Why I Play Neji How I Do.
I keep meaning to write one of these for Neji in particular, with long character analysis and examples from canon, and explanations of events that have taken place at camp and how those have affected him.
I am, however, far too lazy for that.
Then I realized that, camp relationships aside, there's really three major factors to how I play Neji.
1) Neji is always right. If Neji is wrong, it's because the context of his opinion was incomplete, and he will change it accordingly to be consistent with the knew information so he is once again right. However, with the data he had before, he was right. Because Neji is always right.
2) Neji is by turns comfortable with himself, and repressive, and reactionary. This analogy isn't perfect, but it's the best I can come up with, so I'm going with it. If Neji wanted to jump off a cliff, he wouldn't, because he wouldn't give in to an impulse like that. The more he found himself driven to jump, the more he'd fight the inclination. So if the urge was casual, and there was no harm in it (say there's water below), then he'd jump. However, if it was some kind of bizarre obsession, he'd drive himself crazy with not jumping.
On the other hand, if he thought falling off the cliff was inevitable, he'd jump. Even if he was terrified of it. Firstly, because I think a sense of fatalism is too much an influence on his personality for him to completely pull away from that way of thinking, but also because if falling is unavoidable, he'd rather jump and be in control. Like, for instance, one might for instance, choose to take a hit if it were unavoidable in order to make it nonfatal. Or to win time fighting an enemy.
3) Neji is actually a fairly nice guy (post-bitchsmack of love), but he has a very wide critical streak. Unfortunately, Neji isn't vocal when he's being nice. He's more inclined to be reserved and watch others enjoy themselves while smiling indulgently. It's a very strong impression I have of him, and I can't shake it. However, when Neji sees something that strikes his critical side, he will talk about it. At length. So everyone knows that you did something wrong. (Remembering, of course, that Neji is always right.)
This is, of course, only my interpretation of the character, but I do think I can support all of these views with canon evidence, and it would be very difficult to convince me that it's not a valid reading.
I am, however, far too lazy for that.
Then I realized that, camp relationships aside, there's really three major factors to how I play Neji.
1) Neji is always right. If Neji is wrong, it's because the context of his opinion was incomplete, and he will change it accordingly to be consistent with the knew information so he is once again right. However, with the data he had before, he was right. Because Neji is always right.
2) Neji is by turns comfortable with himself, and repressive, and reactionary. This analogy isn't perfect, but it's the best I can come up with, so I'm going with it. If Neji wanted to jump off a cliff, he wouldn't, because he wouldn't give in to an impulse like that. The more he found himself driven to jump, the more he'd fight the inclination. So if the urge was casual, and there was no harm in it (say there's water below), then he'd jump. However, if it was some kind of bizarre obsession, he'd drive himself crazy with not jumping.
On the other hand, if he thought falling off the cliff was inevitable, he'd jump. Even if he was terrified of it. Firstly, because I think a sense of fatalism is too much an influence on his personality for him to completely pull away from that way of thinking, but also because if falling is unavoidable, he'd rather jump and be in control. Like, for instance, one might for instance, choose to take a hit if it were unavoidable in order to make it nonfatal. Or to win time fighting an enemy.
3) Neji is actually a fairly nice guy (post-bitchsmack of love), but he has a very wide critical streak. Unfortunately, Neji isn't vocal when he's being nice. He's more inclined to be reserved and watch others enjoy themselves while smiling indulgently. It's a very strong impression I have of him, and I can't shake it. However, when Neji sees something that strikes his critical side, he will talk about it. At length. So everyone knows that you did something wrong. (Remembering, of course, that Neji is always right.)
This is, of course, only my interpretation of the character, but I do think I can support all of these views with canon evidence, and it would be very difficult to convince me that it's not a valid reading.