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spottoHere's a bit of a rant of Negima 'cause it's a break week and I have nothing better to do in the middle of the night.
Good night, all who actually read through that.
Time to sleep.
R-POTE: Fuuka/Haruna
If you were to ask me one day, "Who is the most underrated?". The last person I'd choose is Zazie.
Hear me out first. I'm going to start by giving reasons behind why my favourite character, Kazumi Asakura, is quite underrated, perhaps in a different way.
First, if you look at a family, and they have children, wouldn't it be horrible if you were the middle child? The oldest is the most responsible, takes care of you all, and maybe even the smartest son or daughter in the house. The youngest is the cutest, needs the most care, etc, but who cares about that middle kid? Who is that middle kid?
Now Zazie is an example of a person who has done really nothing. Oh sure, she has these friends that eat people, she gave Chao a baby dragon as a parting gift, but in terms of adding any depth to the story, it is zilch. However, it is heavily hinted and even stated that Zazie will have a large part in the future, so that really just nullifies all her underratedness. Everybody who is fans of hers always wish that she had a bigger part, and they love her mysteriousness. But they all know she will get a big part in the future, and when she does, all that mysteriousness will vanish. Will they still love her even though her main trait has disappeared? Of course.
It's been foreshadowed that Zazie will be one badass character, and her voice very much fits that description. (I love her voice especially in the song, "Joker!?") and everybody knows badasses are always loved by everybody. Bonus points for being emo with no personality, and you got an easy character with a million fans, there you go.
So no, they don't really like her because of her mysteriousness, they like her because of everything she can become, the advantage of being revealed later on...therefore, Zazie is definitely not underrated in my opinion.
That is the example of being the youngest child, as in coming into the story "later on". You could argue that someone like Asuna, who is developed first as the "oldest child". So basically, Zazie hasn't even been born yet. Everybody's anticipating that moment though. Except, everybody already knows how much impact your newest child still in your tummy will do in life already, and they call THAT underrated!? It's like the ability to choose your upcoming son or daughter to automatically become a celebrity when they're born, or even before being born.
Where does Kazumi fit in?
She's the middle child, of course.
Her sole shining point in the whole manga, personally, was just that one chapter. 34.
Oh sure, she's done a bunch of stuff too...never anything demanding or interesting though. I mean, she was the announcer in the tournament and the Mages vs. Mars game, but does anybody care about the announcer? No. It's like the narrator in a story. Is your favourite character ever the narrator!? No, it's one of the characters who DOES something, not TELLS something. Being a narrator is incredibly important, sure, but you have no redeeming qualities to make people like you, therefore as the narrator, you are underrated. No one cares about you.
Of course Negima being a manga, and her being the announcer, not the narrator, allows people to have easy fanservice with a hot character in a sexy outfit, but that's a pretty shallow way of getting fans, which brings me to the next point.
I have never found a Asakura fan to be a girl. Well, besides me, but part of me that likes her is that hotness, yes, but we will touch on that point later.
First of all, if we go back to the Yaoi vs. Yuri reasoning, as in female fans of Yaoi will take anything hot that doesn't make sense. (OMGZ SQUALLXA PIECE OF CHEESE! THE CHEESE IS SUCH A STUD! OMGZ LOVE!) and female fans of Yuri almost like it when it's canon or near-canon, as in with a story to back it up, legitimate reasoning for the pairing to exist. That does not mean a happy friendship between two characters. As far as I know in terms of character, I would prefer Kazumi to be the "Yuri" part.
Don't understand?
I prefer her to have a reason to be liked. And that reason isn't stupid or senseless that she just looks hot. Kazumi IS hot. Like Yaoi. However, does she have a story behind her? Yuri often is canon, has a STORY. Or a good personality that makes someone like her? Unfortunately her story is lacking in that department. Seen her summary at wikipedia? Pretty short compared to some people, despite her involvement in the manga. She has a wonderful personality though, and that's why I like her. She isn't super-nice (That's boring) or anything, or incredibly loyal to the point of insanity (Yue, >>;), she's in a way...kind of realistic.
But that's the thing. While she's involved in story, all she does is things that benefit herself. Almost revealing magic to the whole world? A scoop. Organizing the Kiss Negi game? Profit to fund an efficient way to get a scoop. Announcer for Chao making people question her sense of morality? Information gathering for a scoop. Disappearing from the spotlight? Finding a scoop. Befriending Sayo? A chance to show her talent in finding scoops. Holy shit.
