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kafzielAmongst my friends and I, a certain terminology has developed, for use in discussion of relative levels of power between characters in anime, games, shows, books, whatever. It's a combination of terms carried over from CCGs and from professional wrestling, and I've found it to be highly useful. We call it the Gimp-Mook-Jabroni-Beater scale, and y'all might find it handy.
I'll be referencing Dragonball and Kenshin throughout this, so some familiarity might help. DBZ isn't a particularly good show, but is useful to illustrate these points.
You see, our theory is that characters can be classified as one of these 4 types; the Gimp, the Mook, the Jabroni, and the Beater (also called Actual Person or Named Character). A Gimp, for example, is a person deviod of combat prowess, who serves literally no purpose outside of plot or comic relief. Those people hanging out at Roshi's place are gimps. The cat, the pig, the old guy, the wimmin, these people contribute nothing during combat, and if introduced to a volatile situation would only be liabilities. Gimps would lose to even the lowliest of Mooks.
The Mook, on the other hand, can fight. However, they are so weak as to have little or no impact on combat, instead only attacked en masse and dying in a similar fashion. All the nameless Nameks that tried to stand up to Freeza and his boys, and that were killed doing so, are mooks. Similarly, in the Buu arc, most of the non-Saiyan characters (Krillin, Tienshinhan, Yamcha, etc) are also mooks, despite having been forces to be reckoned with in the past.
Jabronis, now. Jabronis can fight, and fight well, even affecting the outcome of things, and a group of Jabronis can even stand up to a Beater. Jabronis are about as powerful as you can get without being an Actual Person, and villainous Jabronis are often seen bullying the lesser Mooks and Gimps before being owned by the Beater(s) of the show. Krillin and Gohan and even Vegeta, as of the Freeza arc, were all Jabronis; as a group, with restorative backup from Dende, they could almost stall Freeza, who was inarguably a Beater. A single Jabroni can take a goodly mob of Mooks, though unlike Beaters they can eventually be overwhelmed.
I've been referencing Beaters for a while, now. Beaters, or Actual People, or Named Characters, these are the true movers and shakers of the world. These are the heroes and the villains of the show, the people around which the action revolves. Goku is consistently a Beater, as is Vegeta for everything except the fight against Freeza, while Gohan becomes a particularly significant Beater from the Cell Games onward.
You want some non-DBZ examples? Sure. In the early episodes of Rurouni Kenshin, most of people you'd see Kenshin fighting were Mooks. This is clear from the fact that they are not given names, they attempt to swarm him, and they are dispatched easily by one Beater (Kenshin is also unquestionably a Beater). The old guy and the two kids that hung around Kaoru's place are Gimps, as they are named but do not fight. Hell, they don't even get kidnapped or something to further the plot. Kenshin and Aoshi are Beaters, while Kaoru and Yahiko are Jabronis. Sanosuke is something of an enigma; he is either at the absolute top of the Jabroni ladder, or the weakest Beater ever, as he cannot beat anyone REALLY awesome but can utterly own anyone else. Udô Jinei was also quite the beater.
Look at the Kyoto arc of Kenshin. Kenshin is still a Beater; the main character generally is. Shishio is also a Beater, possibly more of a Beater than Kenshin (it's never made clear who would win in a straight-up fight, which I think is good). Anji, Saitô, Aoshi, and Sôjirô are also all beaters, and Sanosuke had become strong enough by this point to also be definitely classified as a Beater. Hiko Seijûrô is was also an incredible Beater. Sawagejô Chô was a Jabroni, though he is to be commended for standing up to Kenshin, even a Sakabatô-less Kenshin. Kaoru and Yahiko were still Jabronis, along with Misao and Kamatari.
There's one other term that comes up, and that's "Jobber". Jobber is entirely relative, even more so than the others. One person is a Jobber only in relation to another, if the first is weaker than the second. It also exists in a verb form, "to job". For example, everybody jobs to Shishio except (perhaps) Kenshin.
So, yeah. Why type all this up? Well, I finished episode 18 of Naturo, which ended with Gatô showing up with his mob. Now, Naruto is a Jabroni, although he was definitely Beater-level with the Nine-Tails partially loose. Sasuke is like Sanosuke in early Kenshin, either the beefiest Jabroni ever or the weakest Beater ever. Sakura hasn't done anything, so I'd be tempted to label her as a gimp, but common sense dictates that she'd probably be at least a Jabroni if she ever frikkin fought. Kakashi, on the other hand, is unquestionably a mad Beater, as were Zabuza and Haku. However, I very much doubt if anyone in Gatô's mob is better than a mid-level Mook. So why should his dozens of guys matter? You can throw a literal army of mooks at a single healthy Beater and lose. Were Kakashi not there and in decent fighting condition, they could be problematic, but as the situation stands, I fail to be worried for the good guys here.
