Academics: Protagonists and My Understanding of Them

Heroes, baddies, and confusion. Ready to analyze?

Hey everyone, it's Lin here. It's been a loooong time since I've actually written something and I'm so sorry about that. Unfortunately, Hibiki is going to be taking a...break with no particular time frame attached. Bummer.

But we're not here to talk about that today! I'm going to be using this post as a means to talk about something I had some confusion on recently that I'd like to share with a number of people. Perhaps people who have had the same problem as I do or perhaps don't know they had the problem till they read this.

You see, I have a tumblr and if you don't know that then it's this link: http://gammaatsu.tumblr.com/ (enjoy btw). This is important because I currently am doing a 30 Day Challenge. Sounds productive, no? Well it's not, it's a 30 Day Video Game Challenge, haHA! :>

I ran into one of the days that I thought I pretty much had in the bag, but I questioned myself and asked a friend if I was correct in believing what I did. "The guys from PayDay can count as my favorite antagonists, right?"

Yeah, these slick lookin guys.

I was immediately shot down by a "No. Those guys are protagonists". I couldn't, for the life of me, wrap my head around why these guys are protagonists. They literally shoot police. A lot of them. For money. And drugs. And "THE GOLD....". At first I was absolutely sure of my answer; there was no way in my mind that the guys from PayDay, as much as I love them because they're just so cool, are protagonists. I decided to look up the definition of 'protagonist' so it can clear up things. It gave me a definition that they are the "leading character, hero or heroine" (dictionary.com). But that just contradicts each other; sure the PayDay guys may be leading characters, but to call them heroes is just...wrong. No one would call them heroes for the things they do and what they do it for. I was thoroughly confused...a dictionary has never confused me so much before and I needed to do some more research.

Well...they are. I was wrong. The issue I found was that media had disillusioned me that protagonist immediately had to mean "hero". That isn't always the case. A protagonists is the point of view which the media is supposed to take, even if they are a villain. The relationship between the reader, listener, watcher, player...is to empathize with the protagonist or see themselves in the protagonist, regardless of what where on the alignment spectrum they may be.


And let's be honest, good characters aren't straight laced. Most characters in media (at least good ones who aren't in children's books) aren't fully a hero...think of yourself as a protagonist in a story. Most people believe themselves to be good people, however even the best people of today have done some wrong things in the past. They're never perfect and we shouldn't have expectations for them to be perfect, just as we don't or shouldn't have expectations for ourselves to always be absolutely perfect either.

This is the same reason why I couldn't ever have any emotional attachment to Sora from Kingdom Hearts. He's a nice kid, but he's also just too 'good', too 'perfect', too 'white knight' for me to empathize with.

I think protagonists are best understood with first understanding what an antagonist is. Let's take PayDay, the main example of this post, again. We take the viewpoint of four guys trying to rob banks, jewelry stores, nightclubs, galleries, what have you, for money. Who is the antagonist?

Well, first off what is an antagonist? An antagonist is someone who places obstacles and challenges in front of the character you are following. They are the person who is opposes the lead character's viewpoint, lifestyle, or actions and therefore can take their own actions to prevent the lead character from moving forward. Antagonists can also be literally anyone or even anything (even things like nature or abstract), as long as they are creating issue with the lead character. A tsunami can count or so can a spell that's going to wipe out the whole planet if the protagonists don't stop it in time. Identifying an antagonist is empirical; it's based on experiencing or observing a situation through a certain pair of eyes versus logically stepping back and determining who's a hero. Afterall, evil characters can develop and change into heroic characters. You just never know.

Both Lust and Scar work as evil to heroic characters. While you can argue that one is on the spectrum of evil moreso than the other, they both have done misdeeds, yet died in ways that was to redeem themselves, a trope known as "Redemption = Death". Also, spoilers, but honestly if you haven't watched FMA by now, that's your fault.

Back to the example. Who is the antagonist? Should be obvious by now: the police. We know that in the PayDay series that the people who shoot at you, regardless of anything, are the police. They are clear antagonists, since they're literally shooting at you. So who is the protagonist? It has to be the PayDay crew...because they are the eyes we're looking through, regardless of whether or not they're posing heroes.

Okay! So that's about it for today. I hope this post didn't drag on too long and you enjoyed it. Perhaps you learned something......perhaps you didn't. Nevertheless, till next time!

