Zamasu: Turning Characters Evil | The Anatomy of Anime

no photo whoo hot Sui you may who knows a BOSU is a character unlike any other in Dragonball while the vast majority of the series villains up until this point were introduced as pure evil samosa was the first character in Dragonball history to actually develop into one beginning his story as the Supreme Kai in training with understandable naive adolescent concerns by the ending we see him as a radicalized megalomaniacal genocide all psychopath characters like cell and Frieza have fantastic utility within storytelling because of their pure evil nature and I actually wrote a video on that too however because the MAS who didn't start as a villain and instead gradually developed into one both he and Goku black showed us something we never had seen before in Dragon Ball and I'm going to show you how they did that today I'm gonna dive in depth discussing the character of zoom assume analyzing the dialogue and his unique character arc all in an effort to figure out how and why writers turn their characters evil this is Samus [Music] okay so right off the bat I can already hear what some of you out there might be asking so what if samus who started as someone with good motivations he eventually became an evil character just like Frieza and self why does it matter if he started as good well characters that undergo this negative change have something which characters like Frieza and cells don't have emotional resonance and believability they are rooted more in reality and so we can understand and empathize with their motivations much more easily because we see how they came to be that way now that doesn't mean that we believe they're right or even have a point but we can see more clearly how they came to be which creates a more realistic connection to the viewer a well-crafted negative change arc provides viewers with a character that reveals interesting truths both about the world and about the viewers themselves when structured properly a negative change arc can act as a cautionary tale that can inspire great change in all of us don't tell Harry but to fully understand the negative change arc and how to write one it's important to first understand the most common arc found in fiction you'll find this arc in Marvel into the spider-verse Dragon Ball Game of Thrones and pretty much every other story taught and this arc is called the positive change arc in kmy Allen's book called creating character arcs she describes the positive change arc in it she says the positive change arc is all about the lie the character believes the character is harboring some deeply held misconception about either himself the world or both in other words the lie the character believes is sort of the characters flaw often the main protagonists will spend the majority of the story addressing and coming to grips with this lie before coming out on the other side a changed person for the better having rejected their lie and adopting a new truth for example before the beginning of Dragon Ball Z picollo jr. is revealed as the spawn of the former King Piccolo as the villain and antagonistic character for Goku to overcome during the 2013 Chi Chi Budokai and man is he a terrific character during this portion of the story unlike the conclusion to the prior saga Goku elects to not show piccolo the same faith his father meant as a result piccolo recovers then retreats what's interesting about this is that piccolo jr. is not who his father was but because he's the son of king piccolo piccolo believes that that's who he is this is the lie that he believes and it takes forces from another world and the son of his former nemesis to show him that he is his own person he's kind he's protective he's selfless resulting in one of the most emotionally resonant scenes in the entire series and this brings us to the negative change arc the negative change arc is essentially the positive change arc but flipped on its head instead of a character that grows out of his fall set into a better person the negative change arc presents a character who ends a new worst state than that in which he began the story if we look at su masu alongside someone like Frieza clear differences are observed when we first meet Frieza it's made abundantly clear that this guy is insane in the most dangerous of ways with goals that are clearly insidious similar conclusions could have been drawn about king piccolo Vegeta and self but this is clearly not what our first impression of zou masu is he's subservient patient motivated and somewhat anxious with his pure heart and good sensibilities reflected in the quality of the tea he prepares for his master the supreme kai of universe 10 kawasu however this anxiety he feels leads him to say this ningún thwa quantonium a motive it's insane anakata this is one of the many pivotal turning points for Zuma Sue's character which perfectly highlights the lie that he has been developing the belief that he is better than mortals by virtue of the fact that he holds a higher rank in the cosmos this conflict of emotions morals and duty is very interesting as author george RR martin has said the eternal struggle within a character's mind and morals are where the true wonder of complex character writing is found you have to take your characters and you have to put them through crises that's what fiction and drama is all about it's not your hero has a really good time things have to happen that close to characters who to question who they are and what their place in the world is and what the meaning of it all is to go through the dark nights of the soul and times of fear and terror and you know I've always taken as my mantra they had William Faulkner's words in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech where he said the human heart in conflict with itself is the only thing worth writing about in reality people are complicated they don't fit into perfect archetypes very easily and it's this very same emotional conflict that's observed in zoo masu during episode 53 he goes on to explain that he is concerned with mortals never-ending cycle of self-destruction thinking that their continued efforts as history as shown are futile what makes this more tragic is that he's saying this from a place of compassion wishing to spare mortals any further suffering at their own hands it's clear that he's deeply in need of guidance to correct this naive viewpoint however gosu gives him possibly the worst piece of advice someone like him needed at this time he says the