I guess in that way people don't find her appealing. While I do know some people like Kazumi for "her hair, her body, her spunk", some like her because she's a journalist and they're a journalist too, which I feel still isn't a good enough reason. However, so far what I've presented doesn't make Asakura a very friendly character. She would sooner do something that will achieve her greatest dreams (finding an awesome scoop), then be nice to you. In an ironic twist, her wishes to find an excellent story gave her the friend that is Sayo, and right now she is being incredibly friendly to Sayo. Is she doing it for herself? I have no idea. While Kazumi does have a sense of morality (her single dislike is "Great Evil") as in having the sense to guard Negi from a huge group of reporters questioning his every move, as in her own kind, I guess this character confuses me.
I suppose that's the reason I like Kazumi.
Her time to shine decided to die right around the time Sayo came by. Now at this point, chapter 73, Sayo has never appeared ever except in promotional pictures and the class roster. As this time, Sayo was less developed than even that character Zazie. Hell, I don't even think she has added anything to the story now, at chapter 187. Basically if we just take ONLY the manga, Sayo is just like Zazie, she has done absolutely NOTHING. (except get noticed, which Zazie can do too, rarely) In that way they're quite similar. The only reason nobody notices this is because of the two animes, in which Sayo even got her own episodes. (of course she has to or nobody will know who she is by the end of the anime, =P)
Since Sayo has nothing...basically, and no one knows anything about her. Kazumi at this time decided to give up her spotlight in the manga to be with the ghost, and disappear into that beautiful background that takes our favourite characters so many times. Of course it's not only that, it's also Kazumi's sense of ambition, and the only reason she was in the shine was because her ambition crossed paths with Negi's (or getting kidnapped, I suppose you can't avoid that [in Wilhelm arc]). The reason I like her is because she is so very different from every other character I have ever liked. In fact, her personality isn't something that I'd ever think of, five years ago, of ever liking. (I'd probably hate her)
But do any other Kazumi fans think about all this? I don't know. So far all I can see in their comments is that Kazumi is hot with a spunky personality, I'll like her! She has no backstory, no indication that her backstory will ever be told. No one cares about her story, which is what so many Yuri pairings are, canon with a story to it. Sayo will get one, it's her sense of mystery, Yuuna will too, she has a past that needs to be explored as she has magic-in-her-blood, Yue already got a flashback of her as a "backstory" and an explanation to even her personality (When her grandfather died, she thought life was pointless and thus never did anything else besides books with effort) and Ako has that scar.
I could continue to keep listing other people, but Kazumi has nothing. And it looks like she will never shine again, and if she does, with Sayo, to help Sayo get her story. We will never know who Kazumi really is, why she has such a desire of getting a scoop, not even a minor flashback, nothing. It is because of this and the fact that nobody ever involves her in theories or cares about what she's doing in the manga ever, that Kazumi Asakura is in fact an underrated character, and her time to shine was short, and long over.
And don't get me started on the Animes. Her character failed there, at least she did something in the manga.
However, if I was to name the most underrated character in all of class 3-A, out of those thirty one students. My opinion? Misora Kasuga.
First, Misora is not popular in Japan, if we look at those character polls. She is not popular in the Americas either, as seen in polls of random forums. Her clubs or brigades are either small or nonexistent, her character is incredibly inconsistent, and some people don't like her because she looks like a boy or something. (Therefore not even the hot factor or even cute factor so many characters have can help her) In the first Anime, she is just that random character who is religious, which isn't Misora. In Negima!? She likes Yoga and is with the sports girls, but that isn't her character either. So therefore, Misora in both the Animes was by far MUCH WORSE than Kazumi in terms of at least previewing who she is.
The time to shine for Misora is the manga, but like Sayo, not for a hundred goddamned chapters or so. When she suddenly appears out of nowhere in a nun habit, surprising all readers that she is holding, OH ME GODS, a pactio card! But not with the popular stud of the manga, Negi, and nobody even knows who she's a ministra of. Is it Cocone? Sister Shakti? WHO!?
