Yes, of course, the mangaka has his/her reasons for making the character that way; but, what we do not know is that they have a pattern for each character, a simple logic of nature.
To go straight to the point, I will unfold the different psychological disorders majority of the anime/manga characters have in a rather unscientific manner.
My very first example would be Noda Megumi of Nodame Cantabile. As fans here may have noticed, Nodame is quite erratic at times and easily gets depressed or down and is not really friends with cleanliness. If you look closely, she’s quite like Beethoven in almost every way. To further explain as to why Nodame has been acting this way, she has a Bipolar Mood Disorder. Simply speaking, Nodame is portraying an exaggerated change of mood from extremely erratic to moderately or extremely sad. And when I say erratic, I mean her losing control over her actions because of happiness (just think of her piano playing.)And remember what Shin’ichi told Nodame about how she plays? “You really play based on your feelings.”
Another rather infamous character who’s moulded by a certain disorder would be Shinji Ikari of Neon Genesis Evangelion. Shinji is not only shy; he’s drowning in a pit of fear. He’s not the type of character that most people would actually look up to and say, “Hey, he’s cool!” But Shinji’s character lived and is liked because people actually sometimes see their personalities in him (although Shinji’s personality would be an exaggeration and yes, that exaggeration happens in real life.) He’s the type of person who has a very low self-esteem and has a lot of insecurities. And these two are terrible to the extent of these two being a hindrance to his socialization with other people and his personal growth. Believe it or not, Shinji’s personality actually has a name. For formality, it is called Avoidant Personality Disorder.
And, of course, how can we forget Shinji’s counterpart, Asuka Langley Sohryu of the same psychologically disturbing Anime. If Shinji is the submissive one, then Asuka must be the dominating one. She really doesn’t like entertaining anyone whom she thinks is quite better than her. To put it straight, she doesn’t want anyone to be better than her. Doesn’t this personality ring a bell? This type of personality is just everywhere; may it be an exaggeration of admiration to oneself or thinking that she/he is perfect (or almost). Narcissistic Personality Disorder, we hear it everywhere or we might have said it ourselves; but, this disorder is not as simple as we perceive it to be. Asuka’s character had had many troubles with herself and with her relationship with other people.
Those three characters are just a few of the numerous characters with disorders. When we see it in the television, we think it’s fun or intriguing or interesting; however, when we deal with it in real life, can we actually view it the same way? I don’t think so. But I hope we get to learn from these characters in one way or another.
Do you know of any other character whom you think portrays a psychological disorder?
Nodame picture: http://randomc.animeblogger.net
Shinji Ikari picture: http://www.absoluteanime.com
Asuka Sohryu picture: http://www.gamespot.com
Note: This might be just the first part of a series and to all psychology majors, bear with me. If there's anything wrong, give me a message or leave a comment here.
' isn't it?
