User blog:ThatScrewyDuck/PG Proposal: Rock Lee



This is a proposal I’ve been meaning to do for a while, but haven’t had the time to sit down and type it up until now. I’m not positive if people will agree with me on this one, but I at least think the character in question comes close enough to fitting the category that it’s worth discussing and confirming one way or another. This time around, I’m covering none other than one of my favorite characters from one of the series I credit most with helping get me into anime. That’s right; it’s none other than the self-proclaimed “Handsome Devil of the Hidden Leaf Village” himself, Rock Lee!

Here’s a link to his page:

Who is he and what has he done?
Rock Lee is a notable supporting protagonist in the popular shonen manga/anime series, Naruto, who proved to be popular enough to star in his own spin-off series, Rock Lee & His Ninja Pals. He is a shinobi (which is the universe’s term for a ninja) of the Konohagakure Lee Clan and a member of Team Guy, the other members of the team being Neji Hyuga and Tenten. In a very similar vein to the main character, he was bullied and shunned during his childhood, in his case, for lacking any talent for two of the three main types of jutsu a ninja can learn, ninjutsu and genjutsu. Because of that, Might Guy, his mentor whom he respects and idolizes so much that he eventually started dressing like him and imitated his hair cut, decided to give him special training to make him a taijutsu specialist/master. Taijutsu is the most physical and natural of the three types of jutsu, and is a lot like real-life martial arts.

He introduces himself in a way that’s flat-out off-putting to Team Kakashi, which consists of Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura, due to his decidedly goofy and dorky personality, as well as his crush on Sakura, which creeps her out. However, he proves to be a very formidable opponent in battle when he handily defeats Sasuke, who’s very talented himself, after challenging him to a fight. He sees Sasuke as someone who is naturally talented, and therefore, expresses the urge to defeat him later in an actual match during the Chunin Exams, not because he has anything against him personally, but because he wants to prove that someone like him who has had to work really hard to get where he is can best him; in other words, that hard work can trump natural talent.

A little later during the Chunin Exams when all the participating teams are taking a test in the “Forest of Death”, he notices Team Kakashi in trouble when a trio of ninja from the Sound Village collectively called Team Dosu, whom Orochimaru sent to infiltrate the exams to kill Sasuke (though secretly, it was to test the curse he implanted in him), attack them while Sasuke and Naruto are unconscious, leaving Sakura to defend them on her own. Despite being at a major disadvantage due to being outnumbered, Lee comes to their aid, and while he ends up getting knocked out by Dosu’s Decapitating Airwaves, he ends up buying enough time for another group of ninja to come to their aid, with Sasuke chasing them off after he awakens and his cursed seal activates. Sakura is so touched by what he did that her opinion of him improves substantially to the point that, while she doesn’t reciprocate his affection due to only loving Sasuke, she highly respects him and considers him a very good friend for the rest of the series, which he, in return, seems to be okay with.

Not long afterwards, after advancing to the next round of the Chunin Exams, Rock Lee ends up paired up against Gaara of the Sand Village in an official one-on-one match. While Rock Lee proves to be a surprisingly strong opponent, especially considering how powerful and deadly his opponent, he still loses in the end. Most tragically though, he suffers major injuries that threaten to end his career as a shinobi, some of which were self-inflicted by pushing himself too hard, but most significantly, having his left arm and leg crushed by Gaara’s sand attack. While most of his other injuries heal over time, these injuries are so severe that he never fully recovers from them. However, Tsunade, the eventual new Hokage/head of the Leaf Village, offers to perform a risky operation that has a fifty percent chance of healing him, but could also kill him. Though he was initially worried about dying, with some motivation from Guy, he accepts the surgery. Happily, the surgery ends up being a success.

However, while he’s still recovering, he ends up forcing himself out of the hospital early to provide assistance for the “Sasuke Retrieval Squad” consisting of Naruto and several others who are tasked with bringing Sasuke to the village after he leaves the village with some Sound Ninja after hearing from them that Orochimaru is promising him great power. He ends up fighting Kimimaro, who is the most honorable, but also the most powerful of the group, in order to allow Naruto to go ahead and catch up with Sasuke, despite being far from 100% percent. Like with Gaara, he puts up a surprisingly good fight, but his healing injuries still impairing him eventually put him at Kimimaro’s mercy, only to be saved none other than Gaara, who has since made a huge turn-around and helps him out due to considering the Sound Village a common enemy. He even expresses some remorse when he notices that Lee is slower than when they last met due to his injuries, but Lee is very forgiving about it and doesn’t hold a grudge against him, simply being thankful that he’s willing to help him out now.

There’s probably a lot more I can single out, but I’d say these are some of the most significant events that he’s involved in from the original series. However, I will say that over the course of the remaining episodes, which are considered filler, as well as in the sequel series, Naruto Shippuden, he goes on to fully recover and participate in numerous mission where he does his part to help people, defending the village from invaders, and the like. Admittedly, I only watched up to the first couple of arcs of Shippuden due to finding the series too long and time-consuming, but I do know he’s pretty in and out of focus depending on the arc, and ultimately, out of all the “Konoha 11” ninjas, AKA the most notable ninjas of the village that are his and Naruto’s age, minus Sasuke who abandons them and becomes corrupt for a while thanks to Orochimaru, he’s one of the ones whose personality most stays the same.

