[Live-A-Live] The Folly in Judging a Book by its Cover

Time for another word salad about my favourite game! Upon my friend finishing it, we got to talking about it, and I had even more thoughts about Live-A-Live and everything it does so very right.

It starts with Akira, who I pegged as being his favourite character (either I was right or my saying "you'll like him the most" just influenced him, who knows, who cares?) that he wanted to keep in his party, but traded out for the final chapter when against the final boss. But Akira is such a muscular and brave youth, right?! He must be strong!

He's not.

He's one of the weakest characters. His attacks take too many turns to really take effect and they're largely nonphysical, related to his ESP and often summoning a maternal angel-like figure to cast elemental damage on the enemy. He himself, though, is so weak. Where Sundown can one-shot a guy, Li can take a man down with advanced martial arts tactics, and Pogo can bludgeon some poor schlub with his club, Akira can… I dunno, cause a slight burn, if it hits?

My point is that in Live-A-Live, coolness of design doesn't equate to strength of character, and Akira is the finest example of that. It makes sense, too. Akira's special ability is mindreading, which any amount of consideration or just exploration in fiction reveals to be a pretty shitty (or at least extremely inconvenient and taxing) skill. Akira can train all he wants, but no amount of smacking a punching bag can heal the traumas he's suffered in seeing the murder of his father, or learning that that murder was committed by the man he looks up to. Learned not through communication, even, but by overhearing Matsu's shame-ridden remorse echoing through his brain in his last moments. Akira is involved in combat, but he isn't a fighter, which I think is justified, explained, and conveyed beautifully through his story arc.

How does the final battle of Flow play out? Like the rest, where you face off against one of Odio's incarnations with the team you'd culled together? No. If he did that, he would undoubtedly be dead. Akira fights -- and gets curb-stomped -- all throughout his chapter, and the grand finale hinges on him using mental, not physical, power to defeat Odeo. Buriki Daioh isn't controlled by G Gundam-like sensors hooked to the body (ironically, since this chapter's illustrator worked on G Gundam), but by ESP. In the same chamber where Matsu falls -- due to his guilt and his attempt at atonement finally meeting in a climactic sequence where he sacrifices himself to save Akira -- Akira finds his strength. His body is still weak, his skills are still useless, but he can channel his mental capacity through the giant robot, which gives him enough power and clout to save the city.

But he couldn't take the giant robot with him to the other dimension in the final chapter. All he had was his own body. Compared to the speedy assassin in Oboro or the trained punchout artist in Masaru, he didn't have much going for him, offensively speaking. There's unique dungeons for every character, though, and Akira's of course takes advantage of his ESP. Because, remember, not all strength is physical, especially in the case of the hotblooded mecha pilot here.

But why would you have Akira in your party at all?

Well, because where fighting the Master and gaining respect for him gave Li strength and motivation, fighting was never Akira's primary talent. His chapter hinges on communication, be it through words, actions, or uniquely in his case, thoughts. Sure, you can level him up in battle, but he won't ever reach the same tier as the other characters.

That, I've found, is because he's not an offensive character. Everything about his attitude and design would lead you to believe he is, but that's just another clever subversion on Live-A-Live's part. Akira is best utilised as a healer.

I feel like typically in RPGs, healers are cute girls that just want to uwuwuwu help everyone!!! They're too scared to battle, but they'll back you up, because they want to be there for you!! This is how they can help save the world!!! or some shit. Akira, on the other hand, heals because he has felt visceral pain. Akira has already seen a world torn apart at its seams by violence and destruction, and he grew up as the only true guardian to his sister because he watched as his father succumbed to his gunshot wound. Akira has mercy killed a boy's father after his body had been deliquesced and injected into a combat robot. Akira did exactly what Matsu did, and he still goes home to Chibikko house, where he lives with the boy whose father he killed. It makes sense that Akira isn't the war-hardened soldier. That trauma is enough. The fact that he's also cursed with the "ability" to see into people's hearts, often sharing in their misery or otherwise pained by their cruel or simply overwhelming thoughts, only contributes more to what I believe would lead to emotional weakness. He feels and acts with his entire heart, which I love, especially considering how difficult that must be for him. In his soul and with the help of the memories of his loved ones, he finds the strength to heal others, becoming rather deft at restoring health when in a pinch.

Cube is still a better healer, though. Can't help that the robot was built for that purpose.

In terms of gameplay, Akira can be frustratingly weak, sometimes downright useless. But not in a controller-smashing way, so much as in a way that makes you want to work harder and push him further so that he can punch his way to the top. Akira is one instance where the top isn't where he wants to go, though. Unlike Masaru, Akira's goal isn't becoming the strongest; it's restoring and protecting the peace of the city. As long as he can lie around in the park and sell taiyaki at absurd and inconsistent prices, he's content. After all, if everyone is at peace, then there'll be less troubled minds to read, y'know?

Li found strength communicating through fists. Masaru found it challenging the greatest and learning from their techniques. Pogo found it from falling in love and gaining the urge to protect and save. Unlike them, Akira found mental fortitude, which was perfect for piloting a giant robot, but served a different purpose entirely when stripped of his metal armour.

I love Akira. He's spiky-haired and battle-scarred but he's not the warrior you want on the frontlines. His design is misleading, but not maliciously so -- because he's not useless, he just finds his use somewhere different from where you'd be led to believe.

live-a-live,s cool ;)