During the investigation of recent hollers in the Complete Monster thread, it's become apparent to the staff that an insular, unfriendly culture has evolved in the Complete Monster and Magnificent Bastard threads that is causing problems.
Specific issues include:
- Overzealous hollers on tropers who come into the threads without being familiar with all the rules and traditions of the tropes. And when they are familiar with said rules and traditions, they get accused (with little evidence) of being ban evaders.
- A few tropers in the thread habitually engage in snotty, impolite mini-modding. There are also regular complaints about excessive, offtopic "socializing" posts.
- Many many thread regulars barely post/edit anywhere else, making the threads look like they are divorced from the rest of TV Tropes.
- Following that, there are often complaints about the threads and their regulars violating wiki rules, such as on indexing, crosswicking, example context and example categorization. Some folks are working on resolving the issues, but...
- Often moderator action against thread regulars leads to a lot of participants suddenly showing up in the moderation threads to protest and speak on their behalf, like a clique.
It is not a super high level problem, but it has been going on for years and we cannot ignore it any longer. There will be a thread in Wiki Talk
to discuss the problem; in the meantime there is a moratorium on further Complete Monster and Magnificent Bastard example discussion until we have gotten this sorted out.
Update: The new threads have been made and can be found here:
- Why do a cleanup?: This trope definitely exists and has a well documented history of use. That being said, it frequently gets misused to a character who meets one of the components, namely that they are smart, charming while not necessarily even being a villain, or create good plans. While these are components, there is also a certain personality required, not to mention that all of the above are required to be present for a character to be a true Magnificent Bastard. As the trope attracts interest, it unfortunately brings in a lot of misuse and I thought the best way to rectify this would be a Perpetual Cleanup Thread, as is being done and has seen success with Complete Monster.
- What makes a Magnificent Bastard: Below is a list of the individual components to make this character. Note that they must all be present, not just some, which has lead to frequent misuse:
- Must be intelligent: Goes without saying, to be a Magnificent Bastard, the character has to be smart in the first place and use their brain to work towards whatever their end goal may be;
- Must be a Bastard: While going overboard in how vile the character is can be detrimental, a key aspect is the Bastard part of the trope, whether the character is an out-and-out antagonist in the work, some manner of Villain Protagonist, or something in between, they at least have some unscrupulous qualities to qualify for this trope;
- Must not be too detestable: Again, there is a ceiling on how bad the character can be before they just become too nefarious, blocking out the Magnificent part of the trope. A genocidal racist or child-raping Sadist aren't going to make the cut;
- Think on their feet: In addition to being a Chessmaster, a Magnificent Bastard, if the character deals with situations in which their initial plan is ruined, has to be able to pull a Xanatos Speed Chess and at least come up with a competent strategy to make up for lost time, otherwise they fail for being unable to think in tough spots;
- Have charm: Even if they don't necessarily make every character they meet fall in love with them and can even be detested by others, the audience has to find an amicable social relation to the character, or they are failing to make the impact required for this trope.
- What to do if a character is listed on a page but has not been approved?: They need to be removed, all candidates need to come through the cleanup thread first. The character could well count but they need to be analyzed properly and voted on first.
- Do we list Playing With this trope?: No; as a YMMV trope, this cannot be Played With, so we only want examples that are Played Straight.
- What do I do if I want a character to be listed as a Magnificent Bastard?: The greatest success Complete Monster saw for its cleanup effort was from the invention of the effort post format, so, borrowing from that, a troper wishing to propose a Magnificent Bastard will create such a post in the following format:
- Begin by describing The work, this will help establish the setting the character is in and for the reader to understand what kind of a scenario they are in;
- Summarize The character's actions, this will provide a listing for readers to understand what they do and how it applies to this trope because charm and lack of smugness are so crucial, this is a good time to be incorporating exactly the flavor of how they operate to explain this;
- List circumstances in which the character must Think on their feet, these are times where a wrench might be thrown in their initial plan and they have to adapt on the spot or even come up with a new scheme all together, this is also a good time to explain how the villain reacts to defeat when they have to face it, a true Magnificent Bastard won't break down into tears at the thought of death, they should have known such a possibility could occur and be able to handle it with more dignity;
- The competition, similar to the Heinous Standard dealt with for a Complete Monster, this section is to deal with how successful the character is in carrying out their plans compared to other characters. While, as a villain, they probably are going to lose in the end, it is good to explain how other characters handle the same situation. There is no exceptionalism case to be made for this trope but explaining the variety helps the reader have a better understanding of the proposal.
