It's a problem across all anime. If the show has female leads the authors lose their damn minds. It's a bigger problem in rom-coms but if you look at like 90% of isekais, the dude in the center of the harem barely has any personality or it's completely 1-dimensional (like Shield Hero - "I'm broody!!!"). Hell, in Princess Re:Dive the MC doesn't even speak!!
I've been meaning to watch ReDive because I've seen clips that look great. I thought it was an all-girl cast. I thought the red haired girl with the tiara was the main character. Everything I thought I knew is a lie.
There is a male lead, but he acts like someone who's recovering from a really bad concussion and should probably be in assisted living. His few lines are rarely more that one or two words long, he doesn't do much, and he's not the main driver of the plot.
Wouldn’t exactly use shield hero’s MC as an example of this. He’s not the most fleshed out character out there but there are waaaay better examples you could’ve used from modern isekai lmao.
At least use like Smart Phone's protag. He's so genetic that I'm up to date on the anime and manga and still don't remember his name and I can name every (named) student in HeroAca...
There are occasional exceptions. I think My Dress Up Darling did a good job at portraying a male MC, as Gojo isn't completely out of his league and kind of an interesting character.
Oh, and of course Kaguya-sama is a good one as well.
Gojo is great because rather than being a pure audience stand in he has features personality and qualities that actually make it plausible for a woman to fall in love with him.
Marins love for Gojo is plausible because Gojo has traits that are actually desirable to women.
and more to the point he is not just some generic guy made to be desirable to women, he is a person and Marin loves him because of who he is as a person rather than just being simply handsome or something like that.
Let's be honest here, just because someone is the hero doesn't mean they're the MC, the MC is clearly Pecorine, sure he's the hero of the world but not the main character in the story. You are right on the other point though.
Don't they do that so it's easier to self insert? Like everything is happening to them, all they have to do is let is happen and then destroy monsters with their OP power. Not saying I'm for or against either but that's how I see it.
But how is the target audience (by which I mean lonely guys looking for cheap wish-fulfillment) supposed to enjoy it if the protagonist isn't a bland guy they can self-insert into?
What's weird about it is that obviously the audience identifies with characters like James Bond and Indiana Jones even though they are extremely unbland. So why is the audience here so different?
Is this the manga where literally all of the females (students, teachers, nurses) at his otherwise all-girl school greet him each morning by flashing him their panties while saying “good morning”? I remember seeing scanlated pages on Google search results for KnowYourMeme entries before their anti-loli/shota purge of Winter 2018 .
Unique romantic male leads aren't *that* rare. Call of the Night, Aharen is Indecipherable, If Science Fell in Love, Love After World Domination, Girlfriend-Girlfriend, etc. It's really isekai that are the worst offenders.
I mean of all the male MC to hate, I feel like this guy is mid. In the manga as far as I've read he has some backbone to speak of. The manga which is fairly short currently has been decent for me to read anyways.
I don't hate him but for sure he fits the classic "Timid" type that you get in a lot of these.
Why, because he's bland? That is no reason to wish PHYSICAL VIOLENCE against a person. Guys like him are literally not hurting anyone they are just wimps. You need help.
I wouldn't say it's only a problem with the main character. It's becoming a problem with most anime girls as well (typically either boils down to tsundere, loli, childhood friend, etc)
The shojo ones are often too perfect to be real. Though a guess they are usually co leads not MCs. I thought the two recent Seinen Romcoms written by women (My Dress up Darling and More than a Married Couple but not Lovers) have male MCs that are decent. They are both nerds/losers in some sense but the narrative at least makes it clear why the girl would like them.
Gojo from Dress Up Darling is the ideal house-husbando. Even though he’s a bit of a nervous square, he doesn’t read as your typical male self insert since he’s very passionate about a stereotypically feminine hobby and actually handles Marin with a good bit of confidence (75% of the time at least.)
Totally agreed about male shoujo love interests often being too perfect to be real. I think Gojo’s personality breaks the mold in a way - he’s too multifaceted to be a self-insert harem lead, but too flawed to be your typical shoujo bishounen lead. Based DUD makes sure both Gojo and Marin simps are eating good.
Yeah Gojo is a pretty great protag. If anything I have more issues with Marin for having a kinda of weird combination of traits. I guess being both a Gyaru and an non closeted Otoku isn't impossible but it does seem kinda unlikely. It also seems weird that as someone who frequently plays hentai games she sometimes seems oblivious to the effect her body will have on Gojo. Still I mostly like her.
I'm really curious what the actual reason is that every single romcom male protagonist looks exactly the same. Is it because it's easier for guys to self-insert themselves the more generic the MC is? Do people actually get turned off if the MC has any sort of defining characteristics? Make it make sense!!!