Corrupting Factors
Admittedly, since I did drop the series at a certain point, I may not be the most qualified person to comment on this, but both from what I’ve seen and read about in the case of the later parts of the story, Rock Lee doesn’t have any truly bad qualities, and certainly not any corrupting ones. Apart from being fully of energy and optimism, one of his more notable traits is that he’s hot-headed, which can make him pretty impulsive and lacking in tact at times, but for the most part, this quality simply tends to shape itself into a strong passion and drive to do his best and never give up on his goals. He’s rarely, if ever, outright aggressive or hostile.

One of the few times he got mad enough to actively pick a fight with someone was when Temari was extremely disrespectful to his teammate, Tenten, after trouncing her in a one-on-one match, to the point of throwing her unconscious body at him and calling her “trash”. However, this was clearly only because of how disgusted he was with her awful treatment of her due to his belief that even when you win, you should always respect your opponent, especially if they’ve done their best. More than anything, he was just trying to defend her honor, even if he went about it in a slightly misguided way, and he even stopped a similar non-official fight from breaking out between Naruto and Neji shortly afterwards by calming down the former.

It’s also worth noting that, yes at that, being a shinobi, and one who enjoys a good fight, he naturally has no qualms using violence to rough up, and even complete beat down his opponents if necessary. However, many of them are the type of people who are more than strong/durable enough to take it, and to my knowledge, he never tries to use lethal force, and only does as much as he needs to do to defeat whoever it is he is fighting. Within the context of the setting, where fighting is very commonplace and even necessary to protect your village and those you care about, I’d say the way he goes about it is very honorable, even if it can involve hard-hitting and dangerous techniques that normal people couldn’t take.

Goodness Zone/Admirable Standard
From what I understand, the standard is pretty high due to a lot of the main and supporting characters being capable of doing very selfless and heroic deeds that contribute to saving many people and keeping the overall balance of power between the different villages and clans in check. However, Rock Lee is a very admirable person in his own right. He is generally characterized as the epitome of a nice guy, treating and speaking to pretty much everyone in a respectful tone, and to my knowledge, never even swearing. Out of all of the Konoha 11, he’s probably one of the easiest to get along with and most blatantly honorable. Even when it comes to fighting, he highly prioritizes respecting his opponents and fighting fair, never resorting to dirty or underhanded methods. And again, he might use whatever powerful techniques he feels he needs to to incapacitate them, but he never fights to kill.

He also rivals Naruto himself as one of the most hard-working of all the characters, to the point that he never quits even in the face of impossible odds. Goal-wise, he essentially wants to prove to everyone that you can still be just as talented as or more than those with natural talent if you work hard enough. It’s probably one of the most inspiring and admirable goals anyone in the series has. This is comparably minor, but he also shares what’s probably the single closest and most touching teacher/student relationship in the whole series with Might Guy. While it’s often portrayed in a comedic light, he whole-heartedly respects and loves Guy to such a degree that he practically sees him as a father figure. As silly and overdramatic as they often are together, it’s hard to deny how touching their care and devotion to each other is.

A couple of other things that are notable about him are how in his own right, he’s able to inspire others to be better people, and his capacity for forgiveness. For instance, it was his act of coming to Sakura’s aid when there was nothing in it for him and he was still at a significant disadvantage that not only earned her respect, but kick-started her own gradual development into a more mature, responsible, and selfless person. She herself admits and outright thanks him for it at the time. And how can we not mention how effortlessly he forgave Gaara for nearly crippling him and destroying his dream? In Gaara’s defense, he did go through some of the biggest and most positive character development I’ve seen from any character in any show, not to mention he had a truly horrible childhood that acted as a very legitimate excuse for how he initially turned out. However, it doesn’t change the fact that at the time they originally fought each other, he was still a dangerously bloodthirsty psychopath who unnecessarily inflicted very serious injuries on him and even tried to kill him twice. Despite that, he still bared no ill will towards him later on after he turned his life around, to the point they pretty much consider each other friends. I can’t help thinking many of the other characters wouldn’t have been able to do that nearly as easily.

Overall, despite often coming across as a dorky, over-enthusiastic goofball, I think Rock Lee’s a very, very kind and honorable individual even by the standards of the series, as well as among the most inspiring alongside the likes of Hinata Hyuga, and of course, Naruto himself.

What’s the verdict?
I personally think he’s one of the most deserving characters from Naruto for the category behind only a select few like Hinata Hyuga and Hiruzen Saratobi, who are at least listed as such already, even though they’re not officially approved. I can see why others might think he’s more of an Outright hero than Pure Good, but I’ve given my reasons for why I think he ultimately qualifies. If I missed anything important by not being too familiar with the later parts of the story, I apologize, but I did try to take that into consideration, and at least I’ll know now if I did. Your thoughts?