#characterreview

[yellow-mapleleaves]

Realistic Personalities in Characters: Alice in Borderland

⚠ Spoilers ⚠

Short Summary

Alice in Borderland  今際の国のアリス  is a Netflix original series about a young boy called Alice (Arisu) and his two friends who happens to find themselves trapped in an abandoned version of Tokyo in which they must take part in many life threatening games to survive.

I wanted to do a review on this series because I noticed that there were some characters that possessed very accurate and realistic behaviours and others that didn’t convey any emotion the entire show. I found it interesting that the mix of very different levels of well-displayed people was able to add to the already amazing plot of the series.

Characters Present:

Alice, Karube, Chota, Usagi, Kuina, Chishiya, Niragi

Alice - Protagonist

The main protagonist of the series is not always the favourite in most tv shows, but from looking at different reviews and people’s comments about Yamazaki’s character Alice, I’ve noticed that he is actually rather popular in his own fictional world. He is honestly probably one of my favourite characters as well, and that’s based on how realistic his behaviours and emotions are conveyed.

Some aspects and scenes of Alice that makes him a more convincing and realistic personality:

Being a normal young boy with no incredibly amazing skills

Not having god-like survival abilities just from being able to play battle-royal videogames well

Having flaws

Having only two close friends rather than a huge friendship group

Not being incredibly attractive and well-groomed

Not having a close relationship with his brother (not all siblings get along)

Having a bad relationship with his father

Having the very human instinct of survival by becoming willing to kill his friends to save his own life out of panic

Reacting badly to watching someone being killed (vomiting, screaming, trauma etc)

Not being incredibly serious all the time; actually having a sense of humour

Showing respect towards Usagi’s privacy

Having a very average style of clothing

Being awkward around people he doesn’t know

Excelling in one area (puzzles) but being quite disadvantaged at the rest

Making mistakes E.g. during the distance game, he doesn’t realize the trick of the game until it ends

Not being able to defend himself physically due to lack of strength

Not moving on after his friends’ deaths immediately like as if it doesn’t happen (it takes him a few days to even develop the energy to get up off the floor)

I would say I personally believe that Alice’s character has a strong and realistic personality, as Yamazaki’s acting and Alice’s reactions to certain experiences creates a sympathetic response from the audience.

____

Karube - Deuteragonist

Let’s be honest, everyone loves a bad boy character. During the short time that Karube was present during the show, I think he conveys both strong and weak personality traits. At some points I think the producers were trying too hard to bring a “tough man” façade to him, when I think he could show more realistic emotions and reactions.

Some aspects and scenes of Karube that makes him a more convincing and realistic personality:

Having a fiery and defensive personality (although it can more than often come across as immature)

Having a sense of humour even in tough times

Having obvious advantage in strength related survival skills

Not being invincible to fear E.g. running from the tagger during the “Tag” game and not even trying to fight back at first

Dealing with work related issues

Actually having a realistic dream life rather than one that sounds almost impossible

Being flawed but not too flawed

Having a love interest that he is forbidden to love (she is with another man)

Conveying fear through anger when Alice tries to kill him to save himself

Not having the nicest of personalities (not everyone is friendly to everyone)

Not having a overly selfless personality

I think Karube should’ve been included in the series more than he is, because his character is very lovable and many fans of this show obviously show sympathy when he dies. His character has a big, extroverted and blunt personality, and I think it is conveyed very well during the time he is present.

____

Chota - Tertiary

Although Chota is one of the main three characters in the beginning of the series, I honestly never felt that sympathetic for him. His character comes across as rather more annoying than weak to me. I understand that the point of his character is to have a weak and smaller personality to match Karube and Alice’s loud energy, but I think this person is kind of just there. He doesn’t do much, considering he almost loses his leg in the first episode and having to use crutches for the rest of the time he is alive.

Some aspects and scenes of Chota that makes him less realistic:

Being friends with people who obviously have dodgy jobs or no jobs at all when he is a successful technician himself

Doesn’t seem to have much of a life outside work and his friends, what are his hobbies?

