What do you have to protect?
While reading I ran into this fascinating concept around Japanese super heros:
In the gestalt of Japanese fiction, one finds this oft-repeated motif: Power comes from having something to protect.
I’m not just talking about superheroes that power up when a friend is threatened, the way it works in Western fiction. In the Japanese version it runs deeper than that.
In the X saga it’s explicitly stated that each of the good guys draw their power from having someone—one person—who they want to protect. Who? That question is part of X’s plot—the “most precious person” isn’t always who we think. But if that person is killed, or hurt in the wrong way, the protector loses their power—not so much from magical backlash, as from simple despair. This isn’t something that happens once per week per good guy, the way it would work in a Western comic. It’s equivalent to being Killed Off For Real—taken off the game board.
The way it works in Western superhero comics is that the good guy gets bitten by a radioactive spider; and then he needs something to do with his powers, to keep him busy, so he decides to fight crime. And then Western superheroes are always whining about how much time their superhero duties take up, and how they’d rather be ordinary mortals so they could go fishing or something.
Similarly, in Western real life, unhappy people are told that they need a “purpose in life”, so they should pick out an altruistic cause that goes well with their personality, like picking out nice living-room drapes, and this will brighten up their days by adding some color, like nice living-room drapes. You should be careful not to pick something too expensive, though.
In Western comics, the magic comes first, then the purpose: Acquire amazing powers, decide to protect the innocent.
In Japanese fiction, often, it works the other way around.
I found this fascinating, what is the thing you are protecting that gives you power? First, you find the purpose, then you get your powers. Quite a bit different than superheroes out west. What do you have to protect? And, what powers does that give you?
PS. Here is another take on this difference and another breakdown.
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