I understand what youre saying and can to agree with it to an extent, but I think if it was actually written/presented well, you wouldnt have to push Yuu out of the way to let Nao shine. In fact I feel like this is a problem that the whole show has had in general: completely losing focus on some characters just to show off some others, with no one really being fully developed in the end. Even though they are presented as if they were supposed to beā¦
Well I may be more forgiving of that aspect since I went into Charlotte fully aware that there would be holes similar to those found in Angel Beats!. I just donāt see Maeda ever writing an anime without such flaws, anime isnāt his background & 13 episodes is too short to achieve much in the first place.
As I mentioned, Yusa & Takajo are annoyingly underdeveloped, but unfortunately that was to be expected with such a short series. Recently there was an interview with the producer of the show & he admitted that the toughest part of making Charlotte was fitting all of Maedaās scenario into those frames, heās always going to write far too much to make a story manageable in 13 episodes. Which I understand, but at the same time itās still a problem when you take on writing the scenario of an anime & you canāt make something thatās a good fit for the medium, especially when you canāt say itās your first try anymore. (Which is why AB should have never been an anime in the first place, at least in my opinion).
Regarding Yu not having to step while letting Nao shine, I disagree. I donāt see anything strange with him getting āleft behindā at that point, because he wasnāt āfit for the roleā back then, he was no more than a very average dude somehow thrown into the main character role. Nao is fit for the role though, so I can definitely see her taking precedence over Yu early on. Itās actually very relevant to a certain vision of his development, and thatās why I praise it so - at first heās no hero, so heās just struggling with this overwhelming change (note how his development is forced onto him at first without him getting any time to accept this drastic change in lifestyle), and he gets left behind in the middle of all that, but that situation changes progressively. As he develops, heās not pushed aside again, so that suits this outlook. In the grand scale of things, it makes a whole lot of sense, and in fact I think thatās the superior route to take.
Well it wasnāt him who actively sought the production, they came to him.
On topic: In regard to this, I donāt think any of Yuuās development was sacrificed. Others, certainly- But not him. His development has been very very good from the start and Iāve enjoyed it more than anything else in the series. I think heās a great character.
Yeah, but when you already have experience and still make the same mistakesā¦ I donāt think he has any excuses in that regard, whether it was him seeking the production or not. Itās okay to make mistakes on your first try, I just think that looking at Charlotte, he doesnāt seem to have learned quite enough from Angel Beats, although itās clear Charlotte is less ambitious if we consider the vastness of the cast.
Good to see someone who agrees on Yu. Out of all the anime Iāve watched in recent years (and thatās a lot!), I canāt seem to recall a protagonist with a development quite as good as his. Itās been memorable so far, although in the end, so much comes down to the last episode, which worries me I have to say. Even for his development, as exceptional as itās been up until now, if all heās learnt doesnāt quite come togetherā¦ my opinion of it will inevitably be affected in a very negative way. He might very well turn into a classic protagonist if the ending is good enough though.
Yuu is essential to my current assumption on Charlotteās message, so I like him quite a bit. :kgoha:
I dunno about you but I never really thought that way, even back in Episodes 2-5
I thought it was pretty obvious that he hadnāt yet changed as a character but was just begrudgingly following orders for the sake of his sisterās well-being.
Did anyone notice that Yuu turned out to be almost as crazy about food as Nao is? Thatās a really interesting trait these two share! It just seems that, due to Ayumiās pizza sauce overuse, Yuu had forgotten how delicious food can be until Joujirou treated him to some cafeteria food. Yuu loves delicious food, sometimes reacting in a similar fashion as Nao does.
Thinking about it, I was very surprised when I realized how often food appeared throughout Charlotte. Heck, food played an important role several times in the show!
