Here’s my wild guess: Shunsuke’s power can turn back time as in resetting events, but it doesn’t reset memories of those most affected by the changes.
All of your options implies that he “remembers” something. Problem is, this isn’t even a memory that he is supposed to have in a first place.
The burning question in my mind is how can these memories transcend alternate timelines, and I won’t be satisfied by a simple “it’s always been there, just that they erased it” sort of explanation.
Except for one:
So… maybe
It was a joke. But I think even the most optimistic of us are starting to get worried about the direction of the show.
The only reason why I’m worried, was because Jun Maeda said he never saw episode 13 yet. Episode 13 is the ending though 
I have a question. If Yu uses Plunder on a human without supernatural powers, does it affect the humans, as in health, or even life ?
So far we aren’t certain, however when he “plundered” the patient with telepathy the patient seemed to fine, just confused. If anything I believe that he actually takes their power away, only because we he took the power of the boy who could faze through walls the boy stayed behind without even attempting to get through the wall himself. But yeah, other than that, there doesn’t appear to be an severe consequences from the individual who Yuu takes the power from
I’d like to come here and talk about Yuu and his personality here for a second. A lot of people think that Yuu is somebody devoid of personality; that he is a faceless protagonist. While that may have been true for episodes 2-5, I honestly think otherwise from thereon out.
I’ve been pretty much spurred by this post in the Ep 11 topic:
Calling him a “one man army” is overly simplifying things; he was a pathetic selfish brat ever since the beginning. Once he had no reason to follow what he was told, he continued being the selfish brat that he was, without anything else to keep him in check. That was the entire episode 7: Yuu and his selfishness going over the top.
But after that, I really did not feel like he was “back to being no one”. It’s those little things that made me think that. Like how he wolfed down his food the minute Nao called them (which he didn’t do in episode 6). And how he reacts over the possibility of a new power user. By episode 8, he is no longer a puppet that follows the student council; he is a person determined to fulfill the goals of the student council.
He shows his own pathetic-ness once again at Episode 11 simply because that’s how he used to be… but he gets over it. Imagine what he would do if the events of Episode 6 and 7 never happened? I personally think that he wouldn’t even push through with the plan if he didn’t gain that development from episodes 6 and 7, and that would have pushed the story in a different direction (I won’t comment on whether its a better direction or not; it would just be different).
So, now, what is Yuu’s personality? He was a selfish brat, but he has changed since then. He became somebody more determined because he realizes the gravity of his own decisions. He still loves his sister, but he now would entirely support working towards helping other ability holders. The fact that he personally questions the scientist about a cure for the power-holders is proof enough.
That is one of the few developments I’ve seen in Charlotte, and it makes me believe that Yuu has a larger personality than any of the other characters in the series (I know, I know, that isn’t saying much).
5 Likes
I think the real weak part of Yuu’s character was from episode 2-5. In episode 1 we saw this conniving self-important monster, and we watched his downfall. But from episode 2-5 we didn’t even see a hint of that former character, and we didn’t have enough development for the striking change.
What I would have liked to see in episode 2 is a caged monster needing to be broken of his former habits. While he didn’t seem happy being in the student council, he still seemed resigned to it. It would have been nice to show some scenes of him trying to dig up dirt on Nao and Joujirou, who he saw as a his jailers, or learn the secrets of the school itself, which was his prison. This could have even prompted some good exposition and foreshadowing, as he learned that the school switched hands under strange circumstances only a few years ago. Sure, he would still play the part of a good student council member, helping on their missions and such, but he would have been doing it to cover up his intention to escape, which would have been a completely different characterization.
Yuu’s development in episodes 6-7 shouldn’t really be in question. Those were the most well-earned changes in the series, but I would say they were undercut by the weak characterization in 2-5. What we saw was a change from Neutral to Horrible to Good, and I would have rather seen a change from Bad to Horrible to Good. Hell, it would have made the Nao scene in 7 even more intense as Yuu confesses to his snooping and sneaking and Nao simply replies “I know.”
Episode 7 gave him character, but I can’t relate it to anything we saw of him in the past. It’s a very isolated character.
He was extreme for the sake of extremity.
There isn’t a nice smooth progression for Yuu.