I'll be referencing Dragonball and Kenshin throughout this, so some familiarity might help. DBZ isn't a particularly good show, but is useful to illustrate these points.
You see, our theory is that characters can be classified as one of these 4 types; the Gimp, the Mook, the Jabroni, and the Beater (also called Actual Person or Named Character). A Gimp, for example, is a person deviod of combat prowess, who serves literally no purpose outside of plot or comic relief. Those people hanging out at Roshi's place are gimps. The cat, the pig, the old guy, the wimmin, these people contribute nothing during combat, and if introduced to a volatile situation would only be liabilities. Gimps would lose to even the lowliest of Mooks.
The Mook, on the other hand, can fight. However, they are so weak as to have little or no impact on combat, instead only attacked en masse and dying in a similar fashion. All the nameless Nameks that tried to stand up to Freeza and his boys, and that were killed doing so, are mooks. Similarly, in the Buu arc, most of the non-Saiyan characters (Krillin, Tienshinhan, Yamcha, etc) are also mooks, despite having been forces to be reckoned with in the past.
Jabronis, now. Jabronis can fight, and fight well, even affecting the outcome of things, and a group of Jabronis can even stand up to a Beater. Jabronis are about as powerful as you can get without being an Actual Person, and villainous Jabronis are often seen bullying the lesser Mooks and Gimps before being owned by the Beater(s) of the show. Krillin and Gohan and even Vegeta, as of the Freeza arc, were all Jabronis; as a group, with restorative backup from Dende, they could almost stall Freeza, who was inarguably a Beater. A single Jabroni can take a goodly mob of Mooks, though unlike Beaters they can eventually be overwhelmed.
I've been referencing Beaters for a while, now. Beaters, or Actual People, or Named Characters, these are the true movers and shakers of the world. These are the heroes and the villains of the show, the people around which the action revolves. Goku is consistently a Beater, as is Vegeta for everything except the fight against Freeza, while Gohan becomes a particularly significant Beater from the Cell Games onward.
You want some non-DBZ examples? Sure. In the early episodes of Rurouni Kenshin, most of people you'd see Kenshin fighting were Mooks. This is clear from the fact that they are not given names, they attempt to swarm him, and they are dispatched easily by one Beater (Kenshin is also unquestionably a Beater). The old guy and the two kids that hung around Kaoru's place are Gimps, as they are named but do not fight. Hell, they don't even get kidnapped or something to further the plot. Kenshin and Aoshi are Beaters, while Kaoru and Yahiko are Jabronis. Sanosuke is something of an enigma; he is either at the absolute top of the Jabroni ladder, or the weakest Beater ever, as he cannot beat anyone REALLY awesome but can utterly own anyone else. Udô Jinei was also quite the beater.
Look at the Kyoto arc of Kenshin. Kenshin is still a Beater; the main character generally is. Shishio is also a Beater, possibly more of a Beater than Kenshin (it's never made clear who would win in a straight-up fight, which I think is good). Anji, Saitô, Aoshi, and Sôjirô are also all beaters, and Sanosuke had become strong enough by this point to also be definitely classified as a Beater. Hiko Seijûrô is was also an incredible Beater. Sawagejô Chô was a Jabroni, though he is to be commended for standing up to Kenshin, even a Sakabatô-less Kenshin. Kaoru and Yahiko were still Jabronis, along with Misao and Kamatari.
There's one other term that comes up, and that's "Jobber". Jobber is entirely relative, even more so than the others. One person is a Jobber only in relation to another, if the first is weaker than the second. It also exists in a verb form, "to job". For example, everybody jobs to Shishio except (perhaps) Kenshin.
So, yeah. Why type all this up? Well, I finished episode 18 of Naturo, which ended with Gatô showing up with his mob. Now, Naruto is a Jabroni, although he was definitely Beater-level with the Nine-Tails partially loose. Sasuke is like Sanosuke in early Kenshin, either the beefiest Jabroni ever or the weakest Beater ever. Sakura hasn't done anything, so I'd be tempted to label her as a gimp, but common sense dictates that she'd probably be at least a Jabroni if she ever frikkin fought. Kakashi, on the other hand, is unquestionably a mad Beater, as were Zabuza and Haku. However, I very much doubt if anyone in Gatô's mob is better than a mid-level Mook. So why should his dozens of guys matter? You can throw a literal army of mooks at a single healthy Beater and lose. Were Kakashi not there and in decent fighting condition, they could be problematic, but as the situation stands, I fail to be worried for the good guys here.