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Why are edgelord characters popular in japan?
- Thread starter DragonSJG
- Start date
All those characters you named are very popular in the west. You're just on forums where you can hear the vocal minority.
Yup yup yup. OP just gets to hear the vocal minority and put too much stock in it.
Somebody here ages ago posted a collage of loads of usernames of people who play as Reaper in Overwatch and it was hilarious. Just a collection of 14 year old edginess.
Darkluigi and Leave me alone are my favorites lol.I remember too, yeah.
"Nightslayer" is totally something I would've named an MMO character as a kid.
THANK YOU!! I've never seen it since. It keeps getting funnier the longer you look at it!I remember too, yeah.
watchussuffer!!
forsakendemon!!
eviljesus!!
I don't think that proves anything about edgelord fandom though.
I like Shadow's design too, but I know he's a trash character.
I find clones, legacies heroes, "there is another" intriguing. Nothing to do with edgelords.
So that got me thinking and with edgelords do people mean the full package or like potentially only either looks or personality.
Because else I don't think there's an edgelord among the main characters in the best selling and most popular manga in Japan, One Piece.
Unless you count Trafalgar Law as one since he does have DEATH spelled on his fingers. But personality wise I wouldn't say Law's an edgelord at all.
He's actually pretty chill most of the time, openly cares a lot about his friends and sacrifices his own wellbeing quite frequently to save his friends.
Because else I don't think there's an edgelord among the main characters in the best selling and most popular manga in Japan, One Piece.
Unless you count Trafalgar Law as one since he does have DEATH spelled on his fingers. But personality wise I wouldn't say Law's an edgelord at all.
He's actually pretty chill most of the time, openly cares a lot about his friends and sacrifices his own wellbeing quite frequently to save his friends.
Their independence and agency make them attractive avatars for their intended audience of teenage/YA boys.
I don't know I've always seen him more as just a serious guy. He doesn't usually come off as edgelordy with how often he has to play the tsukkomi part with jokes and how often he gets lost all the time and just goes with the flow then.
Mihawk is what would be One Piece's "edgelord", but he doesn't appear frequently enough to be super popular so people forget about him.
As others have said, edgelords are popular in any culture because deep inside, we are all emo. Still, if you want Japanese culture-specific reasons, I can think of a few:
- Expression of Japanese postwar sentiments: Rehabilitation and reconciliation are two things Japan has sought since the end of World War 2, and central to that pursuit is trauma. These edgelord characters tend to have tragic backstories (sometimes too tragic) that inform not only their personalities but also their very agency. Who can the edgelord be outside of being a descendant of his clan or member of his community, even if that community is literally extinct because the entire village was burned and everyone slaughtered? Who can he be when his identity was forcefully taken away from him?
- Dark mirror of the dumb/aimless/everyman protagonist: For all their ideological clashes, the protag and the edgelord are not so different,you and I. A crucial thing they usually share is one of these two: both of them may not be properly integrated into society or both of them have not realized their potentials. That's why the edgelord is usually just the antihero and not the main antagonist. Thematically, he can even be looked at as a second protagonist. Since you're really into Persona 5 right now, look no further than Joker-Akechi as an example of this.
- The lonely audience can vicariously live through them: Related to the previous point, the edgelord, being an angst-filled rebel, can act as a vehicle for the Japanese everyman. He can be cathartical for someone who suppresses his ego for the sake of embodying salaryman cultural ideals of loyalty, commitment, and sacrifice. And even if you're not a salaryman, there's that modern Japanese ennui and isolation that can be gleaned from Akutagawa to Murakami to Takako Takahashi. The edgelord embodies this modern phenomenon, leading the audience to sympathize with or even relate to him.
- Dark mirror of Cool Japan: One of the ways Japan has pursued to reinvent itself is through kawaii culture. That's why waifus and moe and Rei Ayanami are everlasting. That's why isekai protags and hero's journeys and darlings in the Franxx/EVA/Gundam/whatever are eternal. Japan is cute, Japan is cool. Japan wears the freshest clothes, eats at the chillest restaurants, and hangs out with the hottest senpais.