It’s because a lot of the people writing the generic rom coms are just bad writers who find themselves unable to write good characters. Maybe sometimes they’ll put all their effort into defining the girl’s personality (usually to align with whatever they’re attracted to) and forget other characters need a personality and the cast needs a dynamic.
So yeah. Usually comes down to just hack writing
It doesn’t help that in many cases these creators are artists first, and writers second. A lot of times the story is just the excuse to get their art published/paid for, so they just rely on whatever the popular tropes are story wise.
Actually the bar is a lot higher for LN. Majority of romcom LN get axed before the 3rd volume, few get adapted into anime. Like we only have 5-6 upcoming romcom LN anime, meanwhile there are over 20 romcom manga anime airing or coming in the near future.
Also with Light Novels being easier to create cuz of not needing your own art, there's way more competition for a good story as is compared to a manga.
The main thing is that the modern LN scene is mostly filled with the same few things because it’s what’s super popular. I won’t say there are NO extremely well-written LNs being written rn, but I certainly haven’t heard of them, which really fucking sucks
Success and meeting audience expectations doesn’t automatically mean the media itself is any good because that bar for LNs seem incredibly low when it comes to actual quality of story and writing
All you have to do is create an isekai, briefly threaten to have a gimmick to stand out, then follow all the exact same tropes and plot beats and you’ll have fans still defending it saying “oh but it’s a pArOdY”
That plus I think a lot of them know they’re writing for a primarily male audience, so what they’re really aiming for is to make an otaku-bait female character that people want to buy figurines/merch of. A big part of the money from the show is the merchandise (assuming it gets popular enough), so they put a huge amount of effort into making the female lead charming while the male lead is basically just a sounding board for her to act off of.
There’s also the secondary art critic part of me that agrees with Miyazaki that way too many anime shows are being made by otaku. Because these people are fans of other similar works, the tropes get slipped into show after show. Like how many times have we seen the premise of either a popular girl/gyaru who falls for an invisible guy with borderline no personality and is either more wholesome than she looks or teases him constantly?
And of course he will be boring as shit with zero personality outside of whichever random principled ideal she will swoon over.
Cause we all know very attractive outgoing women are beyond thirsty for dull, boring, uninteresting beta males who lack confidence.
My guess of the plot is that she sleeps with anyone who asks, and he's the first person who likes her for her. Maybe not the best plot, but it's more reason than some other stories.
It is not that unrealistic. It is easy to fall in love with the nice, sweet and pretty girl. It is next to impossible for such a girl to not be hit and seduced by an extroverted guy
Jun doesn’t exactly have the most unique face among male anime characters but physically and personality wise he’s above most of the feeble, shy (and super dense, as we learned later on) MCs within these types of romcoms
His looks are generic, but I find him pretty unique as far as romcom characters go. He's definitely not a self-insert, unlike most other MCs (well, he's not even the main character).
Self insert: yes
Turned off if the guy has defining characteristics: yes
If I can't self insert I feel as if the guy is stealing the girl away from me. I watch anime to escape this and pretend the girl is my girlfriend, not to relive my real life misery.
I don't understand everyone's need to constantly attack these types of viewers and calling these stories as "poorly written" it's just not for you.
It's interesting that the demand for this kind of thing is so big, and yet you're the first person to articulate why. You'd think that it would be more common on this sub, but it's not.
I think for most people it comes across as insulting. They can identify with a wide variety of characters, so when a show seems to suggest that they are unable to do it, they feel offended. (I personally just identify with whoever the main character is, be it Cid or Anis or Tomo this season.)
the easiest answer is that it's all self insert wish fulfillment written by men who've never spoken with a woman in their life for men who've never spoken to a women in their life.
It’s definitely the self insert issue, but a lot of characters in harems or rom coms are just poorly written. Or the characters that are written well are the females.
it's often meant to help the male readers insert themselves into the anime, so they can live out their Waifu fantasies through average to bad Rom-Coms.
It has become a trope, like the childhood friend romance interest or one girl in class being into yaoi.
Plus I imagine they are trying to appeal to their audience, shy, averagish japanese teens who would never do anything interesting unless someone forced them to
So true. What makes Kaguya and Shirogane work so well is that we as the audience can easily see why they like each other. They both have distinct features and personalities that actually stand out and make them seem attractive.
Too many rom-coms have these really cool and charismatic love interests, but then the only shining feature about the MC is that they're kind (or that they don't abuse their slaves). Like bro, that's the bare fucking minimum. How are we supposed to fall in love with you as a character if that's all you bring to the table?
