So, my favorite anime ended last weekend. I basically had chills for 20 straight minutes while I watched the finale, which I guess means part of me must have enjoyed it, but to be honest, I felt like it was just an okay episode. It did its job, but it was a little rushed, among other things...
One of those things was the inevitable, infamous conflict resolution device where the antagonist goes 'well, since you've proved yourself by defeating me, I guess I'll back off. No hard feelings~
'
It's one of the few anime plot devices that I not only have NOT internalized, but also actively avoid. It just feels way too wrong...in the first place, because anime stakes tend to be so high, it ends up being used to redeem a lot of villains who really, really don't deserve it (who knew losing in a fist fight was all it took to stop someone from committing genocide? 
). And secondly, it reinforces the idea that people's feelings don't matter unless they can be backed up with brute force...hence, the title of this topic.
That second point is what bothers me the most. Not only are protagonists in these kinds of stories ALWAYS forced to prove their ideals by defeating the antagonists in some kind of competition, their physical strength and/or skill with their particular art forms are shown to directly and positively correlate with their 'will' or 'determination' or whatever it is.
What I take away from that is: if you're right, and you really believe you're right, more than anyone else, then you should win. And by extension, if you lose, then clearly you either weren't right or didn't believe enough. Furthermore (if you're an antagonist), the person you lost to IS right, and the only honorable thing to do is immediately accept their viewpoint.
^And that's kind of a crazy way to run your life, let alone a society. ._. Sure, it's very orderly; makes stuff real simple: to the winner go the spoils, everyone else either fall in line or challenge that winner and replace them. But it doesn't really make logical sense that the winner of a philosophical argument (which is what a lot of these animes boil down to) should be decided by something completely arbitrary and unrelated, like who can fire the biggest death ray or bake the best cake or play the most powerful card. It's a bit twisted.
The worst part of it is the 'antagonists only' bit at the end. I get that it's just supposed to look honorable when they instantly concede to the protagonist victor...but (maybe due to my Western point of view) it really just looks wishy-washy and ridiculous, not to mention disrespectful to all the people they victimized for an ideal they've now dropped like a hot potato.
Like, maybe, just maybe, if it was that easy for you to change your mind, you could have considered the protagonist's point of view without forcing them to try to murder you? Maybe it isn't fair to expect people to 'prove' that they deserve to be listened to? Maybe the words of all the people you stepped on and destroyed should have counted just as much as those of the person who finally did the same to you??
Now, I don't disapprove of the 'Might makes Right' ideology as a whole (when it comes to storytelling). It can be really entertaining, and in real life there are some people who won't stop until they finally receive that kick in the teeth, literally or figuratively.
But I would greatly prefer that (a) either the antagonist never gives up on their ideals, making it actually necessary for the protagonist to fight and kill them, or (b) the antagonist simply receives more than the duration of a 30-second monologue to change their minds. 9_9
I mean, do you have any idea how difficult it is to let go of something you've believed your entire life? Or something you simply take for granted as truth?? Or something for which you've actively decided to hurt yourself and other people???
Cognitive dissonance is a thing. Un-teaching is EXPONENTIALLY harder than teaching...and I wish more writers understood that. Renunciation takes time; it's not something that happens overnight, and definitely not something that one poignant 'anime slap' can realistically accomplish. If you're going to oversimplify any of the character interactions in your story, please, don't pick that.
...Well, that's the end of my rant. I was just so shocked to realize that this version of MmR is EVERYWHERE, in every anime genre from magical girl to shonen; I felt like I had to say something. ^^;
