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if you look at the 10 highest rated
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shows on my anime list you'll notice
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that only one of them has a female lead
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protagonist extending that to the top 20
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you get around five there are lots of
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things people point to when explaining
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this circumstance but the most common
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argument I've seen is that anime and
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manga has predominantly a male audience
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and while there's likely correlation
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between a character's gender and
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audience member's ability to relate to
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them much more important is how well a
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character is crafted and while gender
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can be important especially for
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character writing I don't think it's as
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fundamental as people think think for
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audience's ability to connect with a
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character take me for example I'm a
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26-year-old man but when we look at my
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top 10 anime of all time seven of them
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have female leads and four of these
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shows have been released in the last 2
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years now a lot of these shows in my top
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10 are also built around an ensemble
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cast so it's not uncommon for them to
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have male leads too but I still think
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there's a point there in how many
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stories are embracing female
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protagonists and doing it really well my
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name is pay and today we're talking
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about anime's new golden age an era of
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well-written female
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leads I don't think this era is
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something that's on its way I think it's
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arrived this video is completely built
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around how many good shows have been
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released lately with great female
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protagonists and as I looked into these
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characters and started to research them
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I found five fundamental pillars that
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each of them shared these characters
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were competent with compelling flaws
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they were charming and easy to root for
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and while their gender was a fundamental
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part of their character writing they
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were also compelling and interesting
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characters independent of it now I know
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what you're thinking four protagonists
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five pillars how is this going to work
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well you're just going to have to wait
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and see now I'm not arguing that these
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five pillars are necessary to make a
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good main character or even a good
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female main character I've just found
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them to be overlapping traits of all my
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favorite recent examples of female
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protagonists by the way that was a
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deceptively hard tongue twister to say
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it took me like eight takes now I
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believe each one of these characters is
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a good representation of all of the
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pillars but my roommate who helped me
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write this video suggested that I use
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one character as an example of each
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pillar and I thought that was a really
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cool idea so let's start with the first
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competency stories are built around this
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tight RPP walk of capability often
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protagonists need to be capable enough
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to engage and have influence but not too
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capable as to remove all Stakes an
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essential part of most storytelling is
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creating some level of satisfaction so
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there's this really important balance
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that needs to be struck between
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competency and limitations with some
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distinct exceptions if characters are
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too competent or too limited it makes
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for boring story stories and something
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that all four of these protagonists have
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is really interesting skill sets and the
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example I'm going to be pointing at
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today is Boi from Boi The Rock she's a
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character that's more often defined by
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her shortcomings than her capabilities
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Boi's social anxiety is a central
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component of not only her character Arc
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but also the plot and because those
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flaws are being leaned on so heavily
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it's very important that there's a
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balancing factor and where Boi's
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competency is most expressed is in her
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musicianship as someone who's worked as
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a professional musician to me so far Boi
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the rock is the Pinnacle of Music
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related storytelling it's something that
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so many different stories have failed to
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do well because skill set and capability
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should come with two important factors
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it should be inspired and it should be
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deserved Boi's musicianship is Central
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to the plotline of the story Boi's
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choice to play the guitar comes from a
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very motivated place it's set up really
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well by this Duality overwhelming social
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anxiety conflicting with a deep urge to
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be accepted and to engage a dream of
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being ble to sit comfortably in the
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Limelight but a deep overwhelming
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discomfort at the idea Boi's inspiration
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came when she was a young girl who saw a
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musician on TV who was capable of being
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an introvert but still sitting
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comfortably in the Limelight so in
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response she chose to pursue developing
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that skill herself and spent years
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working towards that goal because
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musicianship is often assumed to be some
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innate Talent OR gift but always it is a
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byproduct of lots of hard work time and
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effort the story sets up Boi's skill set
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really well leading to my second point
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about competency when it feels deserved
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furin Mau mitsumi and bochi all have
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skill sets that are set up really well
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they work in conjunction and are built
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off of both characters flaws and
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personality they come with consequence
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don't break the plot line and more than
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anything serve the story and character
