Near And L Are Notbasically The Same Character.

Near and L are not “basically the same character.”

So the opinion that Near is basically a cheap rip off of L has made me headtilt for years. As someone who adored both L and Near for different reasons, seeing people dismiss Near for apparently being “the same” just never sat well with me. While I do personally consider the criticism that Near’s story arc was weaker than L’s valid, I don’t think the criticism that Near is a “bad character” because he’s basically L is. As an anon asked me on my old blog what my opinions were on this, I decided to re-post my observations here for consideration. 

Outward Expressivity

Near is much more open about his sarcasm and taunting

L tends to be offensive in backhanded ways.

Near is also more visually expressive. Near often  looks disdainful, irritated, exasperated or smug.

L, while also expressive, tends to be more consistently deadpan and he talks more with his body language (clenched fists/grit teeth) than he does with his facial expressions

Near’s body language is distinctive and he tends to carry himself in defensive postures. This appears to be entirely genuine as we see his body language has not changed from when we see him at the Wammy’s house flashback

L’s characteristic slouched posture is entirely feigned as evidenced by his early appearances in the manga and his mannerisms tend to appear calibrated to prompt very specific responses.

Near often uses toys to help communicate his ideas

L does not use any props to communicate

Attitude towards Teamwork

L makes it quite clear as the most intelligent person in the room, what he says goes. He is authoritarian in his approach to teamwork. He issues orders and expects his team members to obey.

Near is team player. While he clearly wields ultimate authority, Near makes a point to seek out the opinions of his team before proceeding with his decisions.

L will belittle team members who are trying to help him. His response upon finding out Matsuda has chosen to infiltrate the Yotsuba Group on his own is to immediately belittle him in front of the entire team by calling him stupid.

Near, while blunt, does not belittle those who are on his team. Notably, he finds out Lidner undermines his plan to keep everything as normal as possible before Jan28th 2010 by allowing Mello to kidnap Kiyomi. He does not immediately belittle her for ineptitude.

Morality

L states in Chapter 109 that he does not care about morality and that the only thing that matters to him is winning by any means.

Near places greater value on a moral compass and stresses that he opposes Kira because he had determined for himself that it was the right thing to do.

L will take drastic actions that violate human rights in order to secure evidence. L will keep people in detention for as long as necessary to force them to confess if he believes they are guilty.

Near does not take drastic action until he has more evidence to back up his own theories.

(That said I will concede this could be due to the confounding effect of Near not having the same political power as L does by the time he rises to prominence in 2009).

L wishes to turn Kira over to the authorities and personally see to it that he is executed.

Near determines that he would rather have Kira imprisoned in a secret facility for life.

(Though the confounder here may be that the political climate of the world of DN in 2009 is more hostile to the idea of giving Kira a criminal trial than it was in 2004).

L wanted every Kira caught and convicted.

Near, despite having confirmation that Misa is the second Kira, does not press for her arrest at the conclusion of the series.

Self Reflection / Thought Processes

L will literally sulk for months over being wrong about his pet theories

Near is able to accept when he is wrong and will adjust accordingly without turning it into a personal tragedy.

L views the playing field like a dynamic chess board with an opponent who will react and respond to his actions.

Near views the field more like putting together a static puzzle

Anti-solangelo thoughts

Today, my father and I, discussed some interesting points about the Hippocratic Oath at dinner. And I remembered precisely one thing that Will Solace did that I cannot forgive him (of the many things I cannot forgive him).

The Hippocratic Oath is an oath of ethics historically taken by physicians. It's one of the most widely known of Greek medical texts. In its original form, it requires a new physician to swear, by a number of healing gods, to uphold specific ethical standards. The oath is the earliest expression of medical ethics in the Western world, establishing several principles of medical ethics which remain of paramount significance today. [Here]

And this is one of the most important points of the ancient oath:

«And whatsoever I shall see or hear in the course of my profession, as well as outside my profession in my intercourse with men, if it be what should not be published abroad, I will never divulge, holding such things to be holy secrets.»

