In '100 Waifus,' within my fictional character hall of fame, Kabuto, Luminary, Haruna and Chise were replaced by Serenoa, Claude, Lysithea and Gloria respectively.
I did this to reach the round number of 800 unique names spread out between the round number of 300 unique beloved franchises. I also felt it was a good opportunity to get rid of some sub-par names in favor of better people from better series.
Luminary, the protagonist of Dragon Quest XI, isn't even a name. It's a title. Because the character has no official name and requires the player name the silent protagonist, who is simply an avatar of the player and has no personality of his own. That's not a very inspiring person to be named after -- an empty vessel with only good looks going for him. Replacing him is Claude from Fire Emblem Three Houses, one of the best male characters I've ever seen. Not only is he a great warrior, heir to the throne, and good looking, but he also has a uniquely inquisitive mind, a charming laid back personality, and the empathy to relate to others the way they want to be treated. He can get along with virtually anyone on his fictional planet, which is his goal in life, to get everyone on the planet to get along. An admirable visionary on top of all his admirable virtues.
Lysithea is also from Fire Emblem Three Houses. She's from the same Leicester Alliance as Claude and Hilda (already included in '100 Waifus.') She's the most brilliant and powerful mage of her era, younger than everyone else but haunted by a life expectancy of death by age 25. This drives her to excel in all her studies and not accept nonsense or weakness from anyone else, none of whom have it as bad as she does. She doesn't have long to make an impact so she makes every moment count. Nevertheless, she's still a child, and her beautiful petite figure is accentuated by other cute traits like a fear of ghosts, a love of sweets, and her constantly trying to appear more mature than she is in a fruitlessly dishonest but transparent manner. In the end she gets revenge on the captors who did the magical experimentation on her that made her so strong while shortening her lifespan, bringing down their whole civilization alongside the rest of the game's heroes, and also finds a way to get the curse lifted and live happily ever after. But that inferno of a backstory shaped her mindset and way of life that's indelible, despite eventually escaping the consequences.
Lysithea replaces Haruna from Cue!. Cue! isn't a good enough series to deserve a representative in '100 Waifus' or be in my top anime rankings. It's currently acting as a mere placeholder until I find a better series -- presumably Prima Dolls or Extreme Hearts that will start airing in a couple weeks. Cue! won't be in my rankings for long and so I'm going ahead and replacing Cue's representative now in anticipation of that fact. Haruna also shares a name with another Haruna (from To Love ru) which is never ideal, so I wanted to get rid of her for that additional reason.
Gloria is from Bravely Default II, a princess with a strong attachment to duty which has been passed down generation to generation among her royal line to protect the world from a monstrous dark entity trying to devour it. She was prepared to give her life to renew the seal on this monster, but was convinced by the hero of the game that they could win in a fair fight with no need for sacrifices, which they eventually succeed in doing, saving the world in a more satisfactory manner. In this sense Gloria is very much like Yuna from FF 10, except in an inferior game with inferior graphics. But that doesn't change the fact that she is a very pretty princess with a very noble heart. She's also a great and courageous warrior, one of only four characters that work together to save the world, they couldn't have done it without her every step of the way.
Bravely Default II is a better game than World Cup Soccer for the NES, which was previously in my video game rankings, so I thought this was a good chance to upgrade my video game hall of fame and my fictional character hall of fame simultaneously.
Gloria replaces Chise, the main heroine of I'm Not A Lolicon! This is a manga that doesn't really deserve to be in my manga hall of fame, but is only there to round out the number of series to a nice even 75 instead of the 74 that actually belong there. Once I find a better manga to take its place I'll definitely kick it out. The other problem with Chise, aside from coming from a sub-par work, is that she shares a name with another Chise (from Princess Principal.) I prefer unique names whenever possible so out she goes.
Serenoa is the protagonist from Triangle Strategy. He's the lord of a region of a kingdom that comes under attack from all its neighbors but finagles a way through all the calamities to a bright future on the other side. He takes the loyalty of his own house and leverages it to make new allies who share his ideals and justice and together they bring peace back to the world. I like Serenoa's flexibility in finding loopholes in seemingly impossible dilemmas, his willingness to listen to advice from others, but also his core of virtue which stands up for the people of his realm, his wife and the oppressed all around the world. He's also good looking and has an inspiring voice perfect for rallying the troops regardless of how dire the situation actually is. He replaces Kabuto, a villain from Naruto who only barely turns good in the last few chapters of the series. After all the horrible things Kabuto has done in his life and all the silly aspirations he cherished for so long, it's hard to forgive him, much less honor him in '100 Waifus.' I think a child named after Serenoa would feel a lot prouder of himself.
Triangle Strategy also makes my video games hall of fame, replacing Civilization, a game I barely ever played and don't have much emotional attachment to. I'm sure Civilization is a good game, but it has no narrative like Triangle Strategy has, no characters you can grow to love, it isn't a game that creates good memories.
With these names changed '100 Waifus' has become that much closer to perfect. I still wish to make use of the upcoming Tales of Arise game (once I get a PS5 to play it with), the upcoming Star Ocean game and the upcoming Xenoblade Chronicles game to improve this name list yet further. So the edits aren't done yet, but they're as done as they can be until I can experience these new things. I also hope to get a candidate from either Prima Dolls or Extreme Hearts once they reach my top anime rankings. I'm always on the prowl for better names.
I also edited a small line in the book that said Berserk was getting an ending to Hinowa ga Yuku! getting an ending. It seems Berserk is going to get an ending in the real world so I don't need a fantasy world solution to it anymore. Hinowa has been cancelled though so it really does need said divine intervention.
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