There is Selfish Yuu, no one Yuu, extreme Yuu, and Yuu who remembers that there needs to be a plot.
After not eating proper food for what could be months? Like pretty much every other human on the planet would do? Doesn’t sound like a personality trait to me.
He definitely did change focus, they bashed that into your head throughout the episode. What does that change about his personality though? What was there to change?
He maybe says one more sentence in a conversation than previously. Now instead of going along with things silently, he goes along with things… quietly.
They changed nothing into a slightly different nothing.
And I thought that scene was awful. It felt very out of place.
He’s either run or do what other people tell him to. Whatever requires the least amount of character to get through.
And that is an incredibly vague character description.
“He’s determined sometimes. He helps people that matter to him. He is used to dump exposition sometimes.”
Dude needs more than 60 minutes of personality, and he needs some coherency to his character.
Can you imagine trying to act as this guy? His poses would all be from pre-release material, his memorable phrases would all be from episodes 1 or 7, and sometimes he’d say a joke that isn’t fitting of the atmosphere.
Really? I kind of relate it pretty well with Episode 1 Yuu. And he didn’t really change all the way from episode 2-6, so this is pretty much a natural, albeit extreme progression.
But who can blame him for making that extreme progression? Something pretty fucking extreme did just happen to him.
Seems I didn’t clarify; this was in Episode 8 when Nao called them from the cafeteria, and not the Omurice scene in Episode 7.
His personality totally changed! His entire motivation in doing these things changed, and I’d say that’s a big part of his personality. What he does is the same, but his personality when doing it is different.
It was pretty out-of-place but at the same time, very human.
If I were in Yuu’s place, I would also follow what Shunsuke said, simply because, at the time, it would make sense. He isn’t blindly following their orders; he’s doing it because he knows it is something he must do in order to save Nao and Kumagami.
In a different situation, where he does have the option to think of other choices, then he would have done so. Episode 8, again, is an example, where he brought it upon himself to bring Sala to Nao’s brother. She didn’t even encourage him, but he still went through with it. That doesn’t fall in the “run” nor “do what other people tell him to” category, for sure.
See that’s totally different from what I typed 
Why is it that I feel like you are mixing up actions and personality. He doesn’t need poses or phrases or jokes in order to have a personality. He has to have a way of thinking that is unique to himself, and that is what I think he does have, and it has developed a huge amount over the entire series.
For sure, he isn’t quirky, and I wouldn’t consider him as such. But he has a pretty fleshed-out personality, in my opinion
That’s what I was referring to. The Omurice thing was just an emotional response.
You say changed, but I don’t. He never had a motivation. He never had a personality.
He has barely changed, because he wasn’t a thing to change. All they’ve done his give his some slight quirks. The difference between Yuu now and Yuu 9 episodes ago is minuscule. He’s still as flat and dull as he was back then.
Looks exactly the same to me. I just summarized.
Because my original post was about describing his personality. You do that through his actions. They are what define a character.
I don’t see that at all. He’s barely a character. I can’t describe him at all. If you asked me who Yuu was, I’d say “a guy who does stuff sometimes, and likes his sister” because that’s the only defining traits I can think of. He’s emptier than Ooyama in the AB anime.
I dont know guys… Yuu may have had some development, but imo he still acts almost exactly the same! What did he do in episode 2? He selfishly resisted helping Nao, but ended up just doing what he was told and going along with it anyways. What did he do in episode 11? He selfishly resisted helping Nao, but ended up just doing as he was told… again!
But by that time he had already eaten proper food, and had Nao not called, he wouldn’t have wolfed it down?
He didn’t have any motivation other than himself before episode 6, but that is exactly what changed; they gave him a personality. And he obviously was selfish before then, and the character development in episode 7 changed his entire motivation. He’s still selfish and narcissistic, sure, but he can set that aside for more important things now. I really cannot imagine why you equate this sort of thing to flat and dull.
There’s more to a personality than just actions; there’s his motivations and his emotions behind those actions. Having him do a unique action without having a solid motivation behind it has absolutely no personality, in my eyes.
And if you asked me who Yuu was I would say “A selfish and narcissistic guy who has, over the course of the series, learned to set that aside for more important things”.
That really feels like you’re oversimplifying things. Why did he selfishly resist helping Nao in Episode 2? Because he thought it was stupid and not worth his time.