Episode 1: Shirayanagi Yumi invites Yuu to eat pancakes on what turned out to be their first (and only) date. Also, enter Ayumiās pizza sauce cooking - omurice
Episode 2: Yuuās bento is another portion of Ayumiās omurice. Nao mentions that Ayumi gives her best to make food for Yuu every day despite low budget. Nao eats her bento by herself. Joujirou uses his power to buy sandwiches. Nao goes crazy over kiosk-bought beef tongue on her way to the hospital. Dinner: Pizza sauce curry.
Episode 3: Omurice bento, Yuu erases ketchup message. Joujirou procures beef tongue curry for Yuu. Yuu is ecstatic. Henceforth, they associate this dish with happiness, school life and youth. Misaās hideout: Yusa happily munches on marshmallows and later roasted marshmallows. Dinner: Meat sauce pizza sauce spaghetti.
Episode 4: Breakfast: Pizza sauce french toast. Dinner: pizza sauce broccoli cream stew.
Episode 5: Barbecue in the mountains. āEat some vegetables, too.ā ~ Otosaka Yuu. Ignored. Only eating meat reminds Yusa of Misa. Dinner after returning home: Noodles with vegetables witout pizza sauce because theyāre out of pizza sauce.
Episode 6: Buying ingredients with Nao and Yusa on their way home. āEnoki mushrooms rule!ā ~ Tomori Nao. Eating dinner with Ayumi, Nao and Yusa. Spaghetti in the cafeteria. Pizza sauce revenge - Ayumi sneaks out of the dorm. Spaghetti in the cafeteria.
Episode 7: Yuu declares war on healthy food. Cup ramen. Yusa brings over some cream stew but canāt enter. Shirayanagi invites Yuu for some pancakes but has to retreat. Pizza all day. Nao sneaks in some salad but he doesnāt touch it. The discovery of mitarashi dango as both food and weapon. Nao brings Yuu back to his senses with pizza sauce omurice.
Episode 8: Once again, cafeteria beef tongue curry for Yuu. Sala asks Yuu to bring her to an okonomiyaki place. Yuu points out thereās nobody waiting at home with dinner. Ramen in a station noodle stall on their way to the hospital.
Episode 9: Drug-filled, tasteless curry in the research facility. Bloodbath.
Episode 10: Second scene after time leap: breakfast at otosakaās, 3 years ago. Cake for Shunās 15th birthday. This is where he gets the best ideas several times.
Episode 11: No food scenes. Most disastrous and brutal episode yet.
Episode 12: Spoon-feeding Yuu is the new fad. Return of the trademark dishes: beef tongue curry, cream stew, pizza sauce omurice. Cream stew has a special meaning for Yusa and Misa. Touching scene of Misa tasting her parentās cooking in their soba bar. Nao appears, munching on poki. Those poki go over to Yuu after he promises to return.
Naoās ending video: Has several clips of Nao chewing on different things.
ā¦not even sure if this still counts as Yuu discussion xD
So Charlotte is actually a food montage, huh. I guess it works just as well as Shokugeki no Souma :v
So lets take a moment to appreciate how broken Yuu is.
He has the power to posses people, stealing abilities, flight, go invisible to one person at a time, move sonic fast, channel the dead, pyromancy, telekinesis, telepathy, taking pictures of people in their underwear, ācollapseā, a currently unusable timeleap(That he COULD fix), the ability to go though walls, erase memories, hypnotize/force sleep, find power users, create ice, translate any language, ability to make illness worse, some sort of super sight, forcefield creation, healing, seeing the future, power to create explosions, a super jump, shooting lightning, disintegration of objects, turning things to gold, making spikes, a legit teleport, aaaand ācourageā.
Confirmed existing powers that he is not known to have taken are shooting light out of your mouth.
Plus ātens of thousandsā more unknown powers.
He has thoughtography. He posses the dude to throw the picture of Nao to her. Also did he take the brotherhoodās powers? We never saw him take them.
Oh yeah thatās right.
EVERY POWER USER
Even if he didnāt take them before going nuts, he would have forcibly taken them later.
Unless they were in Japan I guess.
