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Your favorite anime villain?
barcibus:
--- Quote from: sdedalus83 on June 23, 2010, 04:56:42 PM ---A protagonist cannot be a villain in the narrative sense. A villain is always an antagonist.
Hell, even if Light had been the antagonist, he'd still be an antihero, not a villain.
--- End quote ---
This isn't true. Just about any place you look for the definition of villain makes it clear that a villain is simply an evil-doer in a story. Any other rules people come up with are their own interpretations.
As for my favorites, I'd say Griffith, or Light. Villains like Vicious are too simple imo, they serve their purpose to give the good-guys something to fight, but aren't much else.
SeventyX7:
--- Quote from: barcibus on June 23, 2010, 07:08:39 PM ---
--- Quote from: sdedalus83 on June 23, 2010, 04:56:42 PM ---A protagonist cannot be a villain in the narrative sense. A villain is always an antagonist.
Hell, even if Light had been the antagonist, he'd still be an antihero, not a villain.
--- End quote ---
This isn't true. Just about any place you look for the definition of villain makes it clear that a villain is simply an evil-doer in a story. Any other rules people come up with are their own interpretations.
As for my favorites, I'd say Griffith, or Light. Villains like Vicious are too simple imo, they serve their purpose to give the good-guys something to fight, but aren't much else.
--- End quote ---
In strict literary terminology a "villain" is pretty much synonymous with "antagonist" so Light isn't a villain in that sense. In the colloquial sense, however, Light is a villain. He's evil. That's the sense I thought this thread was about.
Oh, and executing people who've already been convicted of crimes and are serving their sentences like how Light did it was killing innocents.
Zephyria:
--- Quote from: Devergo on June 23, 2010, 06:41:52 PM ---Please try to post a picture of your pick, maybe not everyone has seen that particular character, thx! ;D
--- End quote ---
Can't imagine people not knowing Light, but no problem!
I'd call 'Kira' Light more of a villain than an antihero. (click to show/hide)Yes at first he only punishes criminals, but he ends up trying to proclaim himself as a god, which in itself arguably constitutes an evil person. Then he kills not only what he decides as evil people, but anyone who opposes him. He also uses Misa for his own ends, knowing she is going to shorten her lifespan, not once, but twice! This isn't a "gray area of morality" here. When you kill that many people who haven't done wrong to others, it's villainy.
Light is just a well written villain who happens to be the main character. Death Note could've easily been written from L and Near's perspectives, since they are the "heroes" of Death Note, but it would have been less interesting. That doesn't make Light any less of a villain, even though he is the protagonist. I use the same reasoning Wikipedia does,
--- Quote from: Wiki ---However, it is entirely possible for a story's protagonist to clearly be the villain of the piece, as is evident with characters like Vic Mackey (from The Shield), Tony Soprano (The Sopranos) and Walter White (Breaking Bad).
--- End quote ---
Non-Kira Light could be considered a "hero" I suppose.
lStealtherl:
--- Quote from: SeventyX7 on June 23, 2010, 09:20:39 PM ---
--- Quote from: barcibus on June 23, 2010, 07:08:39 PM ---
--- Quote from: sdedalus83 on June 23, 2010, 04:56:42 PM ---A protagonist cannot be a villain in the narrative sense. A villain is always an antagonist.
Hell, even if Light had been the antagonist, he'd still be an antihero, not a villain.
--- End quote ---
This isn't true. Just about any place you look for the definition of villain makes it clear that a villain is simply an evil-doer in a story. Any other rules people come up with are their own interpretations.
As for my favorites, I'd say Griffith, or Light. Villains like Vicious are too simple imo, they serve their purpose to give the good-guys something to fight, but aren't much else.
--- End quote ---
In strict literary terminology a "villain" is pretty much synonymous with "antagonist" so Light isn't a villain in that sense. In the colloquial sense, however, Light is a villain. He's evil. That's the sense I thought this thread was about.
Oh, and executing people who've already been convicted of crimes and are serving their sentences like how Light did it was killing innocents.
--- End quote ---
In strict terminology villain is not synonymous with antagonist. It is the evil-doer. That those two often coincidice does not make them synonyms! Lets make up some stupid examples.
Kings are often rich. That does not make "king" and "rich" synonyms.
Frogs are often green. That does not make "frog" and "green" synonyms.
Villains are often antagonists. Neither here are "villain" and "antagonist" synonyms.
Pretty much agree with the examples of why I personally think of Light as a villain, however good intentions he originally had. It does not justify any means necessary in order to achieve it, in my view. He crossed my line of "imaginary evil" (since evil is made up anyway and each persons boundaries vary) way too many times. Not to mention he lost the goal somewhere along the way.
summertime:
Villain is not synonymous with antagonist. The protagonist is simply the main figure of a story, the character around whom the plot revolves. The antagonist is the opposing figure to the protagonist. Therefore Light is the protagonist and L is the antagonist. Obviously, L is a good guy, so he's not a villain.
That would make Light the villain, but I'd rather give examples other than exclusion. Setting the problem if the act of killing an evil man is evil aside, he's the villain of the story also because:
1. He's guilty of murdering uncorrupted law enforcers.
2. He's guilty of murdering innocent citizens and by that I mean his "publicists". As far as his other victims are concerned, he killed prisoners who allegedly "deserved the death penalty many times over"; that hardly makes them innocent, even if convicted.
3. The police chase him. :D
Thus, he's a villain and a protagonist. And Death Note is not the only work of art employing this technique. There are many other examples of plots and stories relying on the villain's point of view, say How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Dexter, etc.
Back to the topic at hand, I think I'll mention Reika Kitami from Bible Black. Cause there's hardly a hentai with a more prominent story line. ::)
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