Satoru Gojo Shouldn't Work

all right hey guys so I'm going just come right out and say it saturo goio shouldn't work as a heroic main character he breaks some of the most fundamental storytelling rules of his archetype but you and I know that he does work he works amazingly in fact I would guess that the only reason that you're invested in Jiu-Jitsu Kaizen as much as you are is because of satu okay maybe like sukuna as well because he's just a really awesome character and worthy of his own video but saturo Gojo is the main draw of the show and as a novel and script editor I'm always fascinated by a character that breaks the mold and stands unique in such a saturated fictional field and a lot of you are probably interested too so what I want to do today is quickly break down sa through for all of you writers out there who want to write similar characters or for those of you who just plain love the character period first things first though is going over how SAU does fit into the traditional archetypes that have already been established you have to master the fundamentals before you subvert them after all a lot of the core aspects of sau's character are things I already went over in my mentor video so check that out if you want more details but here we can really focus on three key aspects the first is satu functions like any other powerful Mentor he is brought in extremely early into the story to be a power scaler for the main character and audience all that means is saaru provides us Watchers with a reference point for how powerful our main characters and others can be speaking from a functional perspective this is most often done by showing the powerful Mentor character defeating a villain that the less powerful main characters could not beat on their own some great examples of this are Kakashi and all might which act perfectly because both those Mentor characters seem to be huge Inspirations for satu but you can decide that on your own all might was introduced absolutely Dem demolishing the Slime villain that midorya was helpless against Kakashi's prowess was established early when he wiped the floor with Zabuza in their first meeting after he revealed his shingan and of course satar's power scaling comes in the very first episode where he just straight up toys with suca the most legendary cursed Spirit these styles of introduction accomplish a few things on a narrative level as said before the first is power scaling simple the next is actually a bit of save the cat for those of you who are unfamiliar a very popular technique in writing is to have a character do a good action early on so that we the audience or readers can see their positive morality and start to like them there is a whole book on it literally and some fictions take it very literally for these Mentor characters that I have went over protecting their students is their version of saving the cat people putting their lives on the line and rescuing those less powerful automatically makes them seem cool cool and likable again this aspect of sau's character is very traditional he is an elder brother figure and guardian to Yuji our blossoming main character and this Dynamic has played out in countless other fictions that you probably really like too the second common aspect that satu shares with Kakashi and all might and honestly many more is defining the Power Balance within the fiction this means that the character simply existing makes it harder for the antagonist to achieve their goals while it wasn't talked about much at the beginning of the series Kakashi was one of the most famous and feared ninjas in the entire world he was a child prodigy the second youngest person to ever become an U Black Ops ninja and one of the few people in the world with a Sharingan Kakashi was a massive part of the leaf Village's power which is why he was entrusted to train the last duha and the son of the fourth Hokage Al might is even more straightforward he's literally just called the symbol of peace villains don't even want to do crime while he's around his power is so overwhelming and self-evident that it makes the world a safer Place simply by him being satru is also part of this group a season 2 episode details how sat's existence keeps the cursed spirits and Sorcerers from running a muck he alone could stop them all so the villains have to restrain themselves and be very careful the rest of the Jiu-Jitsu Sorcerers look to him as a wall between them and destruction this is a very Superman esque way of building up a character but it works in jiujitsu kaisen for satu and has worked in many other stories before it and speaking of Superman we can move on to the third and final aspect overwhelmingly powerful characters like Superman or the others we've talked about are usually written to have innate weaknesses or limitations in their powers getting back to all might and Kakashi all might's Quirk was undisputably the best but he couldn't use it for long periods of time because of his his injury Kakashi with his shingon was nearly unbeatable in the OG Naruto but it took a ton of chakra which limited how much he could use it and how long he could fight in writing this is often referred to as a character's Kryptonite it's the introduction of a narrative mechanic that keeps a character from being all powerful having a character with vulnerabilities means that a riter can create tension and suspense around their success this Kryptonite technique is used for almost every Ultra powerful fictional character except Sato Gojo he is not part of this third group and this is where he vastly differentiates himself from the other typical powerful characters satu as far as the anime has shown has no innate weaknesses or limitations associated with his power and every time the villains think they have discovered some way to bypass his skills he simply displays even more power to stop them it appears that there is no way to actually fight saturo Gojo you either have to run away from him or restrain him standing in a contest against his power is simply not an option and this is where satu starts to resemble another character that I went over in a previous video John Wick at least in the first movie here's what I mean John Wick was not viewed by his enemies as a man that had weaknesses or false limitations or restraints nor was he depicted as such in any of his scenes all of John's weaknesses were wrapped up in his wife and his dog so when both of them died he became untethered Jon could not