Character Analysis: PaRappa The Rapper
Character Analysis: PaRappa The Rapper
Background
Name: PaRappa Rappa
Age: Likely 18
Height: Varies
First Appearance: PaRappa The Rapper (PS1) (1996)
Likes: Rapping, Skateboarding, Sunny Funny
Dislikes: Noodles, Joe Chin, Gaster, Fighting
“You gotta do what? I gotta BELIEVE!” PaRappa The Rapper, created by Rodney Alan Greenblat, would go on to be considered one of the first Rhythm Games. While his time in the spotlight was relatively short, roughly spanning from 1996 to 2002, the legacy that he would leave would be massive. It established the genre worldwide and effectively managed to keep the genre going. It has fans and fan-artists still going strong, it's still selling merch, he’s still referenced by Playstation’s social media, and PaRappa was even in Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale. Very Recently, PaRappa got a cameo outfit in Astro Bot, showing his presence to this day
Before We Begin…
PaRappa is fairly straightforward in terms of what we give him. He gets his 2 games, along with the spin-off. He also has several pieces of extended media, such as several anime and comics. He also has a playable appearance in Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale, while we are obviously not going to scale him to other characters in said game, it gives him a more fleshed out ability pool, all of which he should realistically be able to do, especially with his legitimate training.
Equipment
Microphone
Despite never using this in the actual games, he is always depicted as having one. Besides the obvious use of singing with it, PaRappa can use it to attack or even pull his opponents closer to him.
Skateboard
PaRappa’s favorite form of transportation. He can use it to quickly zoom around. He can also use it as a means of attack, reflect attacks, or as a shield.
Boxy-Boy
PaRappa’s sentient boom box. He seems to possess some level of clairvoyance, as he can guide PaRappa and help him practice lyrics from an upcoming song despite it not happening yet. PaRappa can also ask him for advice, in which he provides details from the future, although in the form of jumbled up speech that PaRappa has to decipher in order to make use of. One of his most impressive showings of his clairvoyance is when he was able to foresee his own kidnapping and set up a plan ahead of time in order for PaRappa to find him. Boxy Boy also has a built in defense system that shocks people who try to forcibly open him.
In PSASBR, Boxy Boy can also be used as a means of attack, by sending loud shockwaves that can send opponents flying
De-Noodlizer + Military Car
PaRappa has been given a car from the military. It is attached with a De-Noodlizer, which reverts the transmutation effects of the Noodlizers, turning Noodles back to what they originally were.
Chainsaw
Never use Joe Chin Chains for them. Pretty much just a standard Chainsaw.
Horse
He just…has one for some reason
PaRappa’s Hat
Just like Double D, it’s a great mystery what’s under PaRappa’s hat, even PaRappa himself doesn’t know. However, it has been removed before and those who were able to see for themselves were notably freaked out.
Abilities/Skills
Vehicular Mastery
PaRappa has consistently shown the ability to pilot nearly every vehicle he has come across. From getting his drivers license, to being able to fly a plane, flying a helicopter, operate a rocket that he built with his friends, to even freaking Santa’s Sleigh
Karate Mastery
In an attempt to become a hero, PaRappa learned Karate, training under Chop Chop Master Onion, gaining his approval, and even called him “so good” that he’ll lose money with students like him. PaRappa here practices his Punches and Kicks along with his dodges.
PaRappa would also learn its cousin technique, Love Karate, where for the most part it’s effectively the same thing, but with some flirtatious moves thrown in there.
Military Training
In order to become a man and aid in the Noodle war, PaRappa was given military training. Here he would test his endurance, strength, and stamina through various exercises. In Cool Mode he is even told that he has nothing left to be taught.
Limited Elasticity
PaRappa can stretch his arms far and wide in order to attack enemies by surprise, or to just grab the TV remote.
Limited Imagination Creation
PaRappa has shown that he can make his thoughts somewhat real, since they are able to physically grab him and beat him across the head. This is further consistent in the anime, where one of the characters was able to physically grab something from one’s imagination, though they don’t tend to last long.
Regeneration
PaRappa can seemingly regenerate from a blob. Implying he can survive without limbs. He can also survive being flattened. While PaRappa himself has never shown this level of regeneration, Gaster was able to regenerate from ash and for the most part, most of the PaRappa Town residents are similar physiology.
Social Influence
“Only a game designed by nerds would have "charisma" as a fantasy power” - Stanley Pines
PaRappa can influence those around him with his rap, from convincing others to let him use the bathroom first to convincing Colonel Noodle to not take over the world.
Cool Mode
Cool Mode is when PaRappa raps “cool” enough, which allows him to take control of the song along with granting him a list of abilities.
