True Neutral Narrator

MEDAI EXAMPLES

Kevin Mask in Ultimate Muscle entered the stage as Neutral Evil (beating up or killing humans and superhumans alike for kicks and joining the dMp to spite his overbearing father), but soon left for the True Neutral camp (only beating up worthy adversaries in the ring, but not shying away from dirty tricks and killing opponents). Come the Demon Seed arc, he appears to have completed the switch to Neutral Good — or at least Chaotic Good (challenging the Devil Superhumans to save Meat, all for the good of humanity). Fred Lou from Outlaw Star. His business policy is "Don't ask questions" and (with exception to Gene, whom he's in love with) "Don't take credit." There's even a scene where Fred calls in to alert Gene about the Kei Pirates' arrival. How does he know they're on Sentinel? Because he sold them their weapons. Twilight Suzuka also falls into this trope, mainly due to her wavering between Lawful Neutral and Chaotic Neutral in the series and her apathy. She adheres to strict codes about assassination, but is willing to twist the letter, if not the spirit, of her code when it suits her purpose. She travels with the Outlaw Star and is a loyal crew member in crisis, but in everyday life walks alone from the others, neither contributing money towards the expenses, nor racking up further expenses. Guts from Berserk is so burned out with all the political maneuvering and demonic atrocities that mark his world that he no longer cares about good, evil, law, chaos, or anything outside his own survival and the well-being of his True Companions. Back when he was with the Band of the Hawk, he was closer to Lawful Neutral due to his respect for Griffith, but that's long gone now thanks to the events of the Eclipse. In addition to all of that, he also has to contend with a Chaotic Evil Superpowered Evil Side that acts as his Enemy Within. Aoshi Shinomori of Rurouni Kenshin during the Kenshin-gumi's first encounter with him. He and his men are former shinobi currently serving as mercenaries to a drug lord, though what they really want is to fight the epic battle they didn't get to during the revolution due to their lord choosing negotiated surrender instead. After a whole lot of Character Development he switches to Neutral Good. Kino of Kino's Journey is interested in traveling and observing the world. Period. She's pretty adamant about not interfering; it takes some pretty special circumstances for her to do so. She once listened to a man explain to her how he killed a woman's family and then decided to become The Atoner and protect her... Kino then passively watched as said woman shot him dead. She makes company with villains and heroes, and contemplates what drives both. Do not, however, think that this means she's submissive; she will kill anyone who attacks her or stops her travels without hesitation and without remorse. The Data Overmind from Haruhi Suzumiya, which seeks to maintain the status quo so that it can monitor the series' eponymous character. Yuki, the android interface which it uses to interact with the show's characters initially follows this alignment as well, but as she develops a more independent personality, she drifts more towards Neutral Good. And then we have Kyon of course. Sure, he saves the world and genuinely cares about the Brigade members, especially Yuki, but then he also likes to be a cynical jerk. Above all is his sheer apathy to everything. With his Character Development, though, he becomes more compassionate, and is easily Neutral Good at the end of the day. One Piece: Dracule Mihawk doesn't seem to really care about anything short of finding someone who can surpass him in swordsman skills. He takes a passing interest in Zoro and Luffy, which is why he doesn't kill the former after their hopelessly one-sided duel; as for Luffy, during the Whitebeard War saga he decides to attack him without holding back just to see if fate will really somehow miraculously save his life despite his best efforts. Nico Robin was this when she used to be an Anti-Villain whose only goal was survival and was Crocodile's right hand. Later on, when she joins the Straw Hats, she becomes Neutral Good. Shizuru from My-HiME starts out taking a relaxed approach to everything (her official bio states that one of her pet peeves is "being rushed") but eventually becomes Neutral Evil when she receives her powers and comes to feel that violence is the only way to keep her from being separated from Natsuki. The Gundam series has many great examples. Anaheim Electronics is probably the quintessential example. THE mobile suit manufacturer in the UC-verse, they sell their products to anybody willing to