Discussion Main / TheAtoner

This is specifically meant for reformed villains right? Seems like it gets used for people who just feel guilty about something a lot. Example: Gilbert from Fe3h? Is this my or those editors misunderstanding?

So I just checked, and that Paradise Lost Quote is from an Epic Bitch fest from Beelzebub, and he is talking about the LITERAL distance they myst travel from hell into not-hell. Should this be an issue for its place as header quote? Personally I say no.

Could I get a confirmation that Masaji Kitano actually said this, just to make sure?

• Masaji Kitano, the second-in-command of the Imperial Japanese Army's Unit 731 (infamous for its completely amoral human experimentation, most famously its human vivisections and infecting hundreds of prisoners with the full effects of anthrax), after he received full pardon from Douglas Mac Arthur in exchange for all their research gained, went on to found what today is one of the biggest pharmaceutical companies in Japan, Green Cross. He went so far as to say in his last years that he did this specifically because he wanted to atone for the horrific experiments he and his unit had done, and that saving lives was the only thing he believed could equal taking them.

I looked up online and it doesn't seem that he said anything similar to what the above example suggests.

So, I found this example in the Real Life section:

• Adolfo Scilingo. A pilot during the Argentine military dictatorship, Scilingo's job was to dump the tranquilised (but still living) victims of the dictatorship out of a plane and into the ocean. Tortured by PTSD and guilt, Scilingo eventually became the first soldier to break silence, leading to the arrests of many low-level participants (the leaders had already been convicted). Believing that nothing he does will ever be enough, Scilingo went so far as to deliberatly go to Spain to testify in the war crimes trials, knowing he would be arrested by the Spanish government, and convinced that he needed to be.

Curious, I looked him up on Wikipedia, and Scilingo's Wikipedia article makes no mention of this and actually stated that he wanted to avoid being charged at first; generally implying that he was unrepentant. So, can we get some confirmation on the veracity of this example?

Oh for fuck's sake.

* Who took Dragonball Z off this example list?!
** cough, cough Well, you see, Dragonball Z is a leader in Atoner-producing anime, by sheer quantity and variety of atoning warriors. Son Goku tends to kick people's asses into atoning, or at least fighting against the next villain, giving us Yamcha and Puar the pair of desert thieves, Tein the assassin, Chiaotzu the con-man, Piccolo the devil's son, Launch the train robber, Oolong the kidnapper, Krillin the deserter (and sorest loser ever), Prince Vegeta Destroyer of Worlds, Androids Seventeen and Eighteen the killing machines, and Buu Destroyer of Galaxies as our heroes. Why does this story's hero tolerate such a high concentration of people who once tried to kill him? A shining optimism towards humanity... and a tendency to outgrow sparring partners quickly.
*** The most interesting Atoner is probably Vegeta, as he wrestles with on-and-off guilt and eventually tops it all off with Redemption Equals Death. But this is DBZ. he comes Back from the Dead later.
*** As a note, the only Atoner up there that ever got to kill Goku was Piccolo Jr. But what does he do after avenging his father's death? He pals around with Goku's son, develops a brotherly bond with him and dies in atonement. Oh, so close, Junior.
*** Krillin and Bulma are Son Goku's best friends and probably the only main character who aren't Atoners, but even they have tried to kill Goku. Krillin pushed Goku off a cliff to get rid of his rival and Bulma... Well, you'd try to kill Goku, too, if he did to you what he did to Bulma. Son Chi Chi is really the only innocent person in the series.
** I have the impression all the above entries might be done by Atoners who regretted deleting the Dragonball Z entries?