Disclaimer: I do not own Chocolove, nor Shaman King, nor any other characters from the original manga. I own myself and the rights to this essay. Hiroyuki Takei-sama owns Chocolove and Shaman King.
Author's Note: T'is an essay I was thinking about most of the day and wanted to put down on monitor. Also, I originally posted this on my msnspace. ( http/spaces. Yaay for shameless advertising!
Author's Note2: By the way, applying to Ren's dream to be Shaman King, I'm not completely sure if it's correct. The only other thing I could think of was for him to have power and… well I wanted to give him more credit than that. If those ARE wrong and you DO know the real reason, don't hesitate to email me or review with it. Please and thank you
ahem
To all you Chocolove haters, flamers, beaters, bullies and just all around any one mean to him, screw you.
The end.
No, no. I'm just joking… but what does this bad joke remind you of? A certain CHARACTER in a certain FANDOM, perhaps?
Maybe I'm being too vague. Let's just start off with the topic sentence like all essays do. Though of course, this is not the usual essay assigned by teachers.
I am, by fact and witnesses, a Chocolove fan. That's right, I said it. And I am proud! I'm a fan of the idiot who makes stupid puns off almost everyone's remarks. He comes of out of nowhere, he annoys everyone on his team and THEN some and has a knack for attracting unwanted audiences and getting himself beat up for his jokes.
I am a fan of this idiot.
Why?
I'm sure the whole fan thing is a tad obvious with the whole Chocolove having his whole photo album on my msnspace. I also wrote a POV fic for him earlier last month. And mind you, I only write POV fics for favorite characters. But this is beside the point. What is the point? The point of this essay that I'm stalling for?
I'm a Chocolove fan. And just like some of you, you non-Chocolove fans, I don't enjoy most of his jokes. And he does tend to come up in the wrong situation with the oddest pun. I realize this. I am one of you and understand your annoyance.
Yet I am still a Chocolove fan.
Am I stupid?
I'd like to think not.
However...
I'm not a Chocolove fan because he's probably one of the very FEW black guys in Shaman King. No, that'd be odd to be a fan for. Not for his jokes, that would contradict my first statement. Not for his lack of shirt, though this is admired and encouraged. His cat skills? Well I COULD admire the fact that he's a grand example of a cat-boy, but that's just my obsession. And nor is it just the fact that he's hot... true that kind of supports it but that's not the REAL reason! Stop making me get off topic!
I am a Chocolove fan because of his mission. His outlook on life. His motto. What is it you ask?— Wait, did you judge Chocolove before even listening to his past? Ever listen to HIS side of the story? Well pull up a chair dear reader!
And uh… if you HAVE heard this… kudos to you!
Chocolove wants to be the World's Greatest Comedian. Not for ego, not for attention, and not just for a simple laugh. But to help the world. To take away the violence in this world. As it is put, 'the winds of laughter will blow away the violence'. This is what Chocolove's dream is. The more I think about this, the more I admire Chocolove. For who he is and what he's trying to do. And that means a lot to me.
Yoh wants the good life, Ren wants to get rid of the hatred in his family (and is a tad power hungry), HoroHoro wants to restore the minushions' world, Ryu wants his 'best place' and Hao wants to get rid of all humans.
Throughout all these characters with their hopes and reasons for wanting to participate in the shaman tournament, why is it that this Chocolove-fan believes more in his dream than anyone else's?
I shall tell you.
Chocolove's dream can actually apply to most of these. Yoh wants a good life to relax, without violence there will be less things to worry about in the world and will HELP Yoh relax. Ren wants to get rid of the hatred in his family. If Chocolove were to achieve his dream, laughter would take away the hatred. Because everyone in the Tao family would be too busy laughing about the chicken that never really does cross the road.
HoroHoro wants to restore the Minushions' little world. With the winds of laughter, the construction workers would've been laughing too much to really care whether they cut up the place or not. Meaning the dispute of construction would've been settled years ago and the Minushions could live on. Finally, Ryu wants his 'best place'. Somewhere peaceful, calming and… what's this? Somewhere they don't have to fight for?