- How do you know when the character's arc is done so they can be proposed? When their tenure as a villain or antagonist finishes. This could happen in a single Story Arc in an entire work, a single work of a franchise, or the whole series in general. We'll show lenience to Long-Runners with constantly recurring candidates or series with outstanding continuities (ex. comic books), and it's entirely possible to count in a work or two but not in general for a reason like Depending on the Writer.
- What about candidates evil because of external sources? Those Made of Evil can qualify if they show enough individuality and tactical acumen — in other words, they have the personality to fulfill the magnificence requirement. Conversely, those brainwashed, especially if they're a better person without it, may fail the individuality aspect and cannot count.
- What if they are under orders from a higher-up? Depends. If the boss created the plans down to the letter and the candidate is just following them, sounds like we should discuss the boss instead. However, if the candidate takes creative liberties with the orders, adds their own charm and flair to them, fills in holes in the orders, and/or actively deals with obstacles their boss did not talk about, the candidate shows enough individual thinking to qualify.
- What about Character Development? An MB is something a character can develop into... a nice person who plots well might become more morally gray as the work goes on and hits the "Bastard" criteria, thus making them viable. Likewise, a Smug Snake might shed their ego, become more understanding of the threat others pose and gain the personality or "Magnificent" criteria, likewise making them viable. Conversely, a character who looks like this trope might suffer from a Sanity Slippage or just get outed as not being as smart as they thought they were and become incompatible with MB.
- Can an MB be a good guy? Not in the conventional sense... it is required they have at least some dubious traits lest they fail the "Bastard" criteria. That being said, a character who pulls a Heel–Face Turn or eventually stops taking villainous actions is still fair game: as there was a point in time where they were both "Magnificent" and a "Bastard" at the same time and they've merely adapted as time goes on. Now... if such a character begins showing other issues (i.e.: becomes prone to freak outs or starts getting outwitted) then they're compromising their Magnificence and will probably be deemed a cut. What's important is stylishly operating while at least for some time being willing to take at best underhanded methods to see a job done. A Heel–Face Turn in itself isn't a disqualifier but they do have to have been "Magnificent" and a "Bastard" at the same time and afterwards can't start slipping on the former front.
- What about characters whose stories can take different routes?: When proposing a character in a form of media that has them in multiple story routes. Said character must be consistent with their characteristics in all routes. (ex.: Can't have an example who shows promise on one route yet fails in another.) The only exception is if a later installment of the series confirms the character's actions which made them worth proposing are the canon route.
- Is there a timeframe rule like with Complete Monster?: Yes, please wait two weeks until after the work has concluded before proposing a character (again, usually using the North American air date). As is the case with CM, we want to give a reasonable time frame so that everyone interested in seeing the work has done so and can participate in the discussion without having anything spoiled.
- What about groups like with Complete Monster?: This is a point of divergence between the two tropes. While CM does not allow for a single entry encompassing more than three characters lest their heinousness for crimes becomes too watered down, with MB as long as they are treated as one "unit" it is acceptable to lump all characters provided they share acts of charm and intelligence.
- Can I propose my own work's character as a Magnificent Bastard?: No, this is a YMMV subject and the creator of a content is way too biased to be able to evaluate the criteria we're looking for without a second opinion taking over. That being said, you are more than welcome to encourage someone to consume your creation and if they feel a character counts, are more than welcome to suggest them.
- My example/edit has been approved, but the example subpage is locked! How do I get it added?: The moderators do not add examples to locked example subpages in the MagnificentBastard/ namespace directly. Rather, you need to do the edit to a sandbox page that follows the format Sandbox.MagnificentBastard<Name of the example subpage> (e.g for MagnificentBastard.Fullmetal Alchemist it's Sandbox.Magnificent Bastard Fullmetal Alchemist) and on a Friday, ask in the locked pages edit requests thread
for the content to be swapped in.
Thread rules
When voting a troper must specify the effort post they're voting on and cannot merely vote on "Everything I missed" as in the past it has indicated the poster didn't read the effort post and is guessing instead of analyzing.
Resolved items
In general, a character listed on this trope is considered "settled". This means they should not be challenged unless information used to list them was incorrect or information was missed in the initial discussion.
However, when re-litigating a candidate, the same rules apply for when they were originally proposed. If they do not have five or more upvotes than downvotes for approval upon a re-litigation, including votes from the initial discussion if they do not change, then they are a cut.
