Anime Anime Vengeance Scale

[Shinmaru]

I am a frequent reader of ESPN.com's Bill Simmons. One of the random things he came up with is [b][URL="http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/040720"]the Vengeance Scale[/URL][/b], which, as it says, is a scale used to determine the level of vengeance present in one's actions.

To give an idea of the scale -- the lowest score possible is 0.1, which is the level of vengeance present in O.J. Simpson's pledge to find "the real killers." The highest is a 10, which represents Keyser Soze in [b]The Usual Suspects[/b] (if you've seen the movie, you know what particular act of vengeance it is referring to).

So, I thought it would be a fun idea to adapt this particular concept to anime. Basically, you can choose a vengeful (or unvengeful lol) moment in any anime, with spoiler tags where needed of course, tell everyone where you think it is on the Vengeance Scale, and why you think it is there.

As a quick resource, this is where I see the numbers falling:

[LIST]
[*]0.1-0.9: Not at all vengeful; in fact, the person probably gets owned hard.
[*]1.0-1.9: A bit vengeful, but also probably pathetic in execution.
[*]2.0-2.9: Sort of vengeful -- maybe a bit successful, too.
[*]3.0-3.9: A decent level of vengeance. Nothing in particular to make it special.
[*]4.0-4.9: Good vengeance, though it probably doesn't crack above 5.0 because the vengeful person suffers a bit for it.
[*]5.0-5.9: Very good vengeance. This is the point where it starts being a bit crazy.
[*]6.0-6.9: Great vengeance. Probably some good payback for slights against the person.
[*]7.0-7.9: This is where the vengeance starts getting obsessive.
[*]8.0-8.9: Excellent vengeance. Superhuman ability for vengeance probably displayed.
[*]9.0-9.9: Just a total warpath of vengeance.
[*]10: The most legitmately ****** up form of vengeance imaginable.
[/LIST]

Anyway, tl;dr. Let's get to the vengeance!

[b]Anime:[/b] The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
[b]Act of Vengeance:[/b] The Computer Club President challenging the SOS Brigade to a game of The Day of Sagittarius III.
[b]Level of Vengeance:[/b] 1.1
[b]Why:[/b] After Haruhi [spoiler]straight up jacks the Computer Club's best computer[/spoiler], the Computer Club President has a right to be upset. Definite vengeance being sought here. It makes it into the ones because his plan ([spoiler]cheating to win back the computers[/spoiler]) actually would have worked if the SOS Brigade [spoiler]did not have Yuki on its side.[/spoiler] But the fact is, the Computer Club got owned pretty hard, so major vengeance penalty points are awarded there.

There we are. Let's think of a ton more, everyone!

[Nehszriah]

[B]Anime[/B]: Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann

[B]Act of Vengeance[/B]: Simon beating on the Ganmen from episode nine/ten.

[B]Level of Vengeance[/B]: 4.9

[B]Why[/B]: After [SPOILER]Kamina dies, Simon find almost no reason for either himself or Beastmen to live[/SPOILER]. Because of this, Simon does some high-quality arse-kicking which seems to be beyond all logical reason. This would have been a 9.2 or something, had Simon [SPOILER]not turned into the emo little slouch he did[/SPOILER].

How's that, Shiggy Lemons?

[Shinmaru]

I approve. +10 for you! :)

Here's another one that people should definitely know ...

[b]Anime:[/b] Cowboy Bebop
[b]Act of Vengeance:[/b] Spike [spoiler]taking on and destroying the Red Dragons -- all of them -- after they kill Julia[/spoiler].
[b]Level of Vengeance:[/b] 8.8
[b]Why:[/b] First off, Spike's [spoiler]old flame is murdered[/spoiler], which is a classic trope of vengeance, so you know you'll get something good there. And the way he goes about utterly decimating [spoiler]the Red Dragons[/spoiler] is mind boggingly amazing, from his initial grenade to the building to his [spoiler]super epic fight with Vicious[/spoiler]. Spike leaves nobody alive. Slight penalty points because he is helped out a bit, but the main reason this isn't in the nines is because [spoiler]he is killed. Vengeance is much sweeter when you are alive to enjoy it, after all[/spoiler]. Still, it is no doubt a classic example of anime vengeance.

[Ikillion]

[COLOR=#35160f][SIZE="1"][FONT="Trebuchet MS"]Alright this sounds pretty neat and new, I'll give it a shot.

Anime: Xam'd Lost Memories

Act of Vengeance: Furuichi encounters Akiyuki at Tsumebara pass.

Level of Vengeance: 5.5

Why: For the first time since the [spoiler]disaster at Sentan Island where thousands were massacred ushering Furuichi and Haru to join into the Military[/spoiler], Akiyuki and Furuichi meet face to face in a mountain pass, yet instead of a happy relief filled reunion.[spoiler] Furuichi goes crazy, puts all the blame of what happened to them on Akiyuki and threatens to kill him seeing him not as the same friend they knew, but as a Xam'd[/spoiler] To top it off when Haru asks for him to stop, he responds by smacking the crap outta her.

Major vengeance points are lost seeing as [spoiler]Raiygo broke up the fight half way through[/spoiler], but some are gained back for throwing away friendships in lieu of becoming another military dog.[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]

[Shinmaru]

Moar vengeance plz.