pay for them, and often end up supplying multiple opposing factions in the same conflict. Oliver May of MS Igloo is probably an example, too. In spite of being aware of everything happening in the forces of Zeon, he could do very little to change the course for them. Mobile Suit Gundam: Lalah Sune prefers to ride the fence than take a stance. Wu Fei Chang in Gundam Wing, after a Freak Out, starts attacking everybody in space who possesses weapons regardless of what side they're on. Treize Kushrenada is probably another good example; though he uses one assassination or the other to serve his purpose, he mainly uses his charisma and intellect to legally govern the OZ organization, and his ultimate plan was to start a war so terrible that it would make both Earth and the space colonies give up war forever, while giving up his own life in the process. The ORB Union from the Cosmic Era timeline established themselves as a neutral nation. They allow naturals and coordinators to live in their country, and they have a non-discrimination policy to ensure coexistence. Their national motto also reflects their global-political standings; "ORB will not attack another nation, will not allow another nation to attack them, and will not intervene in the conflicts of other nations". Gundam 00 is filled with this: Celestial Being is a paramilitary organization created to eradicate war, that will attack any nations or factions whom they see causing tensions. Founder Aeolia Schenberg is dedicated to keeping the peace, irrespective of other moral issues; members Lockon Stratos (the first), Sumeragi Lee Noriega, and Feldt Grace follow along without as much personal conviction. Regene Regetta of the Innovators cares about her own goals and has no moral stance. Ordinary High School Sweet Hearts Saji Crossroad and Louise Halevy spend most of the first season as unaligned Innocent Bystanders until their Tear Jerker Wham Episode. Mobile Suit Gundam Age: Asemu Asuno, whose main concern as a young soldier is to become stronger so that he can defeat his X-Rounder former friend in battle, even disregarding the rules of his father's military at times. Char Aznable, while in his "Quattro Bajeena" phase, probably qualifies as True Neutral. He's trying to be a good guy, but lacks the necessary empathy and ethical character to pull it off, and he's mostly fighting on the AEUG's side because it gives him somewhere to play soldier and forget about the responsibilities of vengeance and politics. Near from Death Note. Although he tries to emulate the Lawful Neutral L, it is obvious that he doesn't have anywhere near as much of a sense of justice. Indeed, he's only chasing after Kira because he's the guy who chases after Kira, and ethics and motivations have nothing to do with it. Ryuk, and apparently the Shinigami in general. He leans a little towards Chaotic Neutral due to him dropping the title Artifact of Doom into the human world just because he's bored and wants to see what will happen. Other than that, though, he just watches what happens, and makes it clear that he has no sense of loyalty or emotional attachment to the person who finds the notebook (Light, in this case), and rarely interferes with anything. Still, Ryuk doesn't seem to be evil or overly malicious, and he has enough decency to call Light out when he's emotionally abusive to Misa. Genkai of YuYu Hakusho holds a tournament to determine her successor, and is willing to train whoever wins, even if it is an assassin or a demon. In the Dark Tournament, she admits that she is not a champion of justice, but she fights against those she dislikes, which includes her former teammate Toguro. In Code Geass, there's Lloyd Asplund, C.C., and Diethard Reid. C.C. is practically moral apathy personified. Nathan Mahler from Blood+ is Big Bad Diva's chevalier but he is completely apathetic to her organisation's plan to replace humanity with chiropterans. Not only does he refuse to take orders from The Dragon Amshel, he often prevents other villains from killing Saya despite the fact that Saya is the major threat to Diva's plan. The only thing he is concerned with is the happiness of Diva, which in the end turns out to be completely irrelevant to her plan to turn all humans into chiropterans. Throughout the series, Nathan remains a distant observer of how the two queens of vampires struggle against each other and where that struggle leads to. Golgo 13. Duke Togo seems to live by one single rule: if someone meets his hefty fee and explains their motives for wanting another person dead, Golgo 13 will put a bullet in said person's head in a laughably improbable manner. As long as you do NOT double-cross him, of course