Not exactly having much of a purpose in the show

Constantly having his guard up and being anxious or worried

Having too many flaws

Following a very different religion to that of his mother

Generally being incredibly different to Alice and Karube (I believe if their personalities were actually friends in real life, they would have too many arguments).

During the short time on the show that Chota had, it was more the point that his personality felt incredibly unneeded. It didn’t exactly serve a huge purpose in the storyline. As well as, he was hard to sympathize for.

____

Usagi - Love Interest / Deuteragonist

Usagi definitely has my most favourite back story of the series. Although, when researching about her I noticed that she is actually one of the characters that get the least recognition by the viewers, despite being in basically every episode and always being beside Alice. I have mixed emotions about the realism in her character, so I made both a positive and negative list to state both sides.

Some aspects and scenes of Usagi that makes her a more convincing and realistic personality:

Having a tragic yet realistic backstory

Using her mountain climbing skills as a huge advantage during physically challenging games

Showing obvious signs of grief for her father, even during the time she was placed in the game

Being insecure of her body

Fighting back against Niragi even when it’s obvious she won’t win

Having good survival instincts from past experiences

Willing to help others out when they need it E.g. during the “Tag” game she went along with Alice’s plan for everyone to work together

Having a obvious more introverted personality

Being too trusting, which ends up getting her hurt

Some aspects and scenes of Usagi that makes her a more unrealistic and poorly convincing personality:

Having too serious of a personality, not seeming to lay back and laugh for even a second

Seeming to have an unrealistic bravery E.g. during the tagger game, she didn’t seemed frightened at all despite that the tagger had a machine gun

Doesn’t react to graphic violent sights that would be traumatizing to humans

Not knowing what “The Beach” was despite being in the game for god knows how long

Overall, I think she is the awesome strong female character that a lot of thriller genres have. Although, I would love if for once a strong yet bad ass character didn’t act so mysterious and quiet all the time. But regardless, she is a good character that shows very human qualities.

____

Kuina - Confidante

Kuina is one of the more popular characters in the show, which I honestly can understand. She has obvious very strong manipulation skills as well as physical strengths like martial arts. Although, I believe her backstory is what truly shapes her as a character and is the reason why the audience develops such an emotional connection with her.

Some aspects and scenes of Kuina that makes her a more convincing a realistic personality:

Having a trusting and good relationship with Chishiya

Having a personality that conveys carelessness

Both social butterfly and keeps to herself

Being a character part of the LGBTQ+ community

Having a realistic backstory

Although having a bad relationship with her Dad, she still respects what he taught her

Having a parent that accepts her rather than just being abandoned, which is what a lot of Transgender characters have been stereotyped as

Being able to defend herself incredibly well

Giving her a human flaw (smoking addiction)

Having a elaborate hairstyle

Showing that she is not mysterious, she just has a lot of walls up

Showing care for people she doesn’t know E.g. warning Alice and Usagi about the militants

I really like Kuina’s character for her strong personality and her ability to build good relationships with the members at the beach paradise. Although she is not featured a lot during season one, the times we have seen her have obviously been enough to make her character very loved by the audience.

____

Chishiya - Confidante

I honestly could not find a more loved character if I tried. This character is such a small part of the show and yet you’d think he was the protagonist. I honestly think anyone would love a sly fox character though, because that’s exactly what he is. Although his personality would probably become annoying if he was a real person, in a genre like this he fits perfectly. So personally, I have mixed emotions about him, because I honestly didn’t get that emotionally attached to him as other audiences may have.