But Japan exists outside of anime, which means it exists within time. And because it exists within time, it changes. What does it mean for anime to still sell you waifus while Japanese female novelists explore the ? Who can the Japanese woman be outside of being a mother and wife, especially when modernity has supposedly opened ? This kind of dissonance is found in the edgelord thanks once again to his Most Tragic Backstory Ever.
- Expression of Japanese postwar sentiments: Rehabilitation and reconciliation are two things Japan has sought since the end of World War 2, and central to that pursuit is trauma. These edgelord characters tend to have tragic backstories (sometimes too tragic) that inform not only their personalities but also their very agency. Who can the edgelord be outside of being a descendant of his clan or member of his community, even if that community is literally extinct because the entire village was burned and everyone slaughtered? Who can he be when his identity was forcefully taken away from him?
- Dark mirror of the dumb/aimless/everyman protagonist: For all their ideological clashes, the protag and the edgelord are not so different,
- The lonely audience can vicariously live through them: Related to the previous point, the edgelord, being an angst-filled rebel, can act as a vehicle for the Japanese everyman. He can be cathartical for someone who suppresses his ego for the sake of embodying salaryman cultural ideals of loyalty, commitment, and sacrifice. And even if you're not a salaryman, there's that modern Japanese ennui and isolation that can be gleaned from Akutagawa to Murakami to Takako Takahashi. The edgelord embodies this modern phenomenon, leading the audience to sympathize with or even relate to him.
- Dark mirror of Cool Japan: One of the ways Japan has pursued to reinvent itself is through kawaii culture. That's why waifus and moe and Rei Ayanami are everlasting. That's why isekai protags and hero's journeys and darlings in the Franxx/EVA/Gundam/whatever are eternal. Japan is cute, Japan is cool. Japan wears the freshest clothes, eats at the chillest restaurants, and hangs out with the hottest senpais.
But Japan exists outside of anime, which means it exists within time. And because it exists within time, it changes. What does it mean for anime to still sell you waifus while Japanese female novelists explore the ? Who can the Japanese woman be outside of being a mother and wife, especially when modernity has supposedly opened ? This kind of dissonance is found in the edgelord thanks once again to his Most Tragic Backstory Ever.
TBF, after playing P5R, I could be convinced that Atlus made Goro Akechi a parody of edgelords. His mannerisms and voice acting are so over top, at least in English, that it made me laugh every single time he spoke in the last act of the game.
I mean, come on. That's hilarious, and very endearing just because of how ridiculous he is. Although I would love if someone knew whether his Japanese audience was perceived as being deadly serious.
I mean, come on. That's hilarious, and very endearing just because of how ridiculous he is. Although I would love if someone knew whether his Japanese audience was perceived as being deadly serious.
It is a maturity thing.
The older you get, the more you realize that the world needs more Supermen and less Batmen.
The older you get, the more you realize that the world needs more Supermen and less Batmen.
OP
OP
Batman is arguably more of a noble man than Superman is soo...hard disagree there.
Ironic that you posted a Japanese edgelord as an example for American edgelord - but your point still stands. Edgelords are everywhere. And it's not new to our generation, not new to gaming as a medium.
Holden Caufield was an edgelord - being counter-cultural is extremely important in upbringings, it allows for diversity of thought before reality beats people into a mindless 9-5 submission.
Its not interesting, the original FF VII took place in New York, that was Japanese people trying to come up with characters and scenarios that would resonate with Americans since FF VI didnt sell all that well
How old was the person who made this? That "Ancient" Gamer column made my heart hurt
I'm pretty certain the person who put that together was trolling.
Batman is fighting crime because of the trauma of his parents' death. He fights in the dark because he believes that evil men can only be controlled through fear. He is very reticent to allow team members. He is cynical of everyone else's motivation. He is very sad. Also, very rich. And he spends way too much time underground.
Dude is super edgelord, especially when viewed from Frank Miller's 1980s take.
Yeah, so weird how this is such a specifically Japanese thing.
At least "Edgelord" knows what he's doing when he picks Reaper.I remember too, yeah.
Having watched Battle Royale for the first time recently (amazing lol), the Edgelord character(s) are definitely the best. I dunno how the general Japanese populace stack-ranks them all, though.