These include:
Feats
Overall
Trained Martial Artists on top of Military training
Ended the Noodle War by convincing Colonel Noodle to not take over the world
Became a well known rapper in his town
Finally won Sunny Funny’s heart
His series created the best fictional character of all time: PJ Berri
Power
PaRappa can break metal in half
Can lift a giant dog, albeit he is struggling
Can resist winds strong enough to knock back large objects and cars
He can grow as tall as a planet (327 Exatons - 6451 Yottatons of TNT) (See QNA)
Durability
Can tank a quick car crash
Can survive a plane crash
Consistently tanks electricity
Was just fine after crashing into a window
Survived a building collapsing on him
Survived a popcorn explosion, causing a bus to lose control and fall a great distance, which then gets run over by a train, causing him to fall down into a flowing river and finally fall off a waterfall… yeah.
Can tank a giant asteroid in his giant form
Tanks a car crash that sends him into space, which then proceeds to fall back to Earth (443 Kilotons)
Speed
Can give a large amount of people haircuts in the length of one song
Can drive a plane into outer space
Can visibility react to a laser after its been fired
Can dodge and out pace rockets
Can move as a giant (0.15 c)
Scaling
PaRappa Town Residents
PaRappa should reasonably scale to most if not all of the PaRappa town residents given that he can trade blows with most of them, on top of PaRappa receiving extensive training and consistently being told he’s too good to be taught by his teachers.
PJ Berri
Is the greatest character of all time, can solo your favorite verse (Boundless)
MilkCan: Made of Katy, Lammy and Ma-San
Katy was able to throw a guitar into space and have Lammy catch it without issue. (484.216 Kilotons) (0.10 c)
Chop Chop Master Onion (Debatable if PaRappa fully scales to him)
Can effortlessly break down his dojo walls
Can knock down a pillar
Can become as large as a mountain (0.92 Megatons)
Gaster (not the undertale one)
Survived a big explosion
Survived an explosion large enough to launch an entire Bank’s vault into space
Misc Characters
Joe Chin can effortlessly carry a large cake that extends past the clouds and manages to stop a plane. (Class G)
This random dude gets sent flying by weight lifts
One of PaRappa’s teacher’s tanks a rocket crashing into the ground
Schmidt tanks crashing into the ground at high speeds
Kratos
bro what
QNA
Large Planet PaRappa?
Probably the biggest thing I need to address. First things first, this would only scale to PaRappa, only when he’s in his giant form. PaRappa becomes large enough to tower over the Earth, and as a result his mass changes with it. Using his speed as a giant to apply KE would land him around 6451 Yottatons.
As for why PaRappa is being granted this form? After all, he requires the defective De-Noodlizer to reach this size, right? Well, that’s one way he can reach that size, however as shown in Cool Mode, PaRappa can reach this size naturally if he raps cool enough. And given that some of his potential opponents are characters who also rap, it’s possible that he would naturally rap in a battle given the right circumstances, heck he doesn’t even need the opponent to rap back, he can just freestyle on his own. He’s also rapped in some intensive situations before, so doing so in a fight to the death isn’t that outlandish.
Basically: Only PaRappa scales, only in giant form which he can gain on his own.
Is PaRappa 2D?
It might sound like a strange question, but I think it’s worth exploring given some feats rely on the characters having volume. So visually PaRappa is depicted as flat, a 2D character in a 3D world. PaRappa took this route because a demo was created that depicted Greenblat’s characters in such an environment. His name is also a pun for the Japanese word “Paper Thin”. Despite this, it’s very clearly an art style rather than them actually being 2D. The anime depicts the cast as 3D rather than flat, this is also depicted as such in its sequel anime “PJ Berri no Mogu Mogu Munya Munya” all of which Greenblat played a part in, speaking of which…
Is The Anime Canon?
Ultimately I don’t think it matters as the anime isn’t very different from the games to be excluded, but let’s discuss it anyways. The biggest knocks against the anime being canon are that Rodney Greenblat wasn’t very involved in it. He in fact wasn’t allowed to work on it, protesting the de-aging of the characters, and only being allowed to design the characters. The other reason is that it's depicted as happening before the games due to PaRappa being younger but events of the games, along with characters, being referenced in the anime.
However, events and characters of the anime would later be directly referenced in the 2nd anime, which Greenblat was way more involved in. The anime would also be directly acknowledged by Greenblat in his website. So despite its slight contradictory timeline, it’s been referenced enough to be part of PaRappa history.
Summary
Attack Potency: Large Town to Small City Level (Via scaling to his friends and being comparable if not stronger than all of the PaRappa Town Residents) Moon to Large Planet Level as a Giant (Via growing as tall as the Earth)
Speed: Hyper Sonic to Relativistic (Via dodging rockets and reacting to lasers. Via scaling to his friends who can throw and catch guitars at these speeds. Via moving as a giant)
Durability: Large Town to Small City (Via tanking a car crash that sent him into space. Via being comparable to his friends) Large Planet as a Giant (Tanked an asteroid that hit him hard enough to spin in place)
Decent regeneration as he can regen from a Blob and possibly ash
Legitimate training with Karate and the Military
Can potentially get prep time with Boxy Boy
Cool Mode can make him as large as the planet
Minor Toon Force abilities
Nice
ReplyDeleteYo, thanks!
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