This especially applies to the characters listed below, who have been discussed excessively and repeated attempts to get them listed/cut may result in punitive action for bogging down the thread.
Definitely an MB
- Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers: Any sadism Darkrai displays is limited in effect thanks to the game's nature and any cowardice which can be inferred about him is Alternative Character Interpretation about his tactical retreats.
- Avatar: The Last Airbender: Azula's Villainous Breakdown is undone in the sequel comic Smoke & Shadow where she regains her composure and ends up stable and in control enough to count.
Definitely not an MB
- South Park: The show's frequent use of vulgar comedy and mean-spirited humor leaves any potential candidates devoid of the dignity or charm to qualify.
Edited by GastonRabbit on Aug 31st 2023 at 4:15:22 AM
- Supernatural: The Alpha Vampire is one of the oldest monsters in existence and the progenitor of the entire vampire race, whom he considers his "children". When captured by a group of hunters, the Alpha taunts his captors and easily escapes. Later returning after having forged an alliance with the Leviathans, the Alpha accepts Sam and Dean's warning that his new allies are planning on backstabbing him, gifting them his blood to use as part of a weapon. The Alpha finally infiltrates and nearly destroys the British Men of Letters when they attempt to wipe out all vampires in America, gracefully conceding his defeat when outmaneuvered by Sam. One of the most dignified and intelligent monsters in the series, the Alpha proved to be a formidable foe.
ETA: Oh, by the way, he goes between Death and Metatron on the subpage.
Edited by Morgenthaler on Dec 12th 2020 at 4:00:03 AM
You've got roaming bands of armed, aggressive, tyrannical plumbers coming to your door, saying "Use our service, or else!"Damn that guy is good, enjoyed both of those Animal Crossing songs. I think Redd has a chance, he isn't too bad since his worst deeds are all Played for Laughs.
"For a second there, I mistook ya for a threat... but you're just a dirty little man!"So, me, Lighty, and 43 got a trio of characters coming up from a show called Great Pretender. An anime about 25 year old con artist, Makoto Edamura, who’s the self proclaimed greatest swindler in Japan. However, he gets in over his head when he attempts to scam a French tourist to pickpocket him, resulting in not only Edamura getting nothing, but finds himself tagging alongside the man to America when Edamura believes the police are chasing after him. As Edamura finds out, that French tourist is no slouch in the art of conning.
Who is he? What does he do?
He is a confidence man. Laurent Thierry is the deuteragonist, and the leader of the group that Edamura finds himself roped into. Growing up in Brussels studying to be a diplomat as a kid, a sleazy investor takes advantage of his mother’s dyslexia, resulting in her getting scammed out of her life savings. Years later, after a failed attempt to kill said investor, he meets and falls in love with a con-woman named Dorothy, who scammed the investor out of his life savings. Laurent works alongside her and two other con artists, working with them to scam corrupt people in power. In what’s meant to be their final con, Laurent completely gains the trust of a Shanghai CEO, Liu Xao, who worked in human trafficking. But the con goes wrong, resulting in Dorothy being shot and dumped into the ocean by the CEO and Seiji "Oz" Ozaki (a con-artist who was working with Dorothy and Laurent) being jailed.
Yearning for revenge, Laurent hits up Oz to help him develop a long con against Liu Xao. Laurent finds and recruits Cynthia, who attempted to scam him into giving him money for her ‘sick father’ which Laurent easily sees through, and Abby, a survivor from the bombing of Baghdad with incredible athletic capabilities. He then goes to Tokyo to find Makoto, Oz's son. He has an elderly woman who he worked with pretend to be scammed by him to gauge Makoto’s abilities, and later when he cons Makoto during Makoto's attempted con, has several of his allies pretend to be policeman to get Makoto to flee, “coincidentally” winding up in the same car as Laurent, who’s flying to California.
Laurent and Edamura meet up with famous movie producer and secret crime boss, Eddie Cassano, faking a drug of his creation called ‘Sakura Magic’, Abbie (who’s pretending to be one of Cassano’s whores) faking an insane reaction to the drug to make Cassano believe it’s real. When Edamura realizes how dangerous the situation is given how their target is a crime boss, he tries to flee, but is captured by Abbie due to a tracking device that Laurent secretly placed on him. Edamura’s left hanging from the Hollywood sign, Laurent using that as leverage to have him join up with them.