Benny from Black Lagoon. Ultimately, he isn't willing to cross the line entirely into the villain territory occupied by most of the rest of Roanapur, but he's certainly no charity case either and merely associating with Revy is probably soul-staining enough to keep him off the straight and narrow. Classroom of the Elite has its protagonist Kiyotaka Ayanokouji. Despite acting kind, if somewhat aloof around others, his true motive is only to maintain his current lifestyle and not be sent back to the facility he was raised. Deep down, he only views most of his classmates as tools, and the few people he is close to can be best classified as either 'people whom he does not want to make tools out of' or 'people who are too useful to let go'. He gains attraction from the girls mostly through calculated moves to earn their trust and make them easier for him to manipulate. He's fairly amoral and only wants to protect himself and will only help people if it advances said goal. Though in the novel, that last one is considerably toned down compared to the anime. So Touma from Q.E.D., who prefers to be laid back than getting involved in cases. But Lawful Good Kana makes him do it anyway. Record of Lodoss War has the fourth variant down pat in the form of Karla, whose goal seems to be the preservation of balance — when two kings clash in the battlefield and one falls, she quickly blasts the other from afar. Fai D. Flowright, or however you choose to spell it from Tsubasa -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE-. While he bears no actual malice to any of the main characters—and, indeed, repeatedly demonstrates that he's grown close to all of them—the fact remains that he knows a hell of a lot more than they do about what's on from the very beginning of the series and doesn't say anything because he's technically working for the Big Bad. He becomes Neutral Good when all of his dirty secrets come out and his friends help him move beyond his many, many personal issues. Clone!Syaoran belongs here too. It's true that he does a large number of absolutely horrible things once he appears on the scene, but this is less due to him being "evil" and more because he's a moral-free construct programmed to complete the task he was made for by any means necessary. He also performs a Heroic Sacrifice-slash-Heel–Face Turn for the protagonists when he attacks his creator Fei Wong Reed, demonstrating that he's developed a heart of his own. Hei and, in fact, most Contractors in Darker than Black. The reason being that becoming a contractor means losing most of your emotions. They can only look at everything in the world from a completely indifferent standpoint, and simply do not care about anything going on around them. For this reason alone, most contractors become mercenaries, willing to work for the highest bidder. Not having any emotions or caring about anything doesn't mean they can't turn against you if they think you're trying to bully them or do them wrong though. They'll kill you in a heartbeat if you anger them. Haku of Naruto typically defines his existence as serving as the Neutral Evil Zabuza's tool and assisting in his evil doings, but unlike Zabuza, has a conscience and has, on at least one occasion, rendered his opponents unconscious to avoid having to kill them. Similar to Haku, Juugo is incredibly loyal to Sasuke (who ranges from Chaotic Evil to True Neutral for much of Shipppuden), is willing to kill when necessary, and has a propensity for random bouts of violence due to a hereditary disorder, but is also the Token Good Teammate of Team Taka, regularly seen playing with the wildlife and expressing true remorse over every kill. Mifune and the Land of Iron are characterized as a "Neutral State". They agreed to the Five Kage Summit for no benefit of their own; Mifune himself participated but only as the decision maker punishing Danzo for brainwashing him. Mizukage Mei Terumi is this despite being one of the recent leaders. She commands authority, is very powerful, and follows the rules (to a certain degree), but unlike the rest of the Kages she is the most open-minded and very kind (just don't mention marriage). Lambdadelta from Umineko: When They Cry seems to be the fourth variety seeing as she does whatever she can to make sure both sides are equal or close to it, like in episode 6 where she throws popcorn to prevent one character form killing/denying another. Bleach: Ryuuken's apparent alignment, for at least the past several years. He outright refuses to support any major faction—Shinigami, Quincy, or otherwise—and while he clearly prefers things orderly he is willing to break rules (his own and other people's) to get things