I don't think I need to elaborate further.
I've talked with my friend Lindsay about Chocolove before. A fellow classmate in my French class. She is one of the 'non-Chocolove-fans'. Every conversation involves a few 'I HATE that guy!' from Lindsay and then a followed 'He's cool ;;' and then a simple 'Get back to your seat!' from Madame Benson that ends our discussion there because I have to leave.
Lindsay is one of the people who only sees Chocolove through the stupid puns. There are many people who only see him through his puns and then judge him straight for it.
/Grabs a newspaper and hits Lindsay on the nose/ No. Bad, no!
I am a person who does not like to judge a person straight away. I do not judge by skin color, race, habits, nationality or family. I judge you by personality. If you are racist to a certain culture, I believe you are a racist. If you are a mean person to people, I believe you are mean.
If you are a person who tells jokes to stop violence, then I believe I'd like to know more about you.
And by the way, there ARE the times when Chocolove does have his moments and the jokes are actually pretty funny. Mic all giant spirit form doing the Hula and then the kangaroo on the belly button in the manga. That was some funny stuff.
So to add, Chocolove IS actually a pretty funny guy. On his good days.
The other thing that makes me admire Chocolove so much is what a life changing experience he went through. If you have read the Shaman King manga, and have read Chocolove's story, I'm sure you would definitely agree with me on this one. If not, read on reader!
Have you ever wondered where Chocolove's parents are?
Wonder why they aren't worried that he's off in some foreign land competing against people?
Chocolove's parents were killed when he was four, on Christmas day. CHRISTMAS. Of all days it had to be Christmas day. This is a time of giving (Not Thanksgiving), family togetherness, and eggnog. What does Chocolove get? To be orphaned. Though I suppose there really isn't ANY good day to become an orphan in the blink of a gun. Chocolove was left not only with a permanent scar on his forehead, but one on his soul as well.
This is an example of Chocolove's life that is not funny.
Fast-forward a couple years and Chocolove is 12. He's in a gang called the Shaft with a few other members, lives in an abandoned house, and quite a few people have fallen victim to the hands of him and his gun.
Not funny.
He's a cold-hearted killer. To be blunt, a gangster. Apparently, all the hate and hardship Chocolove had to go through affected him quite a bit. His parents were carelessly murdered in front of his eyes. That would make anyone angry, right? To hate the people who did it? Well not only does Chocolove hate them, he hates people in general. To him, there aren't decent people out there. There's no such thing.
But after meeting Inedo and Mic, with a few failed attempts to kill Inedo, he learns to laugh at Inedo's stupid jokes (AN: Don't blame Chocolove for the stupid jokes. He was obviously under a bad influence). He learns to care.
Turns out, Inedo is from an African tribe. He's also a shaman, hence his jaguar spirit. Mic. Inedo came from Africa to spread the word of his way of life. People must learn to laugh. He traveled to New York, a city that really does need to learn how to take away the violence, to do this.
Inedo takes Chocolove on to pass on his culture.
But when Chocolove leaves the Shaft gang to study as a shaman under Inedo, the gang comes to bring him back. Long story short, in the end they end up killing Inedo. The man who had been like a father to Chocolove. The father Chocolove had barely gotten to know.
Not funny.
This would make anyone HATE the Shaft gang, right? To want revenge? To kill them for what they had done?
Chocolove was prepared to do just that.
But before Inedo died, he told Chocolove he could achieve nothing with violence. So instead, to make them laugh. And Chocolove did just that.
As the old saying goes, violence only causes more violence.
In the end Chocolove made the change. He chose that instead of revenge, he made the gang members of the Shaft laugh with a simple joke and made them forget their own violence.
Corny but… still amazing. Because you can see how humor is such an opposite from violence.
Chocolove went from gangster to comedian. From killing to laughing. I think it takes a lot of courage, hard work and strength to do that.
And that is why I am a Chocolove fan.