Today, 22 November, is the birthday of Ootori Kyouya from Ouran Koukou Host Club. Well, as usual, Kyouya would not age like most fictional characters. Pokémon would be a good example. One of the first things that the anime had informed it's audiences in its first episode was that Ash was 10 years old at that time. If fictional characters were to age, then Ash Ketchum/Satoshi would be around 18 years old by now, based on Pokémon's release in Japan, which was in 1999. But the thing is, as you all can see, Ash's mental and physical appearance is still as it was when the anime series started. Another example, Mickey Mouse would be around 80 years of age by now. Although so, Mickey still appeals to younger audiences just like it had been these 80 years. Of course, as younger audiences enter into their teenage years, they would regard anyone their age who continues to watch a childish anime or cartoon as someone who is not mature. This is main reason why there are many people who hate such animes with childish characters. This is where animes such as Doraemon, Pokémon, Super Doll Licca-chan and Digimon became victims, or else they could have been top. Now, if Ash were to grow up to be a strong and handsome teenager and is now in engulfed in some romance or drama, won’t that be more appealing to teens? There can always be another hero, or perhaps, a female hero, to appeal to younger audiences. In Ouran’s case, the story had told us that Kyouya had gone through his childhood age in where he is the third son from a rich family. His father would not longer be satisfied with Kyouya being the top in his class, since his two elder brothers had already achieved it. So, as a junior high school student around the age of 13-15, Kyouya had been in a stress, and that is trying to do better in anything else than his two brothers while maintaining his excellent academic result. However, that was the past when he is in junior high. This proves that Kyouya had once gone through any young lad would have, although his past was a lot harsher. However, he is in his second year in high school of the “today” in the story. You may know his past, but you would never know what his future would bring, unless if the author decides to continue to write about Kyouya and the members of the host club until they die.Well, talking about authors who would write a story continuously, it reminds me of Naruto. Naruto is about Naruto, the hero of the story. In this case, the author tells the story of Naruto since his birth to the days in his childhood till his teenage days after he had taken the chuunin exams. The story of Naruto has not reach an end till now, and has been going on since 2003. Again, it made me thought, if Naruto was born in 2003, then wouldn’t he be only be three years old by now?However in some anime, the creators had purposely stated the date to create sequence. Take for example, Digimon. I’ll take Digimon 02 to be precise, since the date was given in the anime. It was the year 2003, while Hikari was 11 years old. Four years ago in the story of Digimon Adventure, she was 7 years old, and the year was 1999. In this case, fans were able to determine the characters’ age based on the details given. Although so, they had not release the date of birth for each of the characters in Digimon. Well, it’s not really necessary for a particular anime character to have an age. Although some animes and mangas such as Suzuka and Ouran tend to give more character details and information such as birthdates and heights/weights, it is only an extra to fill the craves of the fans.Last but not least: Happy Birthday Kyouya!
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