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arcs having a competent protagonist can
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lead to such a satisfying viewing
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experience but only if it's balanced
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well which leads to our second pillar
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compelling
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flaws the reason I chose Boi to talk
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about with the first pillar is because
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while she was more defined by her flaws
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competency was an incredibly important
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balancing factor for making a compelling
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character and to highlight the inverse
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let's look at an incredibly competent
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character who is balanced by her flaws
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Mau from Apothecary Diaries this show
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does not hold up nearly as much as I
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thought it would now don't get me wrong
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it's fun and engaging with outstanding
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characters and I really enjoyed it in my
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first watch through and even in
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revisiting it I enjoyed it as well but
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the main gimmick is this episodic
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Sherlock Holmes esque Detective story
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where m is capable of using her skill
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set to unearth some sort of mystery the
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problem is those Mysteries do not hold
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up in retrospect other detective shows
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do the Mysteries much better than
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Apothecary Diaries does actually kind of
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across the entire show it felt like
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there was no depth in the second viewing
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that I didn't see in the First with one
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exception which is why I love the show
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as much as I do I would argue that
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Apothecary Diaries isn't as well rounded
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as the other shows that I had on my list
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but it made the list because I liked the
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character writing so much and at the
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Forefront of all of this is Mau as the
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protagonist her character is just so
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sick I love the way she's written so
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much and while obviously centered of
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that is her capability it's balanced by
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her flaws anime is no stranger to making
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overpowered characters that seem too
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perfect I think it's a very uninspired
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way to write a character and I think one
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of the best places to look when it comes
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to character writing is how will they
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play around faults when there are
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personality traits and skills that
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benefit a character it's really cool for
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it to also function as a double-edged
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sword there's this fantasy author named
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Brandon Sanderson that I quote a lot and
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one of my favorites was when he was
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talking about magic systems while what a
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Magic system can do is interesting it's
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more interesting what it can't do and I
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think that's even more true with
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characters that are hyper skilled look
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at Western media Sherlock Holmes and
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house are perfect examples of Highly
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flawed individuals who in their world
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are really good at what they do a great
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example of this with Mau is that her
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ability to be such a great detective is
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built off of this inquisitive
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distrusting nature a mix of curiosity
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and pessimism but this exact same trait
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often leads to her being completely
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socially unaware of simple things when
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strangers act from a place that isn't
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malicious she's distrusting and can't
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quite grasp it it leads to a lot of
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really interesting conflict in the story
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and is a direct byproduct of the things
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that she's so good at mau's cool calm
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and collected but then will be highly
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expressive whenever it comes down to
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poisons put her in a room full of
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medicine and she'll lose her mind she
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takes tons of actions to minimize the
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risk of the world she lives in as a
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young woman but is also easy to bribe
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with any ingredient that intrigues her
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actually the Curiosity that makes her so
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interesting plays as a foil to that
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self-preservation it's this cool balance
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that puts her consistently in
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interesting positions because while her
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badass moments are awesome her flaws
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make them interesting but flaws don't
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just relate to competency they also
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relate to charm a while ago I made an
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entire video about how furin from furin
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Beyond Journeys end is incredibly flawed
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but that contributes heavily to her
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remarkable charm it's very common for
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protagonists to be charming and at times
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it can be hard to Define what exactly
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contri contributes to that charm is kind
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of built around those untangle parts of
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someone's personality that draws you to
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them it's kind of like texture on a
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painting part of the reason I argue this
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is because sometimes it's easy to Define
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what makes a character Charming but then
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you can take all the inverse of those
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traits and still result in a Charming
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character when executed Right charm is
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just as often built from imperfections
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and shortcomings as it is positive
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traits and to me every one of these
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protagonists was overwhelmingly Charming
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Fen is a story about an elf who's over a
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thousand years old that struggles to
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build lasting relationships because
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everything seems so brief but fan is a
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fantasy adventure story that isn't
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really built around Stakes her skill set
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tends to undermine any threat however
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that doesn't make the story any less
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compelling or engaging they compensate
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for the lack of stakes and conflict with
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an amazing ensemble cast with Dynamic
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relationships at the center of that cast
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is a cter character Done Right someone
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whose cold removed mysterious attitude
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doesn't get in the way of her actually
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still being an expressive interesting
