Trunks: The Wounded Character | The Anatomy of Anime

Future Trunks flashing onto the scene out of nowhere taking out the most prolific villain in Dragonball history soon becoming one of the most popular characters in the entire series however with a saga that includes moments such as this I often felt as though a particular relationship dynamic was largely kept out of the spotlight so as I often do I decided to go to my Twitter to ask my followers what they thought asking the question which of these was your favorite relationship in Dragon Balls sellar I provided three options to choose from and with over two thousand votes cast the clear winner was Gohan and Goku and while I think there are definitely a lot of aspects to love about the relationship and interactions during this part of the story today I want to bring attention to and focus on or I believe is one of the most underrated fantastic and believable relationships ever told in Dragonball I want to take an in-depth look at how trunks and his scenes were written to achieve an emotional connection with the audience to explore how the supporting characters played a role in reinforcing this relationship and to explain how a father and son dynamic builds one of the most realistic and cathartic relationships in the show's history this is Future Trunks the wounded [Music] in storytelling what makes a character and story interesting is largely the conflict according to km ones book creating character arcs there are four aspects that make up the arc and the conflict in a character's mind these are the lie that they believe the thing they want the thing they need and the wound to begin our dissection of trunks is character I think it's important we first understand the storytelling term wound according to author km Wyland wound is movie speak for something in your character's past that haunts him often the wound will be something shocking and traumatic this wound from a traumatic event typically causes or is connected to the live the character believes which is the harboring of some deeply held misconception the character either believes about themselves the world or both in other words the characters wound often goes hand in hand with the lie that they believe and need to overcome over the course of the story for example in the case of Marvel's spider-man homecoming Peters wound is his Uncle Ben's murder it's something he blames himself for something that drives him throughout the stories one time and continues to do so today at the same time the lie that he believes is that he needs the suit to be spider-man that in order to be a hero he needs that special suit Tony Stark provided for him to which Tony Stark responds if you're nothing without this shoe then you shouldn't have it okay in this one scene Peter desire to help others is demonstrated his wound Uncle Ben's death motivating him but at the same time it's made evident through his own words that he doesn't fully believe in himself which is the lie his character beliefs in the case of trunks during his unveiling he comes off as a confident and capable fighter breezing through the largest foe the series has seen in an instant with a smirk on his face however shortly after we soon find out that he isn't as sure-footed as he initially appeared we eventually learned that trunks comes from an alternate future where everyone but himself Bulma and a few others have died the individuals responsible the androids Despicable cyborgs responsible for taking trunks his only father figure away from him Gohan this is trunks is wound trunks blames himself for Gohan's death and his timeline if he had been stronger if he had been better maybe he could have saved him as a result of this trauma the light trunks now believes is that he needs someone else to save his timeline for him he needs help additionally he deeply desires to meet and build a relationship of some form with the father he never had a chance to meet which leads me nicely into what I believe was trunks his most important play in the series his interactions with a certain character Samara Damiano the Cheetahs wound or traumatic life-changing event was his planets destruction and his upbringing under Frieza he was raised to believe that strength was all that mattered and that he was destined to be the strongest Saiyan however when he finds out that that isn't the case suddenly becoming stronger and demonstrating his superiority becomes the only thing that occupies his mind Vegeta now thinks that the only thing worth pursuing his power that is the lie that Vegeta believes and he puts up a strong guard against those that suggest otherwise however in trunks his first conversation with Goku before leaving to the past he comments that Vegeta looks lonely forms Goku that that was what made Bulma interact with him in the first place she had sympathy for Vegeta but that's not to say trunks is perfect either this is the terrific example of character values in conflict in John troubies book the anatomy of story he writes identify a set of values for your hero and each of the other main characters make each set of values as different from the others as possible as your hero and his opponents fight over the goal make sure their values come into direct conflict in other words establish the theme of your story set the main goal for all the characters to aim for and give all the characters pushing towards that goal different values in the case of trunks and Vegeta in this instance they are working towards the same goal but have vastly different ideas of what they think it takes to achieve that goal when the androids are woken up trunks unleashes a massive blast without warning after which Vegeta remarks that that was an entirely pointless effort which it was trunks believes that the androids are too monstrous and that