Oolong Tea: Realistic, Straightforward Anime Characters

This is Anime as a Cup of Tea, serving the fourth par-TEA member of this tea series: oolong tea!

Oolong tea is a partially oxidized tea. It is the shaping during processing that changes its final taste. This taste may either lean towards green tea (less oxidized) or black tea (more oxidized). The color of its tea leaves is mostly light brown.

Taste profile:

Typically earthy, woody with toasty aroma.

Characteristics extracted:

• Straightforward with a passion, always seen wearing a serious and angered face.
• Perceived as brawn-over-brains and reckless but is actually intelligent.
• Down-to-earth, and honest when interacting with others/expressing opinions.
• Always prefer telling bitter truths over sweet lies, which could make them seem insensitive at times.

Labelled with:

“They always cut oolong story short.”

 

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Ladd Russo

Origin: Baccano!

A hostile hitman. A chatterbox. Finds genuine fun in killing others. Often acts on his bloodlust, and live as he likes. Has a fiance that he plans to kill with his bare hands, only after killing everyone else in the world. He respects people who fear death and are aware of their mortality; while enjoys killing those who are not. He is quite open about his violent tendencies, and sometimes would use them as means to burn off his excess energy. Most of the time, he chooses not to plan, and simply forces his action and on-spot calculations with observation to make his plans succeed. If he views you as his friend, he will respect your wishes and defend you whether you like it or not.

The name Ladd refers to “servant” or “man of humble birth”.

 

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Accelerator (right)

Origin: A Certain Scientific Accelerator

One-Way Road. I’m only analysing him as a main character from A Certain Scientific Accelerator, because I only realised after finishing that he is part of the franchise that started with A Certain Magical Index. He’s quite sadistic when it comes to hurting his enemies that have no idea what he’s capable of. He talks by shouting. Being the most powerful physic in the Academy City, he’s literally not afraid of anyone. He could change the vector values of anything he touches which include but not limited to wind velocity, blood flow in the body and sound. If he doesn’t like something, he’d just say it out loud. It’s the same when he enjoys something.

He’s straightforward in his words, and ability as in manipulating the vector arrows.

 

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Katsuki Bakugou

Origin: My Hero Academia

“Stop talking. I will win. That’s… what heroes do.”

Kacchan. Arrogant. Short-tempred. Fierce. Really competitive. Can be aggresive if he feels challenged. Has a strong desire in becoming victorious in every matches. Prideful, and honest to a fault. Packed with more than enough motivation and abilities to achieve his goals. Mostly unfriendly, but is sometimes kind and nice to people who he respects. He tends to come off as a troublemaking villain to others, but he’s not, and that’s the charm of him. It’s because even though there’s a chance he could join the evil, he refuses to and is always trying his hardest to sharpen his new skills and be a great hero that can win over villains.

He mostly uses his anger to portray his passion and intimidate others but he doesn’t let this cloud his judgements. In face of unexpected situations, he can adapt to them with his sharp pespective and intelligence, discerning the proper measures and abilities to be used which makes him quite an admirable character in this list. For him, to save is to be victorious.

He hates being looked down on, so Midoriya’s kindness comes off as pity to him. It’s an inferioty complex that he locked behind his HUGE wall of egoness. So whenever his pride is hurt, the pain is deep to him–and us.

 

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Shizuo Heiwajima

Origin: Durarara!!

Tough. Violent. Hates violence. Do-not-hesitate-to-run-from-him. Indestructible. Superhuman parkour skills. Short-tempered. The strongest man in Ikebukuro. Kicks car like a soccer ball. Does not tolerate any nonsense. Mostly seen as quite and mediocore when he is not in action mode. His enormous 100% strength is both a gift (that protects ones he cares about) and a curse (that alienates people from him). There’s a particualrly impactful scene that reminds me of him, which is that his skills in approaching people with genuine care and words (Vorona), can truly change them and make them a better person.

He’s the superman you’d want to befriend, but is too afraid to approach.

 

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Shinta Fukuda

Origin: Bakuman

A friend-enemy. Can be narcissitic, which makes him a great rival. Reckless, often affected by his emotions and just wings it. Prone to throw tantrum when plans go haywire, such as shouting at his assistants. He has great respect to mangaka who can draw better than him, which he would not hesitate to call “sensei”. He cares about baseless rumors that center around his friends/rivals, and would voluntarily step up for them. He’d give a genuine thanks to anyone who has helped him, which would sometimes surprise others because of how out-of-character he can be.

