I want to say something in this thread, my thoughts inspired by the short movie from another thread. We mostly was talking about zako in theory here, but in the first message of this thread
Stuelpner_Karl
pointed at certain zakos from certain movie.
For example, in "Geheimcode Death-Force" a bunch of bikini clad henchgirls gets mowed down:
But earlier on, we see them work on computers:
The way I see them, they are no stupid cannon fodder. They may be their parents' pride and joy, straight "A" students in areas were women haven't been seen too often back then. And they work for the evil mastermind's project because he paid their student loans, it's a challenging job and they draw a fine salary.
I want to say something like this, but with focusing on more details. We're (or some of us) definitely interested in zako's background (otherwise this thread wouldn't exist), because we have some empathy and it's better and more believeable when they're not only a cannon fodder, but also a people, and there is not very much screentime for zako girls to be developed as a characters. Their backgrounds give them some individuality, which is does not prevent them to be very similar and makes only more interesting.
Maybe I should post a videos here for better understanding what do I say.
In the beginning of the clip we can see a group of scantily clad women. They have no uniform and still dressed in a similar manner. Some of them are more eye-catching (at least for me): the one who wear something like metal panties or the one who walking in her panties (and top clothes) only, but they're very similar anyway. They do the same job (they're mechanics), they are cruel with their prisoner. When he killed one of them, the others attacked him and even succeeded, but situation have changed. When their prisoners' friend came to rescue him and shot one of them, another attacked the intruder with a hammer and was badly wounded.
She looked much more confidently when she attacked, but now... Now we can see fear in her eyes. She's not a biorobot and have emotions, fears etc. And it's easy to be scared because her prisoner's friend already decided her fate.
This scene is very good. It allow us to see what a zako can see in the last moments of her life.
After this we can see one more fight with a girl, who was beaten already. She was knockouted again and it's not very interesting because we can see something more intriguing. The prisoner is free to go and his friend doesn't kill their last enemy and only threat her with a shotgun. The last mechanic slightly lift her hands up!
She doesn't attack, she even make a little step back. She doesn't want to die! Zako are cannon fodder, but they are born not only to die. This one have a choice and she decide to keep her life even if this means her mission to kill a prisoner will be failed.
Some precious moments of zako's decisions, emotions I can see in the next part of the movie.
Here is only two girls, both clad in similar sexy clothes, both have common purpose. And still we can see what they do.
In the second message in this topic, in a message from
KeiBree there is something interesting.
I love to think of what they were doing before the fight. Chatting with their boyfriend on the phone? Thinking about going back to school etc? Or on their way to the fight, excited? Nervous?
Of course, all of them behave differently, so let's look at some examples.
When they came to a fight, one of them rolling over the chair.
Funny scene, but we can also see they are different. One more calm, the second is more agressive, even if it looks ridiculous. And then the calm girl attacks and the second just stand and look. Sometimes zako can surprise.
Her friend is not surprised when the battle went bad for the girl in a pink top. She slightly frowns and took off her jacket like a cool girl, though she rather a poser.
Of course, we will see her on the floor very soon.
She's definitely a poser. Looks very pleasant. But the battle isn't over. Her friend lifted up and ready for the next round. Very soon she finally goes on the floor.
But now she have my sympathy. She was calm when her friend was not, she stood up and fight again, she did her best and lose with honor. And still she lose and she in the right place - on the floor like her friend. They were left unconscious because nobody cares about them and have no reasons to. For those who found them they would look identical, and all what they did and how they fought would be unclear.
With the right scenarios, zako can be very interesting. They can have personality and still be cannon fodder. They can have an interesting background and do relevant things. They can make decisions and appreciate their lives, though frequently it doesn't help them at all.
