Why is it that most of the time in manga and anime the main character is ether a moron , looser , weak , shy , perverted , or all of the above?
And the female lead is EXTREMELY SHY, innocent , goody goody and all that crap?

I mean they give characters that are in high school the mentality of a 7 year old and when ever some one mentions a kissing or anything sexual everyone blushes , runs away , or goes in to panic and faints, I'll admit its sometimes funny ( maybe once or twice every 6 episodes or so but not every chapter / episode ) I mean WTF is wrong with the people in Japan are they seriously like that? Why cant they make the characters that act a lil more normal and they should really stop making weird male protagonists that get nose bleeds when ever they see boobs.

Has to do with the target audience.

If a majority of the people reading it are cowardly, inexperienced with women, etc. etc. then it stands to reason that such a protagonist will be more easy to relate to.

Isn't this a repeat though?

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There might be a certain amount of exaggeration, but if you're finding weak girls or guys in shoujo and 'shounen' (assuming it's not the action ones but the 'harem' types ones), the mangaka is using something that the average readers, which are young girls and young boys, can relate to.

And remember, anime and manga is a *fantasy*. This is how the Japanese view it and this is why Japanese men can read pornographic or hentai manga right next to a female on a train and not even feel self-conscious. There is some stuff, even if it's the adult stuff, that shouldn't happen (legally), and probably can't physically happen.

Also, it could be due to lazy writing, or that the manga was too short for characters that are more than "flat" or "2-dimensional".

And if your post is because of manga burn-out or frustration, maybe it's good to find out what screws up manga with these setups and then avoid them. Or maybe take a break from them, and see if even young adult novels might give you better character depth.

And female characters can't really be "goody, goody" if she takes part in a manga labelled "smut". Or maybe you don't read this, so it's not included in the characters you're not happy with.

You should maybe look in the recommendations under Power Couples.

Edit:
Yeah, Crenshinibon, I'm having deja vu on this topic too. But I checked my back posts and I can't find what it is, and I remember replying too.

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Im a guy and almost 19 and i dont like shoujo much i hate the stories most of the time but its what appeals to girls i guess , but yeh as you mentioned i like mangas with the smut, mature, adult genres more because they have some realism in it and they dont exaggerate on things 2much ( this is what i hate most in mangas ). They usually have things that can happen to people and the characters in the story are more human like when it comes to personality unlike most.

I guess it depends on the magazine's age target. I mean realistic characters usually don't appeal to teenagers and younger audience. That's why most shounen/shoujo characters seem shallow ?! simple minded...
If you're looking for realistic characters try sienen and joesi mangas

This has been covered ad infinitum. I can't remember the thread name, though...

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Because everyone can connect to one of those traits themselves. Everyone is at least a little moronic, shy, a little bit of a loser, and almost everyone is somewhat perverted. But, not everyone can associate themselves with a main character that is successful and brave.

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a thread about something else that finally degenerated in a discussion about why certain mangas suck?

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With all the searching I did, this is the closest I found so far...

http://www.mangaupdates.com/showtopic.php?tid=7195

*will continue looking if there really is another one...

I know exactly what you mean icecold.
I have started to delete/stop reading manga that has weak/shy/blushing etcetc.
Cause as you said when they see "boobs" = nosebleeds and faint.
At first I thought it was funny and odd but when almost every shounen romance/harem etc has that, it becomes really annoying.
Btw smut = sex but not showing the nipples and vagina/penis?

Weak leads seriously piss me off. I physically can not bring myself to read the vast majority of shounen romance as a result. If the main character is a pathetic generic loser I for one find it exceedingly difficult to relate to him.

As such, I read near exclusively action manga (well a good amount of yuri and hentai too). For the most part you get far more tolerable main characters there.

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I don't know really but all I can say is that people like success stories. Be it about a real life person from a low class upbringing who is now an important person or a weak shy person in a manga who is able to get the girl he wants.
People like success, it gives hope to the reader and make the reader feel all warm and fuzzy inside
But I must admit its being used so much to an extent that I find it more of a delusion than success, but in the end its all about what will sell and its always best to find a large target audience.

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I have a power complex, I tend to glance over a lot of manga but only stick with ones which have a powerful lead. I hate it when females are degenerated into 'damsel in distress' type characters purely for males to rescue, I prefer a female who can give as good as she gets and more. A lot on manga I enjoyed when I was young and new to this whole world, like Naruto and Bleach, I only read now purely because I refuse to stop having gotten through so many chapters. That just the stubborness in me, lol. Character development is so important to me I can't read manga with 2-D characters, they get repetitive and boring. I avoid anything that is harem unless specifically recommended to me, same with yaoi, yuri and hentai.

I guess younger readers enjoy such simple-minded characters because it doesn't require too much effort to follow the story line and having a stupid lead gives an opportunity to explain EVERYTHING! Just to make sure the kids get it. Also the ridiculously large number of fight scenes keep boys interested and girls are all caught up with the fairytale romances. The exaggerated reaction to even the merest hint of sexual contact will just be a way of keeping the manga 'clean' I guess despite most harem's are also ecchi.

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although it's like that why does almost always all the
"bad" - "wicked" - "peverted" (one of them or all)
always gets the girl not the smart one or ect



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I like characters who aren't necessarily evil or good, like Yuri of No. 5. He decides to carve a path of his own, he's a bit selfish and stubborn, which I can relate to. He's an expert marksman and doesn't hesitate when it comes to murdering his closest friends, but that doesn't stop him from crying either.