Forum - View topicNot so likable protagonists
|
Goto page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Next |
| Author | Message | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Boomerang Flash
 Posts: 1021 |
|
|||||
|
This is something that hovered at the back of my mind when reading discussions about Death Note's Light. It seemed that most protagonists are created in such a way as to get the series' target demographic to like them. It's not particularly surprising. Part of enjoying the show is often to be able to identify with the protagonist. Even in the case of Light, where spoiler[he is a villain and a sociopath,] the protagonist is endowed with certain charisma that attracts a (rather disturbing) following.
And then, there are some shows where very few people seem to like the protagonist. If the majority exists, they are quite silent about it. Once in a while, a protagonist makes so many awful decisions during the course of the title that the viewers can't help but feel that he needs some physical punishment. As rare are the shows where the protagonist was deliberately made in such a way as to make the viewers hate him. I'm wondering which shows you've encountered where you simply can't stand the protagonist, and why? And, if it doesn't tempt the readers too much to violate the read all posts rule, I'd like to try to keep a tally in the first post. The Count Arjuna Arjuna - 1 Bastards! Dark Schneider - 1 Blood + Saya - 2 Captain Tsubasa Ozora Tsubasa - 1 Chrono Crusade Rosette - 1 Code Geass Lelouch - 1 Death Note Light Yagami - 5 Desert Punk ? - 1 Eureka 7 Renton - 2 Evangelion Shinji Ikari - 6 Fate/Stay Night Shiro - 3 Fullmetal Alchemist Edward Elric - 4 Fushigi Yugi Eikoden - 1 Gantz Kurono - 4 Grave of the Fireflies Seita - 1 Gundam Seed Destiny Shinn Asuka - 3 Infinite Ryvius Kouji Aiba - 2 Itazura na Kiss Kotoko Aihara - 1 Love Hina Keitaro Urashima - 1 Magic Knight Rayearth Hikaru - 1 My-Otome Arika - 1 Naruto Naruto Uzumaki - 3 Peach Girl Momo - 1 Sailor Moon Usagi - 1 School Days Makoto Itou - 3 Suzuka Suzuka Asahina - 1 Tenchi Muyo Tenchi Masaki - 1 Trigun Vash the Stampede - 1 Urusei Yatsura Moroboshi Ataru - 1 X TV Kamui - 2 Zeta Gundam Camille Bidan - 1 Me? I really couldn't stand Kouji Aiba of Infinite Ryvius. A person of limited abilities who is swept along by currents too strong for him describes this protagonist rather well. I am generally do not hate a protagonist for being weak. However, it's quite clear--from Kouji's narratives, from glimpses into his thoughts, and from what he does--that he consistently attempts tasks which are well beyond his abilities--from fighting his younger brother to attempting to exercise authority. If a crucial moment arises, he is almost certain to come up short. Nor does he attempt those tasks in a manner that can be called admirable, whether in the method he chooses or in his persistence. In the last climatic confrontation, spoiler[he is only saved from failure by the arrival of the adult rescuers.] Of course, he also touches quite a few of my idiosyncratic dislikes--my dislike of a character rises proportionally to the fraction of his spoken words occupied by "ore," particularly if they occur in thoughts of the character that are voiced so that only the viewer can hear, and he is constantly being beaten by his brother, who reminds me too much of Shinn Asuka. Of course, the last sentence implies that I also hate Shinn Asuka of Gundam Seed Destiny. He is an irrational and angry kid who embodies the berserker concept that Andrew Waltfield referred to in Seed. He spends too much of the series being anti-social, yelling, and generally being an arrogant delinquent who has too little thoughts of his own in areas where it actually counted. Last edited by Boomerang Flash on Thu Jun 05, 2008 5:01 am; edited 9 times in total |
||||||
|
||||||
Xenofan 29A
 Posts: 378 |
|
|||||
|
I hated the main character of Zeta Gundam, Camille Bidan, from the few episodes I watched. That guy was everything Evangelion detractors claim Shinji is: whiny, obnoxious, completely idiotic.
