Kill them! Kill them all!

Whenever I find time (sometimes time for study has to be sacrificed, but oh well) I watch anime. You know, those Japanese cartoons with girls with big eyes and... let's maybe just stick to the eyes:) I don't watch things like Pokemon (sucks, the video game, though, is very good IMHO), but try out more ambitious, or made for people above 8, stuff. A while ago, I finished watching another title - Chrno Crusade. It was good, 24 episodes packed with humor and seriousness, gags and gunfights, comical characters and charismatic devils(like, real devils, not evil people). Not to mention interesting plot, with so many turns that it made my head spin. Lastly, the animation is one of the best I've seen in an anime. It was great, right?

Wrong!

Why? Because of one simple thing. Why the plot turns, why dramatic cliff-hangers at the end of every episode? I knew how it was going to end.

The protagonists die.

Is there a new trend I know nothing about? It seems that nowadays people crave for bad endings. It was the third anime in a row in which I saw the heroic/pointless sacrifice of the characters I was made to cheer for since episode one. So, after going through the entire series, we watch the last episode. We saw the characters laugh and cry, have fun and suffer. We started to grow a liking for them. And then they are killed off. Just like that, be it when saving the world or by a stray bullet just after having saved it.

It's not only in animes, you know. If we look at movies, we see a mounting number of works in which the hero ends up in a situation not to be jealous about (off the top of my head, "The Saw" 1 & 2). In books? The Witcher was killed by Sapkowski, and all signs on heaven and earth indicate that Harry Potter won't reach puberty. Comic books? American papers write about the death of Captain America in "Captain America" no 25. Death of the good guys became a common practice of gaining more popularity and 'shocking' the public.

Why 'shocking'? Because it's no longer funny. When I see the protagonist's death for the first time, I'm all, like, wow, that's surprising. When I see it for the second time, I have a feeling of deja vu. When I see it third time in a row, I have to raise a flag. I just don't see the point. Why? Why did I watch the thing? I went through the stages of being neutral to yet another character with colorful, spiky hair (every male protagonist in an anime has those); through getting acquainted to him; and in the end rooting for him and thinking the anime-ever-popular "gambate jo"(Jap. do your best). Why the hell for? It's like giving a child a puppy, and then, when the puppy has grown up, pummeling it on the head with a shovel.

Let's summarize the things I recently saw:
- Chrno Crusade - the main couple dies holding hands after defeating the BBEG (BigBadEvilGuy), their friend when fighting her own older sister (all in all, 3 deaths out of 4 important characters)
- Orphen - the master of the protagonist, a very charismatic character who got about half of the spotlight in the anime, dies while saving the protagonist and his friends (1 death out 3 important characters)
- Eureka 7 - the main couple dies while saving two worlds (2 deaths out of 5 important characters)
- This ugly, yet beautiful world - the 2 heroines die (2 death out of 4 important characters)
- Nadesico - the main couple dies (2 deaths out of 3 important characters)
- RahXwphon - the entire world dies (many deaths)
- Neon Genesis Evangelion - ditto (but for 2 main characters, OK, I give them that)

I find those numbers disturbing. Not only there's more deaths of the good guys, but also more and more important people die. In the old times, only nameless grunts or semi-important sidekicks died (and remember, if at war, showing your girlfriend's picture to a fellow solider is like signing a death sentence on yourself). Now the big guns die, and I don't really like it.

Good is good, Evil is evil. Good defeats evil, that's what I've always believed. Now, Good gets its hiny handed over to it on a plate by Evil. Call me old fashioned, but that's not what I look when reaching for a book or movie. When I see a romantic comedy, I want the two people to be together, not part their ways and make me feel like I've could've devoted the 2 hours on something else. The detective always catches the culprit, the Jedi defeat the Sith, Ninja Turtles always beat Shredder. Nowadays, however, it's not that certain.

Therefore, I think about setting up an organization, called BBTTWTHWOBBEGGTHALHEA (BringBackTheTimesWhenTheHeroesWonOverBigBadEvilGuysGotTheGirlAndLivedHappilyEverAfter). They deserve it.

PS. The fourth season of my beloved "Full Metal Panic" anime is on the way. If they even try not to finally put the hero and heroine together, or dare to kill one or both of them, I swear to God, eternal suffering in hell will seem like nothing compared to five minutes with me with a fork. You have been warned.