Hmm I recently rewatched Brotherhood so I have that Roy very much in mind and this is a pretty funny take in contrast. I don't remember much from the Roy of the first anime in contrast (except that they made much more use of the playboy thing as a personality trait; and that he was the man who killed Winry's parents which isn't the case in the manga). I don't think that Roy is about working-within-the-system-to-change-it so much as he is acting in order for the system to acknowledge its mistakes and make people (including Roy) pay for their action within that system. There's still a choice to do that from within the military, but Roy's methods are hardly always... hah, legalistic in nature; at least in Brotherhood ^^.
I do think a Roy who lost track of his priorities would be interesting to explore, especially in the context of his relationship to Riza and the promises they've made to one another. Could make for some very interesting darkfics.
Although it could be considered as interesting that in FMA, Scar, the character who could have been more likely to be used as a foil in term of having reasons to wish to change society by means absolutely without the system, is definitely not presented as a man with any sort of broad plan for society, or the sort of connections for doing so on a global stage. He's just a man looking for revenge, one murder at a time.
I do think a lot of Japanese media have a very nakedly ruthless, even in the context of childhood media, frame to the concept of "getting stronger". That's pretty much the goal of any battle shounen manga lead, usually, and I don't think most Western media of the same kind would express it in those terms. There's often a feeling that their view of politics is much more likely to be from a Hobbes PoV, you know?
What you say about the whole effective altruism thing actually makes me think of Tony Stark :3
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Date: 2014-07-14 01:59 am (UTC)I do think a Roy who lost track of his priorities would be interesting to explore, especially in the context of his relationship to Riza and the promises they've made to one another. Could make for some very interesting darkfics.
Although it could be considered as interesting that in FMA, Scar, the character who could have been more likely to be used as a foil in term of having reasons to wish to change society by means absolutely without the system, is definitely not presented as a man with any sort of broad plan for society, or the sort of connections for doing so on a global stage. He's just a man looking for revenge, one murder at a time.
I do think a lot of Japanese media have a very nakedly ruthless, even in the context of childhood media, frame to the concept of "getting stronger". That's pretty much the goal of any battle shounen manga lead, usually, and I don't think most Western media of the same kind would express it in those terms. There's often a feeling that their view of politics is much more likely to be from a Hobbes PoV, you know?
What you say about the whole effective altruism thing actually makes me think of Tony Stark :3