I personally find the concept of zodiac signs sort of annoying because it’s a way of stereotyping personality traits based on a “sign.” Why do the Japanese care so much about blood types and zodiac signs? Is there a correlation study in their country or something? I don’t understand why.

last edited at Mar 27, 2019 5:59PM

Because these characters are FICTIONAL. Duh. They are not based on real people and authors can do whatever the fuck they want with their characters. And you know for someone who was claiming I was a dumbass for the stupid salamander issue, you sure are pretty effing stale yourself. Typical hypocritical DICTATORIAL being you are!

last edited at Mar 27, 2019 2:21PM

Because these characters are FICTIONAL. Duh. They are not based on real people and authors can do whatever the fuck they want with their characters. And you know for someone who was claiming I was a dumbass for the stupid salamander issue, you sure are pretty effing stale yourself. Typical hypocritical DICTATORIAL being you are!

Wow. Um. Just... wow. Okay.

As to answer the actual question rather than sink my teeth into someone, um. I think modern Japanese zodiac stuff is mostly just for fun. It does have its base historically, I think in Buddhism? I'm not certain, I'm neither Japanese nor an expert. But I think just like in, say, America, where there are people who take zodiac signs and astrology in general seriously, there are some in Japan that do too. But, I get the sense that while in general Japanese culture is a hair more superstitious, I don't think it goes much beyond that. For fictional characters, I think it's just meant to flesh them out and make them seem more human and realistic. And in the case of characters aimed at a younger audience (which most manga is, face it) it's also to add a little extra for readers to either identify with or squee over.

Because these characters are FICTIONAL. Duh. They are not based on real people and authors can do whatever the fuck they want with their characters. And you know for someone who was claiming I was a dumbass for the stupid salamander issue, you sure are pretty effing stale yourself. Typical hypocritical DICTATORIAL being you are!

Banned for a day for general douchey behaviour.

primalyossi posted:

Because these characters are FICTIONAL.

Yea, because nobody ever tried to apply it to real people.

Yea, because nobody ever tried to apply it to real people.

But while in real life Zodiac signs are meaningless bullshit, in fiction they can actually mean something and be relevant.

schuyguy posted:

Yea, because nobody ever tried to apply it to real people.

But while in real life Zodiac signs are meaningless bullshit, in fiction they can actually mean something and be relevant.

To be frank, they do mostly just work as a stereotypes, so other characters can comment how someone fits or doesn't fit their sign. And writing character just to fit into sign sound exactly like writing cliches instead of characters. It is more cool if they just happened to fit, but then it's exactly like in real life. Bottom line, I don't think I ever saw series where Zodiacs are actually relevant to the plot outside of just fitting some generic traits.

A while back I saw a writing thread with prospective authors (of romance, obviously) discussing whether their character suited each other according to zodiacs, actually taking the entire business very seriously. That was just one more thing about humanity I just friggin' didn't want to know.

I predict you'll soon meet a stranger of some significance ...

It's like fortune-telling. In real life, fortunes only are relevant to the extent that they're so vague they could "predict" mutually contradictory events. Or perhaps the especially credulous use these fortunes to drive their decision-making, thus lending some real significance to them.

But in fiction, authors can use and abuse prophecy to drive their plots. I recently read a fantasy novel, Starless, that does this worse than anything I've ever read, and I've read more than my fair share of trashy YA fantasy, which is especially guilty of this. The main plot of the book was based entirely on the characters reading a prophecy and then using that to decide what to do next. When they weren't sure what to do because the prophecy was too vague or pieces were missing, they went to visit an oracle to get some more prophecy. They were able to save the world not through bravery, or cunning, or the power of friendship, but because they followed the instructions as written on the side of the box. It was an incredibly boring story with zero tension.

I don't think I've ever seen zodiacs or blood types used that way in a romance, thank god. I can imagine it: Characters A and B are coworkers/classmates/acquaintances. A learns that today is B's birthday, and thus learns her astrological sign. A's fortune for that day said that she would fall in love with someone of that sign. She tells this to B, who is suitably impressed, and the two of them decide they should start dating. As suggested by the stars, as soon as they get to know each other they realize they're perfect for one another.

That would be just terrible. It would completely ruin the entire point of a romance story. Usually, fortunes and zodiacs and blood types are used just to give the characters something to talk about, so it's not that big a deal. Maybe the author uses their own ideas about how astrology and blood type inform a character's personality, but as long as it's kept in the background it's not something the reader has to deal with.

last edited at Mar 27, 2019 8:53PM

As @schuyguy has already pointed out, playing with zodiac signs can become tools to create characterization (depending on the skill of the writer, it can be really interesting or shitty).

I admit I have only read a few manga and manhwa but personally I'm okay with authors considering personality types through Zodiac signs, especially when toying with polar opposites tropes. However, I think MBTI is a better tool for character-driven stories than Zodiac IMO.

Honestly, I've seen more manga that rely on characters not matching their blood type or astrological sign than ones about characters that do.

Sometimes birthdays, blood types, and zodiac signs are mentioned because there’s surprisingly a great amount of people who love superstition or guessing/sussing out a character’s personality or motivations. It’s there to make astrologers and fans of astrology jizz, pretty much xD

But imo giving away a person’s personality through zodiac signs can kill a story. Because you are giving away what kind of character they are gonna be. As a reader I have more fun trying to figure out what a character is like. Zodiac sign assigned personalities to me is the laziest form of characterization.

last edited at Mar 28, 2019 11:49PM

The zodiac is very important. I can't even start the day generally without reading the horoscope.