Some aspects and scenes of Chishiya that makes him a more convincing and realistic personality:

Having a cocky attitude at times

Has a underdog appeal to him

Mimics that of a selfish manipulative personality

Showing obvious signs of high intelligence, yet doesn’t blab it around like it’s a trophy

Gives the audience some entertainment

Having a sassy remark, even when his life is on the line

Going out of his way to do things that only benefit him

Having a personality that everyone loves and hates at the same time

Having that personality in which you can’t tell if he’s a good guy or a bad guy

Having a trademark, his white hoodie

Having a caring relationship towards Kuina

Some aspects and scenes of Chishiya that makes him a more unrealistic and less convincing personality:

Attempting to kill Niragi with no hesitation after knowing him personally for so long (that would be difficult to do even if you hated the person)

Not showing human emotions such as fear, worry or anger

Sometimes his personality came across as too selfish to be realistic

Not showing any signs of fear E.g. when Niragi waved a machine gun in his face, he didn’t even flinch

Sometimes his fancy words became a bit annoying

Everyone trusts him, regardless of how manipulative they know he is

Overall, he is a very entertaining character. In my opinion he’s like the personality that throws a match into gasoline then walks away like he didn’t start it. Although his realism in character isn’t exactly good, he is definitely loved for his good looks and sly actions by the audience.

____

Niragi - Antagonist

As much as I dislike this guy as a person in general, when it comes to creating a interesting and great character, he hit the nail on the head. He has one of the most realistic evil character developments probably in the whole series. His personality is so complicated and psychotic, which is what makes him an amazing antagonist and probably the second most popular character among the audience.

Some aspects and scenes of Niragi that makes him a more convincing and realistic personality:

Has a tragic backstory, making the audience believe that’s why he’s so psychotic

Having the delusional mindset that human nature is violence

Makes the audience feel bad for him, despite being a horrible person

Being a hidden antagonist (didn’t expect him to cause all the trouble in the end)

Showing obvious signs of psychological trauma

Conveys positive (yet destructive) emotions and behaviour, which is always a good break when all the characters are serious 24/7

Hits a breaking point in his emotions and goes on a killing spree

Shows loyalty to Aguni

Being awful to everyone, probably due to the fact that everyone was awful to him when he was younger. It’s a way of revenge

Becoming embarrassed when someone challenges him

Scaring people into submission (tactic for some leaders)

Conveys no care for anyone, honestly just uses everyone for either his own entertainment or his own benefit

Has a trademark, his machine gun and checkered shirt

Being self-aware of how evil he is

As evil and bad as he is, he’s one  of the most endearing antagonists I’ve seen in a while. He is a very psychotic and emotionally wrecked personality to him, as if you know something traumatizing must have occurred in his life for him to be able to murder anyone without batting an eye.

[witchs-ink-blog]

In witch I compare the three versions of Magnus Bane, everyone’s favourite bisexual warlock!

[fan-clan-fun]

Hollyclaw No! Hollyclaw Yes!

My sincerest apologies, this has been sitting in my inbox for ages, I just keep forgetting to go through it. Anyway, here we go!

Name: Hollyclaw.

Past Names: Hollypaw, Hollykit.

Age: 30 moons.

Appearance: Hollyclaw is small for a ThunderClan cat, and though she had rather thick fur, her fur is also short so it doesn’t help her size much. Still, she has a good bit of muscle to her. She has plenty of scars all over her pelt, thanks to various injured she received, and both of her ears have plenty of nicks. Her eyes are hooded in shape and blue. She’s completely white. (Note: Under the epistatic white, Hollyclaw is a chocolate spotted tortoiseshell tabby)

Oooo epistatic white! Thats always an interesting thing to play with in the clans. Is it common in her Thunderclan? Or is it just as rare? 

Personality: If there’s one word to describe Hollyclaw, it’s that she’s ambitious. She knows what she wants and she goes for it, and she works hard for it. She’s very protective of her friends and family, and wants nothing but the best for them. She works hard and isn’t afraid of a challenge. She enjoys being around others and is exceptionally affectionate, especially with those she’s closest to. She craves social interaction and doesn’t do well on her own for long periods of time — a bored Hollyclaw is a Hollyclaw a bit too prone to experimental stunts. She’s the type to act first and think later, which is why she has so many scars: she doesn’t tolerate intruders trying to steal prey or pick on her Clanmates, so she will immediately jump into the fray to defend her Clan. She’s skilled at reacting on the fly, and is surprisingly skilled at winning even when the odds are most certainly against her, but she’s definitely too prone to buzzing around and getting into too many fights. Verbal diplomacy isn’t a skill she values very much. She’s a bit cocky and doesn’t especially care about what happens to her so long as her Clan is all right; she often needs reminders to take care of herself, and only the worst of injuries or direct orders from the Medicine Cats are really capable of keeping her down. She’s incredibly stubborn.

