The Weekly W: Why? Exploring Motivations in Anime, Manga, and other forms of storytelling

When we think about what makes a story great, we often talk about compelling characters, interesting interactions between them, and plot development.  One of the things I believe is even more important that these is the "Why?".  A main character will always have a goal of some sort, whether it is explicitly stated, or just implied.  This week I'll take a look at what we see as common motivations in some popular series.


When we look at main characters, especially in shounen, they often have a stated goal of what they are trying to achieve.

Here we can see some of the common recurring motivations in shounen heroes:

One Piece - Luffy

Bleach - Ichigo

Naruto - Naruto

The goal is often to become the "best" or "strongest", which is a fine motivation to have, but the real thing I am interested in for this post is "Why?".  The reasons a main character desires strength, or success, or something else is often more telling than the goal itself.  It is also harder to say for certain what drives a character to do what they do. 

For the next bit, let us contrast Naruto (Naruto) and Light/Kira (DeathNote). 

Naruto and Light both have similar goals superficially: to become well renowned for their contributions to society.  Naruto wishes to become Hokage, the leader of his village.  Light wishes to become Kira, the "god" who rids the world of crime, fear, and corruption. 

Their motivations are however, very different. 

Naruto's reasons for trying to become Hokage include: proving his worth as a member of the village despite their hatred over the fox spirit sealed within him, proving his strength as great enough to help his friends, and proving to himself that he has what it takes to be the best.

(As a child growing up, Naruto is alone.  The members of his village only acknowledge his presence when he does something wrong.  Naruto struggles in the academy, and doesn't have many friends.  After his first success (recognition as a genin), he is placed on a team with Sakura and Sasuke, who excel in the theory and practice of ninja techniques respectively, and he fades into the background.   Again.  At some point, in his desperation to be recognized as having worth, Naruto decides that the only way to prove his worth in a way no one can dispute is to become Hokage.)

Let's now look at Light's possible motivations:  The first one is mentioned straight off; Light wants to fix the rotten world he sees around him, filled with crime not being solved within the justice system.  The second is also easy to spot if you look closely: Boredom.  Light has been gifted with an intelligence that is not strained by his everyday tasks, and part of the rush from becoming Kira is the challenge he faces while doing it.  The third thing is desperation combined with disappointment.

(I imagine that Light always was told he was "bright for his age" and "ahead of his peers". As a child, he was just waiting for everyone around him to catch up, until one day, sometime before he had even seen the deathnote fall from the sky, Light realized a disheartening truth.  No one was ever going to catch up.  This crushed Light's hopes that he would ever be able to truly have equals and friends, and marked the day when Light stopped viewing himself as part of humanity, and instead, as its' caretaker.)

At first glance, Naruto's dream of becoming Hokage seems to come from better inetentions than Light's actions to become Kira.  At second glance, it becomes apparent that it is more complicated than that.  Both Light and Naruto are desperate, one from being handed everything, the other from never getting anything without fighting for it tooth and nail.  Their primary motivations are purely selfish, and yet there are selfless motivations at play as well.  Naruto and Light both have an unfailing power propelling them towards their goal, unstoppable determination or unparallelled intelligence.  Both characters were willing to die achieving their goals.  The only question was what kinds of changes would they bring before that happened.

Hope Burns Bright