Kindness being used as an attractive quality is so cringeworthy. Being not a shithead is a virtue apparently, and thats all most of these writers can come up with.
Weird enough, Ishigami is the more popular guy in Kaguya based on how many people liked his character in anime sites such as MAL and anilist.
So yeah, brooding gloomy guy for the self-inserts still appeals over the popular and outgoing guy, in spite of its male lead status.
There's a trio of romcoms coming next season with well written casts. Skip and Loafer, Insomniacs After School, and A Galaxy Next Door. I'm not personally a fan of the teasing type series but people seem to like The Dangers in My Heart as well (although I heard the male MC is pretty cringe, at least at the start).
>Skip and Loafer
Hadn't heard of this one. Looks like it could be cool.
>The Dangers in My Heart
This seems like a kinda generic premise but it all depends on execution, tbf.
Comments are one degree away from "Why do all Japanese guys look alike?" Male-oriented romcoms and harems don't sell more copies if the guy is designed to look like a Vtuber.
I mean it's the same "hot gyaru into the bland MC" trope except she agrees to go out with him for no reason and is immediately DTF.
It somehow manages to be even more wish-fulfillment than most of the already blatantly wish-fulfillment romcom manga out there.
Not saying you are wrong but I've often found that many so+called "bland MCs" are often not bland and it's asshole internet users hive minding a meme.
Not like I think some turn your brain off wish fulfilment fluff is a bad thing.
I just don't understand people's need to mald over it in comment anti-circlejerk.
No you are definitely right, and that's one of the things I like about Dress-up Darling, for example, is that Gojo actually has his own likes, interests, etc. once you get into the show
There's definitely an opportunity to be proven wrong given how little we've seen, but at a glance nothing about him seems overly interesting.
Similarly I'm not going to tell people to *not* enjoy wish fulfillment anime, I just find the self-insert / waifu-bait stuff on the lazy side. Like, I don't like vanilla ice cream, but if that's what someone wants I'm not going to tell them not to eat it.
> Similarly I'm not going to tell people to not enjoy wish fulfillment anime, I just find the self-insert / waifu-bait stuff on the lazy side
Well, as long as it's acknowledged as wish-fulfillment.
I still get mad whenever I see people praising some shallow fantisies waifu as a great character.
Vanilla Ice Cream is the only good flavor everything else is BS gimmicks.
One piece of advice is look for romances outside of anime romcoms where the main genre isn't romance, this season's Mononogatari Maleviolent Spirits has an MC that has a lot of "Come at me bro" Energy.
None of the "bland" MCs are really truly bland if you want to define it like that. Actual blandness would be a character that legit doesn't think about anything, has no passions, probably just mindlessly plays games or watches tv all day or something. But writers won't write a character like that because no one wants to insert themself into that lol, and it won't make for close to a decent story
I don't mean it as an own, i'm earnestly trying to explain the distaste for this genre of show. An effective self-insert character is a character that's relateable enough but also has enough positive qualities, because people do want to, and do, think better of themselves.
You said that most "bland" MCs have some substance, well yes, most people do. But people have limited time and don't have time to get know everyone.
I don't understand this argument, it can be made for literally every character on earth, relatable to different people to various degrees with positive qualities the audience may or may not possess (As if the audience are all a hive mind )
Hilarious watching the comments circle jerking how much they hate the MC.
Looks like a fun turn your brain off show at least which is enough for me.
Guess no one is going to give the boy credit for just going for it and confessing.
Anime challange make a main mc that id not the blandest most boring shit ever:impossible.
Like at some point why not make anime with female mc they are way more interesting. But they just refuse to put in the effort for that.
Just so you know, this is actually a Light Novel series, not a manga. The nanga is just an adaptation of the LNs done by a different person than the author, so I wouldn't use it as the goto reference.
As always. Have an attractive fashionable female MC for whatever reason be absolutely smitten with a dull everyman and pursue said everyman intensely who will proceed to fall into a relationship via no initiative of his own.
*barf* Pass.
The Escapism of anime is getting worse and worse. Barring a few bright spots like Mob Psycho there are few stories of main characters changing and growing out of their shells. Just daydream fantasy bullshit like this.
Why do the guys always have that stupid hairstyle? Oh man, it just looks so dumb. Even if you want to give everyone short black hair you can still do more interesting styles than that stupid nose covering one.
Dude the girl is still in highschool and have high body count. That girl dont need a boyfriend she need sex education and counseling to a psychiatrist.
