Character Analysis: Kotetsu T. Kaburagi

Oh, Kotetsu.... So very dignified on that animatronic...

Kotetsu of Tiger & Bunny is a very popular with good reason.

He as said in this character study is "a wonderful man, kind to a fault, breathtakingly courageous, inspiring in his determination, and the very definition of a hero". However, he had his flaws, so subtle, that only the most astute observers can see that the writers intend. I don't mean to insult fans who watch the anime but really it's very subtle. This show has take the "show, don't tell" principle to heart.

I have an account in LiveJournal but used to have a Dreamwidth account. I always wanted a fanfic that analyzes the character of Kotetsu so I made this prompt, using Persona as a base. There are certain fics I can name that can see his darkness that he obviously repressed and certainly never show to his friends who always love him. It's acknowledgement.

People made him a saint so much so I cringe. There is one thing to be a messiah and a paragon of all that is good but he's not perfect. He's human and that's what Tiger & Bunny does best.

How lonely...

Kotetsu, when I see him in-story, doesn't seem to know himself well. He understands others but he refuse to allow people in. It took his brother after much pressure to tell him what's wrong. If even his own family doesn't even know about his problems, how about his friends? Why else did I suggest that prompt in the first place? They don't know either. While his family has a basic idea of his recluse, his friends always seem to put him on a pedestal.

Even though Antonio is aware of his family, he never tried to get Kotetsu or break him out of his shell. Never had we seen anyone trying to break Kotetsu's shell. His friends seem to actually expect him to at least talk to them as he did with Barnaby.

He had self-esteem issues, perhaps moreso than Ivan, because of the time. Back then, NEXTs are prejudiced. If it weren't for the efforts of HeroTV, the NEXTs wouldn't be able to get the recognition. This issue wasn't resolved much. Aside from that considerably, the movie shows he still feels useless in comparison to Golden Ryan (I know the costumes that the Heroes wore are impractical but this!). He may now think he can tell his friends and family the truth but not his own personal issues to an extent.

He's a great actor, always smiling and joyous, tricking friends and family who loved him. He deceives himself to be happy during the ten month time skip after episode 13 to the point he thought he had a power boost. He craved for recognition but never admit to it. He resented Sky High (and the other Heroes possibly) for actually being the hero he wants to be and having the public love them. No matter what he did (buying cards and forcing them onto other heroes' fans, down-to-the-earth), his efforts always fall short. He's unaware or in denial of his own desires that he wanted his friends and family to see to them as he did to theirs.

Nobody really took him seriously, which is what he wanted. He put on that face so people would think less of him thus won't bother with him. His friends seen him as a bumbling but fantastic man who only took the job to save the people.

Upright: Deception, illusions, anxiety, subconscious, irrationality, uncertainty and fears caused by imagination that sometimes results in personal depression, but in turn strength of turning fears into inspiration. Also signified a fine line of genius and madness. Loss of control of life

Reversed: Giving into fears, confusion, exaggeration of above, insincerity, inability to distinguish between reality and fantasy, escapism of fantasy from reality, inability to tell the truth, despair, desperate need of help

They never seen his true self.

It's a deception that Kotetsu took to an extreme degree because of his own personal problems that never resolved. He can smile genuinely sometimes but really I found most of the time it's fake. The writers practically confirmed this that he was on a verge of depression before he had ever met Barnaby. There's no doubt he would follow Legend's footsteps regardless. I toyed with the thought of suicide once or twice for him but the only thing keeping him there was love for his daughter and wife so that's out of the question.

Really, if it wasn't for the fact he loves being a hero, friends and family, he would be a nihilistic character.

None of his friends hardly knew his life or anything truly about him outside of being a Hero. That was made his friends think he's a criminal in the first place when their mind was wiped. It already horrified them enough they thought he was a criminal but it would be bad enough for them to learn Kotetsu's true feelings.