Hollyclaw has a great personality, and its good to highlight how different traits can be both good and bad for her. She seems like she has a lot of energy that she needs help channeling in a good way. The way I read the -storm prefix she easily could have qualified for that as well, although her skill at fighting is definitely clear too. Gotta love female -claw cats, we need more of them. Im sure there is always more to elaborate on, her fears, her dreams, her little quirks. But you have a good chunk of it and the real foundation of the character, enough that she doesnt seem incomplete or lacking anything.

Clan: ThunderClan.

Rank: Warrior.

Family:

-Mother, Morningstorm. Morningstorm was a small dilute (lilac + cream) tortoiseshell molly with long fur and hazel eyes. She was a well-rounded Warrior who died of a fever when Hollyclaw was only three moons old. She and Poppyfoot had had a tremendously strong relationship, and had been disappointed when it turned out that Poppyfoot was sterile and incapable of producing kits. Morningstorm was very loving and encouraging, and though Hollyclaw has few memories of her, the kit and her mother had always had a very close bond. This is possibly in part because Hollykit was the only kit of her litter; there was a point in the pregnancy when Morningstorm became very stressed, and it is suspected that this is why there was only one kit born.

-Father, Poppyfoot. Poppyfoot was a ginger classic tabby with short fur and green eyes. He died of the same fever that claimed Morningstorm, because of how much time he spent around her trying to help her (hence, he caught the illness and also died of it). He was active as a father and, though Hollykit was not his by blood, he doted on her and very much enjoyed teaching her. Hollyclaw seems to have picked up on his optimistic, hard-working nature, as those were the two traits Poppyfoot was best known fur.

I appreciate her bond with her parents, it can be a common trend that in order for a character to be interesting they have to have a lot of family drama. And despite the fact that her parents died, it at least sounds believable, and touching that the reason they died together was because they cared for one another.

-Biological/Foster Father, Whiteflower. Whiteflower is solid white (epistatic white over ginger spotted tabby) with short yet thick fur, lemon yellow eyes, and one torn ear. He remains a respected Warrior among the Clan, and provided genes so that Morningstorm — a very close friend of his — might be able to have kits. He originally acted as a supporting -flower, but after Morningstorm and Poppyfoot died, Whiteflower stepped in and supported Hollykit, taking on the role of a proper father. He and Hollyclaw maintain a very close bond to this day, even though Whiteflower is frequently worried by Hollyclaw’s impulsive nature. Whiteflower recently became mates with the recently joined (previously a loner who joined ThunderClan) Silverfang, and though Silverfang is pregnant, Whiteflower has not neglected neither mate nor daughter. Hollyclaw looks forward to the idea of being a big sister of sorts.

I also very much love this! No drama about who her real parents are, and a male -flower! 

-Aunt, Yellowclaw. A large, mostly cream spotted tabby molly with occasional flecks of grey spotted tabby, long fur, amber eyes, and a fair few scars. Younger sister of Whiteflower, she was actually born four months after Hollyclaw! The two were raised together for a bit, and then spent some time as Apprentices together. They are very close and work well together on patrols, as Yellowclaw is more thoughtful and patient.

-Uncle, Russetcloud. A large ginger spotted tabby tom with orange eyes and short fur. Littermate of Yellowclaw, he and Hollyclaw get on well enough. They’re not as close as Hollyclaw and Yellowclaw are, in part because of Russetcloud’s less openly enthusiastic nature boring Hollyclaw and in part because of Russetcloud often growing weary of Hollyclaw’s seemingly limitless energy. Still, they don’t have any major beefs and chat now and again.

