21-30 years old

I find that most leads act like (or think like) there in their 20s so I would rather the author just have them in their 20s.

Its truly a skill to create a believable child or an immortal. And many authors just don't have those skillsets, trying to cop out by saying the child is a genius does not work.

These kinda feel like bad age bands for this question. 11-20 covers everything from an elementary student to a young professional. Anything 40+ basically falls into the same category too, outside a handful of "Old Man waiting to die" stories I've run into.

But I see we have overwhelming votes for 20-something so I guess it doesn't really matter.

I'm sort of surprised at how many votes are for 20-30, especially considering how much manga features teenaged characters.

Chose 41-50, but anyone over 40 will do so long as the writer is competent. I enjoy reading about the experiences (imagined or personal) of those older than me who have already "been there, done that". It gives me a better perspective on my own path in life and I usually end up relating to older protagonists more... at least the ones who aren't trying to hook up with teenagers.

I find young(sometimes very young) protagonists to be heartbreaking.
anyone under 16 shouldn't have to be sifting through the garbage heap of life
poor circumstances can ruin any entertainment I get from the storytelling
I think 21-30 is a great age for exploration and conquering

No preference! I refuse to choose!!!

I guess I could say ‘anything but young child’ since young children are usually quite boring. Other than that I don’t care, since different ages will better suit different stories.

I'll agree that the age ranges are weird. I prefer 15-25. As much as I like characters who act a little more mature, if someone is nearing 30 and they're just starting a fantasy adventure in life, there really aren't a lot of people they can take with them without it seeming really forced.

It's an issue of plausibility, at least for the kinds of stories I prefer. There certainly are stories that do well with an older protagonist, and I like a few a lot, but it's just so much easier to have a character explore something when their understanding of the world is still developing.

I would like more protagonists between the ages of 25-80, but like... so often these adults just end up acting the same as the teenage protagonists. While I understand that not everything about you will change when you turn 20 something, it's annoying when every way they react is like they've never emotionally matured past high school

Oh other pet peeve, when characters are like "you're so old" or "I'm so old" and then they're like. 28. Like hey man what. That's barely even old enough to have a QUARTER life crisis. There's something to be said about the general occupational culture in Japan that causes this to happen (and before people say the US and other places do too, Japan's is just especially bad to the point that people have made an entire fucking genre about how getting hit by a truck is better), but I was reading a manga and one of the senpais early on was like "I remember when I had that kind of youth and energy" and like dude you are literally only two years older than these high schoolers. That flashback to when you had that youth and energy was literally a year ago. What are you talking about.