Forum - View topicShelf Life - Over the Horizon
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HeeroTX
Posts: 2046 Location: Austin, TX |
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I think the "harem" thing on Shiroe is kind of laughable when we're talking about a series that has Soujirou. (a character whose sole purpose seems to be "women love him") Heck, Krusty probably has a similar number of women attracted to him as Shiroe.
As far as Shiroe being a "Gary Stu", I think it's really important to note his nickname "Villian in Glasses". I never really got that before reading comments here, but if you think about it, if he WASN'T the protagonist, he'd BE the "evil" guy pulling the strings that you meet at the end. I think it's pretty well established (and even stated by Shiroe early on) that he'd be pretty ineffective all alone. He doesn't have "offensive" power like Krusty, Isaac, etc. He's not really diplomatic and social like Soujirou and Crescent Moon. He's not a good marketer (presumably) like the Merchant leaders. He works BECAUSE most of those people know that he IS a really good planner, he sees the angles and prepares for them. They make a serious effort (in the show) to show that several of the guild leaders respect his abilities, but I think it's just as relevant that most OTHER people think he's an @$$. We mostly focus on the people that like and/or respect him, but there's a TON of people who think he's a creep. I dunno, I grant that it's probably because I appreciate having a type like him (like a Danny Ocean in Ocean's 11) that is thinking so many moves ahead, but I don't consider him a "Gary Stu" simply because on his own he's not "godly", he's just a chessmaster that knows how to allocate resources and (luckily for him) has highly capable people that are willing to listen. |
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Kadmos1
 Posts: 13581 Location: In Phoenix but has an 85308 ZIP |
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When ADV had the Kanon license in '07-'08, Colleen Clinkenbeard played Mishio while Caitlin Glass played Kaori. |
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ANN_Bamboo
ANN Contributor
 Posts: 3904 Location: CO |
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But the show isn't about Soujirou or Krusty. And with the exception of the princess, there isn't any other woman with speaking lines who has any interest in Krusty. However, multiple women with speaking lines have a thing for Shiroe, which heaves the romantic spotlight onto him, instead of any number of playboy characters for whom that is simply just another character trait.
I don't think being the bad guy precludes someone from being a Gary Stu. In fact, I think a lot of guys would love to be the misunderstood bad guy, who's so good at what he does that people spread rumors about him. And a few people have brought up the fact that he doesn't have offensive powers, but again, I don't think that matters. I don't think all Gary Stus necessarily need to fall into one particular type of character-- the fact of the matter is, a lot of different types of people write fanfic (if we're going to the origins of the term), and many of them might prefer to be the bad guy, or the smart strategist, or the guy who controls the strings from the back. What makes him a Gary Stu is that he is basically unstoppable, is adored by primary character women (i.e. not just faceless, nameless women), is an unchallenged leader, can rewrite the laws of the world, and is widely revered. Shiroe is an idealized character. |
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Megiddo
 Posts: 8360 Location: IL |
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Shiroe as a scribe subclass can make contracts that go against the original game programming if he has the rarest of the rare components. It's a craft. It's not special only to Shiroe. Any scribe who is high enough in subclass level can likely produce the same if they have those rare components, and we know there is at least one other Adventurer who also used World Magic over in Minami.
Shiroe is absolutely useless on his own. He constantly relies on other people. He put Krusty in charge of diplomacy with the kingdoms of Eastal. He put Henrietta in charge of negotiating the investment pitch between the 3 largest merchant guilds. He constantly consults Naotsugu and Nyanta's opinions on matters. There are a number of times where Shiroe's plan was going to fail if it wasn't for someone else being able to save his butt (such as spoiler[Demikas' carrying him to the end destination of the dungeon] in the second season). He is not infallible and he screws up at times. He doesn't go rushing into battle with some super awesome one-of-a-kind ability. He is no Kirito. He is the anti-Kirito. |
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HeeroTX
Posts: 2046 Location: Austin, TX |
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If you think about it, the observations other players make about Minori PROVE that almost anyone COULD do what Shiroe does if they just applied themselves in that way.
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tcdelaney
Posts: 169 Location: Mittagong, NSW, Australia |
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Not exactly - it takes a particular type of brain to do what Shiro does. His skillset isn't that uncommon among serious game players, but he's still the best among the best. What people need to remember is that Shiro was the acknowledged strategist of the most highly-regarded party in Elder Tales. They were legendary, did things that entire high-level guilds were incapable of doing, and much of their success is placed at Shiro's feet. He really is that incredible at what he does - he is without a doubt one of the best players in the game. So yes - his capabilities appear near-godly in his areas of speciality. That's because he always plans ahead. As we see in season 2, spoiler[when he's not able to plan ahead, bad things happen, such as an entire raid being wiped]. And when that happens, he analyses, reflects on what happened and modifies his plans. |
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jr240483
 Posts: 4388 Location: New York City,New York,USA |
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which is however the reviewer's take on the whole "harem aspect" and have some marret though not completely. True, while kirito choose a girl already (though personally i would have been interesting if it was sughua) ,shiro unfortunately completely clueless on the girls that take a liking to him. sure he would never go out with minori considering she is a middle school kid,BUT though if he had a brain on the romance of the opposite sex, he would have noticed her "crush" and talked her about it before it got out of hand "hence prevented the whole cake fiasco during the libra festival" let alone realizing that both akasuki and the former tea party leader obviously have a thing for him which was why they clinged to him and it definitely became more apparent during the second season. and dont get me started on that headcase umiko since she cant even make up her mind if she likes him or is a lesbian that is interested in akasuki. |
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