Humanizing Villains

[matt0044]

The Team Rocket trio we all know and (mostly) love are known for how humanized they tend to be even as villains. They can be delightfully devilish but when the chips are down, they can be just delightful. Some sagas do it better than others in all fairness but that's not the point.

The point is that I feel that this sort of characterization is rarely afforded to the other villainous factions, mainly the ones adapted from the games. They're largely all business and relegated to specific "plot" episodes more often than not. With the games, you meet them over the course of various misdemeanors be it small or large, leading to the endgame, but the Anime seems too keen to get them over with.

Especially where there can be good opportunities for storytelling. Team Plasma, especially, could've been interesting in terms of the people they recruited and why they believe Pokemon need to be cut off from humans. The Anime doesn't need to adapt EVERYTHING from the games but there's a discussion to be had about majorly missed opportunities here.

 

[EscLucy]

I feel as though the TRio feel more humanized because they are in the anime long-term and they have been there from the start so the writers have had a chance to develop their characters slowly and nicely. However, with villain groups, they normally have a side arc and have only a couple of episodes. Many anime watchers want them to do their 'evil stuff' and be defeated which is what happens. I think that arc will get too big if they start humanizing them tbh and it could get too boring. However, there are bits of it, for example, the Team Galactic Admins were all distraught when Cyrus went into the alternative universe. But, I think that the role of the villainous groups isn't really to be humanized but to serve as an extra plotline for that specific region. I don't know how I'd feel if they decided to spend more episodes humanizing the groups.

 

[ii kanji]

Matt, I agree with you 100%.

In some ways the TRio are not a great example of this, purely because they were intended by Shudou to be more than just grunts, but stars of the show in their own right. Look, however, at their boss Sakaki. In 20 years, outside of the Mewtwo radio drama, we have found out literally nothing about the guy other than his status as Rocket Boss. This new connection he seemingly has with Kuchinashi (which will probably turn out to be something totally mundane and related solely to his job) has sparked quite a lot of interest in Pokeani fans because they want a peek into his humanity!

Likewise, the Skull trio are probably the first non-TRio evil team members to demonstrate any kind of personality or backstory and they are all the more enjoyable for it. As far as I'm concerned, there is no reason to invest in a good vs evil showdown unless we have some idea of what is driving the baddies. Just like real life, every character should be more than just a plot device and be allowed to be the main character in their own story (even if their's isn't the main story!)

 

[matt0044]

I feel as though the TRio feel more humanized because they are in the anime long-term and they have been there from the start so the writers have had a chance to develop their characters slowly and nicely. However, with villain groups, they normally have a side arc and have only a couple of episodes. Many anime watchers want them to do their 'evil stuff' and be defeated which is what happens. I think that arc will get too big if they start humanizing them tbh and it could get too boring. However, there are bits of it, for example, the Team Galactic Admins were all distraught when Cyrus went into the alternative universe. But, I think that the role of the villainous groups isn't really to be humanized but to serve as an extra plotline for that specific region. I don't know how I'd feel if they decided to spend more episodes humanizing the groups.

They don't need an entire plotline, the little details can go a long way too. They could have some witty banter with each other and the twerps, show more personality really and be less a bunch of "Stoic McStickUpTheirButts."

 

[Shadao]

Humanizing the villains tends to make more sense when their boss is not trying to destroy the world. If the boss's goals are more mundane, there is a higher chance of them acting like humans. But if they are plotting to destroy the world, then you can't really go as far because it would make them less threatening to our heroes. These are not the Team Rocket trio, these are truly bad people.

Team Skull exemplifies how humanizing villains would work in Pokémon. They are not world conquerers or legendary Pokémon poachers. They are simply a gang of delinquents and losers who banded together to cause mischief and mayhem as bullying gangs would do. Guzma in the games is virtually the TRio wrapped into one person and somehow became the boss of the entire organization. Because he is unable to pursue legendaries or Ultra Beasts like Lusamine, he is pitiful and we focus more on his daily life rather than his world ambitions.

Team Magma, Aqua, Galactic, Plasma, and Flare all have world ambitions. Thus the focus is on that in the anime rather than say, rivalry with the local TRio. Heck, look at how BW treated the TRio when Boss Giovanni decided to act on world ambition. The TRio started interacting with the twerps far less and because world ambition requires more serious progression (Giovanni cannot afford incompetents if they are part of the plan), they do not act like humans as they use to.

 

[Matleo]

evil takes diffrent forms, evil itself is born from human decision... why shouldnt they be humanized? probably if not team rocket they would be good salesman or pockemon trainers themself.

 

[NeoMiniTails]

I am a lover of villains. Its usually my favorite part of a series. Series like Sailor Moon, Gundam, and Rurouni Kenshi show its possible to have someone terrifying be humanized. It doesn't mean that the bad guy has to show that they are kind or nice, but gives them a human element that makes their story make sense.

Sailor Galaxia killed off almost every single main character and yet, her backstory was kind of heartbreaking. Queen Nehelenia was similarly heartbreaking. Nephrite's humanity, despite being evil, made him one of the most memorable characters in the series.

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Its simply not being lazy with writing characters "bad for the sake of being bad." Honestly, I thought XYZ did a good job with this.

 

[David blane]

Team Rocket comes to mind when I read the title of this thread