Story Time: My Lolita Tale

First Row(left to right): Gothic, Sweet, Shiro, Kuro
Second Row: Hime, Country, Sailor, Classic
Third Row: Punk, Guro, Ero, Maid/Cosplay
Fourth Row: Aristocrat, Wa, and lastly, Oji/Kodona

It's really not as dramatic as the title, hehe. But here we go. This is my lolita story. I first encountered lolita probably through anime when I was young. Maybe 14 or so. It was punk lolita. Chains, ties, cool metal stuff on my clothes, eyeliner...it looked (and still looks) pretty cool to me, even if at the moment I definitely wouldn't do it, but respect those who do. But at the time I was into covering my figure a lot. I was conscious about me being fat, gross, ugly, all of that...and even though I really wanted to be into lolita, this was my first road block that stopped me...my own self-consciousness.

Sewing Adventures: Lolita Skirt!

Hi everyone, it's Lin with exciting news! I finally made my first lolita piece of clothing... simple half elastic skirt! This is my first time ever really doing a piece of clothing in general...I've never really did anything people could wear other than this, so I'm happy.

I wanted to post my own "lolita story", but I think it'll have to wait. I'll probably do an audio for it instead, in case you guys wanna hear it.

Sewing Adventures: Doggy Coat!

Hey everyone! It's Lin here with a new blog post. Sorry it took so long...there's been a lot of things that been going on, including lots of distractions and the like. I did get a LOT of sewing done within the last 2 weeks though. The next two posts will be about the projects I worked on. But this post will be about one of them...a dual sided coat I made for my doggy, Nia!

Cosplay Part 2: Drawing out the costume!

Hello everyone, Lin here with part 2 of the cosplay setup and...okay, so it's not just drawing...to further my use of watercoloring, I decided to also paint it too!

So why did I decide to suddenly want to draw and paint out Lulu? Simple...

Our First Creation!

Hey everyone! Another fashiony, artsy post from Lin, this time with an actual product! Yesterday Hibiki and I went to the store to get an iron and an ironing board to finally start working on some projects...I had heard pressing is absolutely needed when it comes to sewing, so we went and got one. The iron is a Rowenta Effective Comfort Iron with vertical steam, auto shut off sprayer and a knob where you can adjust the temperature depending on the fabric you're working with.

Cosplay Part 1: A New Sewing Machine Get!

Hey everyone, it's Lin with the first fashion post I've ever made on Symphonic Reverie...exciting! Two days ago I got a sewing machine at an extremely reasonable price along with some awesome fabrics. This is my first sewing machine and I am an extreeeeme novice....I've never sewn before. But if you read my section of the 'About' page, I do have experience with crochet and knitting and other yarny crafts.

Janome 1117s. Works perfectly! :> I think it's pretty damn adorable.

A Look Into Elder Scrolls Online Beta

Hey everyone! It's Lin with a review on Elder Scrolls Online beta that happened just this weekend. This isn't my first time playing the beta, actually...this is my second time, the first time I was invited to participate during November of last year. What I saw was not pleasing, something I will elaborate on further. Then why is it that I decided to come back? I was told that there were significant changes to the game and, hearing this, I took the bait. And I was happy to find that they were right...it's an excellent game and feels very different. So what changes made it so this game turn into a bad game into a great one...?

White Album 2 - 01

Sorry! It's been a while since my last post. I know White Album 2 finished last season but I didn't learn about it's existence till recently. I was a fan of the first season so I had to watch this one.

Second Audio is UP!

Sorry guys, it's been a little busy on my half and I haven't been releasing content as much recently, but I just put up the audio review for Log Horizon Episode 1! Please listen to it if you can and let me know any constructive criticism...as I said before, this is my first time really doing anything like this and I hope to hone fine my vocal cords to be more pleasing. Anyway! Please give it a listen and share with your friends! Have a good day!

Log Horizon: Episode 2

Hey everybody, welcome to Log Horizon: Episode 2's overview! I'm Lin, here to summarize what happened and give you my thoughts on the reveals in the episode. Let's go!

Log Horizon Episode 1

Hey everyone! Lin here! I'm very pleased to announce that I will be taking over the anime overviews of 'Log Horizon'...what a pleasure! This anime is one that came out during the fall of last year and though it was recommended to me by a very good friend of mine, I never took the time to watch it till now. And boy do I regret it...I loved it at first episode!
Note: This post will be longer than the rest of the posts because it's an introduction to this anime and a lot of its components. Proceeding overviews of this anime will be noticeably shorter.

First Audio Review is UP!

Persona 4 the Animation's audio review is up and running right now! Please go over there and give it a listen and in the comments feel free to give me some tips about what you thought of the whole thing. Let me know if I should keep doing them if you like it! Also, below is the newest review of State of Decay, one of the next upcoming audios if all goes well. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Game Reviews: State of Decay

Hello everyone, Lin here with a review on the single player zombie survival, State of Decay! While there's been a lot of zombie survival type of media (especially games) out there nowadays, State of Decay (SoD) is interesting because it's probably one of the firsts to start implementing RPG elements to the genre.

