If you have a few minutes...

[telophase]

...please pick a manga or anime character you're familiar with and head over to the Universal Mary-Sue Litmus Test and score him or her, and put the results in the comments. Thanks!



Bleach, Ichigo - 66
Death Note, L - 36
Inu-Yasha, Inu-Yasha - 60
Naruto, Naruto - 69
Rurouni Kenshin, Kenshin - 66

(So far, nobody's beat Drizzt's 71.)


This came from the comments in my previous entry, and I think I'll just repost my rambling on it here:

So far I predict that the standard shounen heroes will all be Stus, because that seems to be a prerequisite for that sort of character. OTOH, Gary Stu and Mary Sue characters tend to appeal directly to the target demographic of 14-year-old boys and girls (the age at which most of you confess to voraciously reading Forgotten Realms novels XD), so there's really no surprise in that.

Comments

[mscongeniality.livejournal.com]

Hrm. I tried Tohru Honda and she came out at a 19 which seems way too low. I may have to try this again later with another character I know better.

[naxto]

Sanzo-Saiyuki-83 ^_^

[chomiji]

LOL! I did the questionnaire for Sanzo and he got ... 97 !!!

I presume most of the ikkou would be up there as well, except Sanzo has the most widespread reputation. (And the most dangerous villain has it in for him personally.)

(It's mainly his widespread reputation, his powers, his attitude, and his angsty past.)

[droiche.livejournal.com]

If I ever had the opportunity I would so use that score as ammunition to annoy him. X-D

[arinye.livejournal.com]

Hm. I tried it with Zuko, from Avatar, and he got a 38.
(not angry, btw, this is just my only Zuko icon.)

[mbeasi.livejournal.com]

xxxHolic, Watanuki - 19

[chomiji]

Gojyo was only 67. He's not as speshul as Sanzo ... or as powerful. (He's much nicer, though ... !)

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

Since y'all did Sanzo and Gojyo already, I tried Hakkai -- 87, and that was without answering any of the author-POV "do you find the character attractive?" type questions, just the character-trait ones. ;)

SDK characters (because I'm so subjecting more of them to this...)

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Note: I assume all Kyos are named Kyo to trigger "temperamental guy who kicks butt" thoughts. AND I'M COUNTING "MOST BESTEST FIGHTER EVER" IN THE JEALOUS CATEGORY!

(Hmm...does stealing Yuya's money count as "always have money to spend on frivolities or whatever he/she really wants or needs at the time...For no apparent reason? (Character never works or gives any clue to any source of income.)"

Kyo: 138

Re: SDK characters (because I'm so subjecting more of them to this...)

[telophase.livejournal.com]

*dies laughing*

Re: SDK characters (because I'm so subjecting more of them to this...)

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

(Do 60~% of the characters in SDK count as "animals instinctively attracted to your character" in terms of they're either to kill Yuya, or basically the Yuya Protection Squad?)

Yuya-49

[droiche.livejournal.com]

Bwahahaha! I suspected most of the canon characters we know would fail the test miserably. ^_^

I posted my results for my OCs if you're curious, Telo.

Mary Sues of the World Unite! (http://droiche.livejournal.com/68258.html)

[telophase.livejournal.com]

It just goes to show that it's not the mere fact of the character being a Mary Sue that makes it bad - it's how it's handled. I also notice that your typical shounen Gary Stu is part of an ensemble cast, and thus is not onstage at the center of attention all the time - the other characters have stories of their own (which only peripherally relate to the main character at times) - which probably is why we don't necessarily want to strangle the Stu. XD

*goes to read*

[fourthage.livejournal.com]

136 for Usagi Tsukino/Sailor Moon. Not surprising at all.

[readsalot.livejournal.com]

Hitomi from Escaflowne (anime, the series, not the movie) gets a 23. That's way lower than I expected, since I think of her as a prototypical Mary Sue (ordinary girl from our world who ends up in a magical world where she's very important, and has romances.) But there weren't any questions in the main section about good guys falling in love with the character. (Or else I'm blind.)

Sakura from CCS (anime and manga, since they're pretty similar) gets a 31. She really is more special than most people in that universe. But somehow, the cuteness makes it all ok.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Light from Death Note is a 51.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Mello's a 62.

[catystorm.livejournal.com]

Edward from FMA got a 70.

[janni.livejournal.com]

By interpreting things as loosely as possible, Princess Tutu gets a 34. :-)

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Hee. XD ~♥

[droiche.livejournal.com]

Eep! Goku scored 139 when I tested him. Someone else want to give him a re-test?

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

He got 109 from me. But I also haven't read Gaiden or anything past vol 7 of Reload.

[arinye.livejournal.com]

O_O
You know how I said Zuko scored 38?
Aang scored 76.

[arkanefyre.livejournal.com]

Miaka Yuuki, from Fushigi Yuugi, with a median score of 179 from four tries [(1. as lenient as possible 2. as strict as possible) x2]


...I'm actually impressed.

[snarp]

Jaenelle from the Black Jewels series gets a 172. I was conservative on the Animal Friends Count.

[maxineofarc.livejournal.com]

Katara from Avatar comes in at a surprisingly low 23.

[ryanitenebrae.livejournal.com]

C.C. from Code Geass comes in at 65. The bright green hair and unnaturally good looks are the major contributors, here.

[ryanitenebrae.livejournal.com]

And Haruhi from Ouran High School Host Club got a 38.

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

DBZ Goku got a 101. Heh.

[lady-noremon.livejournal.com]

Lestat de Lioncourt from the "Vampire Chronicles" scored 144. [though I did count "Do you find your character attractive enough to date him/her?" because Rice did base him off her husband when she created Lestat]