Favorite Minor Characters
Posted: Fri Dec 27, 2013 12:26 am
I apologize in advance if this thread has already been done, as I did not look thoroughly to see if it had been. Also the discussion in the Astro Boy area has been a little sluggish lately.
Basically discuss who your favorite minor characters are and why, as well as any fun observations about them and possible 'reincarnations' of them in other Tezuka works.
Just have fun with this.
So my favorite minor character is Bem otherwise known as "Bimo" in the ELV. For the moment they are my avatar.
I really like this character because he shows great growth in the story he was depicted in; going from trusting Atom to not trusting Atom or humans (due to one of the few times where Atom made a mistake) then trusting Atom and loving Earth to the point where he was willing to sacrifice himself to save it from his own people.
He was created as a weapon of war but rebelled against that to live his own life, the way he wanted to live it even if it meant living on a separate planet from his own among aliens. Even if the life he lived was ultimately in hiding it was his life away from those that 'created' him. He also was so desperate to keep his self in hiding from his kind due to his nature (as a bomb) so others might not get hurt. Granted the main motivation for him to run away from his kind was self preservation but he shows compassion and great love for life by the time his story unravels.
Bem in the original story did ultimately die to save Earth by using his bomb and the ELV edited it to make Bem 'just use his bomb' whereafter he went back to his home planet. I personally liked the ELV version of this episode better for that particular reason.
Bem's story was also redone in the 2000s where he didn't die and more or less had the same back story, but his Earth experience was a little different and less chaotic. Still good though.
I also really like this character in the manga version because his was a non-binary gender character where they simply were not male OR female, so thus the pronoun 'he' might be construed as inaccurate at least when referring to the manga. I have a fixation on non-binary genders (it's part of my major area of studies) and my partner also happens to be non-binary so I might be a touch biased
Anyway, I love this character because he has elements that really attract me and my creative mind. His being an alien AI really broadens the collective 'world' of the Astro Boy universe and gives me something to muse and play around with creatively. That and he and his people are reminiscent of Valkyries as they have wings on their heads! I thought that their designs were very interesting, totally improbable anatomically but very interesting.
Basically discuss who your favorite minor characters are and why, as well as any fun observations about them and possible 'reincarnations' of them in other Tezuka works.
Just have fun with this.
So my favorite minor character is Bem otherwise known as "Bimo" in the ELV. For the moment they are my avatar.
I really like this character because he shows great growth in the story he was depicted in; going from trusting Atom to not trusting Atom or humans (due to one of the few times where Atom made a mistake) then trusting Atom and loving Earth to the point where he was willing to sacrifice himself to save it from his own people.
He was created as a weapon of war but rebelled against that to live his own life, the way he wanted to live it even if it meant living on a separate planet from his own among aliens. Even if the life he lived was ultimately in hiding it was his life away from those that 'created' him. He also was so desperate to keep his self in hiding from his kind due to his nature (as a bomb) so others might not get hurt. Granted the main motivation for him to run away from his kind was self preservation but he shows compassion and great love for life by the time his story unravels.
Bem in the original story did ultimately die to save Earth by using his bomb and the ELV edited it to make Bem 'just use his bomb' whereafter he went back to his home planet. I personally liked the ELV version of this episode better for that particular reason.
Bem's story was also redone in the 2000s where he didn't die and more or less had the same back story, but his Earth experience was a little different and less chaotic. Still good though.
I also really like this character in the manga version because his was a non-binary gender character where they simply were not male OR female, so thus the pronoun 'he' might be construed as inaccurate at least when referring to the manga. I have a fixation on non-binary genders (it's part of my major area of studies) and my partner also happens to be non-binary so I might be a touch biased
Anyway, I love this character because he has elements that really attract me and my creative mind. His being an alien AI really broadens the collective 'world' of the Astro Boy universe and gives me something to muse and play around with creatively. That and he and his people are reminiscent of Valkyries as they have wings on their heads! I thought that their designs were very interesting, totally improbable anatomically but very interesting.