|
||||||
|
||||||
DerekTheRed
 Posts: 3544 Location: ::Points to hand:: |
|
|||||
|
Well, the title character of Desert Punk isn't very likable. As a mater of fact, he's an enormous douche nozzle. He's cocky, a womanizer, dirty, materialistic, un-remorseful and he only cares about himself. I find it a little odd that there are a few episodes of Desert Punk where, depending on how you interpret it, the message is that these are sometimes good traits to have...
|
||||||
|
||||||
BladeDragoonZETA
 Posts: 586 |
|
|||||
see all of Zeta then; Camille gets to be pretty awesome by the end. I'd have to say my least favorite protagonist is Shinji, this kid does nothing but whine back in the day; when kids were given super robots and tragic pasts they dealt with it and DIDN'T let their whining get in the way of doing the job cause they knew if they didn't they'd get a slap to the face but you modern Angst-y pilots got it easy you just gotta whine and complain. |
||||||
|
||||||
Olliff
 Posts: 550 |
|
|||||
|
A clear distinction must be made between unlikeable anti-heroes and villain protagonists. Both have a very different characteristics that can cause a viewer to dislike them.
|
||||||
|
||||||
|
sanosuke32
Posts: 454 |
|
|||||
|
Definitely Shiro from Fate/Stay Night, I hate the way he acts, the things he says, makes me wanna punch him in his virtual face.
Thats pretty much all I can think of right now, except for Alucard from Hellsing (joking of course  )
|
||||||
|
||||||
the Rancorous
 Posts: 2248 Location: Hunting the Dragon in Gransys |
|
|||||
And completely and unquestionably spoiler[save humanity as we know it.] I think that one of the main reasons I loved Shinji is that up until I saw Evangelion, most of the characters in mecha anime that I have seen were all either the "emotionless-badass" (Gundam) or the "I'm just too cool" persona (Big-O). So Shinji was a definite welcome change from those annoyingly over common character types that were impossible to relate to.
I actually prefer it when the main Pilot or whatever has to deal with their own insecurities and shortcomings that go beyond "I wasn't able to defeat him in battle," its much more believeable and less cliche.
Yes, I felt the same way through the first half of the series. But I hope that you watched more of this series, since Shiro actually does take on a more realistic ideal and faces the fact that he spoiler[may not beable to save everyone.] I felt that this lead him into being a redeemable character by the end of the series. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
Azmodeus
Posts: 185 Location: Sweden, ass end of nowhere |
|
|||||
|
I Gotta agree with those who have said Shinji Ikari so far. while i'll understand why people like a more realistic robot pilot than your average shounen hero, to me Shinji felt unrealistically emtional. It is one thing perform badly at something when you feel left alone and deppresed, but when the fate of humanity is at stake spoiler[running away from your duties three times (if i remember correctly)] Is a big no-no in my book.
|
||||||
|
||||||
Ishmoo
 Posts: 413 Location: Fredericksburg, VA |
|
|||||
|
Momo from Peach Girl is one that really got on my nerves. spoiler[She gets totally destroyed by Sai and keeps letting it happen over and over. ]I kept wanting to shout at the screen, “Stand up for yourself already Girl! spoiler[Tell them like it is and ditch that moronic Toji. He’s a tool! ]Don’t you have any dignity??? I’m not sure why I stuck with this series, addicted to the melodrama I guess.
