Topic: Ataru vs. Keiichi: Ataru wins?!?

[yanqui9]

Hello fellow UY fans!  I've been an anime watcher for years and years and years but only started watching Urusei Yatsura during this last year.  It's amazing!  I've seen gifs/pics of the characters around and always wondered what all the fuss was about.  Now I know!  I also know where most the gags seen in later anime came from... and what certain really bad anime like "Trouble Chocolate" were trying to rip off.   

SPOILER ALERT:
SPOILER ALERT: I'm just going to go ahead and talk openly about events in two episodes of anime (Ah My Goddess "Everyone has a Destiny" and UY #157 "I love Darling's Sincerity") so if you think you want to watch either some day and haven't, and don't want any spoilers whatsoever, turn back now!   

Anyway, I was watching "I love Darling's Sincerity" (ep #157) and it struck me as very similar to the Ah My Goddess anime episode "Ah! Everyone Has a Destiny!"  No, I'm not saying they ripped off UY but the stories are very similar.  In AMG, Keiichi Morisoto comes across a "shinentai" of a young girl, a ghost reminant, who wanted to date his grandfather but couldn't because she died before he could come back to her.    Keiichi makes it up to her by being nice to her and taking her for a motorbike ride.   

In UY 157, a similar thing happens when a sickly girl spies Ataru Moroboshi from her hospital window every day and falls for him (not knowing he's the biggest lecher this side of... anywhere!)  "Darling's Sincerity" is one of those rare episodes of UY which are done "straight" and its very poignant and sad.  Still has some humor in it, as when Nozomi (the ill girl) keeps asking her mother who this strange boy she likes is, and the mother keeps ignoring her because she knows all about Ataru!

The similarities in the shows made me compare the two.  I often think deeply on things, usually trivial things that have little or no bearing to anything in real life... :-)  I was thinking of the simular was that Ataru and Keiichi approached the situation.   Now, for anyone unfamiliar with Keiichi Morisato of AMG fame, he's a total goodie.  He's the epitome of the Lawful Good, goodie-two-shoe, clean-cut, never a bad word or bad thought character that you'll ever come across.  You could not get more opposite of Ataru in almost any way.  Keiichi is so saintly that half the time i watch him, I can't stand the perfect little jerk! lol.

This made me think of C.S. Lewis, one of my favorite authors.  In one of his books, he wrote on how he considered it "better" or more moral when someone who has lots of problems does their best to be good and righteous (or honorable or nice or whatever you think of as "good") than when someone who already is like that behaves that way.  Even if the flawed person fails, CS Lewis considers their effort as more praiseworthy than the goodie who just is that way automatically. 

Considering this, this is why I made that subject line the way I did.  In "Everyone has a Destiny", of course Keiichi is going to be nice to the ghost girl.  He can be no other way.  Of course he's going to be kind, considerate, still worried how it will effect Belldandy... etc.  Its just how he is, he could run the whole episode on autopilot.  There's no _effort_ on his behalf to do the right thing (something I think CS Lewis would point out as the difference).  There's no effort for Keiichi to be the knight in shining armor and see this poor girl's spirit to the afterlife.

Meanwhile, Our Ataru has a few more challenges.  And he's given more challenges than Keiichi as well!  Nozomi's a ghost, which takes him a moment to get over, but he's okay with that.  She's kind of cute and he can live with it.  But it turns out she knitted him a scarf and mittens... and a woolen hat.  He.. um... after Sakura smacks him around some and reminds him of how he's doing a good thing for this poor girl's spirit, he can wear them, even in the hottest part of summer. 

Then Nozomi pulls out a sweater... she died at Christmas time.  By this time, you're pretty sure Ataru is just going to either throw in the towel or have to be poked the whole way by Sakura.  However, Ataru puts the sweater on, even when it turns out its not finished!  Then he happily plays along with the whole situation!  He gets into it so much that he even begins to flip Lum's jealousy meter and the lightning begins to build.   At another point, Sakura asks him if he's hot in all that winter gear and Ataru hisses to her that, of course, he's dying, but he's making a very bold face on it.  The day goes on, they go for rides and watch fireworks.  In the end, Nozomi's spirit moves on, happy, able to go on.  Ataru walks off in melancholy, keeping the sweater and accessories on even after Sakura reminds him he can take them off now.

That is why Ataru wins over Keiichi Morisato in my book.  Keiichi never really had an obstacle while Ataru really did.  Also, Ataru is one of us.  He's a young man, he's a person.  He lusts after as many girls as he possibly can.  He doesn't want to be inconvenienced.  He doesn't want to wear hot clothes in summer.  He doesn't necessarily want to drop everything to help some ghost girl that just happened to get a crush on him.  But he does.  He does the right thing and in the end I think he's glad that he did. 

Ataru had to work at doing the "right thing," its not really an automatic part of his nature.   That's why my applause is for Ataru and not Keiichi in this situation.  He had to rise above himself to do it, challenge himself to be better.