@ohnoitstbskyen’s “Nine Essays About Characters That Matter” video literally struck me through the heart with a dagger. The way it’s presented as stories told by people of their blorbos with mister the big skyen commenting in between is perfect. So perfect i’ve been inspired to write a small essay about my Characters That Matter, if this is just rambling into the wind or not, i just want to express my thought in this form.
It’s Yang, it’s Yang, of course it’s Yang how could it not be Yang Xiao Long. Yang as a character - and rwby as a whole literally flashbanged my entire humanity in june of 2022.
Lots of people love Yang, how couldn’t you. Maybe you relate with her backstory in relation to Ruby, how she was forced to grow up and play parent for Ruby because both their mom’s fumbled the bag. Maybe you’re someone who’s lost a limb or otherwise disabled and find triumph in how she fights on despite her disability. For me, it’s neither - what gets me going about her is her personality, particularly in early volumes. She’s this larger than life, fun loving person who’s the embodiment of warm fire who brings you in and is your friend. Which is exactly the kind of standard i try to live up to. Another aspect of this side of her i love is the protector aspect she inhabits, she was Ruby’s protector, as a huntress she’s everyone’s protector. I want to be her in every way imaginable.
The “Rule of Cool” in character designs, which is that if something is cool enough it deserves to exist is so very alive to me, and gosh is Yang cool. she’s cocky, her personality and silhouette is so big and massive and imposing. “let’s kiss and make up then you’ll learn” is such a good lyric for her from the song about her “i burn”. These attributes of her and the rule of cool are all things that i identify with myself. I’m also massive and cocky and i think i’m awesome but i am literally Ivern in red flannel. Yang does the whole damn thing, looks the part, saves the day sometimes, has an emotional background and gets bitches all while being so so human.
To continue on with Yang’s cool factor i want to touch on her design as a whole. It’s perfect, that’s just a fact. My favorite part about her is her hair. Big wavy hair that gives her a massive anchor in her design as well as giving her a unique silhouette compared to other characters in the show. Secondly her outfits she wears in different volumes are always the best. Her outfits are practical, and look like they totally belong to a biker girl who beats the shit out of you. Even down to her more finite details, like the purple bandana around her knee which relates to her relationship with Blake.
A tertiary point about yang that’s fundamental in *why* i like her so much is how she is this strong, imposing and daunting character, but she’s still presented as feminine. The way that rwby as a show presents Yang as a whole and tows a line between allowing Yang to be a masculine aligned berserker while not falling on “butch” tropes is so important to me. Yang is almost an entire new breed of femininity, one that i align with a lot.
Yang is so very much a part of me, But so is this fucking asshole.
POWER SWEEEEEEEEP i love Power for so many reasons that are so painfully simple.
Her backstory or storyline isn’t a tragedy like Yang or even Denji. Her backstory is just she was a lonely freak and found a cat. It’s so simple, yet i relate to it in my own way. And it’s so important to me to relate to a character in my own way. Never in my life have i found a character i related to, not once. And power gets me somewhat close to that feeling we all deserve.
Power borrows from the “Rule of Cool” less than yang, but is still great from a design wise on her own. When i first saw her in the intro i figured she was going to be a typical boring shonen-girl-type, but i was immediately proved wrong. Her human form design is so simple but portrays so much about her. The devil horns constantly present in her design are testament to her troublemaker attitude, which are contrasted by the business shirt and tie that she shares with her peers in public safety. **Spoilers for the ending of CSM part 1** When she assumes her devil form upon coming back from getting bang’d she’s a crazy looking monster, similar to kindred (who i also love dearly). This monstrous form she assumes for only a few pages are easily my favorite moment in chainsaw man as a whole. There’s just something right about this asshole getting to be a monster for like 10 min and giving up her life to save her state appointed brother
Power is, for all intensive purpose, a comedic relief character - in a show about horrible miserable topics with a messed up sense of humor, which is another trait i find relatable, i’m also the comedic relief girl.
Thankfully Power isn’t *just* her awful traits that make her hilarious and ridiculous. She’s a dutiful protector, of Meowy and of Denji in later chapters. She’s shown to have deep seeded fears in her character, her submission to makima, her impairing fear of the dark after darkness devil. These additions into her silly persona make her a well rounded, entertaining and fun character.
These two characters aren’t related at all, besides both being from shonens. As personality’s, their both big, loud and powerful which is the key element that makes me so attuned to them. The shows i watched in 2022, and subsequently become obsessed and consumed by shaped me as a person completely. And having characters for the first time in my life i saw myself in has been a liberating experience. I truly understand what TB Skyen meant when he said: “sometimes characters are important”.