Edamura and Laurent then make a bet that whoever can come with a higher score during the scam will have the other work underneath them. Edamura seemingly has the upperhand, going to Cassano directly and offering to sell the formula for “Sakura Magic” at a much higher offer, which Cassano accepts. However, when Edamura finds himself needing to actually create a drug right in front of Cassano, a SWAT team comes in, seemingly kills Abbie and Laurent, and what looks to be a corrupt investigator is willing to let Cassano go for 100 million dollars. However, it turns out that the SWAT team, including the woman Cassano bribes, were all part of Laurent’s crew, and that Laurent and Abbie faked their deaths so that the real LAPD would overlook their actions and focus on Cassano, who got scammed into giving the crew over 100 million dollars, resulting in Laurent winning the bet with Edamura.
Edamura goes to Tokyo and turns himself into the police for his scams, resulting in him briefly being jailed. Two years later, Edamura’s released and gets a job as a mechanic, finding himself working with planes...which was all set up by Laurent so that the crew could meet up with him again for their next target, a disinherited Middle Eastern royal named Sam Ibrahim, who runs a rigged airplane race in Singapore. Long story short, Laurent scams Sam out of virtually all his money by using doctored footage and replacing Sam’s windows with those of a different tint, making Sam, who bet almost all his money on Clark in an ‘underground casino’ (created by Laurent) think that Clark lost his match when he really won. (The plan was for Abby to simply beat Clark for real, but Makoto and Abby decided to have Clark’s former rival, Lewis Mueller, race instead so he could fulfill his and Clark’s desire for an actual race, endangering Laurent’s plan, so he worked around that possibility)
In the London arc, the scam is primarily done through Cynthia’s planning, though Laurent still shows his cunning side, pretending to be a rich art trader who pretends to both buy and sell a heavily valuable painting (the target is a snobbish art dealer who was planning on having his lover buy the art, and gets scammed out of all his money buying it back) and it’s later revealed that Laurent set the events of the arc in motion to get Cynthia to meet up with her former boyfriend.
Finally, when Edamura decides to leave the crew, through a series of channels from people who are in Laurent’s crew, Edamura finds himself working in a trading company in Tokyo...that deals with human trafficking. Yup, Laurent wasn’t gonna let Edamura be. He gets Edamura to work as the translator for Akemi Suzaku. Meanwhile, Laurent goes back to working for Liu Xao, the Shang Hai trafficker from his past. Through Edamura and Laurent deliberately mistranslating what the other CEO is saying, the targets believe they’re buying the company from the other for 100 billion yen.
Laurent and Edamura then get their respective CEOs and right-hand men to sleep by drugging their drinks, getting them to meet in a fake building on a remote island (which Cynthia, Oz, Abbie, and the rest of the crew paint and furnish to look identical to Suzaku’s actual office building). After a series of events, such as a fake Face–Heel Turn from Edamura and Laurent pretending to stab Liu Xao with his poisoned ring (Laurent replaced the poison tip. He just wanted to make Liu Xao think he was gonna die as extra revenge) the crew fakes a shoot-out before escaping with billions of yen, leaving the human traffickers stranded on the island. Laurent then separates from the crew as they go off to do their own things, while Laurent continues to be a con artist, becoming a bodyguard for his next target, the president of the United States.
Is he Magnificent?
Absolutely. Laurent’s a manipulative asshole, but he’s suave, charming, and witty. He’s able to adapt to pretty much any setback, including those that come from his own crew, maintaining a calm and playful attitude almost the entire time.
Is he a Bastard?
This is where I see the most debate coming from. It’s true that Laurent only scams Asshole Victims. However, he’s not Just Like Robin Hood. The money that he gets from his scams go to himself and his crew, and while he’s not against helping the needy, it’s usually the idea of Makoto or Cynthia to do it, not him. Along with that, he basically kidnaps and extorts Edamura into working for his crew in the first episode, not to mention all the trauma he puts him through throughout their various scams, including making Edamura think he and Abbie died right in front of him. I’d say Laurent crosses the threshold.
Final Thoughts?
And a yes to Cynthia.
Edited by Awesomekid42 on Dec 13th 2020 at 8:57:04 AM
Unquestionable yes to Laurent. Now with the Lupin stand-in there's a good Fujiko one to follow:
Who is Cynthia Moore? What has she done?