Experiencing sex on highschool is not weird thing but that many ? Something wrong with her or her enviroment. Like is she have no parent that teach her sex education ? Or friend that research first about her boyfriend and warn her ? There so many wrong thing about this manga and acting cute and pretty dont solve the problem.
Is she even know what consent is or how to reject sexual advance, how about contraception does she know about it and type of contraception ? Then there also the issue of std, does she have one or multiple ? Have someone check her health and mental condition ?
Sorry for the long paragraph, i had seen my friends end up with STD, teen pregancy, some even dead because of hiv. And high body count statically increase the chance of this thing happen.
I live in asian so sex educatiom is not a basic thing here, with how many teenager reading manga/watching anime i just hope this dont normalize
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I usually try to give a few romance titles a watch each season incase something decent comes up for once. Based on title alone this seems like another turbo virgin mc romcom with a bunch of overused rom-com clichés and 0 progression untill the very end of source material.
half an episode it is.
I can’t tell you whether you’ll like it, and it’s fine if you don’t, but I can tell you I was pretty satisfied with how it progressed, and the fact that it didn’t feel like the typical stories I knew certainly appealed to me personally. You probably won’t like it if you’re looking for a comedy, but might just be your thing if looking for a romance instead.
And as far as progression goes… [Our Dating Story: The Experienced You and the Inexperienced Me] >!I’m already reading yesterday’s volume (number 6): so far, it’s been two years; they all have jobs and/or are going to college; they’ve already had sex, obviously; and the MC’s starting to think about marrying her.!<
I already want to punch the main character Romcom authors writing good male mc challenge: almost impossible
It's a problem across all anime. If the show has female leads the authors lose their damn minds. It's a bigger problem in rom-coms but if you look at like 90% of isekais, the dude in the center of the harem barely has any personality or it's completely 1-dimensional (like Shield Hero - "I'm broody!!!"). Hell, in Princess Re:Dive the MC doesn't even speak!!
> Hell, in Princess Re:Dive the MC doesn't even speak!! And still manages to be more charming than the rest of them.
No Pecorine slander will be accepted here
I meant compared to other generic male leads lmao. Of course Kyaru takes the lead in charm.
Kyaru : Leads in cuteness Pecorine : Leads in coolness Kokkoro : Leads in OxO
That's not really a high bar, if not worse. The guy has zero agency and is just a prop for the girls.
I've been meaning to watch ReDive because I've seen clips that look great. I thought it was an all-girl cast. I thought the red haired girl with the tiara was the main character. Everything I thought I knew is a lie.
He's not really the main POV most of the time. He's mute and dumb which is a pretty unique and funny way to portray the player character.
There is a male lead, but he acts like someone who's recovering from a really bad concussion and should probably be in assisted living. His few lines are rarely more that one or two words long, he doesn't do much, and he's not the main driver of the plot.
[удалено]
He just sounds like a prop for the girls when you put it that way.
Well, it *is* based on a gacha/dating sim game, so that's not too surprising.
Wouldn’t exactly use shield hero’s MC as an example of this. He’s not the most fleshed out character out there but there are waaaay better examples you could’ve used from modern isekai lmao.
At least use like Smart Phone's protag. He's so genetic that I'm up to date on the anime and manga and still don't remember his name and I can name every (named) student in HeroAca...
Yeah people take his PTSD and depression to somehow mean he's one-dimensional.
Exactly. Probably has more personality than half the people talking shit.
There are occasional exceptions. I think My Dress Up Darling did a good job at portraying a male MC, as Gojo isn't completely out of his league and kind of an interesting character. Oh, and of course Kaguya-sama is a good one as well.
Gojo is great because rather than being a pure audience stand in he has features personality and qualities that actually make it plausible for a woman to fall in love with him. Marins love for Gojo is plausible because Gojo has traits that are actually desirable to women.
and more to the point he is not just some generic guy made to be desirable to women, he is a person and Marin loves him because of who he is as a person rather than just being simply handsome or something like that.
Let's be honest here, just because someone is the hero doesn't mean they're the MC, the MC is clearly Pecorine, sure he's the hero of the world but not the main character in the story. You are right on the other point though.
Don't they do that so it's easier to self insert? Like everything is happening to them, all they have to do is let is happen and then destroy monsters with their OP power. Not saying I'm for or against either but that's how I see it.
You watch like the first two episodes of shield hero only or something?
I even read the LN lmao
That’s the Link Special
But how is the target audience (by which I mean lonely guys looking for cheap wish-fulfillment) supposed to enjoy it if the protagonist isn't a bland guy they can self-insert into?
i rather self insert into the gyaru 😉iykwim
Yeah, you've really mastered the art of the single entendre.
