| Recently more and more self insert protagonists have been in shows and it honestly worries me. Its okay to a certain extent I mean self inserting into being with anime girls how fun, but seriously the protagonist really makes the show. How can I enjoy something where the MC doesn't have any goals is a pretty much a loser and has 0 depth. 9/10 times when a anime has a bad MC its a bad show. The protagonist is the character we spend the most time with and should have the most growth, self inserts receive little development and are completely flat characters, who all look the same and act the same. Relying on side characters to carry the show seems to be the trend now. |
| Do you see the irony in saying a character is a loser and has 0 depth and calling him a self-insert in the same santence? You kinda have to be a loser with 0 depth to see such a character as an easy self-insert, no? Either way, any takes revolving around and completely overvaluing the 'self insert' meme, are generally bad and more of a 'you' problem in my experience. I'll never get why people can't just talk about bad vs good characters but instead call every character they find to be bad a 'self insert', thinking they're clever. I just find it annoying and pointless. Self-inserting is a subjective, personal thing that the viewer does, it's nothing that's inherent to some characters and not to others. It's a way of watching anime, not a character archetype. Once you realize that, all the complaints about 'self insert MCs' start reading like self-reports rather than relevant criticisms tbh. |
| I probably regret this post by now. |
| Lazy Character writing where it seems the entire world revolves around the MC is terrible, unless it's for Comedic purposes. Self insert characters don't really need a background(because it will be forgotten) or a personality(because they are an empty shell, that only reacts to their surroundings) they just have things gravitate to them, it's the same cookie cutter recipe we have all seen a million times before. |
| Self inserts do not really ruin a anime imo. It is easy to like characters you relate with like Rimuru from Tenshi Slime. The only problem self insert mc series have is often ficusing to much on simping for the mc where most interactions are just the male mc having women flustered around him all the time like with Arifureta many times. Also, villains in such series are uber levels of crap when they are evil just to be evil. |
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| The hell even is a "self insert" character? Couldn't that term apply to literally every character you can identify with in any capacity? Wouldnt even the most well written of characters technically be "self insert" if you could even remotely put yourself in their shoes? Or am I missing something here? |
Alcoholicide said: Do you see the irony in saying a character is a loser and has 0 depth and calling him a self-insert in the same santence? You kinda have to be a loser with 0 depth to see such a character as an easy self-insert, no? The reverse of that realization is also equally amusing. "You only like this show because of the self insert main character that gets all the girls." "Yes I do in fact get all the girls, thank you for noticing." |
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FanofAction said: The hell even is a "self insert" character? Couldn't that term apply to literally every character you can identify with in any capacity? Wouldnt even the most well written of characters technically be "self insert" if you could even remotely put yourself in their shoes? Or am I missing something here? You know how fortune telling works? Basically the fortune teller tells a bunch of generic statements that apply to basically anyone, and based on the reaction and new info given by the "customer" they pretend to have talked with ghost and stuff. That's kind of how a self insert, or probably better called "everyman" character is made. Their one personality trait being the distinct lack of it. Have some really basic stuff that everyone can relate to, like in an anime just make the character like anime... And avoid anything that could turn people off at all costs. Like you probably have seen an isekai show to know what I'm talking about... On the other hand if the protagonist is a 30 years old housewife who cheated on his husband, and that one time affair resulted in a kid, then you lost a lot of viewers, because people will drop a show at the slightest hint of NTR, even though objectively speaking that's a more interesting character. |
JaniSIr said: FanofAction said: The hell even is a "self insert" character? Couldn't that term apply to literally every character you can identify with in any capacity? Wouldnt even the most well written of characters technically be "self insert" if you could even remotely put yourself in their shoes? Or am I missing something here? You know how fortune telling works? Basically the fortune teller tells a bunch of generic statements that apply to basically anyone, and based on the reaction and new info given by the "customer" they pretend to have talked with ghost and stuff. That's kind of how a self insert, or probably better called "everyman" character is made. Their one personality trait being the distinct lack of it. Have some really basic stuff that everyone can relate to, like in an anime just make the character like anime... And avoid anything that could turn people off at all costs. Like you probably have seen an isekai show to know what I'm talking about... On the other hand if the protagonist is a 30 years old housewife who cheated on his husband, and that one time affair resulted in a kid, then you lost a lot of viewers, because people will drop a show at the slightest hint of NTR, even though objectively speaking that's a more interesting character. Thank you. That all makes sense to me. I can get the idea behind the term "everyman", but for some reason, "self-insert" always sounded a bit off to me. |
