[Character Discussion] Suzaku Kururugi and Saji Crossroad

Both Code Geass and Gundam 00 may have ended their run, but the views of some anime fans have left me baffled, especially when it comes to the following two characters, Suzaku Kururugi and Saji Crossroad, from Code Geass and Gundam 00 respectively.

According to what I have read on a number of forums, blogs and websites, both characters appear to be rather disliked, even though they are the good(?) guys. Why is this so? Hopefully, my fellow Fakku members could shed some light on the issue.

I have come across a couple of reasons given by netizens to justify their dislike. Some of them may be valid while others could stem from their biased views. What say you?

Suzaku - Overly idealistic, hypocrisy in wanting to save others despite the death of his father, uncanny phyiscal abilties.

Saji - Naive, blaming others for the loss of his loved ones.

To tell the truth, both Suzaku and Saji are well-liked by myself, so I am curious as to how others see them too.

Lastly, the always relevant hentai images:

As for Saji Crossroad, I still dislike him for snitching on the whereabouts of Katharon and causing the deaths of innocent people. It just left a bad taste in my mouth after that and couldn't care less for him ever since then.

Even though Suzaku was Lelouch's Rival, in my point of view I saw him as the bad ass with Lancelot. When he gain the "Live on" power from Lelouch I knew he was going to be unstoppable.

Well, for me Saji and me had a love-hate kinda relationship. In the sense that over the time in Season 2, he develops into a way better person. I mean throughout season 1 and parts of season 2, he blames other for the loss of his love ones while... not doing anything about it. He's also Naive, which cause quite a few deaths at Katharons base. It takes him slowly to finally feel confident on what he's doing. Before he was quite a push over. At the end, him screaming his believes to Louise made me some what proud. He wasn't blaming anyone anymore, nor was he being a naive push over.

Therefore, I actually like Saji at the end. He's kinda mature

Suzaku... to me is the kind of guy who was idealstic, but at the same time started to face reality. He also goes on a vegeance run without trying to understand what really happen until later and still I don't think much of it is still clear to him. This I need to watch and understand him again as he does make sacrifices in order to do what he thinks he can for what he believes in, which are definitely against his ideals, yet I can't deny that they are also meant for a good cause. Such as sacrificing his best friend, Lelouch (the inbetween Season 1 and 2) in order to change Britanian from the inside.

I won't say anymore on Suzaku, its been a while since I watch both seasons of Code Geass, therefore I'm being memory bias in a sense if I try to explain my like/dislike for him.

PS: I would also like to say just for the rest of us posters on the like-dislike sections side to keep it from turning into a Suzaku and Saji love - hate War. After all, its an interesting topic. Thanks :D Post away!

About Saji


About Suzaku

well to be honest i hate them ^^'

Lets start with Suzaku. Well im in truble to say exact things why i dislike him, its just a feeling that developed in me while i watched the anime. Maybe his way of thinking ~ about his father's death and this whole *i will change Britannia from the inside* ~ because of this sometimes he was so stubborn and made things that pissed me off =P i started to really hate him when he captured Lelouch at the end of 1st season. This whole *im gonna be the best in the rounds* thing irritated me ^^' (and he became an ubersoldier? he defeated the Rounds like regular soldiers >.>) well i dont know if these can be reasons but i just felt this way, i cant sympathize with him, his personality disturbing me ^^'

About Saji i can say fix things why i hate him. As it was said befor me, the Katharon case was the main reason why i started to hate him. In the 1st season i hasnt got a problem with him but in de 2nd... his way of *im not part of this/this isnt happening with me etc* made me vomit... everything was happening before his eyes and he knew he is PART OF IT but still he denied everything until it was too late. The change in his way of thinkig was a good thing but i cant forgive him. Dont know why i just cant i still dislike him ^^'

~all of the above wasnt for offense~ ^_^

That's pretty much what I notice too about Suzaku (the edit part of it). But then again, my memory is plagued with not knowing the fine details of it.

i don't watch gundam....so i don't even know saji. but for suzaku, i used to hate him, especially at the end of S1 and beginning of R2. i'm fine with him being idealistic, but when he goes into his i'm-gonna-avenge-euphie-woarrr! mode, ugh, i really hate him. yeah, lelouch is quite the problem too since he won't tell the full story, but it's not like suzaku wants to hear it anyway. plus, the very thought of avenging someone contradicts his quite beautiful ideals, so yeah, i think he's a hypocrite. but when he begins to learn the whole thing he slowly accepted it and well, no more hate for him.

edit: one more reason to hate suzaku: he looks just like syaoran.

Two words : wasted screentime.
This is coming from me only and I don't expect too many people to agree but I always disliked both of them (Saji more so than Suzaku) simply because the enormous amount of focus they were given could have been (at least partially) used to flesh out and develop some of the promising yet omitted secondary characters (and gawd knows both shows had an army of those). It's all about personal character preference I guess.
Also with all that so-called development they both received, I never viewed them as properly built-up characters.

Saji was emo till the very end and all he was able to do was spout 'courageous' words outside the fighting and push a damn button in the 00 gundam (something that a simple Haro proved to be capable of as well). Disagree all you want people but he was useless.

Suzaku is a better character in my book but he still has some major flaws. While the screentime he was given did allow him to change in the show (several times), it never felt realistic to me. The fact that he shifted from one extreme to another (as far as the sides and attitudes in Geass go) didn't help either. BTW - I hated his hairstyle from the very beginning.

Apart from that I've always been a fan of badass (or down right evil), uncompromising and unique characters and none of those 2 fits the profile.
Last, but not least - their idealistic approach and doubts were simply annoying. Who knows how both stories would have progressed (and casualty numbers changed) if they got their act together earlier ...

As I said - this is coming from a guy who watched waaaaay too much anime for his own good and had his tastes and preferences messed up in the process. To prove it, let me just say that my favorite character in Geass/G00 was Orange-kun/Nena.

First off, spell his name right, Syaoran. Second, Lelouch looks like Kamui, but nobody brings THAT up.

Saji is emo-like, totally useless guy. After I ended Gundam 00 season 1, I was just saying to myself "Oh god, what teh fuck were Saji and Louise for?". Well, season 2 made them kinda usefull, but still... WHAT TEH FUCK?
(Despite that, I was really glad they ended up together finally, since Setsuna is just freaking Gundam-otaku not interested in Marina or that I_forgot_her_name pink haired girl.)

As for Suzaku... I can't say I hate him... I think he was just one of those sad characters. His love went freak and got killed by Lelouch. And Suzaku had to kill his best frien even after realising Lelouch's true plan or whatever. I see nothing to hate him for, I think I kind of pity him.

oh, really. damn, ANN spelled it wrong for me...i'll go edit it. btw, i don't think kamui looks exactly like lelouch. their hairs are really different. as for suzaku, other than eye colour, everything is the same. actually, all i'd like to point out here was clamp's laziness in designing characters, that's all. not that i actually hate suzaku because of that.