I do realize that this is probably an essential part of the comedy, but occasionally I have to wonder why it is that in the wackier harem comedy anime, the main male protagonist is so very unlucky. It is as though the universe exists entirely to take a dump onto that character's karma. After a while, it ceases to be mere schadenfreude, and turns into a sort of horrific and yet hilarious absurdist comedy.
Offhand, I remember that Excel Saga deals with a parody of something like this in the form of Pedro and his screams of despair, and I'm sure we all remember Keitarou Urashima from Love Hina. The sequence of events goes something like such: the male lead attempts to do a certain task. Circumstances all converge in a highly improbable manner that may power starships to place him in a position of maximum embarrassment and bodily discomfort, stopping just short of outright killing him. (Or not, as the more outrageous shows sometimes attempt: Dokuro-chan, anyone?) Meanwhile, there will be the presence of an attractive girl (or several), which may or may not have any actual bearing on the male lead's predicament.
Now, note that I don't have an actual problem with this. This is, after all, what looks like a staple of the genre, and while I don't especially like the stereotypical hapless male lead, I don't dislike him either. It just is, like the mountains or the seas or the rabid fangirls.
What does give me pause, however, is in how over the top some of these situations may be. The male lead's physical resilience is shown to far exceed anything the more serious sort of Western superhero is capable of withstanding, as long as he shows an adverse reaction to it. Everything is, in effect, comedic damage, which lasts until it is no longer funny. Damage resistance is inversely proportional to how relevant the scene is for plot progression: Keitarou randomly accidentally peeks at Naru, and get punted into Low Earth Orbit with no ill effects. He gets into Tokyo University before the plot desires, and he gets squished by a giant stone head, resulting in a broken leg. This is Warner Brothers Cartoon Violence, with the addition of cute girls.
Mention should also be made that occasionally the girls are the ones suffering from the whims of comedy. To follow with the Love Hina example, Mutsumi is probably the most obvious, although all of the Hinata-sou residents (with the possible exception of Haruka) have had bad luck happen to them at one point or another (in Motoko's case, probably because the serious ones are funnier). And then there's the Misfortunes of Mikuru Asahina, where it is unclear how much of the plot abuse is due to Haruhi's viewing of the world in genre conventions, and how much is due to Mikuru's doormat personality interacting with Haruhi's forceful one, resulting in unintended consequences. Considering Haruhi's powers, this question may well be pointless.
In any case, once again, I must repeat that I don't see this as a Bad Thing, or a Good Thing, but merely a Thing Which Exists. Why it exists is something that someone else, likely with a firmer grasp of film history, would have to answer.
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The hell is with that screenshot ?!!
No idea what this title is…
@Karry: Nagasarete Airantou. Ikuto is attempting to differentiate between the "normal" (as it were) mushrooms and faux-carnivorous "fake" mushrooms.
Yes, I know. It surprised me that there was no mention of the imagery in the anime itself.
I think it's the standard slapstick element.
I think what bugs me more is the type of protagonist that suffers. He/she's already made to "suck" when we're introduced, and I think the over the top unluckiness emphasizes that fact. It's only when it's done constantly and for the same types of reasons that it become aggravating to me. :P
This post amuses me, mostly because I agree with you. And I actually think the really extreme haplessness might have been *introduced* to harem with Love Hina. Certainly Tenchi never had it quite so bad. I honestly sometimes get angry at how screwed over the protagonists get, and their blasé attitude toward it.
Which is what first drew me to Kanon — its protagonist actually stands up and shouts at people sometimes. Also he's a sarcastic bastard.
Oh, and have you bothered to read the Haruhi novel translations floating around? In the second novel Koizumi offers an alternate reason for Mikuru's "doormat" behavior.
@Kalium: I suspect as much. It's mostly the slapstick as applied to romantic comedy that interests me, mainly in the "why?" aspect. I mean, it's not like good slapstick is easy to come up with, any more than good banter.
@TheBigN: For me, it's something like that, but more that it's entirely ridiculous in scale sometimes. Some small action that would be innocent in another series suddenly results in the protagonist being blown up and falling into a pit filled with boiling sharks with laser beams on their heads for no reason other than comedy. There is no plausible reason for that hazard to be there other than "it's funny".
I have a possibly unreasonable expectation for everything to make sense in the story, which bodes poorly for one-off gags.
