Board Thread:Speculation House/@comment-4830106-20131004004930/@comment-9090085-20131006175920

This episode really makes me think that Jaune is a deconstruction of the Unskilled but Strong, Genius Ditz, Idiot Heroes common to Shonen Anime: He lacks knowledge of the world and has to have everything explained to him; has great innate power but no skills to really make use of it; what few plans he comes up with are actually pretty good; and he is a major source of humor.

But each of these is deconstructed: He knows nothing of the world because he never went to school - which also means he never learned the skills everyone else takes for granted; his lack of skills means he had to cheat to get into Beacon; his plans make him a great tactician, not fighter(so far); and the humor at his expense fuels his inferiority complex.

Perhaps more interesting is the deconstruction of Hot-Blooded Determination: Jaune appears to be relying on his passion to be the hero to get him through things(Remember his fight with Cardin? where he's exhausted fighting against his "rival" and "shouts" I'll defeat you! or some variation thereof? a "classic" set-up for the hero defeating his rival... even if it was fairly obvious to us that wasn't what was going to happen, he thought it would.). I think Angren Túrë put it best: Angren Túrë wrote: Jaune must have automatically assumed that by going to Beacon, he would become a better warrior by default. He didn't really think about how, and now he's in waaaaaaay over his head. I think the reason Jaune hasn't been training or studying (at least, from what we've seen) is because he wants people to think he has everything under control--when in reality, he's just too insecure (or stubborn) to admit that he needs help. In Jaune's mind, going to the training floor when other people are there would make him look like an idiot, so he avoids it entirely. I'm guessing Jaune thinks that as long as he focuses on his goal, he can overcome any obstacle; what he has forgotten is that drive is used to improve hard work, not act as a substitute for it. And while his desire to succeed on his own is admirable, we are again seeing a misapplication of determination: by trying to do everything himself, he's hobbling his ability to actually improve by pushing away everyone he can learn from.

I also see a little of Ruby in him: both were charmed by stories into being warriors. But where Ruby realized that she needed help to learn how to fight(she was complete garbage before Qrow took her under his wing), Jaune believes he needs to overcome his problems himself or he's "weak"; he doesn't yet realize that there are things no-one can do by themselves - that there's no shame in getting help.

Now, on to what's next: I get the felling that Jaunedice(both parts) are the "set-up" for Jaune's story arc, in the same way that The Emerald Forest(both parts) were the set-up for Weiss and Ruby's arc, where they both learn how to work together and grow as a result; and that arc more or less concluded with The Badge and The Burden(both parts - man, that sounds awkward). In that light, I see Jaune swallowing his pride in a few episodes at the earliest, but how is a little unclear.

I, personally, would enjoy the cruel irony in Cardin being the one to get Jaune to actually put effort into schooling/asking for help, possibly in a "shifting the blame" sort of set up, where "it's OK to get help for Cardin's paper".

...Well that was long. I'm sure most everyone already knows this, but use the [] button to trim my post to manageable levels when/if quoting.