The one point Misora gets is that a bunch of minor characters is introduced because of her. Isn't that nice? You get to have some friends so they can have spotlight too, except you barely have any yourself. Already this nun is sharing her spotlight, which pretty much sucks already. You'd hate that, yep. I do love Cocone though, and because of Misora, Cocone is my favourite minor character.
The character trait that makes Misora appeal to me is that she is FUNNY. Okay, so she isn't hot, cute, and no adaptation ever gets her right, and the manga barely touches on her, but she has a sense of comedy. Unlike all the loyal and noble companions and main characters of Negi who are all GOOD AND COURAGEOUS and stuff, Misora likes to run away and not get involved. She also likes keeping a secret identity when you are obviously Misora, not some mysterious nun, and Misora is also silly. So that's why I like her. In that way, she is unique.
In the Animes Misora is all serious and stuff, and really has no personality, so I just don't like her there. (Kazumi is too serious in the Animes too, she was better in the manga in "able to have fun and also have a serious side". People like that appeal to me. Although she was awesome in that one episode of the first Anime, 16, blackmailing Chisame and all. That one point shows her real personality.)
Next in line might be Akira or Satsuki or something (but Akira has A LOT of theories, which Misora has little of, and Satsuki has a lot of fans surprisingly enough) Natsumi is really popular in Japan, which I don't get at all, and as for the cheerleaders, Madoka has some point in the manga (though she IS really underrated, I must say), Misa has a popular voice actress (lol, that's sad...), and Sakurako's not bad in terms of popularity. The twins are liked by lots of casual fans because they are cute, but you know when you become a bigger fan like me that they get annoying and do nothing.
But really, there is no one character who is the most underrated. If I just watched the Animes, my favourite character would still be Yue right now, but the manga branches out and develops more characters, so I like them more. I will say that Zazie is not one who is underrated, and those fans annoy me as a much as those Konosetsu fans who can't think of any couple besides Konosetsu. (of course this is Yuri after all. I like KazumixSayo for the yaoi reasoning. They aren't almost-canon, they're just friends, which is what all my pairings are....friendship into love. XD)
So, what's going to happen in chapter 188? Will Negi survive!? Will everybody come out alright!? Why does no one care that the disappearance of my two favourite characters might actually mean something and it impacts the story next chapter?
I hate break weeks. =P
Hear me out first. I'm going to start by giving reasons behind why my favourite character, Kazumi Asakura, is quite underrated, perhaps in a different way.
First, if you look at a family, and they have children, wouldn't it be horrible if you were the middle child? The oldest is the most responsible, takes care of you all, and maybe even the smartest son or daughter in the house. The youngest is the cutest, needs the most care, etc, but who cares about that middle kid? Who is that middle kid?
Now Zazie is an example of a person who has done really nothing. Oh sure, she has these friends that eat people, she gave Chao a baby dragon as a parting gift, but in terms of adding any depth to the story, it is zilch. However, it is heavily hinted and even stated that Zazie will have a large part in the future, so that really just nullifies all her underratedness. Everybody who is fans of hers always wish that she had a bigger part, and they love her mysteriousness. But they all know she will get a big part in the future, and when she does, all that mysteriousness will vanish. Will they still love her even though her main trait has disappeared? Of course.
It's been foreshadowed that Zazie will be one badass character, and her voice very much fits that description. (I love her voice especially in the song, "Joker!?") and everybody knows badasses are always loved by everybody. Bonus points for being emo with no personality, and you got an easy character with a million fans, there you go.
So no, they don't really like her because of her mysteriousness, they like her because of everything she can become, the advantage of being revealed later on...therefore, Zazie is definitely not underrated in my opinion.
That is the example of being the youngest child, as in coming into the story "later on". You could argue that someone like Asuna, who is developed first as the "oldest child". So basically, Zazie hasn't even been born yet. Everybody's anticipating that moment though. Except, everybody already knows how much impact your newest child still in your tummy will do in life already, and they call THAT underrated!? It's like the ability to choose your upcoming son or daughter to automatically become a celebrity when they're born, or even before being born.
Where does Kazumi fit in?
She's the middle child, of course.
Her sole shining point in the whole manga, personally, was just that one chapter. 34.
