Day 17 || 30 Day Anime Challenge

Favourite Supporting Male Anime Character

With all the glamour, fame and love towards the protagonist and antagonist, some just seemed to forget how much a supporting character role plays a huge part in the story just as much as the two top celebrities. Whether they are their master, best friends or simply a pet, they all had one thing in common. To be of help to our heroes, whether physically, emotionally or mentally, so they could pass their limit and overcome their strong adversaries. Well, that's one of the many but you get my drift (hopefully). My favourite supporting male character comes from the anime Full Metal Alchemist, a land where alchemist and humanoid creatures called homunculus roams.

Maes Hughes

An Amestrian State Military officer stationed in the Investigations Office in Central City, Hughes is not only Roy Mustang's best friend but also the closest supporter of the secret bid for Roy to succeed as a Fuhrer. More involved with police work and desk job rather than the frontlines, Hughes also possessed very good deductive skills, being more observant than most and good at digging out information that was deemed life-threatening. Even with a safer kind of job, Hughes could handle push knives to defend himself.

He was first seen as one of the amicable and cheerful characters, even considered annoying to his closest circle of friends. He would pop in randomly at times, happily nosing in on a serious conversation and was known for his unique hospitality. With open arms, Hughes welcomed the Elric brother and even their childhood friend Winry to live with his family, not taking 'no' for an answer. He does seem to often shirk away from his duties while griping about his piling work just so he could have an idle chat over the phone. Another one of his remarkable traits was having pictures of his wife, Gracia and his 3-year-old daughter, Elicia, at hand. He would idolize them, often shoving their pictures on his colleagues and even used their pictures as a reward or bribe material which was what made him seemed annoying. There were even a few times that he would encourage Roy and Edward to hurry up with their marriage, much to their distress

With all that jovial image, I began to understand why he would act that way. The happy go lucky personality was just a mask to cover up the darker side of his work where death, destruction and misery roamed in every corner. If I remember correctly, it was for the said reason that he would rather choose to work behind the desk. In a way, he's protecting his family and friends from the sidelines, absorbing the darker side of life and offering them assistance openly whenever possible. It's amazing as it is that he could still keep a sane mind while being exposed to such environments day in and day out.

My thoughts and Opinions

|| WARNING! CONTAIN SPOILERS! ||

As much as I want to pick Roy Mustang to be my favourite supporting male character, I felt that he's more fitting to be in the main role category. Hughes, on the other hand, had been the backbone for both the Elric brothers and Roy, helping out with the operations that they had to go through and even figuring out the patterns of the major fights that happens to match the location points to make the Transmutation Circle for the Philosopher Stone. Knowing too much was stated as the reason for his demise but not really. By bringing along photos of his wife and daughter, he had indirectly orchestrated his death as seen when he dropped a photo of them on the ground for Envy to see. Hughes' hesitation to throw his knife gave Envy the advantage to kill him.

Remember when I state that there's no medium to make anyone break their heart than an innocent pure child? That's exactly what they did during his funeral. How nice of them...