jewsí of the Kai's and the supreme Kai's is to create not to execute punishment we only watch over and nurture this does not address the Masters concerns and only reinforces his growing resentment for the Kai's way of life after expressing what he considers genuine concerns to his master GU responds by saying it's not our pay grade it's in receiving this response that the liza master had been curious about has now become stronger what's more is that it is immediately reinforced seconds later by this despite learning his name and consistently being engaged by Goku the masu refuses to address him in any other way than mortal check it out watch the scene he never once calls him Goku again emphasizing quite well through dialogue how the masu views himself above all mortals with that said however it's Goku's first fight with him that tells us everything we need to know about his character having been instructed by glow su against his wishes to fight Goku the masu still considers himself far above any mortal demonstrated visually in his calm counter of Goku's very first strike notice his facial expression closing his eyes dismissively as he pushes Goku's fist to the side followed swiftly after by him arrogantly announcing it ends here claiming that the fight is already over zu masu moving the to deliver the final blow however something happens this lie he believes has led him down a path that caused him to make a fatal mistake he underestimated Goku Goku blocks the attack the second Goku's hand meets a masseuse is the moments a masseuse lie is challenged his world his reality is challenged this is also reinforced by the musical score the second Goku's counter meets masters attack Goku blacks theme begins to play signifying in that moment is a masu became the villain of the arc instead of seeing Goku's remarkable ability as an indication that he might not fully understand mortals he instead clings to his lie and rejects the truth viewing Goku and others like him as threats to the God's divine nature and wisdom inevitably spiraling towards their own destruction Zimmy su now believes a worse lie as a result that not only is he above the comprehension of mortals but he views himself now as more enlightened than the gods the concept an initial execution of Zuma su is fantastic and as the villain of this arc I thought he was perfectly packaged alongside Goku black as the arc progressed and in some cases stumbled towards its conclusion samus's actions became increasingly more severe and extreme to a point where he became unrecognizable however this arc as many of you know left a lot to be desired in its third act I don't think this is necessarily a result of the Masters character but more so to do with him lacking similarities to the main protagonist of this arc trumps at the end trunks confronts fuse imasu who has become mutilated and contorted to a gruesome extent because of this lie he refuses to let go of which is a fantastic visual representation but I think this altercation between these two characters could have benefited greatly by a popular concept found in films like this in Sony's spider-man into the spider-verse the main character Miles Morales needs to start being who he really is instead of who he thinks people wanted to be but like many teenagers he doesn't know who he is and can't trust himself he's unable to take a leap of faith because it's scary taking leaps of faith is terrifying both metaphorically and literally and this is demonstrated brilliantly through Peter be Parker's character acting as the film's example of what happens and what might happen to Myles if and when you don't address the lie or fear that you have Peter be Parker is a point of contrast from Miles Morales showing what happens when you let the lie itself take over but thankfully over the course of the film both Myles and eventually Peter overcome their lies they believe and come out on the other side more complete people now I know what you're saying those are two protagonists how could it work with a villain and a hero well very easily but first I want to point out that there are a lot of things that work about Zomato and Trunks is dynamic they both care for the development and prosperity of their respective spheres of influence however Zuma soo does not trust in mortal ability to handle conflict trunks at the same time doesn't believe in his own abilities to achieve what he knows is good but what this dynamical act was that trunks can't fall down the same path Tomas who did so what's the lesson don't be crazy like Zuma soo I understand that trunks coming to believe in himself and humanity is the conclusion of his arc but it's in no way linked his ammas whose experience and I can't help but feel that that was a missed opportunity a great example of this can be seen in Sam Raimi's spider-man series with the character of Harry Osborn turning to the dark side turning bad as he is consumed by his desire to avenge his father's death a wonderful example of a negative character arc but also a wonderful comparison to our Peter Parker who suffered a similar loss and became overcome by vengeance and this exemplifies why negative character arcs work well in showing us how easily a character or hero could have gone down the wrong path more easily than we might have recognized imagine if samaithu was a powerful mortal character like trunks who like him didn't believe in his or other mortals abilities to prosper leading him down a path of terror and arrogance just like we saw with zu masu in the series with this the arc could have been so much more impactful at its conclusion and could have actually had a satisfying ending however with that said the future Trump's arcs the mas who demonstrated a wonder design fantastic early characterization and a compelling motivation making him the first sympathetic villain Dragon Ball has ever had and hopefully it won't be the last thanks for watching [Music]

Channel: Totally Not Mark

Views: 676,925

Keywords: turning characters evil, zamasu, goku black, how to write arcs, totally not mark, totallynotmark, how to write stories, breakdown, dragon ball, dragonball, dbz, dbs, dragon ball z, dragon ball super, future trunks arc, bad storytelling, km weiland, goku, vegeta, super saiyan, vegito, gogeta, fusion dance, how to improve writing, how to write anime, video essay, the mishandled mess, the terrible antagonist, gohan the forgotten character, dragon ball super return, The Anatomy of Anime

Id: RJ0meBqA1d4

Length: 12min 34sec (754 seconds)

Published: Thu May 30 2019