Even in the new Hippocratic Oath it's much more resounding:

«I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know.»

So, excuse me if Will Solace's stupidity in telling Apollo about dreams and Nico's unfavorable condition, in a way that even two of the secondary characters listened to him, I find fucking disgusting. (And I almost dare say that Will breaks more than one rule.)

Omg, let me give you a hug for your fanon v canon Percy posts that I just discovered :') I'm so heartily sick of fanon Percy - it's a caricature of book Percy, book Percy is so much more, so much deeper. The Percy I see in most fics and headcanons and fanart is a cartoon, not even just literally, and I don't understand why, is it just people lacking reading comprehension, what is it? (not all fics, headcanons, art, mind you, some are spot on). If I were to put it in one word - that word would be

‘maturity’. Percy is mature, beyond his years, he’s an old soul who manages to salvage his sanity with humor and optimism and idealism as defense mechanisms, and if you look closely, he has as many moments of dark humor as the slapstick kind, if not more. I don’t know who the dumb, cocky, obnoxious dude in the tag is, because the Percy I know is downright brilliant, humble to the point of thinking he’s dumb, and one of the kindest, most considerate and compassionate people in the whole series.

I’m crying and screaming yes so loudly I don’t think you understand. Yes. yes. YES!!!!!!!!!!!

Percy Jackson is one of the most complex characters I have ever read about. Why that complexity seems to be forgotten about by most people in the fandom, I’m not sure. It probably has to do with Rick’s writing style, since it isn’t always that serious. But I digress, yes, Percy is so mature beyond his years. His view of the world and his approach to situations is very practical and smart and adult in nature. Its true he’s not always the most perceptive, but he understands the life he leads as opposed to others. He understands that his innocence has been taken from him even at the age of 12 because he encourages us, the readers, to not ask for the truth because we won’t like the results. He believes that ignorance is bliss and how many 12 year olds can you honestly say would be wise enough to understand why parents lie to their children and not only that, but encourage that parents keep doing so? To keep their children safe? I wouldn’t say that many. And this is only one instance, on the first page of the first book, of so many more throughout the series. One of the things I relate to most about Percy is the deep conclusions his thought processes come to regarding the situations he’s put into. He does occasionally get distracted and does have some goofy thoughts, but guess what, Annabeth does too and that doesn’t mean she’s any less smart or wise. They both have ADHD so of course they’re going to get distracted. But when he’s not distracted, Percy’s thoughts are pretty profound and philosophical and so true that they are generally thought with a biting tone because he knows how true they are and he detests it.

I agree that Percy is absolutely brilliant. His intelligence, like his attitude, is beyond his years. I don’t think he has quite the war-set, plan making, crazy perceptive, strategic mind that Annabeth, the daughter of one of the goddess’s of war, has, but I wouldn’t say that Percy is a warrior at heart. He’s gentle and kind and helpful and smart despite his disheveled appearance. Characters in the books catch on to that quick and learn not to underestimate him. I’d also say that he’s pretty clever and cunning as well. Again, probably not as much as Annabeth, but he knows how to utilize manipulation techniques to outsmart villains and other sketchy characters, starting with the first book where he talks Crusty, the water bed salesman, into sitting on one of his own beds. Despite what many (including Annabeth) may believe, Percy is not completely dependent on others for mythological facts. He can recall them, mock them smartly in his head, then use them to his advantage without being told anything. He doesn’t like to rely on people for help, he likes to feel smart, which is why at first he’s so put off with the nickname “Seaweed Brain”. He considers that an insult. Now while Percy is smart, I wouldn’t say that he’s the most witty or “sassy” person out there. He does have some nice sarcastic come backs, but a lot of the time he’s thinking ‘“I didn’t really know what to say.” and “I said something intelligent like,’ huh?’” He doesn’t always have a come back, sometimes he’s just quiet and listening and absorbing. And that’s okay, I find that to be realistic as a matter of fact.