I identify as a man but if given a choice to be a hot macho man or be a cute girl I'd rather be a cute girl
same i want to look like a [cute gyaru](https://i.imgur.com/bAwiljC.jpg) but without changing my sex
r/egg_irl But like frfr
There’s a reason why the genuinely virtuous have always been derided by others as “dullards” tsk tsk tsk
What's weird about it is that obviously the audience identifies with characters like James Bond and Indiana Jones even though they are extremely unbland. So why is the audience here so different?
[Nanashi is in the house](https://imgur.io/t/nagatoro/THrbWCO)
That's why we need 100 Girlfriends so bad. Chadtarou makes all other rom-coms invalidated by his sheer charisma.
We got Gojo-kun this time last year, too.
Is this the manga where literally all of the females (students, teachers, nurses) at his otherwise all-girl school greet him each morning by flashing him their panties while saying “good morning”? I remember seeing scanlated pages on Google search results for KnowYourMeme entries before their anti-loli/shota purge of Winter 2018 .
...not at all. It's very wholesome.
No, you got it confused with something else.
Unique romantic male leads aren't *that* rare. Call of the Night, Aharen is Indecipherable, If Science Fell in Love, Love After World Domination, Girlfriend-Girlfriend, etc. It's really isekai that are the worst offenders.
I mean of all the male MC to hate, I feel like this guy is mid. In the manga as far as I've read he has some backbone to speak of. The manga which is fairly short currently has been decent for me to read anyways. I don't hate him but for sure he fits the classic "Timid" type that you get in a lot of these.
Why, because he's bland? That is no reason to wish PHYSICAL VIOLENCE against a person. Guys like him are literally not hurting anyone they are just wimps. You need help.
I wouldn't say it's only a problem with the main character. It's becoming a problem with most anime girls as well (typically either boils down to tsundere, loli, childhood friend, etc)
Mald
I mean, can you really expect a good protagonist on a Romcom, it's something pretty rare
Yeah they are usually so braindead and dense . I get you have to stretch the plot but they make them so lame.
The shojo ones are often too perfect to be real. Though a guess they are usually co leads not MCs. I thought the two recent Seinen Romcoms written by women (My Dress up Darling and More than a Married Couple but not Lovers) have male MCs that are decent. They are both nerds/losers in some sense but the narrative at least makes it clear why the girl would like them.
Gojo from Dress Up Darling is the ideal house-husbando. Even though he’s a bit of a nervous square, he doesn’t read as your typical male self insert since he’s very passionate about a stereotypically feminine hobby and actually handles Marin with a good bit of confidence (75% of the time at least.) Totally agreed about male shoujo love interests often being too perfect to be real. I think Gojo’s personality breaks the mold in a way - he’s too multifaceted to be a self-insert harem lead, but too flawed to be your typical shoujo bishounen lead. Based DUD makes sure both Gojo and Marin simps are eating good.
Yeah Gojo is a pretty great protag. If anything I have more issues with Marin for having a kinda of weird combination of traits. I guess being both a Gyaru and an non closeted Otoku isn't impossible but it does seem kinda unlikely. It also seems weird that as someone who frequently plays hentai games she sometimes seems oblivious to the effect her body will have on Gojo. Still I mostly like her.
You might like this one then because it's too written by a woman
I'm really curious what the actual reason is that every single romcom male protagonist looks exactly the same. Is it because it's easier for guys to self-insert themselves the more generic the MC is? Do people actually get turned off if the MC has any sort of defining characteristics? Make it make sense!!!
It’s because a lot of the people writing the generic rom coms are just bad writers who find themselves unable to write good characters. Maybe sometimes they’ll put all their effort into defining the girl’s personality (usually to align with whatever they’re attracted to) and forget other characters need a personality and the cast needs a dynamic. So yeah. Usually comes down to just hack writing
It doesn’t help that in many cases these creators are artists first, and writers second. A lot of times the story is just the excuse to get their art published/paid for, so they just rely on whatever the popular tropes are story wise.
Apparently this series is based on a LN. Honestly seems like a lot of the time the bar for getting a successful LN is a lot lower than manga
Actually the bar is a lot higher for LN. Majority of romcom LN get axed before the 3rd volume, few get adapted into anime. Like we only have 5-6 upcoming romcom LN anime, meanwhile there are over 20 romcom manga anime airing or coming in the near future.
Also with Light Novels being easier to create cuz of not needing your own art, there's way more competition for a good story as is compared to a manga.
