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Anime: Older is better

PostPosted:Fri Oct 21, 2011 2:42 pm
by Don
Another interesting trend I noticed is that in Anime, although most of them deals with stuff physical in nature, and that even in fictional worlds the process of aging still takes a toll on the characters, getting older (as in, way past your prime) is still always better. In most Anime whoever is strongest is almost always an extremely old guy. Now it might be okay if the strongest Wizard in the world is a very old guy, but even in clearly areas of physical nature you still usually have an old guy as the strongest. Whitebeard needs IV fluids to just stay alive and is the strongest man in OP (or was). The leader of the captains in Bleach is clearly meant to be the strongest and he's also stupidly old. Yet these stories will also remind you that these guys are old and are weaker compared to their prime.

I guess the point could be that these guys were even more stupidly powerful back in their prime, and kids these days are just way too weak, except 99.9% of the time the generic Anime is about how the new generation surpassed the old guard.

As a corollary, being in your prime pretty much means nothing in Anime. In the end, the guy who is really the strongest in the world is almost always a kid or a very old guy. Being in your prime is only beneficial if you're a villian. If you're a good guy, that means you're most likely going to die so some kid can avenge for you.