I wouldn’t categorize Percy solely by his humor if given the choice. He has a sense of humor but I don’t think that’s his defining feature if you will. He’s not a joker, he’s not looking for the attention. He gets uncomfortable and flustered when all eyes are on him and tends to have his hands in his pockets and his shoulders sort of hunched. Generally his humorous thoughts are sarcastic and kept to himself to, as you said, preserve his sanity in these impossible situations. He doesn’t find practical jokes to be all that funny and is quickly fed up with people who don’t take things all that seriously when they should. Yes, you’re right. Sometimes his sarcasm can be a snorted ”You have a feast for tuna?”, other times its an unamused ”He’s the sun god,” and more times still its a bitter jab like ”In a way, it’s nice to know there are Greek gods out there, because you have somebody to blame when things go wrong.” That last one though is a thought in his head, kept to himself. Its a defense mechanism right, but it doesn’t always work. We know he has frequent nightmares and wonders if he’s crazy sometimes. A reoccurring theme in the books is Annabeth being a reminder to Percy that everything he has seen and is seeing is real and not made up by his imagination. Aloud Percy does try to be optimistic and encourage optimism and positive feelings in others by smiling and making them feel good about themselves and going out of his way to help them out. Internally though he can be pretty pessimistic and doubtful about himself and others. Often he’s thinking “I didn’t think it would possibly work, but I tried it anyway.” And is usually surprised when he’s underestimated himself and others because he took a realistic approach to the situation instead of a less realistic one.

And this comes into play in some social situations regarding him too. For as compassionate and sensitive as he can be, he is sometimes completely blind to people’s feelings toward him because he’s just not looking. That’s not what he’s worried about or focused on. In BOTL he has a world to save and a possible death to face in the future, he’s not going to be perceptive of Annabeth’s romantic emotions especially when she comes across as confusing and hostile because she’s jealous of Rachel. In TLO he’s very well aware of Annabeth’s feelings but is scared because its unknown territory and he’s stressed enough as it is and Annabeth doesn’t make it easy for him. She yells at him for having friends outside of Camp, for having a life outside his responsibilities, claims he was running away, makes him feel bad about things that make him happy. And he feels bad, then gets mad that he feels bad, because he’s allowed to have a life outside of Camp, right? And so he’s all confused and upset and worried that he pushes the romantic feelings aside and takes the war straight on with a level head the way an adult would, saying “If I die, I die. We can’t worry about that, right? Now let’s move on.” Its all very serious and I don’t think people grasp how actually serious Percy’s character is, how serious he has to be given the life he lives and the responsibilities on his shoulders. He’s independent and virtuous and rebellious and has so much integrity he really doesn’t need anybody. He can survive perfectly fine on his own if he chose to, has survived perfectly fine on his own for weeks when he had no choice in the matter.

Percy’s self-confidence is interesting and very human because sometimes its up, but other times its very down. As I said before he’s not always comfortable with attention and calling the shots, but he can do it if he has to. A reoccurring theme with him is that he doesn’t like to be singled out in any way. When he first arrives at Camp Half-Blood, people don’t give him a second glance and he kind of likes that. He starts to feel accepted until his dad claims him and then everyone is watching him and avoiding him like the plague and he’s absolutely downright miserable about it. “Just when I’d started to feel accepted, to feel I had a home in cabin eleven and I might be a normal kid—or as normal as you can be when you’re a half-blood—I’d been separated as if I had some rare disease.” When Percy confronts his dad for the first time and Poseidon tells him he, singularly, is a mistake for being born, Percy kind of retreats into himself and tries not to cry. Later when the fact that he’s a son of Poseidon is brought up as a bad thing again in the Roman Camp, Percy thinks sarcastically that maybe he can make friends by scaring people and then looks at his dad’s temple and, again, tries not to cry. And as all the Romans watch him warily in the mess hall, he kind of shrinks down in his seat and tries not to be noticed because he just wants to fit in with everybody else but he doesn’t have any control over who he is so there’s really nothing he can do but try to hide. Percy wants to belong and its a constant reminder any time someone looks at him funny that he just can’t. Not really.