Oh sure, she's done a bunch of stuff too...never anything demanding or interesting though. I mean, she was the announcer in the tournament and the Mages vs. Mars game, but does anybody care about the announcer? No. It's like the narrator in a story. Is your favourite character ever the narrator!? No, it's one of the characters who DOES something, not TELLS something. Being a narrator is incredibly important, sure, but you have no redeeming qualities to make people like you, therefore as the narrator, you are underrated. No one cares about you.
Of course Negima being a manga, and her being the announcer, not the narrator, allows people to have easy fanservice with a hot character in a sexy outfit, but that's a pretty shallow way of getting fans, which brings me to the next point.
I have never found a Asakura fan to be a girl. Well, besides me, but part of me that likes her is that hotness, yes, but we will touch on that point later.
First of all, if we go back to the Yaoi vs. Yuri reasoning, as in female fans of Yaoi will take anything hot that doesn't make sense. (OMGZ SQUALLXA PIECE OF CHEESE! THE CHEESE IS SUCH A STUD! OMGZ LOVE!) and female fans of Yuri almost like it when it's canon or near-canon, as in with a story to back it up, legitimate reasoning for the pairing to exist. That does not mean a happy friendship between two characters. As far as I know in terms of character, I would prefer Kazumi to be the "Yuri" part.
Don't understand?
I prefer her to have a reason to be liked. And that reason isn't stupid or senseless that she just looks hot. Kazumi IS hot. Like Yaoi. However, does she have a story behind her? Yuri often is canon, has a STORY. Or a good personality that makes someone like her? Unfortunately her story is lacking in that department. Seen her summary at wikipedia? Pretty short compared to some people, despite her involvement in the manga. She has a wonderful personality though, and that's why I like her. She isn't super-nice (That's boring) or anything, or incredibly loyal to the point of insanity (Yue, >>;), she's in a way...kind of realistic.
But that's the thing. While she's involved in story, all she does is things that benefit herself. Almost revealing magic to the whole world? A scoop. Organizing the Kiss Negi game? Profit to fund an efficient way to get a scoop. Announcer for Chao making people question her sense of morality? Information gathering for a scoop. Disappearing from the spotlight? Finding a scoop. Befriending Sayo? A chance to show her talent in finding scoops. Holy shit.
I guess in that way people don't find her appealing. While I do know some people like Kazumi for "her hair, her body, her spunk", some like her because she's a journalist and they're a journalist too, which I feel still isn't a good enough reason. However, so far what I've presented doesn't make Asakura a very friendly character. She would sooner do something that will achieve her greatest dreams (finding an awesome scoop), then be nice to you. In an ironic twist, her wishes to find an excellent story gave her the friend that is Sayo, and right now she is being incredibly friendly to Sayo. Is she doing it for herself? I have no idea. While Kazumi does have a sense of morality (her single dislike is "Great Evil") as in having the sense to guard Negi from a huge group of reporters questioning his every move, as in her own kind, I guess this character confuses me.
I suppose that's the reason I like Kazumi.
Her time to shine decided to die right around the time Sayo came by. Now at this point, chapter 73, Sayo has never appeared ever except in promotional pictures and the class roster. As this time, Sayo was less developed than even that character Zazie. Hell, I don't even think she has added anything to the story now, at chapter 187. Basically if we just take ONLY the manga, Sayo is just like Zazie, she has done absolutely NOTHING. (except get noticed, which Zazie can do too, rarely) In that way they're quite similar. The only reason nobody notices this is because of the two animes, in which Sayo even got her own episodes. (of course she has to or nobody will know who she is by the end of the anime, =P)
Since Sayo has nothing...basically, and no one knows anything about her. Kazumi at this time decided to give up her spotlight in the manga to be with the ghost, and disappear into that beautiful background that takes our favourite characters so many times. Of course it's not only that, it's also Kazumi's sense of ambition, and the only reason she was in the shine was because her ambition crossed paths with Negi's (or getting kidnapped, I suppose you can't avoid that [in Wilhelm arc]). The reason I like her is because she is so very different from every other character I have ever liked. In fact, her personality isn't something that I'd ever think of, five years ago, of ever liking. (I'd probably hate her)
But do any other Kazumi fans think about all this? I don't know. So far all I can see in their comments is that Kazumi is hot with a spunky personality, I'll like her! She has no backstory, no indication that her backstory will ever be told. No one cares about her story, which is what so many Yuri pairings are, canon with a story to it. Sayo will get one, it's her sense of mystery, Yuuna will too, she has a past that needs to be explored as she has magic-in-her-blood, Yue already got a flashback of her as a "backstory" and an explanation to even her personality (When her grandfather died, she thought life was pointless and thus never did anything else besides books with effort) and Ako has that scar.
