barnabi:

lilyginnyblack:

continueplease:

tigerandbunnyconfessions:

Sometimes, I wonder if people realize how deep the personal issues these characters face. For example, Kotetsu’s drinking problem and Barnaby’s depression/PTSD. I sometimes wonder if folks realize the seriousness of it alL…

Submitted by anon

Kotetsu’s drinking is… probably a cultural reference.  Not saying it’s good or bad.  Just saying that the writers would probably be shocked to find someone calling it “serious.”

Barnaby’s PTSD is INCREDIBLY DISTURBING and I’m kind of glad the show didn’t even try to deal with it in a serious way.

You are right. Kotetsu’s drinking really *isn’t* a problem, because it *is* very cultural. His depression, however, was, and probably still is to a certain extent, a problem, however, and was something that was brought up in the series (though not directly, but more implied) and is something that he is heading out of by the end of the series. It was quite a big part of Kotetsu’s character development.

Going back to his drinking though, Japanese drink. A lot. This goes for old men, especially Japanese businessmen, which the heroes essentially are. Japanese salarymen go out drinking very, very often and they drink to the point of getting shitfaced drunk, and this is usually seen as a requirement for work.

If you don’t go out drinking with the boss and other members of department and such, then you are seen as someone who is not trustworthy and you kinda get ostracized by the group, since Japanese business is very “family” like in its setup, and the Japanese believe that you can only really know a person unless they get drunk with you, because then they let down all of their walls and really let you in. So, an older Japanese man who has a businessman like job going out to drink often and getting drunk often would not seem all that unusual to the Japanese.

Counter in the fact that his family owns a liquor store and his drinking seems like even less of a problem.

Really, the state of Kotetsu’s house, with its beer bottles everywhere, indicated to me 1. a man who was really busy with his job and was letting it consume him because 2. he was very depressed and therefore had little motivation or desire to really pick up his empty beer bottles all over the place and whatnot (this could also be shown by the way Kotetsu had tied up garbage bags all over the place that needed to be taken out). His apartment gets slightly cleaner later on in the series. An indication, to me anyway, that his depression is getting better.

So, rather than Kotetsu having a drinking problem, I just think Kotetsu was depressed. Mr. Legend, however, was the one with the extreme drinking problem. Of course, neither problem is good to have, but I really don’t see where people get Kotetsu having a drinking problem from, since it never occurred to me until people brought it up like it was some kind of actual, stated fact of the series or something.

Moving away from Kotetsu and onto Barnaby. Barnaby has a lot of problems and I do think that the fandom takes that seriously (when they are being series about the series itself and the content found within it). The creators stated that Barnaby actually went into a large depression during the one year time skip in the last episode, and I would actually love to get some more information on it. The Japanese, however, still live in a society where such things as mental issues and problems are hidden and shied away from because they are seen as being very shameful. It is very similar to 1950s America and is probably just one of the many reasons why therapists simply do not exist in anime.

Anyway, while there are some people who are far too harsh when it comes to Barnaby and call him weak and overly dramatic far too much and far too often, I cannot really argue against that. All I can say though is that Barnaby is an extremely complex character and one that takes time to grow on people and the fandom as a whole. The staff have some more plans for Barnaby, so hopefully we will be able to see his issues dealt with in a more proper and serious way.

Finally, one of the reasons why I think the fandom does not dwell on these issues too often (though, from the experience that I have had with the fandom, I do think the fandom realizes how serious Kotetsu’s and Barnaby’s problems and issues are) the fact that the series focuses on Kotetsu and Barnaby’s relationship and the healing that starts to come from it, tends to overshadow the fact that these two do, in fact, have some very serious issues.

That is very informative. I never thought of it that way. Even if Sternbild takes place in futuristic 70s NYC Kotetsu still is Japanese and the show is still produced in Japan for mainly Japanese men in their 30s/40s.