they shouldn't even try he's ruled by fear and vengeance clouding his judgment leading to poor decisions being made Vegeta on the other side of the coin thinks that nothing can be greater than he is and that if they are that strong he should still be the one to face them anyway these actions are motivated by the wounds both characters have endured in their pasts resulting in them both living out the lies that they hold to be true trunks ruled by fear of loss and destruction deems it impossible to win without help and Vegeta believing only he can do it refusing any help however something happens during Vegeta's fight with 18 trunks remarks I never knew my father was so powerful he's holding his own against those androids androids we later find out are tougher than those in trunks his timeline trunks underestimates what he and others are capable of because of his fear and experiences however by that same token Vegeta overestimates what he is capable of casting aside the notion of ever working as part of a team it's worth mentioning at this point that trunks was correct in his estimations of the Android that alone Vegeta was no match for a teen once his stamina was drained however his estimation of what a Saiyan as capable of was skewed by fear and when faced with another father figure down one arm on the brink of death trunks acts on emotion making matters worse by including Android 17 trunks is naive but he doesn't know it yet Vegeta makes a lot of mistakes but he never makes the mistake of under estimating what he is capable of as mentioned by both piccolo and Goku in this arc Vegeta is a fighting genius demonstrating a mental toughness and resilience that trunks is sorely lacking perfectly shown by their first reactions to the inside of the time chamber with trunks distraught and Vegeta delighted due to the trauma of trunks is past and his belief that he needs help to succeed he can't clearly take stock of what he is capable of when that is all that Vegeta can see clearly above himself now locked in a room together Vegeta is forced to share a space with his son and trunks is forced to challenge his limits in ways he never thought possible the lies they tell themselves are almost perfect opposites trunks wants group cooperation but doesn't believe it himself Vegeta believes only in himself and wants nothing to do with teamwork both of their lives are in direct conflict and as a result they force each other to change [Music] the positive change arc sees the protagonist start out with varying degrees of denial and suffering as the story progresses he's forced to challenge his beliefs above both himself and the world around him until finally overcoming these inner demons changing for the better Vegeta realizes in this moment that he does care about other people he cares about his son despite being uncaring and unkind to the Past he dashes in to avenge his son in the same careless manner trunks stood against Android 18 this was not a smart move when Vegeta apologizes for moments later however to complete his arc for this saga he works as part of a team to defeat cell alongside Gohan playing the supporting role thanks to trunks Vegeta whether he wants to admit it now or not cares that has grown as a character for the better trunks woods revived after all his experience through his time with the main cast has overcome his internal struggle - he now believes that he has what it takes to protect his future again this is similar to the plot of spider-man homecoming as Peter is seen being crushed beneath a large and very heavy object he cries out for help but no one answers through his struggles in the film he realizes that the help Tony gave him didn't make him spider-man he is and always has been spider-man and people are depending on a Peter rising to the occasion utilizing his wound as a motivation to overcome his lie results in one of the most moving and inspirational moments of the film in that same wave Vegeta and the rest of the supporting cast helped motivate and improve trunks to the point where he no longer needs help he can take care of his world alone he always had that ability or potential in him he just couldn't see it he is no longer a boy he is now a man there are tons of famous father and son stories in fiction where both characters address their shortcomings and ultimately challenge each other to be better in ways they would never have been able to do alone having given myself the time to reflect upon the story that was told between these two characters through this lens I now see and better understand how important this aspect of the narrative was in creating the moments we all loved and appreciated on the sir thanks to the addition of trunks the past traumas of both himself and Vegeta were exposed and challenged for the better ultimately forcing each other to heal from their past traumas to relinquish their lies they believed and to adopt a new truth moving forward this relationship is a complex tale full of innocence hope pride and ultimately catharsis and it's thanks to this father and sons story we've learned that in order to heal you need to call attention to and address the wounded characters thanks for watching you

Channel: Totally Not Mark

Views: 744,508

Keywords: trunks, trunks the wounded character, vegeta, trunks and vegeta, goku the misunderstood character, freeza the unsympathetic villain, gohan, freeza, totally not mark, how to write dragon ball, how to write anime, how strong is, dragon ball, dragon ball super, dragon ball z, dbz, power level, dragon ball super returns, dragon ball super teaser, super saiyan blue, ultra instinct, broly, goku vs, broly vs, future trunks, character arc, flat character arc, the anatomy of anime

Id: LWDJL5LHiVA

Length: 11min 11sec (671 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 25 2019