Percy does have a lot of pent up rage that he tries—and generally does okay at—keeping under control. He says it himself in Son of Neptune. Most things he can handle keeping a level head with, like being called stupid or weak or whatever, but sometimes people can really grind his gears and he’ll surprise himself when his vision is going red and suddenly he’s grabbing them by the front of the shirt, or strangling them, or torturing them with poison, or having dark dangerous thoughts because that’s just not who he is. He’s usually pretty calm and he knows it. Moody sure, but he usually knows when its time to back off and take a deep breath and regroup before he does anything too stupid or reckless. He’s just…good. At the core of who he is Percy is such a good person. Like the sea, that gentle side of him combats against the dark rough waters and is victorious for the most part. Percy likes to help people. He likes to see people smiling and laughing, he likes to be “the gentle waters that speed boats on their way”. That’s one defining feature of his character: his compassion and it plays such a large role in everything he does to the point where Annabeth grumbles that he is too nice—because he can make bad decisions from only seeing the good in people, like when he shows mercy to Ethan and Ethan returns the favor by nearly stabbing him right in the middle of his back. And even AFTER Ethan almost kills Percy, Percy tries to convince Ethan to help him fight Kronos up in the Olympian throne room because he sees the good in him and his sight is right, because Ethan does help him that time and is one of the people that keeps Percy alive. His compassion is sometimes a burden but other times it is a quality that ensures his survival, something to this day that I think Annabeth still has a hard time understanding.

I like how you call Percy an old soul. If someone were to ask me who Percy Jackson was, I would show them the paragraph in the Son of Neptune, where Hazel is watching Percy steer their boat along the water and he’s just sort of sitting there quietly watching the horizon, radiating power and a sort of sadness. He knows the life he leads and he doesn’t like it one bit but he knows some day soon he’s going to face a monster he can’t beat. The second thing I would probably show someone was the part where Frank asks Percy if he wants to use the Gorgon’s blood to retrieve his memories and Percy tells him no, that he should save it for someone who might need it more. And Frank is just stunned and thinks to himself that no one else in camp would have been selfless enough to make that same decision, including himself. The last thing I would have shown someone was the part in The Lightning Thief where Percy jumps off the St. Louis Arch, NOT because he thinks he’s going to survive, but because he thinks that if he dies, the monsters will go away and the human strangers will survive. And this is just one instance of so many where Percy takes this selfless approach. He finds out he’s dangerous and the best option would be to kill him, instead of getting upset he understands the gods’ viewpoint and considers that maybe the world would be better off if he weren’t there, as long as it meant everyone else would be safe. He’s thinking about himself in self-sacrificing moments like this and I don’t think he wants to die at all, but he’s willing to if it means the world is saved. Percy has goals and dreams he’s working toward, that’s why he turns down being a god, that’s why he’s thinking about college, that’s why he wants to marry Annabeth, but he’s willing to push his own desires aside to ensure the safety of others.

The sort of funny part is I don’t think this kid considers himself to be a hero, not in the least.

thinking about how nico’s introduction to demigodness is a direct reflection to percy’s introduction but while percy Did Not Want To Be A Halfblood, it was literally a dream come true for nico. thinking about how they both lost the only person that mattered to them (percy’s mom & bianca) and both did everything they could to get her back. thinking about how percy sided with nico immediately when bianca joined the hunt bc he knew what it was like to lose your only support right before being thrown into a new world. thinking about how only one of them actually got their person back. thinking about how nico shows what would have happened to percy if he had lost his mom for good.

This might already be obvious to some people, but my headcanon is that Hamefura!Maria can bake waaaay better than Fortune Lover!Maria.