done. He was apparently Neutral Good, or even Lawful Good, as a teenager...and recent events may be pushing him to a Neutral No Longer fate. Switzerland and Liechtenstein from Hetalia: Axis Powers. Switzerland shoots and yells at people when they disturb him, mostly, and hides his care for others except for his younger sister. Liechtenstein is sweet and gentle like a Neutral Good but doesn't generally go out of her way to help others. This actually becomes a plot point in Paint it White where their very neutrality (among other things) actually saves them from the Alien Invasion going on elsewhere. They even spend an intimate, seemingly quiet picnic for most of the movie, totally unaware of the mess outside. Some fanworks portray Austria post-WW2 as a reluctant example of this trope (given how Austria was essentially forced into it as a Cold War buffer in real life). In the series itself, he seems to bene more Lawful Neutral: he objects to Maria Theresa's orders and isn't thrilled when Germany comes for him under instructions, but follows them anyway. Canonically, one could place Egypt here. He doesn't have much of a role, outside hanging around Turkey and Cyprus from time to time. Egypt mostly keeps to himself, appearing only for historical significance (that is whenever someone interacts with him). As a character, Egypt is quite underdeveloped but that only makes him all the more endearing. Shinji Ikari from Neon Genesis Evangelion. While he saves the world on a regular basis, he has no idealistic reason for doing so (unlike the Neutral Good Misato or Chaotic Good Kaji). He's only interested in being an EVA pilot because his father told him to and he sees it as a way to get recognition from both his dad and the people he works with. He very nearly quit the job twice for no other reason then the fact that the terror of being a pilot wasn't worth such a long-shot reward. In spite of having very selfish motivations, he manages to keep a layer of sympathy by having a truly terrible life and having not even wanted to be an EVA pilot in the first place. However, with time he gradually becomes The Anti-Nihilist (especially in Rebuild of Evangelion) and develops a genuine desire to protect humanity. Really, all three of the EVA pilots are True Neutral to some extent (though Rei leaning more towards Lawful Neutral and Asuka leaning more towards Chaotic Neutral). All three of them don't really have any selfless reason for being an EVA pilot, with Asuka doing it for some sort of recognition and Rei doing it because Gendo tells her to, though they all have some layer of sympathy to refrain from being entirely selfish. Pretty much all of the Angels fall into True Neutral. They don't express any malice or sadism towards humanity, they simply follow their one objective: to unite with Lilith. The fact that it will destroy the world is merely a byproduct of that union. Kaworu Nagisa, especially, holds no malice. Truth, the closest thing that the Fullmetal Alchemist-verse has to a deity, is best understood as this alignment. He has no active involvement in human life, neither rewarding the good nor punishing the bad. However, if an alchemist infringes upon the laws of nature and comes before Truth, he upholds the laws of Equivalent Exchange by taking an organ or limb from them (which he does with sadistic glee), but in exchange, they gain the ability to do alchemy without a transmutation circle. While he's certainly a jerkass, Truth ultimately shows just enough benevolence to not fit any evil alignment. As stated in the series, his purpose is to discourage the humans who try to enter the domains of God. He can also be seen as the Anthropomorphic Personification of the world (which is how he describes himself if asked). Neither good nor evil, but a representation of the natural laws of the universe, which of course take no sides. Yoki, a former Corrupt Bureaucrat is also True Neutral, but in a different way. He's a coward that initially acts cruelly to subordinates but ends up being brought low and eventually figures out that he won't get his ass kicked so often if he acts like less of a jerk. He's not evil, good, lawful, or chaotic enough to be anything but True Neutral. Shiki Ryougi of The Garden of Sinners fame. Especially true of her so-called "third personality", which makes an appearance near the end of the story. It is a personification of the Origin. That is to say, the beginning and end of anything and everything. It is both omnipotent and omniscient... but for that reason is also absolutely neutral, completely uncaring about literally anything and unwilling to bother to do anything either. Probably for the best, all things considered...