For the uninitiated, this is “day 25 + 10” of this challenge. Then again, if you don’t know what this post is, maybe it’s better to go from the beginning of this post series…
Day 35 (Originally Day 25) – Ultimate Anime Crush
Well, I’ve been pretty public about who I’d give that coveted “husbando” status to – En from Boueibu.
Pretty much from the moment I saw him, I was sold – I mean, it’s a male Sailor Mercury who’s not too bad-looking in the looks department! How could I pass on that, as both a lover of bishonen and magical girls?
He’s lazy, which would be a flaw in certain circumstances, but much like Kyoutarou after him, his unwillingness to do anything makes him extremely relatable. Of course, should you get him to do something at full motivation, he’ll make sure it’s well done – he doesn’t get high scores on exams for nothing, even if it is only by guessing answers. The fact he hates cockroaches is a similar level of relatability, although I don’t really know why anyone would be afraid of cockroaches…plus that’s more of a niche fact from the fanbook, so not everyone knows it…
It also helps that he was apparently there from way back in the planning stages of the show, according to all the production things (mostly things from Shinji Takamatsu’s Twitter, to be honest) floating about on the internet. Way back when, he was described as “[having] the eyes of a dead fish” – I never actually saw him that way until I read that, I just thought it was a visual shorthand for his extreme laziness. Well, dead fish eyes or not, it at least makes him distinctive enough for the trait to carry over into the subsequent season.
If I had to mention any gripes with him though, the distinctive look of his is hard to nail for illustrators and animators, but rewarding if done right. What I mean is that a sloppy image of En will look unintentionally pissed off or just plain stupid (there’s at least one shot of him without eyes from season 2 episode 4, for instance), but when he’s on model, that’s when he looks attractive. Specifically, it’s the combo of hair + eyes that requires a balance…which is probably why I gravitate towards shots of him from the game, magazines, merch and one-off illustrations – because those clearly had more thought (in regards to how they look) put into them compared to shots from the anime. Also, as a 3rd year, he didn’t have enough dedicated to him in the OVA…but that’s already been covered.
So, this is the final post for this collab. How’d you like it? (Not just this post, but the entire collab.)
Don’t forget to stop by and vote on Mel and Arthifis’s post.
The Animanga Spellbook 