[b]Anime:[/b] Revolutionary Girl Utena
[b]Act of Vengeance:[/b] Ruka [spoiler]strings Shiori along in a fake relationship so that he can mercilessly break her and free Juri from her crippling Shiori love.[/spoiler]
[b]Level of Vengeance:[/b] 7.5
[b]Why:[/b] Ruka [spoiler]loves Juri[/spoiler] and can't stand to see her weighed down by the past. Thus, he resolves to demolish this weight by [spoiler]building Shiori up and then ruthlessly tearing her down.[/spoiler] Ruka does achieve his vengeance, rendering [spoiler]Shiori[/spoiler] a teary mess in her room, but this comes with the unfortunate side effect of [spoiler]Juri hating his guts.[/spoiler] More vengeance points taken away because Utena helped out -- albeit unknowingly -- in getting the result Ruka wanted. The strain of the vengeance also apparently [spoiler]kills Ruka, which does not allow him to enjoy his vengeance much.[/spoiler]

[Gavin]

[quote name='Shinmaru']Spike leaves nobody alive. Slight penalty points because he is helped out a bit, but the main reason this isn't in the nines is because [spoiler]he is killed. Vengeance is much sweeter when you are alive to enjoy it, after all[/spoiler]. Still, it is no doubt a classic example of anime vengeance.[/QUOTE]

[CENTER][IMG]http://fc06.deviantart.com/fs20/f/2007/267/9/f/Objection_by_Gamersdan.jpg[/IMG][/CENTER]

[SIZE="1"][spoiler]You know as well as I do Mike that Spike's death is not confirmed.[/spoiler]

Suppose I'd better do one.

[b]Anime:[/b] Naruto
[B]Act of Vengeance:[/B] Sasuke [spoiler]fighting and winning against his brother Itachi, [b]by default[/b].[/spoiler]
[b]Level of Vengeance:[/b] 0.1 [Can I go lower ?]
[b]Why[/b] Now I'm sure Sasuke-tards will thoroughly disagree with my measly score for this suppose act of vengeance but let's be honest here, [spoiler]Itachi OWNED his little brother throughout that whole fight, from start to finish.[/spoiler] Sasuke not only had his *** handed to him repeatedly, having to pull out everyone stop, hax and ultimate move he had, but [spoiler]his blind, crippled, dying brother continued to counter them at every turn and[/spoiler] won that fight as far as could be declared conclusive.

The Uchiha brat loses even more points for the fact [spoiler]his whole reason for vengeance against his brother turned out to be composed of utter BS, and he now turns around and betrays the very foundation of his first vengeance for his newest one, with even newer more suck-*** hax jutsu.[/spoiler]

Oh, yeah, and he's an emo and a dick.[/SIZE]

[Shinmaru]

[quote name='Gavin'][SIZE="1"][spoiler]You know as well as I do Mike that Spike's death is not confirmed.[/spoiler][/size][/quote]

lol, I don't think I have ever heard anyone suggest [spoiler]Spike actually has a possibility of living at the end of the series. His death is foreshadowed from the very beginning of the show, haha. Plus, Spike has nothing to live for after Julia dies -- she kept him going, and so after she was killed, he took care of business. Also, what, are the Red Dragons going to hospitalize the man who utterly destroyed their organization? I think not. Spike is dead. That is much more dramatic and fitting ending than him living would be, anyway.[/spoiler]

After all that, though, I am tempted to bump the score a bit more, haha. Man, that is a sweet bit of vengeance.

EDIT: Reading up on it a bit more, it seems Shinichiro Watanabe said [spoiler]he is not sure if Spike is alive or dead[/spoiler], which is a point for you, but I think my points all stand. [spoiler]Spike dying is the more logical outcome storywise.[/spoiler]

Huge LOL @ your Sasuke write-up. That is awesome. Sorry to say it's impossible to go below an 0.1 -- as Bill Simmons writes, it is impossible to be any less vengeful than O.J. Simpson hunting "the real killers." I think Sasuke is [i]slightly[/i] more vengeful than that, but it's definitely below a 1.0 considering the circumstances. ([spoiler]Itachi was protecting Sasuke all along, Sasuke trained for years and [i]still[/i] couldn't beat a near-crippled version of his brother, Sasuke was reduced to a whimpering mass of douche at the end of the fight, etc.[/spoiler])

Here's another one from me.

[b]Anime:[/b] Death Note
[b]Act of Vengeance:[/b] "JUST AS PLANNED!"
[b]Level of Vengeance:[/b] 9.2
[b]Why:[/b] Light wants to save the world, but in reality I think he was more obsessed with one-upping L, so his whole plan -- [spoiler]imprisoning himself, losing his memories, letting another person incriminate himself as Kira and then murdering anyone who could stand against him[/spoiler] -- was an enormous gambit designed to rub his superiority in L's face. Bonus points because Light is a crazy ************ and because his gloating [spoiler]"me > L"[/spoiler] face is hilarious. (But not as hilarious as Light's "L!!!!!!!!!!!!! You humiliated me!!!!!!!!!!!" face.) Vengeance points deducted because Light really does have the advantage on L the whole time, which makes [spoiler]his victory[/spoiler] less impressive.

[Gavin]

[SIZE="1"]Heh, thanks Mike, although I do agree with you about Spike, I just couldn't resist using that pic.

[b]Anime:[/b] Code Geass R2
[B]Act of Vengeance:[/B] Lelouch’s [spoiler]defeating/taking over the Britannian Empire[/spoiler]
[b]Level of Vengeance:[/b] 9.1
[b]Why[/b] In reality, this should’ve been nothing short of epic win, and a rating of 10, given the way the series was progressing. However, the fact that Lelouch’s vengeance, [spoiler]was based partially on a misconception, as he basically Geassed into power[/spoiler] does lose him some points. That said however, the methodology of his eventual revenge [spoiler]from creating the Black Knights, to leading them to create the UFN, the escaping from the latter and former to face and defeat his father and mother, before his victory[/spoiler] was awesome.

It’ll be interesting to see how the series ends to be honest, I can’t help but like Schneizel for the same reasons I like Lelouch.[/SIZE]