Ask John: Who Are Some Devious Anime Characters?

Question:
Are there any more anime that have protagonists similar to Yagami Light (Death Note) or Lelouch Britannia (Code Geass)? Addition to that, I find your analysis of characterizations to be interesting. What are your thoughts on this type of character?

Answer:
Particularly devious and manipulative characters are fascinating because both the characters themselves and the situations the become enmeshed in are intriguing and suspenseful. While this variety of character has periodically appeared in manga for quite a long time, examples from Osamu Tezuka’s Mu and Swallowing the Earth manga immediately come to mind, the use of the character type in anime seems to have been a relatively recent innovation.

Co-starring character Chiaki Asami in the 1996 Sanctuary OVA employs carefully plotted political backstabbing to secure his own advancement. However, the OVA does not allow viewers full insight into Asami’s psychology or machinations, or even fully concentrate on the intricacy of his strategies. So while Chiaki Asami, in particular, may be an anime predecessor for characters like Light Yagami, viewers hoping to find a similar degree of emphasis on psychologically complex manipulation won’t find it in the Sanctuary OVA.

The true anime predecessor of Light Yagami is Shigeru Akagi, star of the 2005 television series Tohai Densetu Akagi, which premiered precisely one year before the Death Note television anime. Akagi is a demon; a ruthless, merciless villain in a criminal underworld in which no one is virtuous. Akagi is engrossingly fascinating because he’s simultaneously the most devious and wicked inhabitant of his universe and the most praiseworthy and respectable. Akagi is a teenage gambler so confident in his luck and skill, and so adept at recognizing and manipulating human instincts like greed and anxiety that he literally bets his life in high-stakes mahjong games. Through bluffing, calculated losses, and psychological manipulation, Akagi manages to control his opponents, convincing them to behave and act the way he wants them to. There’s no supernatural component in Akagi’s story. He’s a terrifying man because is ability to read and influence other people for his own gain, and his willingness to do so without restraint or concern for human compassion, is shockingly immoral. However, his very ability to be so intuitively perceptive and so calm under intense pressure is admirable. In a world of human monsters, Akagi is the most genius of them all. He’s still a monster, but he’s a brilliant one.

The Death Note and Code Geass television series, both which star manipulative characters able to commit their devious deeds through supernatural agency, premiered two days apart in October 2006. Two years later, the One Outs television series recalled the characteristics of the earlier Akagi anime. The star of One Outs is another gambler, Toua Tokuchi, who uses his perceptive intellect to manipulate professional baseball. Toua becomes a professional baseball team pitcher. In that role he psychologically manipulates and intimidates the batters he faces along with playing high-stakes psychological and intellectual battles against his own antagonistic team owner, competing team coaches, and underhanded opposing teams. Unlike Shigeru Akagi, whose amorality is so complete that it become unethical, Toua Tokuchi’s primary motivation is simply to win, not to totally humiliate and ruin his opponents. Tokuchi isn’t a monster among monsters; he’s a genius among normal men and a fierce rival to powerful men who aren’t used to dealing with an opponent that they can’t predict or control. Unlike Akagi, who always has the upper-hand, even when he’s losing, Toua Tokuchi’s most intriguing characteristic is his ability to work out and see through schemes, cheats, and attempted manipulation and play along with those very schemes to his own advantage. In a story about players – literal baseball players – Toua Tokuchi plays the players. Every time the secret, unspoken rules change, Tokuchi quickly catches on and responds, adapting his own schemes to stay one step ahead of his manipulative, scheming opponents.

The reason why Japanese viewers find psychologically manipulative and insightful, devious and deceitful characters fascinating is the same reason why global viewers find these characters fascinating. Such characters are a human pinnacle which viewers aspire to but are also afraid of. These are charismatic dangerous personalities that have the potential for revolution or great success but also catastrophic failure. They’re not characters that viewers vicariously live through or empathize with; they’re not moral and just characters that viewers respect; they’re characters that viewers watch anxiously in anticipation of either longshot success or cataclysmic failure. I am fascinated, though, by Japan’s unique cultural approach to these characters. Japan is a country well known for its high academic standards, its admiration of intelligence. However, Japanese culture also emphasizes the use of intelligence for the common, public good while the Japanese educational system heavily concentrates on the accumulation of knowledge rather than critical thinking. Japanese school tests are largely comprised of academic trivia: names, dates, locations. Knowing the date of the Shimabara Rebellion or the signing of the Magna Carta aren’t the same sort of intelligence as recognizing and manipulating psychological tendencies or plotting convoluted schemes like an abstract Rube Goldberg machine. Using this sort of psychological and intellectual manipulation for personal gain, as well, opposes the established convention of Japanese social expectation. So that contrast may account, in part, for why anime doesn’t star such manipulative, devious characters more often. Furthermore, the observant viewer will notice that these characters in anime are not ultimately rewarded for their brilliant yet selfish actions. Light Yagami and Lelouch Lamperouge achieve victories yet also pay a tremendous price. While not actually depicted in the OVA, Chiaki Asami eventually dies after achieving his goal in the Sanctuary manga. Shigeru Akagi and Toua Tokuchi meet ambiguous ends at the conclusion of their anime. They may be victorious, but their victories are not glamorized nor even fulfilled. As if to concede to the demands of Japanese custom, even if victorious, these characters’ victories aren’t celebrated because the characters used their genius for personal rather than communal gain. Even when these characters pursue moral, admirable goals, or their pursuits benefit people beyond themselves, as is the case with everyone except Akagi, their selfish, unethical means of reaching their goals inevitably lead to an unpleasant or, at minimal, subdued victory. In a sense, these conclusions may be perceived as reinforcing the Japanese status quo that ultimately being average and participating as a typical member of society rather than a risk-taker or gambler may not be as exciting but ultimately leads to a more comfortable, longer life.