Saki Zenkoku Hen - 06

It's Hibiki Snow again with an impression of the latest episode of Saki Zenkoku Hen! Since I enjoy playing mahjong a little too much, I there's no way I wouldn't be watching this.

Audio Recordings... To Be Done Today!

Morning everyone, Lin here letting you know that my new mic came in just yesterday and I have finally gotten it working to a sufficient level. I don't believe I mentioned this on my 'About' page, but I've always been a fan of podcasts, discussions and reviews in audio form, usually for travel. Being able to listen to a review in the car, on your phone, at work, etc without the need to be at your computer is something that's really awesome. Therefore, like the ones I admire, I wish to make audio recordings for your convenience.

So all audio recordings of relevant review posts are planning to be done today. Be on the look out for changes in the past posts and always feel free to give me critiques on what I can do to sound better for you!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Hey everyone! It's Lin, wishing everyone a (rather late) Happy Valentine's Day from Symphonic Reverie! :> I hope everyone got chocolates or gifts from their significant other or, hell, if you're single, I hope you showed how much you appreciate yourself!

Here's a few media related valentine cards found all around the net. Which one's your favorite?

Rating Anime and Video Games, an Explanation, Part 2

Hey guys, Lin here with Part 2 of my rating system. To start off, I'll let you know that anime and video game criteria merge. Every subject that is analyzed in anime is also done in video games, however, video games has criteria which is not analyzed in anime...

I'll start with giving very brief descriptions of shared criteria before going into other ratings that specific to anime or VGs.

1. Characters. I judge characters based on how real main characters feel and whether or not they can be related to. I think that good fictional characters have major strengths, but they also have flaws and weaknesses. Examples of bad characters are marysues or one dimensional characters.
2. Dialogue: Cringe worthy one-liners don't get many points, you'd imagine. Dialogue is just how smoothly lines go with each other and how appropriate their script is. Cursing three times in a sentence doesn't make your lines any more meaningful.

Rating Anime and Video Games, An Explanation, Part 1

Hey guys, Lin here with an explanation on how I rate anime and video games on SR. First off, keep in mind I'm going to be calling both of them 'games', as a means to make everything sound a little smoother. So don't think I just mean video games when I make this post...I mean both!

Okay, so if you've read any of my review posts, you'll already know that I use a scale of 1-10, where 1 is the lowest and 10 is the highest. When people see that I give something a 5, they think it's a low score, but that's not true. A 2 is a low score. A 3 is a disappointment. When I give something a 5, I mean the number between 1 and 10. It is average.

"But Lin, what does average mean?"

It means that the game fulfilled the criteria to at least keep up with the game out around it's year of development or current games in it's genre, depending on when it was made. There is not particularly anything bad about it, yet not anything spectacular. It is not inspiring in its genre of games. Scores that fall in this range usually are aspects that are not really talked about because they don't make a big difference. They are easily forgotten or overshadowed by very good things or very bad things. It is simply average.

Anime Reviews: Persona 4 The Animation

Hey everyone, Lin here with the first review for Symphonic Reverie, Persona 4 The Animation! I'll going over how I felt about various aspects of the anime, what could have been better, what did really well and more.

Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai! Ren Episode 4

Classic Dekomori Sanae and Nibutani Shinka

First anime impression post!  This is the second season of Chuunibyou Demo Koi Ga Shitai! and I really enjoy this series.

Greetings!!

I'm Lin, one of the other collabers for SR! I moved here from 7logic.blogspot.com in hopes that this blog will come in handy to centralize my content. Most of my content will be about video games, anime, art (my own or others), beauty and music... I will probably do a combined review with Hibiki when it comes to anime, but...............let's be honest, most likely a large majority of my content will be about games. :>

In other news, I hope to eventually be able to start up a regular podcast on here, which would be jdsifjsbidsufdsAMAZING! Anyway! Please keep in touch with this blog to read the articles!!

Introduction

Hi! Hibiki Snow here. As you can see, this blog is just kicking off so there's really nothing on here at the moment. This blog's content is going to contain whatever interests me or my partner. For me, I'm going to focus on talking about anime and manga, so you can expect to see reviews and impressions on an anime or manga I'm currently following or what I find is exciting news that I come across. I also enjoy playing video games so I might throw in some gaming content here and there as well. Mainly though, I'll post anything that I feel is worth mentioning. I'm looking forward to the future of this blog and I hope it'll be enjoyable for everyone.