They were literally right there when he was using his map to look at Courage-chan and they wernāt blipping.
Theyāre plunderlooted.
Iām a little confused about Yuuās morals about hurting other people. He
clearly has a sister he cares deeply about at the start and although he
was poor as was mentioned, it did not appear to be any level of
traumatic life threatening poor. Thus brings up the question how he can
disregard other peoplesā LIVES so easily when he doesnāt appear to be a
sociopath. He was willing to possibly kill a stranger by making them
crash their truck so he could act as a white knight to end up dating a
rich and pretty girl from his school that he didnāt care about that much
emotionally. (Playing with life/death isnāt a laughing matter) But Yuu
isnāt a complete scumbag at heart as he can make friends and show
empathy and help others.
In episode 7 when he goes on a depressed rampage, he still isnāt able to
kill those he beats up despite wreaking havoc and coming close to
stabbing someoneās eye. Although there was the security guy whom he
forced to jump over the balcony and that wasnāt something like the 2nd
or 3rd floor, it most certainly looked like it was high enough to kill
someone fpr sure. Although it was also implied the guard had a cushioned
falling from the sound of trees and bushes. I chalk this up to his
stupidity+depression, but he probably didnāt actually want to kill the
guard.
Iād put that down to confidence. In his mind, there wasnāt much of a risk of hurting people.
Agreed with what Taka said; in the episode 1 example, he checked if the driver was still okay after having him crash into the post. In episode 7, he first checked if there was a tree down there to cushion his fall.
He definitely has no intent to murder these people, so I wouldnāt call him a sociopath, but he definitely is willing to take the risk of harming others in order to achieve his goalsā¦
Well, at least pre-episode 8 Yuu thought that way. Episode 13 Yuu also started to regress into that after he had lost the memories of his experiences with Ayumi and Kumagami
Otosaka Yuu starts off as an arrogant cheater who wants others to admire him. He isnāt content with just being good-looking. He aims for the position of the smartest student of his grade and when it comes to girls, only the school madonna is good enough for him. He puts great effort into his preparations, abuses his supernatural ability to cheat his way through life, and even frivolously puts other people in danger for the sake of his schemes. He doesnāt care much about other people.
His shenanigans end when he gets subjugated by Tomori Nao. She knows his true nature, sheās smarter, driven, and always one step ahead of Yuu. Others in his position might have tried to break free from Naoās control, but Yuu gives up rather quickly. He is weak. He lacks courage, determination, and a decent reason to oppose her. āI donāt want toā and āIt hurtsā arenāt good enough a reason.
Yuu is by no means hero material.
He gets forced into the position of a Heroās sidekick.
As he reluctantly follows Nao around, helping her save people he doesnāt care about, he starts getting used to his new situation and gets a little bit closer to his new colleagues, Nao included. Heās not exactly the obedient type, but he ends up doing as heās told anyway. His āambitious jerkā personality only awakens when it comes to him or his precious little sister Ayumi. He has no qualms throwing his colleague Joujirou out of the window just to make sure he doesnāt ruin Ayumiās meeting with her favorite idol.
And yet he fails to save Ayumi. Grief-stricken, he runs away, taking out his agony on delinquents on the streets as he once again finds joy in dominating others - this time through violence. Despite āgoing wildā like this, Yuu doesnāt lose control completely. He doesnāt kill anyone, nor does he leave his opponents with lifelong injuries.
Yuu is not villain material, either.
Admittedly, he is a skilled fighter.
It is once again Nao who stops him from straying from the right path and helps him recover. As Yuu begins to come to terms with the tragedy, he loses some of his selfishness and develops a more understanding, a more caring side, going out of his way to help other people (in this case Naoās brother) of his own accord for the first time.
Through a chain of events, Yuuās position changes.