I could continue to keep listing other people, but Kazumi has nothing. And it looks like she will never shine again, and if she does, with Sayo, to help Sayo get her story. We will never know who Kazumi really is, why she has such a desire of getting a scoop, not even a minor flashback, nothing. It is because of this and the fact that nobody ever involves her in theories or cares about what she's doing in the manga ever, that Kazumi Asakura is in fact an underrated character, and her time to shine was short, and long over.
And don't get me started on the Animes. Her character failed there, at least she did something in the manga.
However, if I was to name the most underrated character in all of class 3-A, out of those thirty one students. My opinion? Misora Kasuga.
First, Misora is not popular in Japan, if we look at those character polls. She is not popular in the Americas either, as seen in polls of random forums. Her clubs or brigades are either small or nonexistent, her character is incredibly inconsistent, and some people don't like her because she looks like a boy or something. (Therefore not even the hot factor or even cute factor so many characters have can help her) In the first Anime, she is just that random character who is religious, which isn't Misora. In Negima!? She likes Yoga and is with the sports girls, but that isn't her character either. So therefore, Misora in both the Animes was by far MUCH WORSE than Kazumi in terms of at least previewing who she is.
The time to shine for Misora is the manga, but like Sayo, not for a hundred goddamned chapters or so. When she suddenly appears out of nowhere in a nun habit, surprising all readers that she is holding, OH ME GODS, a pactio card! But not with the popular stud of the manga, Negi, and nobody even knows who she's a ministra of. Is it Cocone? Sister Shakti? WHO!?
The one point Misora gets is that a bunch of minor characters is introduced because of her. Isn't that nice? You get to have some friends so they can have spotlight too, except you barely have any yourself. Already this nun is sharing her spotlight, which pretty much sucks already. You'd hate that, yep. I do love Cocone though, and because of Misora, Cocone is my favourite minor character.
The character trait that makes Misora appeal to me is that she is FUNNY. Okay, so she isn't hot, cute, and no adaptation ever gets her right, and the manga barely touches on her, but she has a sense of comedy. Unlike all the loyal and noble companions and main characters of Negi who are all GOOD AND COURAGEOUS and stuff, Misora likes to run away and not get involved. She also likes keeping a secret identity when you are obviously Misora, not some mysterious nun, and Misora is also silly. So that's why I like her. In that way, she is unique.
In the Animes Misora is all serious and stuff, and really has no personality, so I just don't like her there. (Kazumi is too serious in the Animes too, she was better in the manga in "able to have fun and also have a serious side". People like that appeal to me. Although she was awesome in that one episode of the first Anime, 16, blackmailing Chisame and all. That one point shows her real personality.)
Next in line might be Akira or Satsuki or something (but Akira has A LOT of theories, which Misora has little of, and Satsuki has a lot of fans surprisingly enough) Natsumi is really popular in Japan, which I don't get at all, and as for the cheerleaders, Madoka has some point in the manga (though she IS really underrated, I must say), Misa has a popular voice actress (lol, that's sad...), and Sakurako's not bad in terms of popularity. The twins are liked by lots of casual fans because they are cute, but you know when you become a bigger fan like me that they get annoying and do nothing.
But really, there is no one character who is the most underrated. If I just watched the Animes, my favourite character would still be Yue right now, but the manga branches out and develops more characters, so I like them more. I will say that Zazie is not one who is underrated, and those fans annoy me as a much as those Konosetsu fans who can't think of any couple besides Konosetsu. (of course this is Yuri after all. I like KazumixSayo for the yaoi reasoning. They aren't almost-canon, they're just friends, which is what all my pairings are....friendship into love. XD)
So, what's going to happen in chapter 188? Will Negi survive!? Will everybody come out alright!? Why does no one care that the disappearance of my two favourite characters might actually mean something and it impacts the story next chapter?
I hate break weeks. =P
Good night, all who actually read through that.
Time to sleep.
R-POTE: Fuuka/Haruna
