For example in drawing, for instance. Everybody has this little filter in their head that thinks "this is what an eye looks like." Drawing books teach us to kill those filters and draw what we see.

In fandom for instance, we see Yusuke and say "He is a perverted punk who fights a lot." Congrads. You have just killed off everything else about him. You have made Yusuke what is called a 'flat' character. Forget his sense of justice, his love for Kayko, his need to look out for his friends, his entire point in fighting once Genkai knocks some sense into him, whatever morale that made him save that little kid's life in the first place. Just forget it. That's stereotyping. That is the evil root of OOCness. That's why people bash characters. They haven't killed their "filters".

Questions? Comments? Corrections? Emotional Outbursts?

Yusuke is seen as a punk who loves fighting and hitting on girls. I rarely see someone incorporate Yusuke's sense of justice and determination when writing about him. When it comes to Kurama, people have him change into Youko Kurama like it's no big deal! After the Demon World Tournament, he swore never to assume that form again!

And lastly Kuwabara (poor Kuwa-kun!) is stereotyped as perverted, stupid, and weak. He is the butt of every joke and every character seems to make fun of him. Yes, ignore the fact that he sliced down the Kekkai barrier, got into an elite high school, is devoted to Yukina, and that he will do whatever it takes to protect innocent people. Heavens no! We can't have Kuwabara looking good, can we?

Heh, sorry about the long tangent. Those are just my feelings when I see these overused stereotypes of the Yu Yu Hakusho guys. It's a crime--a crime, I say--to distort our beloved little team so much that they may as well be an OC.

~Yoneko Kimishima

Well, since you've pretty much described the problem, I'm going to play devils advocate for a bit.

I'll have to note that it is mostly the English dub that stereotyped Yusuke. From the get-go, they changed some of his words when they translated. It went from "Good morning" to "Nice kiss", and other such comments. So the bad-boy stereotype applied to Yusuke isn't so much the writer's fault anyway.

Furthermore, the stereotypes do help some writers get down at least a more accurate sketch of the characters than they would if the stereotype didn't exist. The fact of the matter is that some people can't seen the hidden motives Yusuke has or the pride that drives Hiei's actions. We're not all empaths or personality analyzers. You can't expect grand characterization out of these people. Hell, it takes quite a some thinking to figure out ways to write those ulterior motives and their corresponding actions in. It's much more convenient to just go with the formula stereotype and write that way. It's rather convenient, knowing exactly how these boys will react to certain situations. It's simply extra effort to come up with a reason they'd have to react any other way, much less all the extra plot that has to go with it. It's a secondary layer that is unnecessary in the average fic, though when it's used, it's obviously a sign of a very good story.

Besides, who's to say we aren't all just attracted to the bad reputations the stereotypes put on these characters? Isn't that why we write them that way?

A.E

Byut if I clearly know that you own the Manga, or DvD's, and have time to watch/read them, I'm going to think, "Rawr, this writer is lazy. He's stealing my spot in the world! Garg!" and I'll be ** and leave. Because I'm PMSy.

EDIT: Vague attempt to stay on topic with that, if you could clearly have re-absorbed the story to get the character down, yet you didn't, I'm not reading it.

EDIT: Vaxl, I will ask that you please stop double posting in my forum. Your posts are close enough in interval that a simple edit will suffice.

A.E

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