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Post by Darthtabby on Sept 2, 2013 12:23:55 GMT -7
Okay, question: are female characters in anime generally a lot more interesting than male characters in anime, or do I just take more interest in the female characters because I'm a guy?
Its kind of pathetic how much difficulty I have coming up with a good list of favorite male characters.
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Post by the_kumatei on Sept 3, 2013 4:11:31 GMT -7
IMNO, In my negative opinion, most of the time male characters are incredibly boring. They have black/brown hair, skinny, useless, generic, and suddenly have an obscure ability or power, (or mech) that allows the other 10yr old japanese kids to root for them.
Female characters are designed to be all different from each other. Each having a different hair color or personality trait/ability. They are often more numerous, or in the least, have more on-screen time. This leads to the female characters being the same standard set of cliches.
I really dont think its pathetic for it to be hard to find a list of favorite male characters. Most of the time its their power or their mech that people remember anyway.
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Post by Misha on Sept 3, 2013 10:28:12 GMT -7
I think that's because male characters are mostly supposed to be insert fantasies. They're generic and bland so you can substitute your own looks/personality and imagine yourself surrounded by all the unique and personable girl characters.
Not that it's a good reason, but I think that's what it's about.
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Post by Darthtabby on Sept 14, 2013 14:03:07 GMT -7
That's certainly true for wish fulfillment harem series, but even in series with less of a self insert wish fulfillment component the girls often seem more interesting than the guys.
Part of the problem might also be the fact that pretty much any male character who is weak or indecisive is going to get dumped on for it. I can find a character who is struggling with feelings of powerlessness to be interesting, but I'm not necessarily going to be keen to put him on my list of favorite anime characters if everyone else thinks he sucks.
I also have trouble thinking of too many male anime characters I really like who don't prove to be badass somehow.
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Post by the_kumatei on Sept 14, 2013 20:50:09 GMT -7
One character sort of fit both worlds was Fei Fong Wong from the ps1 game Xenogears (it was very anime-like). He had the ability to reincarnate, and due to trauma, plus some earlier incarnations deciding not to die, he had multiple personality disorder, and was generally very emo (the personality you play was the newest, didnt know much, and just accidentally killed all of his friends, so he wasn't happy). The character started off as an emo kid, but eventually grew to be the main hero that you'd expect to save the world. So he was an interesting character that was masked by the cliche.
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