See here.
even moar
bakaraptor: The idea that GAR is about becoming and not finality presents too narrow a definition of GAR.
Digiboy’s take is subjective, only a personal lensing of GAR.
You could even insert it in my graph:
One might be tempted to say that degree of emulation is a product of degree of hyperbole, that only characters exhibited a high degree of hyperbole will be the object of the viewer’s emulation, but it is perfectly reasonable to desire to emulate a non-hyperbolic character – “I just wanna be average”.
You can be hyperbolically mediocre, but it is, nonetheless, hyperbole. And that is usually for satirical purposes. When “plain vanilla yogurt” isn’t satired, it’s usually not hyperbolic. And so there’s your frame of reference – using more than several anime to establish a comparative framework.
I’ll give you some subjective, personal examples using a relative rating system – format is Character, (x, y, z)
x axis: The Rock > Master Asia > Kamina > Emporer Charles > Holland (E7) > Reinhard > Lelouche = Light > Shinji >Kouta (Kanokon)
y axis: Emporer Charles > Shinji > Kouta > Master Asia > Lelouche > Kamina > Light > Reinhard > The Rock > Holland
z axis: Reinhard > Lelouche > Light > Master Asia > Holland > Kouta > Shinji > Emporer Charles > Kamina > The Rock
now to assign relative values…
The Rock, (10, 2, 1)
Master Asia, (9, 7, 7)
Kamina, (8, 5, 2)
Charles, (7, 10, 3)
Holland, (6, 1, 6)
Reinhard, (5, 3, 10)
Lelouche, (4, 6, 9)
Light, (3, 4, 8)
Shinji, (2, 9, 4)
Kouta, (1, 8, 5)
This is largely an inductive process – using this relative system to establish what GAR means to you in quantifiable terms. Deductively trying to say what GAR is usually fails, as we’ve seen.