| "Self-insert" protag you mean as in harem protag for example where you can imagine yourself surrounded with girls? I don't quite understand, what are some of the anime that you mean? Fischer77 said: Relying on side characters to carry the show seems to be the trend now. And which anime do you mean by this? I see there are still many anime that focused on their protag |
  ๐๐ผ๐๐ ๐ผ๐ ๐บ๐ผ๐๐๐ด๐๐ด - NOT your usual shounen anime - Pure comedy? DEAD WRONG - Treat Gintama as SoL/weekly sitcom especially earlier seasons - Ep 1 & 2 are for manga readers - BIG patience for its 'slow' start |
| Provide example(s) of this self-insert anime protagonist will you? |
"Nobody could laugh at someone who's trying their hardest" -Machio- |
| In all honesty, there are very few shows where mc is less popular than side characters. Most of that time side characters which tend to be more popular are female waifu. So I have infact not seen the trend u are speaking about. |
AdampkApr 24, 2022 6:31 PM
  Click for a anime mashup! Still not gone bandwagon u, keep crying. Here u are welcome to CRINGE at my EXISTENCE |
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| You seem to mentioning the MC "self insert" from harem shows or romcoms. |
| idk I'm a bit past the point where I find baits amusing |
| There are certain archetype which are popular as protagonist. For harem it's a bland and dense MC and for battle shonen it's a simple-minded MC who loves their nakama. I don't know why it happened, but none is better than the others. For example of a series which tried to ride against the wave in harem genre is The World God Only Knows. I am not really sure but I believe that TWGOK's girls are not inferior to other harem series' girls. But because of Keima is a such a strong prominent MC, those girls got overshadowed a lot. TWGOK's waifus are not as popular as some other popular harem's waifus as the result. |
Jim_HeartApr 24, 2022 8:06 PM
"The Slave is the have-not, the oppressed one with nothing to spare. But because the Slave is in that despairing situation, having nothing, it can kill the Emperor !" |
| The best character in Zodiac War is the self insert. https://myanimelist.net/character/151701/Nezumi |
| ใใฎ็ฎใ ใใฎ็ฎ๏ผ |
| What an ice cold take, OP. There's a million stories with a everyman main character meant for us, the reader/watcher to view the world through his eyes. Frodo Baggins, anyone? |
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| Since when are losers self inserts? Real losers are grounded and realistic |
| You really gonna write all this with zero examples? I'm all for complaining, but what are you actually complaining about? Lol |
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| I'll just say that any character that has no goals or ambitions, or any personality trait other than "nice" is hard to identify with. |
| ้ฆฌ้นฟใใๅซ็ใๅ จ้จใฌใฉใฏใฟใง |
Alcoholicide said: Do you see the irony in saying a character is a loser and has 0 depth and calling him a self-insert in the same santence? You kinda have to be a loser with 0 depth to see such a character as an easy self-insert, no? Either way, any takes revolving around and completely overvaluing the 'self insert' meme, are generally bad and more of a 'you' problem in my experience. I'll never get why people can't just talk about bad vs good characters but instead call every character they find to be bad a 'self insert', thinking they're clever. I just find it annoying and pointless. Self-inserting is a subjective, personal thing that the viewer does, it's nothing that's inherent to some characters and not to others. It's a way of watching anime, not a character archetype. Once you realize that, all the complaints about 'self insert MCs' start reading like self-reports rather than relevant criticisms tbh. this is the most accurate thing. self insert is just a meme nothing more. |
asiank0ala said: Your pfp makes this post extremely ironic lmfao. Who knows, maybe he made this post as a cry for help and/or a possible redemption arc? lol |
epidemia78 said: What an ice cold take, OP. There's a million stories with a everyman main character meant for us, the reader/watcher to view the world through his eyes. Frodo Baggins, anyone? I can't believe that this discussion has come to this, but I have to say it: Sam >> Frodo |
JaniSIr said: epidemia78 said: What an ice cold take, OP. There's a million stories with a everyman main character meant for us, the reader/watcher to view the world through his eyes. Frodo Baggins, anyone? I can't believe that this discussion has come to this, but I have to say it: Sam >> Frodo Gollum>>>Sam>>Frodo Now Gollum is a good self-insert character. I wish there was a few Gollums in Anime. |
| I watched an anime last year and am confident in saying, he is the worst protagonist, since I started watching anime. Hashiba, Kyouya (Bokutachi no Remake) Not because he's a poorly written MC, no, no. It's because he is a bad person who is doing bad things unintentionally, that elevates him from bad to worse. And with how the anime ended and things didn't change back to how it was supposed to be, the MC basically never redeemed himself. |
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| I swear Alcoholicide's words today dealt 1000% crit damage to OP. Like... WTF I haven't seen anything so savage in days |
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Fischer77 said: Recently more and more self insert protagonists have been in shows and it honestly worries me. Its okay to a certain extent I mean self inserting into being with anime girls how fun, but seriously the protagonist really makes the show. How can I enjoy something where the MC doesn't have any goals is a pretty much a loser and has 0 depth. I mean, that's exactly why I don't like to call this type of character a "self-insert", because I can't self-insert into an absolute loser character, that has no goals/ambitions, etc. I'm much more able to "self-insert" into a character that might of course do a ton of things, that nobody is ever going to be able to do in real life but has traits that I can draw parallels to myself with (positive as well as negative traits). |
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