Re: Monster Girl Quest: Paradox
well, originally the 'yuusha' is supposed to be translated to 'the brave'
well one is your modern defeating bad guys justice hero and the other is the traditional saving world from demon king(maou) hero
Explains the kanji usage... Never really thought of it except in passing. It also kind of explains Jrpgs, light novels and pretty much anything with a 'yuusha'.
Think about it. They don't feature a 'hero' (as we know them) so much as a 'brave person' who while others run away, they charge right up against the enemy/maou. That last fight between the yuusha and the maou always felt kind of copy and paste and now I know why.
To summarize (cheap and quick and with barely any thought put into it) a western hero is someone who saves the day, the damsel or something else, whereas the eastern (Japanese in this case) is that one person who simply can't back down. Get's back up several times after getting knocked around BECAUSE HE'S THE BRAVE!
Also explains the heavy usage of WILLPOWER!
EDIT:
Good examples are as follow:
SUPERMAN.
He always saves the day because that's just who he is. He wears that badge of super hero proudly. In the old cartoons I watched as a kid I don't recall him getting knocked around too much. Rather he was just that guy you could ALWAYS pin all your hopes on and he'd come through shining like a diamond.
Touma from Toaru Majutsu no Index
He's basically the weakest person in that universe. No seriously. The only thing he can do is negate the magic of his foes. If any one of them actually knew martial arts of any kind he's screwed. Hell he's been 'almost' killed half a dozen times or more. Perfect example of always getting back up.
He wins because of bravery and moxy and nothing else. That and reflexes like a cat. Reflexes that were honed from years of horrible bad luck. He also wins from the experience of having anything that could go wrong...
Go wrong. Splendidly.
Saito from Zero no Tsukaima
He wins mostly from willpower and stupidity. Which as most people know stupidity goes hand in hand with bravery. That and the talking sword. Talking swords are always bad ass.