Why did he selfishly resist helping Nao in Episode 11? Because he wasn’t confident enough in his own abilities.
I agree that his motivations were different.
@Bizkitdoh and I were talking, and we were kinda thinking “Well, whats up with Yuu? He’s obviously not just your average protag.” And I think what we kinda agreed on is that Yuu is scared of having other people rely on him.
But here’s my problem with this. To get to that, I had to extrapolate and fill in all these holes. And Im not the kind of guy who thinks the writer should clearly spell out everything for the audience, but I really feel that Yuu as a character and his development were not well written.
Its there. I can see parts of it as long as I look past his radical and somewhat unrealistic personality 180s from episode 1 to 2, and to a lesser degree the end of episode 7. Im hoping it’ll be a bit more clear when I watch it all the way through, because as I’ve said several times before, I feel like this show has really suffered from the week-long breaks in between episodes.
I honestly never thought about that, and yet I was still able to appreciate certain parts of his personality. I don’t know whether that constitutes something as either well-written or terribly-written, but I still think that he has decent development.
I wasn’t speaking to Yuu specifically, more to the series. I said that I think Yuu has had very very good development, but that includes things that are cut and dry as well as the imaginative aspects.
Honestly, I never had a problem with Yuu’s characterization.
My personal understanding of Yuu’s initial motivations came way back from Episode 1 when people first pointed out that he went through a lot of almost unnecessary hardships just so he could cheat on the admittance test. I thought that maybe that perhaps there’s more to that idea. “Why am I myself, and not someone else?” Because you have that power of yours. He wants to come out on top, and he wants to do it by using what makes him unique, in other words, his power.
Nao ‘invites’ him to join them in their search for power users, and he goes along with it. Why? Because he still has the opportunity to use his power in a unique way to make his own self distinct. He can still give purpose as to why he is himself and not someone else.
And then over the course of the next 6 episodes he comes to value other things. He comes to value his relationships and more people than just his sister. He becomes a lot less apathetic towards the feelings of other humans and starts to look at things in a different way. I felt there was good progression there and it never felt particularly abrupt, and he never did lose his love for succeeding explicitly by means of his power.
This was especially noticeable for me when he had his fall in Episode 7 and went back to just feeling good in using his power to prove himself as being superior. But even in Episode 11 and 12 just now he was faced with situations where it was his power specifically that allowed him to be the hero. There’s more to it than before, and since he’s no longer doing it just for himself he also gets uneasy if he can actually fulfill the expectations of the people he’s come to care about, but I still find my initial impression fairly accurate. He likes the prospect of succeeding by ways of the power than makes him who he is. Because it’s something only he can do. Something that makes him himself, and not someone else.
Some might say I’m reading so deeply and seeing things that aren’t really there, but hey, it sure as hell made me appreciate Yuu’s character more than I would’ve otherwise, and that’s good enough for me.
6 Likes
I am currently at a point in Charlotte where, with the show almost over, lots of people are able to make overarching statements about characters and plot and development, and while they are directly conflicting with the mindset I have fallen into this entire time, many of them, such as @Karifean’s, make a lot of sense to me. This is hard for me: on one hand, I have been dying to try and see Charlotte in a positive light the entire time; but on the other, I dont want to let myself get all wishywashy and just change my mind with every new view someone proposes.
Yuu and his development as a character most certainly falls into this category.
I think Im going to go back once again and attribute this dilemma to expectation and desire. I expected and wanted Yuu to be the character he was in episode 1: an arrogant and narcissistic jerk. I didnt expect or want him to so quickly become, well, not that. But I dont think thats how Maeda ever wanted him to be portrayed. And, feel free to correct me if youre more knowledgable about such things, to me, I think the disconnect between what development I am able to delve into and see now, and what I was seeing the whole time I was watching it, is due to the style and direction.
I’ve said over and over again, “this transition was terrible/nonexistant”, “such and such scene felt really off to me”, “WHY DOES IT ALL SEEM SO POINTLESS.” My train of thought on this now is that they should have made more sense, but werent portrayed well. And at least to me it makes most sense that that would be the director’s fault.
