between his past and himself. His past, being the Mafia.
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Lucy of Elfin Lied
I’m not here to say that Lucy is crazy. Take that back, Lucy is crazy. Beyond crazy. But never one to play the blame game, it’s all cause and effect. Lucy who is the central character of Elfin Lied, is a member of a distinct mutant species called Diclonii. They look human, talk and act human eeeexcept for two things. The horn like protustions that stick out of their head and the ability to control telekinetic arms that have the ability, to put it politely, lob your head the fuck off. If you’ve seen X-Men, then you know how mutants get treated here. So Lucy has made it her life goal to take revenge on humanity. And she does a good damn job of it. She breaks free of her confinement (of course the government wants no parts of her roaming free with those trickxy “arms” of hers) and is discovered by Kohta and Yura. Throughout the series she kills, usually torturing before she does so. But towards the end, and we’ll give Kohta and his “human cooties” of love and human kindness all the credit, where she starts to feel remorse for her actions and refusing to harms those close to Kohta. That’s as close to redemption a crazed mutant with invisible arms that can slice and dice at the very thought of human existence and does so often, can get. Go Lucy!
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Picclo of Dragon Ball
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Piccolo, or as they fondly call him in the United Kingdom…Big Green, came to do one thing. Dubya Bush the hell outta the planet (Bush…you know like his daddy and then he got elected for revenge? No. Okay) World domination and continuing his father’s legacy after Goku mudstompped him, Piccolo makes his way back to join the DB gang. His plans of taking over the world were interrupted with Raditz decided that HE needed to do the job instead. Piccolo teams up with Goku to stop Raditz, and succeed in doing so at the cost of Goku’s life. Piccolo, however during this time, had witnessed the power of Goku’s son, Gohan. Here’s were it gets all warm and fuzzy. He decided to TRAIN Gohan in Goku’s abscence. Awwwwwww.
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Sesshomaru of InuYasha
Ah, Mr. Perfect Killing Circle of Death, or something morose like that. He had a SEVERVE “I think my Dad hated me” issue during the beginning of this saga. One of THE most arrogant characters to be drawn on a piece of paper, Sesshomaru pride in being a full demon was a total eclipse of any other ability, characteristic or mannerism that he may have possessed. The first handful of episodes, Sesshomaru did his best to A) Let Inuyasha know he was a worthless hanyou and he better not EVER forget it B) Kill said hanyou because he owned a sword he believed to be rightfully his C) Ignore the a decidedly huge chunk of the plot for his own version of righteous justice. It wasn’t until he came along a human child name Rin, that we see the cold hearted older brother of the series protagonist, lighten up. This is compounded by his introduction (to what could have been one of the greatest demon love stories EVER), the demon Kaguara and eventually him witnessing her death. Angst galore. By the end, he’s even HELPING Inuyasha.
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Gaara of the Sand of Naruto
Excuse me, I just need to say this really quick. GAARA OF THE MUTHAFUCKING SAND. Whew! By far one of my favorite characters, I can now say, without fear of ridicule, that he scared theeee shit out of me when first introduce. Gaara’s introduction to the anime Naruto, allowed us to witness him squishing a man to death. With sand. Without batting an eyelash. If you wasn’t at least shook a little when Gaara completed his Sand Coffin, then you have a heart made out of steel nerves. Gaara was presented to us as a cold hearted killer with no connection to human emotions other than his Sand siblings. Gaara was he son of the former Kazekage. As with any child, he was bright and loving, but due to his role as the jinchuuriki of Shukaku (which was sealed into his mother’s womb before he was born, causing her death), his ability to manipulate sand without even actively willing it, Gaara became an outcast. His uncle, who still grieved his sister’s death but was forced to play the loving role towards Gaara, eventually attempted to assasinate him by orders of Gaara’s father. Finding this information out, was was stripped Gaara of his childlike innocent and made him into a killing machine. Not until the introduction of to what would turn out to be the greatest friend Gaara even knew, Naruto, did Gaara eventual remember his human-like emotions and rise to be the Kazekage of the Sand and also the General Commander of the Shinobi army.
Aww look at him now 🙂 With his soft “I got a heart now” eyes.
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Gin Ichimaru of Bleach
Much like his Shinigami leader, much wasn’t known about Gin or his motives, or even his past (save Rangiku). All that is known about Gin was that he was a child prodigy, surpassing those twice his age. He has a very close relationship with Rangiku and heavily implied that they were lovers until Gin’s betrayal. Taken in at an early age by Aizen, he followed in his footsteps closely, through Aizen betrayal of Soul Society, his takeover of Las Noches and his eventually plot to destroy all of Karakura Town. Gin’s likable character clashed with his supposed role at Aizen’s side, so it was hard to really grasp the fact that he was a villian.
Because he wasn’t.
Towards the end of the Arrancar arc, we find that Gin was doing all of this “following” as the biggest act of betrayal the series had ever seen. As the one closest to Aizen, he knew exactly what needed to be done to stop him. This included sacrificing his Shinigami family, his relationship with Rangiku and his upstanding history is Seireitei, to stop one man’s maddening streak towards destruction. He didn’t succeed, but his ace card, by the name of Ichigo, did. Sacrificing his life, he left it up him to destroy Aizen.
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Uchiha Itachi of the Leaf of Naruto
I kinda don’t even have the heart to write this story, because of ALL the stories listed here. This one is the saddest. I…can’t. Just know that Itachi did everything he could for the love of his clan and his little brother and is one of the most, if not THE MOST, important intergal peices to the plot. Without Itachi, the series Naruto would have fallen apart. Don’t believe me. Think about it. Where would Sasuke be, if not driven by his revenge for Itachi? Where would Naruto be, if he hadn’t of developed this skewed relationship with a skewed man named Sasuke? Where would the Leaf be, if Naruto didn’t have a reason to become a stronger person? I can keep going.
But THIS shit right here? Heartbreak City.
Nah, I need ya’ll to see this in motion.