be reasoned with slowed down or stopped and it's because of all these characteristics that I classify John Wick as a force of nature character specifically death incarnate now while Jon is not Supernatural in the first movie he is Unstoppable and he is compared to Supernatural entities the in my video on John Wick I break down how much of his Allure comes from him being a hero written Like a Villain the character is terrifying and deadly and unmerciful but we still root for him because he is fighting for the helpless or avenging the slain where the villains usually Inspire fear in the heroes John Wick inspires fear in the villains and saturo Gojo does the same saturo Gojo is written Like a Villain during the fight in Shia it is the villains who are scrambling and panicking trying to defeat him it is the villains who are mourning the deaths of their comrades at sat's hands they are petrified of him as they rightfully should be because he is a force of nature that cannot be stopped but satro being written Like a Villain isn't what makes him so unique other characters have done that too obviously what makes saturo Stand Out is that his disposition isn't written to be in line with those other characters see usually force of nature characters or at least Ultra powerful Heroes have one of two factors that keep them likable they are either stoic and somber or they are childlike and merciful this is a almost Universal trait for Ultra powerful characters that aren't villains you have your serious characters like John Wick Yamoto from bleach or Dr Manhattan from Watchman who conduct themselves in a more dutiful reserved way or you have Ang Goku and hashirama who temper their immense power with youthful exuberance and playfulness the reason these two routes are taken is because they provide the easiest path for a rider to maintain a character's like ability and that's because Ultra powerful characters who are either stoic or childlike do not kill for pleasure they kill often but not for pleasure the stoics feel like they are pushed to do it because of the actions of The Selfish villains they have no quals with killing but do it because they've been left with no other viable choices the childlike characters are the exact same way just represented conversely they love expressing their skills in battle but they will do everything in their power not to kill opting instead to make friends or forgiveness this is because across fictions dating back thousands of years Ultra powerful characters who also enjoy killing are almost universally V or at the very least depicted as immoral having a character find pleasure in death is an almost instant way to have an audience dislike them mistrust them and want to see them stopped Kid Buu definitionally had a childlike disposition but he loved killing so he was a villain cell on the other hand was stoic and rules oriented but he loved killing so he was a villain but paradoxically and super interestingly this is the space that Sato Gojo occupies from everything we've seen he genuinely loves killing cursed spirits and his enemies it puts a massive smile on his face but what this means is that saturo Gojo isn't written Like a Villain saturo Gojo is a villain he just happens to be the lesser of two evils so we agree with him and accept him as the alternative he's our villain and the way Sato Gojo is able to operate inside this space is because he is expertly written to embody both the stoic and childlike archetypes satu for all intense and purposes is a [Music] God within the logic of the show there is nothing that can stand against him at least no person his powers defy time space and the typical conventions of thought and that Godlike power is reflected in his personality he is childlike because he never has to take anything seriously nothing can hurt him and when things do happen to hurt him he figures out a way to hurt them even more he treats those standing against him as toys like a villain would he sees his opponents as play things for fun because nothing stands on his level there's nothing more he enjoys than showing off like a kid playing a game he craves the moment he can utterly embarrass and humiliate his opposition just before annihilating the he actively enjoys killing with his power and doesn't need to be pushed to do it but in tandem with that childlike enthusiasm for killing he has the power of a God and commands the serious presence of one in the middle of both his daily life and combat he'll go from silly sorcerer to stoic calculating strategist he knows exactly what he needs to do to accomplish his goals and has the infinite power to do it satu shouldn't be able to behave like this while still maintaining audience likeability but it works like Batman doesn't trust Superman to stay good just cuz it's the right thing to do we shouldn't trust satu either but we do and I think the reason he is so likable aside from the villains being pure evil is that we audience members are simply in awe of sat's godhood we don't care he may be sadistic and murderous and all powerful but he has pretty eyes and cool hair and he fights people we don't like so we claim him satu is just human enough just kind enough for we Watchers to not completely see him as alien but also definitely malicious enough for me not to feel comfortable calling him a hero it honestly reminds me of worshippers going on their knees before an Old Testament God knowing that he will destroy his enemies and that he's all powerful but we like it because he's our God saturo Gojo wants to protect human lives and save the world but only if he gets to do a lot of murder on the way so through is one of the most interesting and dynamic characters I've seen in anime and I've seen a lot of anime and while they're definitely still is more to come from him hopefully now we all understand him just a little bit better because he's really freaking cool anyway thanks for watching all the way until the end if you like what you heard leave a like comment and subscribe if you want to check out my books or have me as your editor check out my website for editing services in my rids I also made a Tik Tok so go there if you want to help out also I have a patreon sign up for that if you want anyway as always it was a pleasure and I'll talk to you all again soon

Channel: Savage Books

Views: 291,059

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Id: 6qT8xYvBeKg

Length: 14min 1sec (841 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 10 2023