FL!Maria obviously improves her baking skills over time, but is pretty happy enough to be appreciated by the student council for her delicious cookies and muffins. She gets slowly better each time, and does desire to improve for her preferred love interest, but is happy that the basic recipes that she and her mother used to bake are appreciated by nobles, so she doesn’t do much to change them. 

Hamefura!Maria tries every new recipe she can in order to improve her techniques and improve the flavors of her baked treats, as she needs it in order to impress Katarina (especially when she’s against nobles and royals who can afford better treats than what she can bake).  When Katarina eats the treats that Maria bakes, she can see the love in her eyes as she inhales them all; she’s very happy to be appreciated for her hobby and wants to improve in order to satisfy herself and Katarina. 

Both are good and improves well over the course of their stay in the academy, but one of them has found the motivation into creating delicious masterpieces in order to gain the attention of their crush. 

What is your opinion about Konoha being a fascist government and the Will of Fire being a fascist propaganda?

Usually Uchiha apologists comes up with this claim and are salty about Sasuke finally sucking up to Konoha.

It's hilariously ignorant of them and their claims are blatantly untrue. I've seen some of these people's 'arguments' and it all boils down to "Konoha authoritarianism so fascist! Please clap! Me intelligent!"

Fascism is equally authoritarian as a monarchy, an oligarchy, or even a theocracy. Further proving that these pseudo-intellectuals don't know what it is when in their small brains "authoritarianism = facism".

The villages are all authoritarian dictatorships, to some extent. While fascism is a type of authoritarian dictatorship, it is classified by its anti intellectualism, cult like ruling caste, strict abhorrence of foreigners and anything deemed "unusual", and hyper religious zealots. While Oto and old Kiri/Mist could accurately be called fascist, Konoha hardly qualifies as one.

Even with Kishimoto's sketchy and vague world building of Naruto's politics, the facts are there: There are at least two councils in Konoha (Elders and Jounin committee) which can limit the Hokage and prevent him from being an absolute dictator, there is Daimyo/Feudal lord who seems to share the power and has some authority over the village. Foreigners aren't demonised. The cult dogma typical of fascist governments isn't there. Literally nothing is there to back Uchiha apologists' 'arguments'.

I've also seen how Will of Fire is supposedly the aforementioned missing cult dogma...and excuse me, what?! Cult dogma consists of rejecting reality because you don't like the implications (what actual states use to brainwash the population), Will of Fire is literally the generic Shounen shtick about compassion and power of friendship and all that jazz. It's quite simply about being a good person. Plus, Danzo doesn't even believe in Will of Fire and he's supposed to be the super 'fascist' in this scenario.

Moreover, Naruto's world is clearly a Feudal Japan copycat. Are these silly Uchiha apologists gonna go back and call all the old civilisation fascist states?! They might as well be doing that since they clearly have no idea what fascism means.

The fact this is coming from Uchiha apologists who literally support Uchiha's coup (AKA subjugating everyone else) is highly ironic. It's quite more likely that Uchiha would have made a fascist state out of Konoha had their coup been a success.

Plus, the one of the actual facism governments in Naruto's world is Bloody Mist. Aaand it was helped established by two Uchiha over the decades (Madara and Obito).

I have to say the fact there are some people who throw words like "facism" so casually is disheartening, much less for a generic shounen whose author was so distressed and pressurised, he flat out admits he barely thought his plot through or planned anything ahead. And being so casual with facism makes the word lose its weight and is, quite frankly, offensive and insensitive toward real-life victims of facism.

I'm not saying to not analyse your favourite media. Overanalyse it for all I care but you can always be intelligent and sensitive about it instead of pulling bs out of your behinds. Use canon not your bad fanfiction.

———

As for Sasuke, I don't see him as a state bootlicker. He was an international criminal, got pardoned and now goes where he wants in a world that pardoned criminals are under massive surveillance and scrutiny and Shinobi have to be in their villages as much as possible. I never saw Sasuke's loyalty toward Konoha but rather toward people he cares about, namely Naruto. This is my take on Sasuke's character.

Thanks for the ask.