Five percent pleasure and Fifty percent pain

It's that time now. What's in a name? Would a rose by any other name smell as sweet? How much of identity is wrapped into a moniker? We instantly associate words based on our conceptions of them, "rose" means love, friendship, peace...take you pick. It certainly doesn't bear a connotation of dung heap. Call it a dung heap, would it smell as sweet? Would you choose to smell it? So often we make assumptions about people and things based on their names, or nicknames. Biff is a jock, Heather's probably blonde, Eugene probably hasn't had a date in six years, and Olga probably owns a viking helmet. This is the reason for my explanation.

Kira Karamazov. Already it's a contradiction. It is in and of itself absurd. The mixing of two cultures, Japanese and Russian, is the spring board of this absurdity. I doubt you could find anyone who would argue that the cultures are very much alike. It is two names from two very different worlds.

Taken at the level of inspiration also, it's a contradiction, a paradox. Karamazov comes not to quietly from the novel The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Kira is a bit more generic. The name in this instance however was lifted shamelessly from the Gundam anime series (Gundam Seed and Seed Destiny to be specific). This is the second paradox, to pull one's identity both from a novel of classic literature, and a modern animated tv show. The cultures again clash, not so much from a geographic sense this time, but a chronologic sense. It is two names from two very different times.

Karamazov is easy to explain, difficult to understand. It seems as though Dostoevsky uses the name in the phrase, "After all, I am a Karamazov" to express something more than family attachment. In the book, the Karamazov family patron is described as a sensualist, a perverse old man given entirely to self satisfaction. His three sons all take different roads in their lives, yet they all recognize the genetic proclivity towards self indulgence. It is almost as though the author, in the describing of the family, is instead talking about humanity as a whole. While all of the characters in the novel have their share of faults, the Karamazov's are the natural sins of mankind as a whole. While Dmitri is himself a sensualist, Ivan is a scholar, Alyosha is a lover and man of God. Dostoevsky himself said that the three sons are himself at different stages in his life, yet in their natures he captures all of mankind at once.
For me, it embodies my own nature. I am a thinker, I strive to be a lover, and I am a fighter, yet in all these three I am given to corruption just as every person is. Hence the surname, after all, aren't we all Karamazov's?

Now for the interesting part. Kira. Kira Yamato, coordinator. He is the perfect product of genetic engineering. He is pulled into a war he wants no part in, and ends up fighting to protect his friends. Along the way, the primary struggle he faces is this, When does wrong become right? When does evil become justified? At what point does war and fighting become a necessity. The answer is invariably the same, when the lives of the innocent are at stake. When your enemy is so corrupt and powerful that the only way to protect the innocent is by striking back, without thought, without hesitation against the monster. When the enemy makes it clear that there is no alternative that will prevent an atrocity.
The secondary question, who are the innocent? The natural and instinctive answer is civilians. However, the question is raised, at what point must the civilians who empowered the enemy take responsibility? Tyrants do not appear, they are made, carefully, by a knowing party who desires the ends that the tyrant can obtain.
This is a struggle I believe our society has a particularly difficult time with. No one wants to take responsibility for their actions. No one likes the thought of killing, but at some point it does become a necessity. For the protection of the innocent, the imprisonment or execution of the evil is a necessity.

I will be the first to say that this concept is absurd. At the same time, it is a concept that must be considered, it must be thought about in a rational manner for justice to be served instead of vigilantism. That makes it necessary. This is the necessary absurdity.

This is the contradiction, these are the two sides of the coin. Wickedness and justice. Who are we to judge? We are sinful by nature as well, and God is Loving. Who are we to stand back? We are God's image, and God is Just. Who are we to be apathetic, after all it's not us getting hurt? We are human, and this is humanity.

Kira Karamazov is a person of sinful nature, held to a higher ideal.