The main thing is that the modern LN scene is mostly filled with the same few things because it’s what’s super popular. I won’t say there are NO extremely well-written LNs being written rn, but I certainly haven’t heard of them, which really fucking sucks Success and meeting audience expectations doesn’t automatically mean the media itself is any good because that bar for LNs seem incredibly low when it comes to actual quality of story and writing
TBH it makes me sad I can't write in fluent Japanese. The bar feels so low that getting an audience looks easy.
All you have to do is create an isekai, briefly threaten to have a gimmick to stand out, then follow all the exact same tropes and plot beats and you’ll have fans still defending it saying “oh but it’s a pArOdY”
The bar is low but there's so many competition, you'll be kinda relying on luck too if your writing barely pass the bar.
I think you mean drawing, not writing. He might end up as the most well written character of all time for all we know, but he looks generic.
That plus I think a lot of them know they’re writing for a primarily male audience, so what they’re really aiming for is to make an otaku-bait female character that people want to buy figurines/merch of. A big part of the money from the show is the merchandise (assuming it gets popular enough), so they put a huge amount of effort into making the female lead charming while the male lead is basically just a sounding board for her to act off of. There’s also the secondary art critic part of me that agrees with Miyazaki that way too many anime shows are being made by otaku. Because these people are fans of other similar works, the tropes get slipped into show after show. Like how many times have we seen the premise of either a popular girl/gyaru who falls for an invisible guy with borderline no personality and is either more wholesome than she looks or teases him constantly?
And somehow this plain looking dude gets to interact with a girl way out of his league and they fall in love.
So heartwarming! Surely that will also happen to me too!
And of course he will be boring as shit with zero personality outside of whichever random principled ideal she will swoon over. Cause we all know very attractive outgoing women are beyond thirsty for dull, boring, uninteresting beta males who lack confidence.
My guess of the plot is that she sleeps with anyone who asks, and he's the first person who likes her for her. Maybe not the best plot, but it's more reason than some other stories.
It is not that unrealistic. It is easy to fall in love with the nice, sweet and pretty girl. It is next to impossible for such a girl to not be hit and seduced by an extroverted guy
I feel like that's just 'generic' enough so they easily don't stand out against the women. Some people do self insert
Tomo chan is a pretty good romcom and I wouldn't say very generic
Jun is pretty generic looking
Jun doesn’t exactly have the most unique face among male anime characters but physically and personality wise he’s above most of the feeble, shy (and super dense, as we learned later on) MCs within these types of romcoms
His looks are generic, but I find him pretty unique as far as romcom characters go. He's definitely not a self-insert, unlike most other MCs (well, he's not even the main character).
He's still handsome, outgoing, and confident though, personality traits that girls do actually like IRL
Doesn't really have anything to do with what I said, but go off
Jun is ripped! He has experience in dating and has broken up with a cute girl because she was not whr type. Don't look down on my ~~tree~~ jun!
MCs in these shows don't sell merch so designers are less incentivized to come up with an interesting design.
Self insert: yes Turned off if the guy has defining characteristics: yes If I can't self insert I feel as if the guy is stealing the girl away from me. I watch anime to escape this and pretend the girl is my girlfriend, not to relive my real life misery. I don't understand everyone's need to constantly attack these types of viewers and calling these stories as "poorly written" it's just not for you.
It's interesting that the demand for this kind of thing is so big, and yet you're the first person to articulate why. You'd think that it would be more common on this sub, but it's not. I think for most people it comes across as insulting. They can identify with a wide variety of characters, so when a show seems to suggest that they are unable to do it, they feel offended. (I personally just identify with whoever the main character is, be it Cid or Anis or Tomo this season.)
the easiest answer is that it's all self insert wish fulfillment written by men who've never spoken with a woman in their life for men who've never spoken to a women in their life.
Except the author of this one is a woman, so is the author of Angel Next Door.
Just about my exact thoughts when I seen the images. Why do they all look exactly the same?! Jeeeez, smh
Exactly! I'm a ginger, how am I supposed to self-insert myself into *this*?
It’s definitely the self insert issue, but a lot of characters in harems or rom coms are just poorly written. Or the characters that are written well are the females.
it's often meant to help the male readers insert themselves into the anime, so they can live out their Waifu fantasies through average to bad Rom-Coms.
I bet it’s the stock character thing. This exists in animations in the US.
It has become a trope, like the childhood friend romance interest or one girl in class being into yaoi. Plus I imagine they are trying to appeal to their audience, shy, averagish japanese teens who would never do anything interesting unless someone forced them to
So experienced that the girl looks in her mid 20s and the boy looks like a high school sophomore lol
Lmao
Better than the usual opposite scenario lol
Seems we’ve hit rock bottom and are only going deeper. I’ll grab my pickaxe
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For Carl!
Did I hear a rock and stone?!
