Art of the Anime Rage Moment (vol. 2)

Two years ago, a casual anime rage moments video I posted on the Youtube channel ended up exploding. And while I can't say I understand the mainstream appeal of such generic lists, I rolled with it, and after thousands of angry comments and complaints, we're back at it.

This time, I'd like to think we're doing things right. The criterion for the rankings were the presentation, the context, the implications, and just how iconic each of these moments were, so I'm taking the chance to break down what constitutes "rage", and what makes some of these moments stand above the others.

You KNOW this is going to piss some people off... right?

Breaking down anger

It goes without saying that anger is a fundamental emotion that everyone is familiar with. Intense or unstoppable anger is considered "rage". For the purpose of our discussion, we will be using the following psychological classifications for anger:

• Annoyed anger

• Aggressive anger

• Justified anger

• Temper tantrums

Arguably the most commonly observed of these is annoyed anger, but this is also the most inconsequential, as it rarely amounts to more than lashing out in irritation. Temper tantrums can be the most violent and concerning, because they imply mental or emotional immaturity, but they don't have much of a place in our discussion.

Although I should briefly digress to admit that "temper tantrum" is easily the best way to categorise Gon's infamous rage in Hunter × Hunter. Which isn't to undermine his justification, but just to point out the obvious immaturity and sociopathic subtext that Gon demonstrates. That's part of what makes it so iconic, but the shock factor doesn't lie in the anger alone.

This leaves us with aggressive and justified anger. Justified anger seems to be the most common amongst rage moments, the simple reason being context: characters need a narrative reason to be angry. A lack thereof can make the character's emotions unsympathetic, or even irrelevant, to an audience. Because why should they care?

This points towards the context, and the writing behind the moment. Build-up goes a long way towards impact as far as moments in media are concerned. To this we can look at Berserk, and the sheer gravity of the Eclipse, or at Dragon Ball Z, with an entire arc adding to Frieza's atrocities and despicable character.

The birth of an entire genre of power-up transformations.

These make the pivotal rage reveal cathartic, because it feels well deserved. But if context covers the background and past of a moment, then its implications deal in its future, and are arguable more effective in making a moment memorable. Socking a Celestial Dragon had long term implications for Luffy and One Piece as a whole, just as Hyakkimaru's rage emphasised the monstrous dichotomy he would deal with over the course of the series.

Personally though, I'm far inclined towards aggressive anger, when done right. On a superficial level, it's just misguided hostility, but this usually belies personal insecurities and failures. Revisiting Naruto's rage against Pain (on popular request), I was struck by how much it delved into Naruto's own ideological confusion, making it feel like he was beating himself up more than Pain. Add to it Kurama's sinister portrayal, akin to a devil of temptation, and it said a lot about Naruto's character, and what made Pain's Assault so great.

Power of presentation

In spite of narrative nuances and psychological undertones, it can be easy to merely be lost in the moment itself, and that's where the technical presentation and visual storytelling can come into play. Even a fairly traditional rage moment can be elevated by stellar direction or the perspective it gives on a character.

That is part of what made Gintoki's rage one of my all-time favourites, as it was a different angle on a character we were otherwise familiar with, much like Korosensei. On the flip side, rage moments do little to elaborate on traditionally angry characters. This is partially why I'm personally biased against Jotaro's "rage" against DIO, because it didn't feel all that different from his regular disposition, at least as far as his actions go.

The others told me not to get on the JoJo's community's bad side. I didn't care.

Sometimes, the rage only serves to reestablish what we know or love about angry characters. Eren's rage got the job done, but also left us to question his mental stability, and showed us his radical fixation on freedom (manga readers know what I mean). Similarly, Natsu's rage doesn't stand out for its own impact (the MC won, what a surprise...), but its encapsulation of the character's reckless, compassionate, and preachy tendencies.

Finally, there're the visuals themselves. Courtesy of Ufotable, Shiki's cold rage was visually stunning, but also plain scary. Her inexpressive body language and fluid movements capture the emptiness she feels, and almost distract from the fact she turned Lio into a pile of limbs.

Bleach, on the other hand, employs a complete shift in perspective during Ichigo's rage. We go from hearing Ichigo's thoughts and seeing the events from his lens to experiencing the same things from Ulquiorra's. It's disorienting, and completely changes our perception of the hunter and the hunted.

Closing thoughts

Honestly, there's a reason I consider rage moments generic. I don't think I've had anything groundbreaking to say about their existence, or their role in anime. In a nutshell, I've commented that they work well with good writing (as most things do), and they look good with good animation (as all things do).

All the same, I can only hope that this goes some way to provide rationale into the specific picks from the video, so think of this as a tie-in. As much as I enjoy being flamed in the comments, I feel the compulsion to justify myself at times.