balanced characters: spy family & phantombusters
something that i love about phantom busters when i was reading it, it reminded me a lot of how spy family’s characters are also flawed and integral to the plot! the way the characters are made to move the plot forward by creating conflicts, or their character being flawed, to solve and work around. this is just a long winded ramble about how i noticed why liked how the characters are crafted well for the stories they carry out!
spy family, has a spy, assassin, and telepath living all under one roof. but what aids the plot in moving forward and kept interesting, is that arguably the most powerful character is a young girl who doesn’t understand the intricacies of all the adult internal workings of consequences yet. anya can’t bestow the knowledge that she knows out of fear of putting herself in danger, and because she’s probably younger than 6, and why would anyone believe a child?
all of the spy family characters have a debuff one way or another that makes them feel more balanced and not insanely overpowered. yor is described to be physically stronger than loid, but has her clumsy side that’s still learning how to cook and care for a family. this isn’t to push her into the box of “powerful but clumsy”, because yor is shown to be highly emotionally intelligent and observant of those around her.
loid’s issue is that he has to raise a family as a disguise and allow more of a humane approach back into his life, when the majority of his spy life has been very emotionally detached work. all of this helps aid to entertaining character growth and a way to move the plot forward by creating conflicts that are started by small flaws in the characters. the fact that they're all keeping this from a secret from each other further aids and adds suspense to the plot!
now moving over to phantom busters. this manga only had 10 chapters out that i know of, but the set up of plot and characters is very clear! each of the main boys have one ability that allows them to interact with ghosts. 3/4 actually have paranormal abilities, so while eugene doesn’t have any powers, he plays a big role in acting as the glue and brain of the group.
tamon can hear ghosts, but can’t see them. kanzaki can see ghosts but can’t hear them. mogari can exorcise ghosts, but can’t perceive them at all without someone’s help. he normally will touch someone with such abilities and be able to use their powers to see the ghost and then exorcise them.
people could argue that the ability to hear ghosts could be overlooked, however not all ghosts are malicious with their presence and intent. being able to hear them out, in turn can allow the the group to peacefully settle with the ghost and help them move on, rather than immediately jumping to exorcising them (sometimes it can prove more difficult when they fight back). all of the members of this group can technically work on their own individually, however mogari is the most disadvantaged with needing someone to aid his exorcisms.
tamon can hear. kanzaki can see. mogari has to eat the ghosts, which is tied to taste. while smell and touch aren’t mentioned explicitly, i find it super nice to split apart the senses amongst the boys to force them come together and work alongside one another to be a functional group. they’re all missing a sense from the 5 basic ones that most humans have. coming together it allows them to overcome their problems that they had without having all the senses to communicate, see, and get rid of ghosts.
this isn’t really case where in the real world where if you are disabled and have one of your senses not available to you, that your other senses enhance further to make up for the lack of that sense. these boys essentially are stronger together because only they have access to that power and sense to the paranormal!
phantombusters is still fairly new, but i can't wait to see how the author goes on with the story because they have a very interesting setup so far with how their characters work with each other!!