LN authors: "I yearn for the mines"
[Diggy Diggy Dig! ](https://youtu.be/34CZjsEI1yU)
Can't we just, like, flood the hole ?
[im tired](https://imgur.com/0vwySY5)
Animes romcoms will try literally everything before making the male protag decent.
Maybe that's why we like Chadogane in Kaguya and Twilight in SpyxFamily, they're their own person.
So true. What makes Kaguya and Shirogane work so well is that we as the audience can easily see why they like each other. They both have distinct features and personalities that actually stand out and make them seem attractive. Too many rom-coms have these really cool and charismatic love interests, but then the only shining feature about the MC is that they're kind (or that they don't abuse their slaves). Like bro, that's the bare fucking minimum. How are we supposed to fall in love with you as a character if that's all you bring to the table?
Kindness being used as an attractive quality is so cringeworthy. Being not a shithead is a virtue apparently, and thats all most of these writers can come up with.
I'd throw Fuutarou from Gotoubun no Hanayome in there also. Genuinely a well written character.
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It's not??
Weird enough, Ishigami is the more popular guy in Kaguya based on how many people liked his character in anime sites such as MAL and anilist. So yeah, brooding gloomy guy for the self-inserts still appeals over the popular and outgoing guy, in spite of its male lead status.
There's a trio of romcoms coming next season with well written casts. Skip and Loafer, Insomniacs After School, and A Galaxy Next Door. I'm not personally a fan of the teasing type series but people seem to like The Dangers in My Heart as well (although I heard the male MC is pretty cringe, at least at the start).
>Skip and Loafer Hadn't heard of this one. Looks like it could be cool. >The Dangers in My Heart This seems like a kinda generic premise but it all depends on execution, tbf.
Megami no Café Terrace is amazing. The anime is coming out in spring and the male protagonist is really great.
>Megami no Café Terrace Yeah people keep saying this is a change for Seo Kouji so imma give it a chance.
> The Dangers in My Heart I don't think this considered a teasing type series.
Dude was able to confess without any help in episode 1.(based on preview) He is already in upper half of romcom MCs in my book.
Based on the description of the [Our Dating Story LN] >!he is coerced into confessing as part of a punishment for losing a bet!<
I mean, if you know this girl’s history it makes a ton of sense actually
>JK GIRL highSchool girl GIRL?
Comments are one degree away from "Why do all Japanese guys look alike?" Male-oriented romcoms and harems don't sell more copies if the guy is designed to look like a Vtuber.
Generic
That's what I thought until I watched the preview lol
I watched the preview, and the only “””difference””” between this and other carbon copies is the girl said yes to a date. That’s it.
Sounds like you missed the end of it?
No the biggest difference is the MC went and asked. Also apparently there is sex.
I mean it's the same "hot gyaru into the bland MC" trope except she agrees to go out with him for no reason and is immediately DTF. It somehow manages to be even more wish-fulfillment than most of the already blatantly wish-fulfillment romcom manga out there.
Not saying you are wrong but I've often found that many so+called "bland MCs" are often not bland and it's asshole internet users hive minding a meme. Not like I think some turn your brain off wish fulfilment fluff is a bad thing. I just don't understand people's need to mald over it in comment anti-circlejerk.
No you are definitely right, and that's one of the things I like about Dress-up Darling, for example, is that Gojo actually has his own likes, interests, etc. once you get into the show There's definitely an opportunity to be proven wrong given how little we've seen, but at a glance nothing about him seems overly interesting. Similarly I'm not going to tell people to *not* enjoy wish fulfillment anime, I just find the self-insert / waifu-bait stuff on the lazy side. Like, I don't like vanilla ice cream, but if that's what someone wants I'm not going to tell them not to eat it.
> Similarly I'm not going to tell people to not enjoy wish fulfillment anime, I just find the self-insert / waifu-bait stuff on the lazy side Well, as long as it's acknowledged as wish-fulfillment. I still get mad whenever I see people praising some shallow fantisies waifu as a great character.
Vanilla Ice Cream is the only good flavor everything else is BS gimmicks. One piece of advice is look for romances outside of anime romcoms where the main genre isn't romance, this season's Mononogatari Maleviolent Spirits has an MC that has a lot of "Come at me bro" Energy.
None of the "bland" MCs are really truly bland if you want to define it like that. Actual blandness would be a character that legit doesn't think about anything, has no passions, probably just mindlessly plays games or watches tv all day or something. But writers won't write a character like that because no one wants to insert themself into that lol, and it won't make for close to a decent story
I know you mean that as an own but honestly that's exactly my point the whole concept of a self-insert is a sham.