Saya from Blood+ was a good character but I found myself getting annoyed with her habit of fighting spoiler[half the battle with the Chiroptids before “loading” her sword with blood. I mean, if you can’t kill them without it why fart around for several minutes, giving them the chance to strike you and your loved ones before using the one weapon that actually works. Once again, I was shouting at the screen, “Just bleed on the damn sword already so you have at least some chance of taking them out ” I’d have opened an artery on that bad boy at the first sight of a monster.] |
||||||
|
||||||
Mohawk52
 Posts: 8202 Location: England, UK |
|
|||||
|
Rentin From Eureka Seven spoiler[Holland couldn't slap him enough. The boy's as thick as a brick. ]
|
||||||
|
||||||
|
BladeDragoonZETA
Posts: 586 |
|
|||||
I don't remember Shimji ever spoiler[saving humanity; he just wined to Rei and Kouru till they gave up and threw him out of the LCL] also I'm afraid you haven't seen much Gundam if you can only think of the one pilot persona from Wing;
Like I said you seem to have only seen Wing; Amuro and Csamille start out just about as whiny as Shinji but like I said they never let it get in the way of doing the job or they'll get a slap to the face. let me put it this way: "Shinji, all of humanity is going to die" Shinji: "my problems are more important WAAAAAAAAAAAH" vs. "Amuro, all of humanity is going to die" Amuro: "I'm still not over spoiler[my dead girlfriend] but that sounds bad I'd better get on that" |
||||||
|
||||||
Tama!Tama!Tama!
 Posts: 52 |
|
|||||
|
Why does shinji get such a bad reputation.. far as I could tell the show wasn't about saving all of humanity as it was about shinji dealing with his problems in the first place. So in that respect isn't he suppose to be that way, I mean Okay my moms dead, my dad calls on me only to control a machine I've never seen before and to top it off he has girls running around who are out of there mind, he is fourteen for crying out loud. I wont go on anymore sorry
In most of the other mecha style anime's most of them don't have much to worry about besides saving all of humanity or most of it if humanity doesn't get destroyed in the process.
One protagonist I can't stand is - Kouji Aiba from Infinite Ryvius I didn't see him as a stand out character not that everyone needs to stand out but for a main you have to get involved with that characters depth which he didn't have to much of not to mention his rash decisions. |
||||||
|
||||||
NocturnalUX
 Posts: 448 Location: Portugal |
|
|||||
|
I actually tend to dislike the main characters in plenty of shows. For example, as much I like Sailor Moon I never could stand Usagi. I enjoy virtually the entire cast but she grinds my gears in a particular manner. It is not the constant crying that upsets me as much how she spoiler[repeatedly refuses to kill her friends even if it is for the sake of saving the world. Granted, the show's very narrative makes it possible for her to get away with it without actually getting the world destroyed but it still annoys me.]
In a very different manner I don't like Kurono from Gantz but then again I am pretty sure the viewer is not supposed to. His horny ways could be excusable but spoiler[I hated how he managed to be all annoyed at Kei liking Kato...in the middle of the battles. It was just silly but then again given how the cast is prone to just stand around chatting when violent and highly dangerous aliens are prowling instead of promptly shooting them, it probably is an issue with the series itself and not just a Kurono thing. Still, I was glad Kei chose Kato over him even if it was one of the world's shortest lived romances ever.] And as much as I loved Fullmetal Alchemist there were plenty of moments when Ed's preachy ways got extremely annoying. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
Vuwazy
Posts: 208 |
|
|||||
|
Naruto Uzumaki from Naruto. He's such a loser sometimes it's not even funny. A character who wants to be respected but act in manners I don't find the most interesting. He is also not really too good of a fighter. He just has a special power inside of him. Outside of that he lacks some skill. Then how he uses the clone move so much in a lot of his fights. It's like thats all he can do. Doesn't matter how many of himself he makes because he gets owned anyways.
|
||||||
|
||||||
Dorcas_Aurelia
 Posts: 5344 Location: Philly |
|
|||||
|
How was Makoto Ito of
I'll also add my vote to the list of Shinji haters because of his incessant whining. If you're gonna whine that much, you have to at least take out a guy wielding a flame thrower unarmed. Probably not going to be a popular choice for unlikeable protaganist, but Rosette from Chrono Crusade. She was okay for the first half of the series, but it's like she became less and less capable. Sure, it's not expected for a normal girl to beat the biggest baddest demon there is, but *Major Spoiler* spoiler[submitting to become his little puppet was just irresponsible. I'm glad she died.] |
||||||
|
||||||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group