Is anyone getting tired of all these goddamn shounen/seinin manga's with a main protagonist that cant do crap? Usually its in a harem type manga. I like harem manga's but now a days the MC is just a useless piece of shit. Oh yeah and his only good quality is his kindness. Now I don't mind the MC being nice and all but when he can't do shit to back it up, it just gets annoying as hell. Sorry for going off like this but this kinda MC is just popping up way to damn much for my taste. They should make a new genre tag called pathetic or useless protagonist or something.

Last edited by keikun4283 at 1:34 pm, Jul 25 2010

thats shounen for you

i hate this crap too

either the protagonist is a dump iditot that cant do shit and cant make up his mind in millenias but somehow gets involved in a story through some sidecharacters,

or he is somewhat a looser who miraculasly has a super secret power he didnt know he had.

exceptions are a few.

why cant the main char of Mirai Nikki be a little more manly. this manga is so epic, but it could be the best of all if the main char wouldnt be so worthless.

Well in shounen/seinin it is pretty much defined by that type of character, especially in romance. Shoujo is different in the aspects that the male character is popular, tough, etc while the female is lame. It is annoying, but that is what defines the genre, a everyday loser that could be you.



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An instant or an eternity. Both are the same, in the passing of an instant lies the beauty of eternity.
-Ginen Shounen

Because I am a small man, my heart is moved by what's in front of my eyes, not by what the whole world needs.
-D.Gray-man

Yeah but that's only to make the reader relate to the mc because most of them are probably obsessed jap otaku losers with no life that can't tell the difference between reality and fiction. Though that's a little unfair of me to say that because I know that not all of them are like that but probably a good majority. I know the difference and I only read this stuff because I like all the different ways that the mc interacts with the girls. Hell I only watched the anime Toaru Kagaku no Railgun because I figured out that the mc from the main series Toaru Majutsu no Index makes some appearances in some of the main heroines show to see what happened when these two interacted with each other.

Your unfairly placing a stigma on manga readers, I don't believe that the majority of readers are 'jap otaku losers' they, like you, enjoy the interactions of a protagonist in a reality that they won't experiance firsthand. If anything I'd like to believe that the pathetic protagonist is supreme to an otherwise awesome character, they allow character development and make them more lovable. If you have playboy as a maincharacter he is cool, but can you like a shallow guy like that. He can be quite flat.

But their is another type, the simply strong and dimwitted ones Beelzebub or sometimes smart SWOT. Those are the best and I think they are becoming more frequently used. Though they are nonexsistant in 100% romance/drama manga(maybe you can count Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai). In an adventure based slow romance their are a few like in Arata Kangatari and Mahou Tsukai Kurohime(which I recomend, a thrilling adventure with a semi-slow romance that is pretty developed).

I would go on, but I feel like an otaku now and I got to wash the dirty feeling off me before I gain 100lb and break out in acne.

________________
An instant or an eternity. Both are the same, in the passing of an instant lies the beauty of eternity.
-Ginen Shounen

Because I am a small man, my heart is moved by what's in front of my eyes, not by what the whole world needs.
-D.Gray-man

Ah sorry maybe I should have made it a little bit more clear. Im pretty much just talking about lately mostly for harem manga's there pretty much just been a bunch of useless mc's that cant do crap and only have there kindness to back them up while the women that love them do all the work and get the crap beaten out of them or sometimes even worse. I don't really care for that kind of stuff. Call me old fashioned but I'd want to be able to protect the women that I love or the people that care about me from anything and everything not just when it counts. Take the manwa Freezing for example. I've been reading the scanlations and the raws for it and the mc is just totally pissing me off pretty much being absolutely useless most of the time. This type of kindness preaching pretty much worthless male mc is just becoming to common for my tastes. Its like the roles have been reversed having the female do everything for the male. Now I can respect a strong independent woman but when she's getting hurt or something and the guy that loves her can't do a thing about it seriously pisses me off. Those manga's that you mentioned though are different. The mc's in those are not completely useless. The manga's themselves go along with there strength's and makes them important to the story.

Oh yea harems are all like that, I used to love them, but they are all the same garbage and I hate to see the disappointed girls who aren't choosen in the end.

By the way Freezing's character isn't that bad! I mean he wants to be strong and help, but he doesn't have the alien stigma things that make the females pwn.

________________
An instant or an eternity. Both are the same, in the passing of an instant lies the beauty of eternity.
-Ginen Shounen

Because I am a small man, my heart is moved by what's in front of my eyes, not by what the whole world needs.
-D.Gray-man

Anyhow to get technical all Harems are male fantasy fulfillment manga, they fill a need to be loved by multiple girls and to be fought over, sometimes literally. I don't see the harm of putting a pathetic everyman in those situations but you must stray away from the cliches.

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Okay that stepbother part sounds really famliar, but I don't remember a conflitation between the male protagonist and the step bother, can you tell me the chapter number?

Last edited by Wage Knight at 9:50 pm, Jul 25 2010

________________
An instant or an eternity. Both are the same, in the passing of an instant lies the beauty of eternity.
-Ginen Shounen

Because I am a small man, my heart is moved by what's in front of my eyes, not by what the whole world needs.
-D.Gray-man

Try Good Ending. The male lead actually recognizes his own failures and at least tries to correct them.

Love GE - Good Ending, that manga rocks.

________________
An instant or an eternity. Both are the same, in the passing of an instant lies the beauty of eternity.
-Ginen Shounen

Because I am a small man, my heart is moved by what's in front of my eyes, not by what the whole world needs.
-D.Gray-man

I don't remember what chapter it starts on. I think it was 43 or something like that. So far all I've found is up to chapter 46. There all raws though but if you read through them you'll probably understand why I'm so pissed.

so you're saying that there are actually people out there who identify themselves with this kind of crappy humans? and a ton of them at least since these shounen and shoujo genre are excessivly succesful.
i never understood how people can identifiy with stupid, whiny, only-food-loving and unrealistic shoujo/shounen-clichee characters like those.

i want to read stories that catches the readers attention with clever characters like Kira from Death Note, or brave characters like the main from Holyland...or realistic characters like Nana....and so on.

is that not what a good story is all about? interesting characters, interesting story development, convincing challenges...and so on.

i dont think shoujo and shounen are defined by lowly character traits. it just seems to sell somehow.
shounen and shoujo are aimed at young people. i think its quite bad if so many young people would identify themselves with loosers.
shounen and shoujo is a very misinterpreted demography i think. it has much potential if storywriters would use it correctly.

Tired of it? Yes.
Is it going to stop? No.

If I don't like it, I don't read it. Simple as.

'tis a shame though I know what you mean. There are so many manga out there with decent enough plots but the main protagonist is just a fail. Yes, you see it so often I know, but complaining about it does nothing because it's probably going to stay like that.
Although, there are some that are straying away from this typical situation, like GE as someone mentioned above.

As for Freezing I'll have to disagree with your interpretation of the main character.

there are a lot of manga's like that and most of the time they get better but there are also many that have main characters who are either physically strong or mentally.

manga like.

Zippy Ziggy
Zetman
One Piece
Yureka
The world god only knows
Jack frost.

many more.
i tried to pick ones that have teens as their main.

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