#robono

Okay so I’m still only 4 episodes in and this might change as it goes on and that would really suck, but my favorite part of Robotics;Notes so far has been its total reversal of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope.  Rather than a story in which a male protagonist’s motivations and goals are enriched by a perfect, supportive girl(friend) with no goals or motivations of her own, in RoboNo Akiho and her sister both have the most prominent, defined, important goals and motivations for the plot, whereas the dude has very little ambition or agency and is basically just tagging along to support Akiho.  In the usual MPDG story this is how the characters would would remain: the girl would always be a static tool in helping fulfill the male character’s goals and development.  

However, RoboNo has already begun to demonstrate that despite Kai playing what would be the boring, stagnant support role in the MPDG story, he is actually going to be developing as a character on his own, fleshing out his own goals and motivations that, while they may be centered on his relationship with Akiho, are still his own and not mere means to an end for her story.

The most surprising thing of all so far is how Kai doesn’t even feel like the primary protagonist so far.  Normally, anime like this have the guy as the main character but feature (a) female lead(s) who, while well developed, they obviously are not meant to be the primary protagonists of the story.  Take Steins;Gate for example: While Kurisu and Mayuri (and let’s be honest, all the other girls INCLUDING RUKA THOUGH IT SHOULDN’T NEED TO BE SAID) are interesting, complex characters of their own, none of them are the protagonists or the point of reference of the story; both of those rolls belong to Okabe.  In RoboNo, Kai is most definitely the point of reference for the narrative, and it feels like the writers really, really intended for him to be the primary protagonist as well.  However, because Akiho is just so much more fleshed out and interesting as a character, so far she comes of as more of a protagonist instead.  And that makes me very giddy.  Because she deserves it.  We don’t get enough girls who can be both cute and tough,  silly and determined and smart, you know, like a real, complex person.

Oh yeah, but all of this isn’t even to mention this mystery girl who is the only character to get featured in ED and is listed as a main on MAL, so obviously expectations are about to get turned on their heads somehow.