-Grandfather, Thriftclaw. Thriftclaw is a large, light grey tom with short fur, amber eyes, and a fair few scars. Currently the Clan Deputy, it appears as if Hollyclaw has inherited his more volatile nature! The two are fairly close, even if Thriftclaw ends up exasperated at times because of just how many fights Hollyclaw gets into. Thriftclaw is gruff, but protective of his family and certainly never abusive or neglectful. He’s proud of his family and does his best to maintain close bonds with them.

-Grandmother, Snowfur. Snowfur is a long-furred, solid white (epistatic white over tortoiseshell spotted tabby) molly with blue eyes. She and Hollyclaw are quite close, and Snowfur loves telling Hollyclaw stories about her parents and their family. The two talk often, though Snowfur often fusses over Hollyclaw whenever she winds up injured again.

Its always nice to include extended family as well, and also fairly well developed though not to quite as a big a degree as Hollyclaw herself. Its especially nice the way that they all have some form of relationship/connection to Hollyclaw. 

Extra:

-Hollyclaw has a mate, Ravenwhisker, a short-furred black tuxedo tom who, while small, is still larger than Hollyclaw.

-Hollyclaw’s Mentor was Tigerclaw, a striking black mackerel tabby tom with amber eyes who was apprenticed under Thriftclaw. Thriftclaw is still waiting on the secrets to how Tigerclaw kept Hollyclaw alive, because she was — and to an extent still is — prone to getting into just about everything. Bramble bushes, accidental run-ins with foxes, getting stuck in trees — you name it, Hollyclaw has probably done it.

-Hollyclaw would like to have kits with Ravenwhisker, but is not ready to take a break from being a Warrior yet.

-Hollyclaw’s hunting is about as good as Ravenwhisker’s fighting — that is to say, not very good at all!

Hollyclaw seems to be quite well-rounded as far as I can tell, with some good traits and a wonderful family tree. I would love to see her in action! Sorry I dont have too many other comments, I think you addressed most of the necessary points, and plenty extra!

[blackevil97]

"With Great Power, comes Great Responsibility. This is my Gift... My Curse... Who am i? Im Spider-Man."

[mcubiggestfan]

Ironman

Alright, we’re gonna talk about Ironman and Tony Stark as a person. Personally, I’ve always loved Tony Stark, but I know that a lot of people didn’t like him at first or still don’t like him. (P.S. if you don’t like him at all, I don’t like you) I agree that Tony had more of a rocky start but what you have to realize is how much he improved in and after the first two Ironman movies and the first Avengers movie. At first he was arrogant, immature, rude, and very self absorbed. He was what we now would call a Fuckboy. The thing is he realized that he had a shitty personality and started to get better by the end of his first movie. I mean it wasn’t much but he was nicer to Pepper and Rhodey. He went through a lot that made him realize how ignorant he could be, but it wouldn’t stop at just him getting kidnapped. 

In Ironman 2, Tony realized that he was not invincible in his suit and could be hurt and defeated. Not just defeated by other people though, also by the one thing that is keeping him alive. Tony had palladium in his chest from his arc reactor that was keeping the shrapnel also in his chest from getting to his heart. He eventually beats both of the things that are trying to kill him by slowing down and taking time to think things through and listen to the people around him. He came out of that movie with a newfound respect for his father and appreciation for his friends. 

In Avengers, Tony takes a small step back in his progress when he meets Captain America because he wants to seem cooler and sure of himself around the legend from the stories he heard in his childhood. Throughout the movie they were competing and arguing with each other. Tony thought that Steve was too much of a goody two shoes and Steve thought that Stark only though of himself and would always put himself before the team. Tony proved him wrong by the end of the movie, literally putting the entire city of New York above himself and sacrificing his life for them. Granted he lived but it’s the thought that counts. He took ten steps forward in his progress when he did this. 

Tony may have started off as a jackass but he improved and has more character development than anyone else in the MCU in my opinion.

[miraculous-ash]

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYtGdq-l9CM)