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New Poll - Importance of the Main Character

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12:12 am, Mar 3 2018
Posts: 10648


This week's poll was suggested by icassop. With all things being equal, would you continue reading a series even though you hate the main character? Any examples of that you can remember?

You can submit poll ideas here
http://www.mangaupdates.com/showtopic.php?tid=3903

Previous Poll Results:
Question: How should non-standard Japanese dialects be translated?
Choices:
Translate to a non-standard English dialect or accent - votes: 2257 (48.8%)
Standard English without any note - votes: 137 (3%)
Standard English with a translation note - votes: 2233 (48.3%)
There were 4627 total votes.
The poll ended: March 3rd 2018

Wow, that was almost an even split. Very surprising

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hungry
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3:22 am, Mar 3 2018
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I'll keep trying in hopes that the main character improves.
Shitload of Novels(WN/LN) with fairly good ratings nowadays are just of this kind.

For example look at Death March kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyousoukyoku (Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody). This shit started as a Novel, then Manga spin-off, now even a Anime. MC (beta) is an Asshole. Side Characters are Annoying and mostly useless. Ditching midway isn't my style, so still hoping btw.
This one is just one of many. Don't have a particular hard-on for just this one. It simply came to my mind atm before others.

Last edited by MinatoAce at 3:46 am, Mar 3 2018

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Post #754877
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4:44 am, Mar 3 2018
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I'll keep trying in hopes that the main character improves.

It's not a manga (it does have a manga and anime adaptation though), but this is the case of one of my favorite games, Tales of the Abyss. For around a third of the story the main character is absolutely unbearable!

I love stories about learning to be a better person, so a story that starts with a hateful main character can be actually kind of compelling for me. Of course, it has to be the kind of story that realizes the problems of the main character's attitude. If his/her horrible personality is presented as being great, then I don't think I could keep on reading.

Post #754878 - Reply to (#754874) by MinatoAce
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6:01 am, Mar 3 2018
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I dodged Death March when it became an anime. The first episode just wasn't for me and it reminded me a lot of another crappy anime I had to drop, Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni.

As for the question of the poll. It depends for me. There have been MCs that I've disliked, but I still watched/read the anime/manga, but I didn't hate them. They were annoying, but barely tolerable. If the MC really just rubbed me wrong, I would probably drop the serie if I don't love the rest of the story. If I love the story, the art and the other characters, then I'll just bear with it and keep reading, though I maybe rage "quit" at some point.

A good MC can make a good story great, but a bad MC makes a good story either average or bad (at least for me.)

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6:19 am, Mar 3 2018
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Answered Yes, the other stuff is more important to me , but it really depends on how prominent the other characters are.

For example: I hate harem MC-kun, but I actually like the girls. Since it's a harem, I know I'll be seeing a lot of the girls so I'll tolerate MC and continue reading. If it's an adventure and I hate MC-kun, and he keeps switching companions (like Pokemon Ash), I'll probably stop.

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Lone Wanderer
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6:27 am, Mar 3 2018
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Nice poll!

I almost never like the protagonist, my favourite usually ends up being the second or third lead (who is not a love interest), and I'm a very plot-focused reader, so this was a fairly straightforward choice of: Yes, the other stuff is more important to me.

As for giving examples... I think it'd be easier for me to name series where I didn't at least slightly dislike the MC none

Last edited by calstine at 6:32 am, Mar 3 2018

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7:20 am, Mar 3 2018
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Yes, the other stuff is more important to me, as protagonists who start out as worthy of "hatred" are basically incapable of improving. That´s why i didn´t chose No.3.
I am currently finishing up the optional bosses of the PS4 remaster of Final Fantasy XII and the whole cast and story are as tedious as it get´s (the original director left halfway though production and the game was then re-written to appeal to teens). Yet i also finished the game back on the PS2 due to how good the core gameplay is. A ton of games have shit stories and leads, so on to manga.
Nana´s protagonist is a vain bitch without any talent of dive, so i can´t get behind her being treated like an angel by nearly everyone, yet she is also a realistic character. Can´t hate that.
Guts is somewhat hard to get for the first 3 volumes and even the retroactive continuity of the Golden Age can´t quite make sense of the prologue.Yet he is as good as a protagonists gets when taken as a whole. I will still repeat that he didn´t start of as a bad character. Just an underwritten one for about 2 volumes. The original Macross trio and their brain dead love triangle lastly drags down the whole show, but i didn´t start "hating" them when i saw the first ep. I was certainly at the boiling point when the show went on for 36 eps. though, so never forget that things can always deteriorate.

I don´t think that you can polish a turd in the end, so i can´t see a long from manga, book, etc. working if it stars Bella Swan, Johnny from The Room or someone written by David Cage (the amount of trash he can put into 2000+ pages of a video-game script is legendary).
A short form story on the other hand could work on the strength of the rest. Option 2 may then kick in if the story just goes on and on and...

Last edited by residentgrigo at 7:33 am, Mar 3 2018

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Post #754883
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11:10 am, Mar 3 2018
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It's unlikely I'll continue reading/watching if I hate the main character. I dropped a few series because of this as I feel the character just un-redeemable, annoying or just simply boring.

If the story has switching POV like HxH where the story focuses on several characters I probably can just tune out the main character but that also depends on how much the main character influence on other aspects of the story.



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12:31 pm, Mar 3 2018
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Yes, the other stuff is more important to me

The list is long for series I keep going for just one chara that isn't the main like Accelerator in Toaru or Karma in Assassination Classroom.

Post #754887 - Reply to (#754880) by calstine
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12:36 pm, Mar 3 2018
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My fav is usually the same or the antagonist, some I keep for the plot, other just for that character.

Also not disliking slightly can be difficult, most have at least a moment that they are stupid, to name two really different cases of MC there is Natsume (Natsume Yuujinchou) and Akane (Psycho-Pass). Natsume I still mostly like but as a slice of life it's more about the feelings the manga gives than the characters or plot. Akane I didn't hate her but was one of my least fav thing of the anime.

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5:08 pm, Mar 3 2018
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I'm not going to keep reading a series where I don't like the main character, unless I've been assured that it will get better or there is a reason why the character is unlikable. There's just too much else to read/watch to bother with something that isn't working. Example: I loved Avatar: The Last Airbender, probably saw most of the episodes over four times, so I was looking forward to Legend of Korra. I watched the first season, but didn't make myself watch the subsequent seasons, because even though I liked everything else - the other characters, the worldview - I just couldn't stand Korra herself.

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5:40 pm, Mar 3 2018
Posts: 566


I'd keep reading. There are times when I find the main character to be annoying or stupid, but if the overall story is good then I don't need to like the main character.

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6:21 pm, Mar 3 2018
Posts: 144


I'll keep trying - in hopes main character dies horribly, and is replaced by a better one.

Post #754915 - Reply to (#754878) by Senrosj
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hungry
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7:44 am, Mar 4 2018
Posts: 421


Not watching the anime as well. Watched a part of the episode 1 and knew the it's the same dumb script. I mean it went down the same annoying path following Novel and Manga.
I merely used it as a reference for droppable series. smile

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7:58 am, Mar 4 2018
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It depends if the story is unique or if the story is just short (one-shot to about three volumes), I will continue the series till the end. If the story is just another Bleach or Marmalade Boy, then I can just continue reading Bleach or Marmalade Boy, respectively, instead of a series with an annoying lead.

There are so many series with the same plot that I don't need to waste my time on all of them.

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