@Greg: I have indeed read the Haruhi novel translations, and do realize that with the possible exception of Yuki (whom Haruhi does not appear to have much expectations of) and Kyon (who's a relatively reliable narrator, unless the series springs something on us out of the blue), the rest of the SOS Brigade may well be only acting in that way because that is how Haruhi envisions them to be. Both Mikuru and Koizumi, in other words. And Koizumi's theory on Mikuru's behaviour is also plausible, given the evidence.
However, conspiracy theories always tend to be at least somewhat plausible anyway, and there's no real proof, so this is mainly speculation. Personally, I'm preferring that Mikuru has no ulterior motive, but I wouldn't be surprised if she does.
As for the "introduction" of the helpless loser male protagonist, I'm pretty sure at least Urusei Yatsura predates Love Hina in that. Strong women smacking down guys, whether or not that guy is strong himself (Ranma, Inu-Yasha), and that guy never hitting back, seems to be a staple of Rumiko Takahashi's more comedic works.
The "why?" question you seem to be plagued with was never really something I bothered to ask, probably because I tend to simply shove anime into the three categories of "enjoy", "enjoy parts of", and "don't want to be an elitist but this anime sucks". For a series that isn't horrible per-se but is at the same time incredibly disappointing to me, I find myself trying not to think about it much afterwards for fear of my head imploding with all the negative feelings.
Taking a crack at this, I've heard of Love Hina in particular being referred to as a harem anime (obviously) but I've also heard it being called a harem-parody, which would explain quite well why normal physics don't seem to apply, and why a semi-serious and conclusive ending is something much more than a person can ask of it. From the way I see it, the anime was made to be funny, and to use aspects of the harem genre to be even funnier (aspects such as nearly "submissive" males with an aversion to actually making decisions, a half dozen or more girls of all types around, etc…), and personally I think the only people who actually sat through it till the end were those that were either entirely alright with it being a simple comedy show and nothing more, or those who went the entire series beating themselves over the head as it was becoming more and more apparent that it wasn't going to evolve into anything serious. For the former, there's no need for the question of "why?"- so despite your rather neutral view towards the style in the post I'm going to say you're in the latter group. So here's what you have to ask yourself about this: are you sure you aren't simply creating a question out of nothing due of unexpressed agitation? ^_~ Just let it all out and you'll feel better.
~Lys
@Lysander: I created a question out of nothing because I wanted a topic for a post to make my Two Posts Per Week quota. No, really.
I liked Love Hina… no, wait, let me be precise: I liked Love Hina the manga, but didn't really like the anime (which I did sit through all of, in the hopes that it would turn into the manga). I am, as mentioned several times, perfectly fine with taking it for what it is: simple slapstick comedy.
However, this does not mean that I am suddenly prohibited from thinking about it, or at least I hope not. I was just watching Nagasarete Airantou when the question just popped in my head: "why so much cartoon violence comedy?" What possessed the scenario writers of this day and age to create so many situations where the male protagonist gets into so much trouble? Is there a precursor somewhere? Is it the influence of Warner Brothers? What is it?
It's just curiosity. Is that a bad thing?
Curiosity is absolutely never a bad thing, I'm just having fun with the topic and seeing if I could prod any negative sentiments towards it out of you ^_^
Love Hina was one of the first anime series I saw after a couple years of watching DBZ and taking the entire anime culture as just "people who like to watch cartoons" and nothing more. Well, the point is that I wasn't very knowledgeable of anime at the time, and while Love Hina might be a harem-parody, to me it was the introduction of not just harem anime but anime with any sort of romantic undertones period to my limited experience. Looking back, a slapstick comedy show is exactly what it was, and it's perfectly fine being just that, but to a fifteen year old with no experience I was craving something deeper and felt almost betrayed by it when it turned out to have a fittingly comedic ending with no real resolution. I should hope it would be obvious by now, but I discovered then while wallowing in frustration that I was going to be a big fan of romance anime, and that's definitely been the case since then- as awkward as that might seem from watching a series like Love Hina.
That's just a little background on my personal biases towards the genre, and my comment really didn't have much to do with the idea of slapstick comedy in general as much as my personal experience with it and seeing if anyone else was likewise annoyed, so don't take it to heart, okay? ^_^
~Lys
OMFGWTFBBQ ARE THOSE GIANT PENISES!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!