Masquerading an FBI agent coming in to take over the "attempt" to catch Eddie by his crooked cop buddy, Cynthia hunts him down, eventually seeming to have Laurent and Abbie gunned down in front of a horrified Makoto. However, once she has Eddie captive, she forces him to bribe her with $100 million, effectively bankrupting him and enraging Makoto seeing the bodies pile up just for the sake of her greed... until he's knocked out. The next day Cynthia reveals she's actually a part of Laurent's team, playing the part to screw Eddie as they make off with their haul, partying on their remote island hideout to celebrate.
In the second arc Cynthia starts it off by playing the asshole boss of her friend who fired her for rejecting his advances. Convincing him to bet all his money on underground fights she's fixed, Cynthia leaves him high and dry, while leaving enough for her single-mother friend to live comfortably. Targeting the Ibrahim brothers with Laurent and co., Cynthia attempts to seduce the older one Sam, though his misogyny leads him to rebuke her for being older than 20. Tricking Sam into thinking Makoto is a top plan engineer to work on his pilot younger-brother's plane, Cynthia also pushes the races in the team's favour by distracting Sam's mechanics to let Abbie sabotage their plane, proving pivotal to their role in scamming Sam out of $25 million.
The third arc sees her taking revenge on James Coleman, a man who forced her ex-fiancee into painting fake replicas. Electing to help Makoto after James covets a valuable painting, Cynthia helps set up a fake auction and swaps the valuable painting with a fake done by her ex. Electing to not completely bankrupt the poor rich woman James uses to fund himself, Cynthia nets nearly 100 million for the group with their ploy.
Going up a group of child traffickers in the finale, Cynthia works with Laurent, Makoto's father Oz and the rest to fake her own death. Allowing the gang to drug and trap the traffickers, Cynthia also plays along with the feigned fight they all put on at the end. The group end up leaving the traffickers high and dry on a remote island, leaving them canned food to eat while Laurent gets to enjoy his revenge on the thugs who seemingly killed his girlfriend while Oz works to find homes for the kids.
Actions and Personality?
She comically loses her temper when Sam calls her a hag but she's mostly a friendly thief always ready with a quick plot and scheme. Even when initially worried by James' astute art analysis skills she quickly flips around to come up with a way to play him. Tellingly, she's the only one who can keep up with Laurent's inner intentions he hides even from his companions.
Mitigating Factors?
Definitely not the worst morally but she's doing damn near everything for money and happily swindles people out of money they themselves stole from others, pocketing it for herself.
Verdict?
Second of three.
Eh, why not?
What's the Work?
Once again, The Stupendium is a Youtube musician who specializes in raps about video games. A Running Gag with him is that he always finds a way to lovingly corrupt the original source material into something Darker and Edgier, and Animal Crossing is no exception.
We've already got a candidate in Tom Nook, of all characters, but after a song made for Blathers, the final song focuses on a certain red fox...
Who is Crazy Redd?
The one actual con artist from the games, here depicted as a dubious art seller who willing to do some underhanded tactics to get rich.
What's he do?
Once again, here's the song
, if you need more physical evidence.
Right, so here Redd is portrayed as a mysterious art seller who comes to the island every now and again to sell what are seemingly historical pieces of art. During the First two verses, he brags about how he has an unrivaled collection of quality art, and does the typical "con man lowers prices to get your attention" schtick. He points out how you can't get this stuff anywhere else on the island, bragging that there's so much stuff that his boat may sink from the weight.
However, the last verse reveals a much darker secret about him. Y'see, he admits that he outright steals the original paintings, traces them over, and sells them to the islanders for cash. Sometimes, he accidentally sells the original, but it doesn't bother him much, if at all, seeing how now the customer has the evidence of the crime, plus saves him from shredding them himself. What happens if they try to report him? Why, he kills them, of course!
The song ends when Tom Nook announces that there's a dangerous character over by the bay, with Red promising that he'll mail you the bust you just bought, meaning he actually got you to pay.
Is He Charming/Magnificent?
Charming: YES. I'm not entirely sure on Redd, to be honest, but even then, The Stupendium manages to kill the role of a quirky yet ruthless con man. The fact that the song is the first one thats entirely in rap also means he gets to sneak in a crappton of puns and wordplay, all adding to the charm of the song. Even after he's revealed to be a murderer, he's still quite affable towards you, implying that he only gets mean when his business is being threatened.
As for Magnificence, he's admittedly got a few small hang ups. For starters, Blathers manages to detect one of Redds paintings, and it's shown to not be very... good. However, it's the only time Redds paintings are depicted this way, and looking at them in the background, they're actually really good, with some minor touches here and there, so it's likely just a quick gag. As for the accidental selling of the originals, not only does he not really mind, he even uses it to his advantage, as the customers now have evidence framing them as the guy who stole them, something that Redd outright admits. That, and it also shows just how good the paintings are.