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character because without fance charm I
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think the story would have been
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significantly worse but in some ways
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that actually applies to all of these
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protagonists Boi The Rock Apothecary
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diary Skip and loafer and furin all
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would be significantly worse without
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Charming protagonists each of these
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characters is a fun balance between
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Sirius and silly they showcase A
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diversity of different emotion their
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flaws are as interesting as their skill
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set and while I never really want a
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perfect protagonist it is awesome when
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characters are built around traits I
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really admire empathy kindness the
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ability to face fears and overcome them
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because it's kind of impossible to talk
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about charm without also talking about
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characters you want to root for I feel
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like there was this major shift in the
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way I consumed anime after watching Skip
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and loafer there's not a single battle
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shown in that made my top 10 list
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despite the fact that I've watched many
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and enjoyed most I'm not sure exactly
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what the shift was but there's something
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about well executed Slice of Life that's
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both engaging and Incredibly easy on the
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Heart Skip and loafer hiq kagi AMA love
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his War they're all shows that I turned
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to whenever I really want to feel better
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they're wholesome comforting and
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engaging and they don't fall prey to the
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problems that I've historically
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struggled with Slice of Life where
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conflict is either non-existent or
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incredibly contrived but there's
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something specifically about Skip and
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loafer that's really interesting I can't
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think of a single protagonist I want to
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root for more than mitsumi she's just a
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beam of sunshine and while I think she
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may be the strongest example from this
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group it's true about all of these
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protagonists they are people I really
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want to root for I love when heroes are
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super empathetic and kind
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I love when writers create well-made
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challenges for characters to work
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through because essentially consuming
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any piece of media is a choice it's a
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trade-off where you dedicate precious
00:10:07
resources like time and money while
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giving a Storyteller the opportunity to
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share what they've created when it's
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done well it's just so sick now I think
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mitsumi from Skip and loafer is
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specifically a very good example of this
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she has an incredibly noble cause and
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pursuit the story starts off with her
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kind of blissfully unaware of all the
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mean things going on around her
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something I love about her character is
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she doesn't stay blissfully ignorant she
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learns adapts and stand stands up to the
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challenge I also think a big proponent
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of why these four protagonists are so
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easy to root for is the three pillars
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that preface this they're capable
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charming and flawed all three of these
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components working together to help
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create a character that's easy to
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support more than just protagonists but
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kind of everyday Heroes and in Fan's
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case a literal hero all four of these
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protagonists are kind of inherently kind
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trying to do their best to have a
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positive impact in their environment
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they're all outstanding characters with
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many traits to praise outside of the
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fact that they're just women but being
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woman is also important to the way
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they're written which leads to the fifth
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pillar the amount of impact that gender
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has on each one of these character
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stories is different mau's entire world
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and plotline are heavily influenced by
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the fact that she was a young woman born
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into her Society fan on the other hand
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is a fantasy world built with almost no
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implicit bias but while gender plays a
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different role in each story's plot it's
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well factored into all four of these
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protagonist character writing all of
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these characters have been praised
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numerous times online by many different
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creators take for example this great
00:11:27
anime YouTuber named inoc who talks
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about this subject a lot
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enaku enaku I've seen a couple of her
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videos breaking down female characters
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in the anime and enjoyed each one even
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about a month ago she beat me to this
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kind of premise for a video literally
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comparing female protagonists in furin
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and Mau I've been sitting on this video
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idea for a couple months but it was
00:11:47
really cool to see someone else land in
00:11:48
literally the exact same spot it was
00:11:50
also interesting how we explored the
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idea in such different ways it's a good
00:11:53
video If you like this topic at all you
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should check it out I'll put a link in
00:11:56
the description but the point I'm trying
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to make is that both her her and I love
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these characters and I think that's
00:12:01
representative of their quality I feel
00:12:03
very grateful that I have the
00:12:05
opportunity to watch and analyze media
00:12:07
the fact that I can put together videos
00:12:09
and make a career from it is really cool
00:12:11
but that's only possible because I'm
00:12:12
attaching myself onto fantastic pieces
00:12:14
of art part of the reason I chose to
00:12:17
make video essays about anime is because
00:12:19
the opportunity to talk about things
00:12:20
felt endless there are so many good
00:12:22
shows and characters things to explore
00:12:25
and standing right in the Forefront of
00:12:27
every story we consume
00:12:29
are protagonists I feel like we're
00:12:31
getting such a wide range of characters
00:12:34
and stories anime is not cheap to create
00:12:36
it takes tons of time effort and energy
00:12:39
so naturally Things fall through the
00:12:40
cracks that's part of the process but it
00:12:42
feels like the average quality of shows
00:12:44
being released lately is just constantly
00:12:46
Rising it's really cool that characters
00:12:48
so well written like these are starting
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to become more the norm than the
00:12:52
exception and I can't imagine I'm the
00:12:54
only one noticing it so cheers to all
00:12:56
the well-written characters out there
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especially while written female
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protagonists
00:13:03
[Music]