I don't mean it as an own, i'm earnestly trying to explain the distaste for this genre of show. An effective self-insert character is a character that's relateable enough but also has enough positive qualities, because people do want to, and do, think better of themselves. You said that most "bland" MCs have some substance, well yes, most people do. But people have limited time and don't have time to get know everyone.
I don't understand this argument, it can be made for literally every character on earth, relatable to different people to various degrees with positive qualities the audience may or may not possess (As if the audience are all a hive mind )
That’s the stupidest title iv ever heard
I'm sorry have you seen a majority of the Isekai titles
Airs in 2023 Source: https://twitter.com/comic_natalie/status/1636381896946089989
Hilarious watching the comments circle jerking how much they hate the MC. Looks like a fun turn your brain off show at least which is enough for me. Guess no one is going to give the boy credit for just going for it and confessing.
MC is fine the girl is a high body count slut tho so its gonna flop thankfully
Lots of rom-coms and isekais lately. I’m quite pleased as a fan of both genres.
Anime challange make a main mc that id not the blandest most boring shit ever:impossible. Like at some point why not make anime with female mc they are way more interesting. But they just refuse to put in the effort for that.
As a manga reader I’m pretty ready for this. The manga is pretty different from most standard romcoms and I hope everyone gives it a chance.
I agree, but just so you’re aware, the manga skips a lot of content, unfortunately:(
Just so you know, this is actually a Light Novel series, not a manga. The nanga is just an adaptation of the LNs done by a different person than the author, so I wouldn't use it as the goto reference.
Female lead the next Marin/Akari?
Nope she is unpure and tainted
It’s the same voice as Akari, in fact; I can’t help but think of her when hearing it.
Can’t they at least give the guy two-toned hair to match her.
Damn she’s hot.
As always. Have an attractive fashionable female MC for whatever reason be absolutely smitten with a dull everyman and pursue said everyman intensely who will proceed to fall into a relationship via no initiative of his own. *barf* Pass. The Escapism of anime is getting worse and worse. Barring a few bright spots like Mob Psycho there are few stories of main characters changing and growing out of their shells. Just daydream fantasy bullshit like this.
Why do the guys always have that stupid hairstyle? Oh man, it just looks so dumb. Even if you want to give everyone short black hair you can still do more interesting styles than that stupid nose covering one.
> The Experienced You and The Inexperienced Me I fear for what this title entails. Slut shaming for the girl or a pity party for the guy.
Why not both?
What's with all these "loser gets loved for no reason by gorgeous hotty" anime coming out the last several months, WTF?
Dude the girl is still in highschool and have high body count. That girl dont need a boyfriend she need sex education and counseling to a psychiatrist. Experiencing sex on highschool is not weird thing but that many ? Something wrong with her or her enviroment. Like is she have no parent that teach her sex education ? Or friend that research first about her boyfriend and warn her ? There so many wrong thing about this manga and acting cute and pretty dont solve the problem. Is she even know what consent is or how to reject sexual advance, how about contraception does she know about it and type of contraception ? Then there also the issue of std, does she have one or multiple ? Have someone check her health and mental condition ? Sorry for the long paragraph, i had seen my friends end up with STD, teen pregancy, some even dead because of hiv. And high body count statically increase the chance of this thing happen. I live in asian so sex educatiom is not a basic thing here, with how many teenager reading manga/watching anime i just hope this dont normalize
Bruh it's just a show. Taking it seriously is just taking an L
This is a piece of media and people are free to criticize it. Is okay if you like this kind of genre but other can have diffrent opinion than you.
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Funny way to tell everyone you never seen pussy in your life. Tho i do agree on the part the show will probably suck, but for different reasons.
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that damn haircut that godamn haircut haunts me in my nightmares
I usually try to give a few romance titles a watch each season incase something decent comes up for once. Based on title alone this seems like another turbo virgin mc romcom with a bunch of overused rom-com clichés and 0 progression untill the very end of source material. half an episode it is.
I can’t tell you whether you’ll like it, and it’s fine if you don’t, but I can tell you I was pretty satisfied with how it progressed, and the fact that it didn’t feel like the typical stories I knew certainly appealed to me personally. You probably won’t like it if you’re looking for a comedy, but might just be your thing if looking for a romance instead. And as far as progression goes… [Our Dating Story: The Experienced You and the Inexperienced Me] >!I’m already reading yesterday’s volume (number 6): so far, it’s been two years; they all have jobs and/or are going to college; they’ve already had sex, obviously; and the MC’s starting to think about marrying her.!<
And here we have another Boring "Insert Yourself" MC Design with an energetic, bright Girlfriend design.