Gar
From WeeabooDB
Gar is a term that most nearly means manly. Qualities that one may deem "manly" vary from person to person but it's universally agreed upon that shouting inspiring nonsense, doing the impossible, and throwing reason to the curb are all very desirable traits for those seeking to be gar. Gar has no basis in actual Japanese. It's a nonsense term that is meant to be in contrast to moe, but as I'll explain, it was completely derived from English anime fandom.
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History
The term gar originated on /a/ at 4chan in a thread about the visual novel Fate/Stay Night. In particular, the character named Archer was being discussed. One poster saw fit to declare his homosexuality in relation to Archer, but made quite the fortunate mistake. He instead proclaimed that "I am so gar for Archer" (something along those lines), and the thread, then the community as a whole, ran with it. Gradually the term morphed into its present meaning, where it is reserved for use on only the manliest of manly men.
It's worth noting that, at one point, /a/ had attempted to run a "SaiGar" contest, a direct knock-off of 2chan's "SaiMoe". The ultimate goal being to find the Gar-est character of them all. It quickly blew up and fizzled out of existence before reaching an ultimate decision due to rampant cheating. We all know Kamina would have won anyway.
Usage
Just as one might use the term moe to describe a stammering schoolgirl wearing cat ears and glasses, gar can be used to describe a man pointing towards the sky while wearing the most ridiculous cape and sunglasses possible. Gar is not something with a strict rule set and indeed women may too be described as gar. Characters exhibiting qualities of gar are most often found in Super Robot type shows, where being over-the-top is the name of the game. Sometimes the term is used to describe characters who are more stoic and less in-your-face but the general idea remains the same. You'll know gar when you see it, because it will literally inspire manliness in others.
To put it another way, if the moe character is the one in need of protection or saving, the gar character is the one who normally doles it out.
Symptoms/Features
There are a whole list of traits that may make a particular character gar, some of which include:
- Wearing a cape, and making it work
- Sunglasses
- Utter force of determination
- Ignorance of words such as "impossible"
Examples
- Any non-Nia character from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. Even Nia herself eventually transforms from moeblob to gar.
- Archer, from Fate/Stay Night, who is actually the originator of the term.
- Nono from Diebuster is Gar as fuck, and I suppose Noriko from Gunbuster is by relation
- Onizuka from GTO.
- Oyakata, Yukimura, Date Masamune, and many of the other characters in Sengoku Basara.
- Goku from Dragon Ball Z, especially in the movies such as Tree of Might.
- Makunouchi Ippo from Hajime no Ippo, especially in matches in which he gets the shit beat of out him before making a ridiculous comeback.
- List more examples.