On the previous character study, Kotetsu is his own worst enemy so I just need him to face his Shadow, his true self. It's too good to pass up Kotetsu's Shadow Self as Ebisu. Persona series is such a good use of that since they use Jungian Psychology ("Shadow" and "Persona") so well it meshes perfectly with the urban fantasy and slice of life. It's just a damn good series of games in so many respects.

For those who are curious, I been assigning Tarot Cards to every character that gets developed to the point I can assign it to them. In stories, if they ever appeared, should they be Persona-users or Social Links. It gets me into practice to use the accurate representations of the Arcana when many works got them wrong and I am staying true to their meaning after all.

Character - Arcana

Kotetsu T. Kaburagi/Wild Tiger - The Moon 

Kaede Kaburagi - The Hanged Man 

Barnaby Brooks Jr./Bunny - The Sun 

Keith Goodman/Sky High - The Star

Karina Lyle/Blue Rose - The Lovers

Pao-lin Huang/Dragon Kid - The Chariot

Ivan Karelin/Origami Cyclone - The Strength 

Nathan Seymour/Fire Emblem - The Empress

Antonio Lopez/Rock Bison - The Emperor 

Yuri Petrov/Lunatic - The Justice 

Ryan Goldsmith/Golden Ryan - The Magician 

Edward Keddy - The Temperance 

I chose Kotetsu, Kaede, Barnaby, Pao-lin, Keith, and Yuri's without a problem. I have more trouble with Karina, Nathan, Ivan, and Antonio's (especially Antonio). Karina, I have a selection of the Lovers and the Magician. Nathan, I have the Priestess, the Lovers, or the Empress. Antonio, I have no idea. In the end, I decided that the Empress does certainly fit Nathan more than Lovers (he's comfortable in his own sexuality, choices, and duality while Karina have trouble with the latter two). The Empress represents things to flow naturally and motherhood in a general sense. Barnaby's Tarot Card, I chose for reasons and not because Kotetsu and Barnaby are opposites of each other does warrant the need.

At some point, I thought of choosing the Strength for Antonio but it fits Ivan more. The Temperance didn't seem to fit Ivan. Antonio, because of how little he's developed (to add insult to injury, he doesn't even have a spotlight episode alongside Nathan but even Nathan has more development than him), I have no idea what to choose for. The best I could think of is the Emperor Card. I am still laughing because he's now the opposite of Nathan and the T&B duo is opposite of each other. Both of each has a lot of homoerotic subtext in-show. However, if you have different ideas, you can tell me on the comments below.

Added Ryan and Edward onto the list for the sake of my sanity really. I decided to give the Temperance to Edward; certainly fits his actions in Origami's spotlight episode. It's a given he's going to be a Hero one day by Ivan's side. Ryan, on the other hand, didn't have enough info but I can still make an assumption based on the trailers and his seiyuu's interviews.

I am a Shadow, the true self...

While I can analyze a character, for my own life, I cannot write a fanfic about that. I am such a detailed person that I always checked my stuff beforehand. For writing characters, it's kinda difficult for me since I'm not sometimes sure kept them in-character. It's worse since I have no idea how they are going to react. I am better off writing AU anyway; I can put them in the same universe somehow while switching up some things, using their canon actions as a source to help me with the characterization.

I can make an adventurous story with character development on the side but in a character study in a fanfic, I will go more on explaining the character, telling straight up to the face in concise words. My specialty is more on adventures. I tried romance before and it ended horribly. So I just decided, romance on the side, friendship/family is the most thing on this. No, I am not doing something like One More Day when I even think that Mary Jane should be shot instead of Aunt May.

Anyway, I hope you can see why Kotetsu is such an interesting character to analyze. For all that he is seen to his friends and the audience, he's still human.

Christmas Eve Date! (Christmas is when they spend time with Kaede and the rest of the Heroes) and Christmas Eve does have romantic connotations in Japan...

Oooo, there's one more thing. There's no way in hell am I ever making Tiger the uke to Barnaby's seme or visa versa. Again, there's no such thing; don't be a preteen brat. Real-life relationships aren't like that. I have enough trouble seeing strong male characters wimpified to make the seme look better.