I think a lot of people are in this camp of expecting Yuu to be the same as what he was during Episode 1. I think it might be because it was just so different from what we’ve seen before, and maybe that difference is what got people hooked on that. The moment he stopped acting like that, the hook lost the bait, and those people lost interest. The thing is, maybe it never was meant to be a hook in the first place.
I, personally, despised the Yuu of Episode 1 and frankly expected him to stop becoming like that as soon as possible, which might be why I can look at his development from a different light.
And btw, absolutely great analysis, @Karifean. That’s definitely something that I never thought about, but makes perfect sense now that you mention it. And I think that problem of identity and purpose is one that many teenagers struggle with all the way until their adulthood. It gives a pretty good contrast to the whole idea of powers and whatnot.
Yuu to me has played a large part in what my idea of the series is at this point in time. A massive part of that is his ability to actually succeed- When we see Yuu as this figure with a massive ego and nasty charisma, he IS that powerful of a force and he finds success in all of his ventures. His selfishness helps him to actually make things happen.
This is contrary to what is shown in episode 11- Yuu is put in a position where he psyches himself up to be a hero and save the girl, and pretty much fails but is appreciated for his efforts anyways, even if the payoff is not what was intended. This experience of reality kicking his ass humbles him greatly and he seems to no longer look at it as a matter of something that will provide benefit, but something that is as fate will have it be and he has to accept that. No more games. His choice to do what only he can do is very selfless and mature and is a great characteristic of adulthood driven by what was learned in this period of time, all be it extraordinary circumstances. Very akin to any person who chooses to devote they’re life to being a martyr. I think Yuu is willing to give up his humanity, could sacrifice his very self, just to accomplish this goal. If it works out and he makes it out in the end, great, he has something he can be happy with for the rest of his life- If not? He still was able to create that happiness for countless others.
1 Like
To be frank I can’t help but be shocked when someone says they hoped to see Yu stay the same. It’s just… strange. What’s the point of having a despicable main character that never develops into anything more, except in hugely specific settings? I think that was a somehow deluded view. A character almost always starts off as mediocre in order to learn, that’s quite commonplace (and not in a pejorative way) in coming of age works. I’d like to be enlightened on that though - why wasn’t it obvious to many? I’ve seen so much disappointment I really can’t understand regarding that & it bothers me, I feel it’s one of the unfair complains targeted at the show, because it has more to do with the viewers themselves than the show.
With that said, I’ll add my own point of view on Yu. I’ll try to keep it basic & not overly long…
In my humble opinion, there’s genuinely not much more to Yu than what’s on display at the start of the series.
He’s just that - a narcissistic piece of crap unworthy of anyone’s attention who just wants the easiest way to the top (and maybe his only way, knowing it’s well emphasized that he’s not smart).
What I find so great about his treatment is the way Maeda accompanies his development the way a mentor would. He’s actually quite harsh on him where it’s needed - see episode one for many examples, including those glasses. (That’s not a spoiler is it?) Yet he still looks over him warmly as he goes on, facing him with the hardships and giving him the help needed to reach his logical final state - once again, quite like a mentor would.
He doesn’t cover his flaws, but still makes him develop positively into a real hero (and in fact, I’d go as far as saying his possible sacrifice for the cause makes him the epitome of a romantic hero, especially if he does die, as unfortunately far fetched as that sounds), and to me that’s what created a sense of empathy towards his character. He has flaws and he’s called out for them, but he progressively becomes a person worthy of affection, without that last notion ever being shoved into my face, which makes me feel for him far more than I’d ever feel for a character who’s bestowed with that heroic beauty from the very start, or who explicitly becomes a sort of superhero without a seeming flaw to his character.
In fact I find that Maeda is balanced in his treatment of Yu, he doesn’t force you to take his side, because even after he’s developed you see some of his flaws completely on display - but that makes his growth all the more natural, and I just instinctively developed a sense of attachment toward him & his ever growing sincerity and strength. It just comes about naturally to me, and that made me love his character.
I think that’s maybe why some people don’t feel much sympathy for him though - we’re so used to those shows where the characters are presented as super beautiful & the story’s “good” people, it’s a bit weird when no one is there to tell you how to feel about the main character.
Now I’m simplifying things a whole lot, but I’ll keep it at that for now.
3 Likes