He’s the reliable guy that would back you up without you needing to word it out.

 

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Chihaya Ayase

Origin: Chihayafuru

A beauty in vain. Tomboyish. Ambitious. Competitive. Outgoing. Easy-going. Remarkable hearing ability. She has quick reflexes, which she tried to improve once by joining track team to listen to the bang of the gun that indicates the start of the race. She is also very diligent in karuta, but oblivious when it comes to others’ feelings and her surroundings. She often voice out the first thing that pops into her head, making her as straightforward as her karuta style is. She generally trusts others easily and treats people kindly.

The true meaning of Chihafayuru was explained by Kana as “a red colored love/passion that never fades.”

 

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Kei Tsukishima (月島 蛍)

Origin: Haikyuu!!

“Hi. I’m the normal guy. Time difference attacks may have fooled our wild beast (Hinata) over there, but it doesn’t work for me. Nice to meet you.”

Calm. Collected. Smug attitude. Looks arrogant. Snickers whenever he sees foolish actions. Blunt, likes to rile his teammates up. He takes pride in becoming a nuisance to opponents in volleyball matches. He actually has low self-esteem and is willing to recognise players that are greater than him, while also giving and receiving advices from them at times. He found more of his passion when things start going his way, like how he blocked Ushijima’s spike that gave a chance for his team to counter-attack. Although he doesn’t show his emotion often, but he’s quite hardworking and smart in deducing opponent’s defense, making him one of the best middle blockers in the story world.

Tsukishima’s name was picked by the author because his last name has ‘moon’ (月) to contrast Hinata’s ‘sun’ (日). ‘Firefly’ (蛍) is because he can emit light on his own.”

 

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Iskander

Origin: Fate/Zero

Rider. Alexander the Great. King of Conquerors. The Lord of War. Physically overbearing. Adventurous. Acts according to his impulses, and is noble in his actions and words. Can be wild and greedy, in order to give his people and comrades a better life. He is seen by Waver as a conqueror of not lands or material wealth, but the hearts of the people which resonates to his ideals–win without killing, and control without humilating. He believes that a king should be the leader who inspires and lead, not just protect and save the people for the sake of it. Sometimes, he’ll grieve over his past mistakes but not regret them as doing so, would be disrespecting those who followed his ideals.

He holds friendship and courage in high regard, which is why he respects his summoner, Waver for riding with him into battle although he’s a timid boy. Iskander is the very embodiment of someone who can always find a way to stay true to himself, in action and in words.

 

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Chika Kudo (久遠愛)

Origin: Kono Oto Tomare!

Tsundere. Fierce on the outside. Childish yet very inquistive. Most of the time, he’s straightforward with his words because he doesn’t know to wrap it and just want to get a direct answer from others. He was an infamous deliquent, which creates many misunderstanding when he decides to play koto. With little to no skills, he strive to learn shamelessly and has even recruited a few of his friend into the school’s koto club, advancing to the national tournament together with them. He often helps his friends out of genuine care and without expecting praises, but he’ll get shy if he receives them.

Mentioned by his grandfather, his name Chika means “love, affection” (愛), while Kudo means “long time” (久) (ku) and “far” (遠) (do).

 

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Yuzuki Seo

Origin: Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun

“I‘m in the game until they kick me out!”

Oblivious. Athletic. Straightforward to a fault. Zero sportsmanship. Death God of the Basketball Court. The Choir Club’s Lorelei. She serves as the bad example of teamworks in a comical sense, which helps the team to appreciate their members more and learn to deal with annoying opponents. Although she is probably the top-tier level of annoying. However, she’s honest in giving opinions and asking for one. She doesn’t restrict herself much and if something is boring to her, she’d just say it or simply sleep on it.

“If there’s anything you don’t know, don’t ask me about it.”

 

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They are a double-edged sword.

These are pretty much every character I can think of that has “oolong tea” traits: straightforward. By using this trait into our advantage, it could sometimes be benificial to us and others but in other times, it could be offensive and annoys others. So, ultimately, it’s up to us to decide when to use this sword. Would you use it to stab or defend?

Disclaimer:

My perspectives can be objective subjective at times, so it’s up for debate if you have any character that you think I’ve mislooked/did not do the justice for. Feel free to share your opinions moderately, but most importantly, I hope this managed to give a proper shout-out to them.

 

Thanks for reading!

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