Other than that, he manages to steal priceless paintings, make nearly perfect forgeries, and sell them to unsuspecting customers, so the rest is fine.
Is he a Bastard?
Again, he's completely okay with framing his clients for theft of priceless art, and again is completely okay with murder to protect his company. That being said, it should be known that, like Nook's song, it's all Played for Laughs, as the idea of Redd being a swindling murderer is incredibly out there. Also, it's implied that he only targets those who threaten his business, so he doesn't randomly kill them.
Overall?
Not sure, to be honest. This could go either way, really. Lets see what you guys think.
Honestly, a Animal Crossing MB would be pretty fun, considering that a simple conman could suffice. Not sure if canon Redd is enough of a con, though.
Edited by DoodSlayer136 on Dec 12th 2020 at 4:49:01 AM
Laurent and Cynthia. I know we usually say you can't list a character sa a Magnificent Bastard and Guile Hero over simultaneous time periods, but would you say this is a case where it's gray enough such that you could, considering Edamura himself is a bit an Asshole Victim at the beginning?
Edited by jjjj2 on Dec 12th 2020 at 8:12:21 AM
You can only write so much in your forum signature. It's not fair that I want to write a piece of writing yet it will cut me off in the midI'd say no. Laurent and Cynthia aren't bad people per se but they're looking out for their own profit above all and the Guile Hero main page does emphasize that even though such characters will use manipulative tactics, it's done with the addendum that it's for a good end and if it works out badly for anyone they'll be very sorry about it. The way I'm reading it, it kinda captures folks who've got the Magnificence down but not the Bastard. Hi, Andy!
I mean I'm saying since they don't kill anyone and it often emphasizes them giving money to people their charges hurt, that's enough of a grayness that I feel they might straddle the line.
You can only write so much in your forum signature. It's not fair that I want to write a piece of writing yet it will cut me off in the mid
Laurent, Cynthia and Crazy Redd.
Big thanks to 43 and Awesome for getting me in on this and 43 helping me to recall everything. The final Great Pretender character, Edamame's Archnemesis Dad (at first) Seiji "Oz" Ozaki.
Who is Oz?
Thefather of Makoto "Edamame", Ozaki is the reason he can't get a normal job, as Oz was arrested for his association with human traffickers and his reputation and of those about him tarnished as a result with Oz seemingly abandoning the family...in truth? This was a long con, with Oz intentionally tarnishing himself so it wouldn't be questionable why a successful man would be working with human traffickers...in fact, Ozaki is there to take them down, from being such a major translator and lawyer...
But Oz? Oz is now assisting the Suzaku group with their operations as a translator...Edamame is furious when he finds Ozaki and confronts him over his abandonment. Ozaki is remorseful and seemingly uses it to flip on the Suzaku, but betrays Edamame after securing a group of kids' safety so he can appear still loyal to the group....culminating when Edamame tries to kill him. Except Ozaki set that up, too, making sure the gun was loaded with paint shots.
Ozaki has been working heavily with Laurent, though and tells Edamame the big story of trying to scam a shady investor by the name of Hugo, when things went wrong with the initial operation despite a series of brilliant set ups. But Ozaki used his prison time to become the new translator for Liu, while having his old friend tutor Edamame as a con artist. Ozaki kicks off a big conflict to double around and save the children while ensuring the gang goes down...he manages to make some measure of peace with his son and visits his late wife's grave for the first ever time..
Any mitigating Qualities?
None. Ozaki was written to be this, in a nutshell. As far as being a bastard goes, he's a con artist who abandoned his family, definitely causes some emotional pain and harm to his son, puts multiple people at risk, but runs a long con to take down a human trafficking syndicate and is still, at core, a decent person with scruples who operates spectacularly.
Conclusion?
Hard pass.
Best. Hate Sink. Subversion. Ever! Easy yes to the Wizard of the Far east!

Right, so you guys know Tom Nook? Well, a few videos later, and he releases a song for Animal Crossing's resident dubious salesman, Crazy Redd. That said, while I've considered him for a while, I'm not too sure about doing an EP on him, as he's a good bit more ruthless than Nook was. That also said, it's all, once again, Played for Laughs, and not taken too seriously.
Here's the song, for reference.
Tell me if this is promising, if you would like to.