He finds out that he is the strongest ability user out there. He goes back in time and saves Ayumi. He regains memories from an alternative timeline and finds out that the world he lives in is far more cruel to ability users such as himself than he ever imagined. As if to drive this point home, Yuu is soon targeted by a foreign group of criminals. They kidnap Nao, who had done so much for him, to lure him out.
This is where Yuu is supposed to step up as a hero, but he still lacks the inner strength. Remember, he is not hero material.
Expecting a teenager to face armed and fully prepared thugs to save two lives is a tall order and Yuu almost breaks down when he is demanded to do just that. But he canāt simply abandon Nao and eventually, he works up enough courage and determination to go save her after all.
However, he fails, as do his enemies. Nao survives the confrontation only thanks to Kumagamiās sacrifice. Yuu loses time leap.
This is where Yuu grows the most as a person. He realizes his feelings for Nao and boldly confesses. He realizes what it is he wishes for: to make sure the people he loves wonāt have to suffer. He overcomes his failures, decides to take things in his own hands and accepts the sheer impossible task of singlehandedly saving all ability users in the world, in order to end the conflict for good. Thanks to his friends, he also learns what it truly means to take away someoneās ability.
He never lacked power or fighting prowess. But only now did he develop inner strength, courage and determination, for now he has something he wants to protect. Only now did he become capable of taking on the world.
Yuu was never meant to be a hero. He never wanted to be one. Yet he decided to become one on his own.
So his battle begins. He struggles, he stumbles, he gets weary, he comes close to losing heart. But he perseveres, even as he is losing himself and forgetting what it is he is fighting for.
And he succeeds.
Iāve been meaning to ask this, and Iāve been curious as to whether it was because of bad scripting, or not remembering things, but.
In episode 13, if I remember correctly, people were trying to shoot Yuu, but Yuu was blocking it with a self-shield. If I remember correctly, he was sleeping for part of it while people were shooting at him, yet the shield was protecting him. Does that mean that the shield protects him whether heās sleeping or awake ? Cause later in the episode, he gets shot using another weapon (sorry. Not a big fan of remembering weapons), by a man later on, and the shield doesnāt protect him anymore. Was this just bad scripting, or was the shield only bulletproof ?
In episode 13, someone controlled him, maybe an inner thought or a dead person, and who could that have been ? I was always curious because that scene could have been a good starting for a second season if it was planned.
Yuu looses all his memories in the end. Does he still have his powers and abilities ? I doubt that powers just disappears when you loose your memories.
Is it possible that Yuu was possessed in episode 13 throughout the scenes, such as when he was dragging people in the desert and such ?
Is it possible that the Yuu we see at the ending is actually someone else whoās possessing him if he still has his powers ? When he fell asleep, someone was possessing him and burnt the whole room. What are the laws when he passes out ? This could have been some kind-hearted soul (literally) who followed Yuu around and possessed him whenever he saw Yuu throw the note cards away or ruin it, so he would pick it back up.
Why didnāt Yuu heal his eye ? He could have freaken time traveled and plunder that knife-chan little girl, sheesh.
This regards to Yuuās powers, but isnāt it possible to save dead people using his healing powers ?
The fact that he had the power of a āmediumā brings up a lot of questions that Iām curious about.
iirc this was one of the big character development moments. This was to show that he was no longer going to use his powers selfishly and instead do everything to finish the job and take all the powers.
Just a hunch but maaaaybe at the time he was protecting courage-chan he was way too tired to use his powers as well as he could have earlier on.
ā¦what?
What?
I will have to ask you for proof on this.
This is actually a pretty controversial topic, yes. Some would agree with you, but others might say that the powers are linked to the brain, and losing parts of your brain (as in, losing your memory) would also have you lose your powers. Unfortunately the series didnāt even give us enough information to bother to speculate.
You misunderstand; the room burning incident is him slowly delving into madness due to having to take on all those powers at the same time; madness to the point that he no longer is consciously aware of his own actions.
Iām sorry, but the fact that you ask this question means that you understood absolutely nothing about Charlotte.