| realistically or in real life we know that old habits die hard or that personality change is very hard to do but in anime they make it look easy because its fiction anyway but do you expect main characters to always undergo character improvements aka character development? how about devolution of character like what happen with eren of attack on titan for example? |
degFeb 2, 7:17 PM
| Not very important, i prefer quality character design over development. |
| I would say it is fairly important, I have read a handful of Korean Manhwa's with interstellar art, but somehow they all failed due to stagment character routes? |
| I'm new! |
| so i guess with the poll results so far people gonna hate long running anime where main characters basically resets their character after few new arcs especially episodic ones like lupin or goku from dragon ball |
Big fat voluptuous round anime tiddies  |
Help! I need somebody. Help! Not just anybody. Help! You know I need someone. Helpppppp!  |
| It can be important sometimes. The Pokemon anime team struggled with showing growth for Satoshi after having him as the main protagonist for so long, ultimately doing a hard reset on the anime in 2023. It didn't fix the declining viewership though |
 |
| If we talk about adult characters, then any character development simply does not have any sense considering people do not change after 16 yo. However, a lot of anime characters are simply children and their character development is just growing up. So the poll is supposed to be "how important is to grow up for a child character?" |
| Important in most cases, though not as much as characterization, and people often confuse both. Characterization is what makes a great character stand out in the first place, from there on if the characterization is strong the character doesn't always need to have great development or even grow as a person as part of their role in the story. There are great characters that don't actually grow or have a big shift in personality during a well written story, as well as there are awful characters that try to have something like a development or growth but keep being awful because of all the writing problems the story already has. |
 |
| Most stories, yes, character development does matter. But if you wanna do just an episodic type of story like South Park then development isn't top priority, or if it's a story like Record of Ragnarok. |
| If I had to choose between One Piece and a girlfriend...I think I'll go with One Piece |
| Character devolopment is not needed to have a good anime. Plenty of battle shounen and comedy mcs are static, and some change can be for the worse. |
 |
| Always everytime. A story is supposed to be character driven. There can be some without it but it just won't be as good enough for me. |
| Define "character development". There's nothing inherently wrong with static characters. |
  |
| This kind of thing can only really be evaluated on a case by case basis since it depends what the author's intent is with the story and characters. "Character Development" doesn't just exist in a vacuum, the entire story has to flow well and there needs to be reasoning behind the writing choices. |
| Training to become a real magical girl |
| Sometimes. It can be a plus, but it's not necessary when a character is good right from the start. Eren's devolution... he just went from being a bad character to a different kind of bad character. |
| "how important is character development?" Depends on the story and on the format. Some stories are nothing but character development, others are about people don't changing at all. Also if you are cramming too many events into season you wouldn't have much space for character development, as opposed to an idea stretched in too many episodes, thus they will use character development as padding and it will be boring. |
alshuFeb 3, 4:35 AM
| Character development is one of the most important things in my enjoyment of anime series :) |
| Depends on what sort of show it is. Some anime are absolutely driven by character development, others don't need it at all. |
| Really depends on the anime, For say a slice of life anime not very much, but for an anime like Vinland saga Character development is necessary to give that soothing ending. It wouldn't feel right having the MC be the same person after going through a ton of bad stuff. |
| depends on the series, subtle development is good enough in itself. some people act like characters always need to have a full 180, and that's pretty funny to me. |
 |
deg said: realistically or in real life we know that old habits die hard or that personality change is very hard to do but in anime they make it look easy because its fiction anyway but do you expect main characters to always undergo character improvements aka character development? how about devolution of character like what happen with eren of attack on titan for example? Agree to disagreee with how easy anime makes such things look, in fact, i'd say the anime that do make it look easy have bad character developement Also character developement is not limited to character improvement, like you mentione with Eren's character arc, that is a great example of good character developement As for how important is character developement to me, my vote is always, as that is one of the aspects in anime (and other series/movies) that most interest me, it's hard for me to get into a series that doesn't have much focus on the characters |
 |
Reply to keeltrust
If we talk about adult characters, then any character development simply does not have any sense considering people do not change after 16 yo. However, a lot of anime characters are simply children and their character development is just growing up.
So the poll is supposed to be "how important is to grow up for a child character?"
So the poll is supposed to be "how important is to grow up for a child character?"
keeltrust said: If we talk about adult characters, then any character development simply does not have any sense considering people do not change after 16 yo What the hell did i jut read?? Considering your statement i'm gonna guess this has been your thought process since you were 16, and it's honestly quite sad that you've stagnated for probably 10 or more years |
|
| Depends on how you define "development" to begin with. If you define it in such a way that it's synonymous with "character growth" (i.e., a character's personality being altered over time), then it isn't a particularly imperative process; character arcs used to represent a change of philosophy are only one of the routes you can take a character. Personally, I think this interpretation of character development is overly reductive myself. On the other hand, more advanced fictional writing credos would define character development as simply exploring the character more, through illuminating the reader/viewer on their introspective thoughts, interests, motives, subtle peculiarities, etc. Even if a character's mindset remains steadfast throughout a series, there's often a justifiable reason for this being the case, for reasons as simple as the character being confident in their viewpoint, sufficiently strong of will, or just particularly stubborn. If anything, change for the sake of change can be even more jarring as a literary device than for a character to remain constant in their behaviour. Having evaluated my own psychology, I can say that, realistically, a detectable change in demeanour over any given reasonable period of time is not guaranteed, and any alterations in personality traits that do occur become more and more subtle as someone matures into the adolescent stage. |
  ｲ乇刀乇乃尺ﾑ乇 ╔⏤═⏤╝   ╚⏤═⏤╗☽ Shaded Horizon ☾ |
| Often... Because in real life... It rarely happens... @deg... & you know currently im going through that... Or atleast thats what i want to think of myself currently... |
" Kindness can sometimes lead you to trouble. "  |
Reply to Hitagi__Furude
Often...
Because in real life...
It rarely happens...
@deg...
& you know currently im going through that...
Or atleast thats what i want to think of myself currently...
Because in real life...
It rarely happens...
@deg...
& you know currently im going through that...
Or atleast thats what i want to think of myself currently...
| @Hitagi__Furude hopefully its a positive character development for you |
| It depends on the length and genre of a series. If it's a short series, like 12 episodes, I feel like the character could be more static. If it is a series of many seasons, and the character does not change at all after lots of situations, it seems terrible to me. Edward Elric from FMAb and Gon Freecss from HxH seem like two examples of mediocre characters to me. They are exactly the same from the first episode to the last. Especially the first one. |
 |
| Overall it's not that important to me but it still depends. When it comes to tsunderes, them and their so called development can go fuck themselves, I always prefer the character who was a better person since the beginning over these bitches/bastards and it's the better character who deserve the MC way more than some abusive tsundere. Otherwise, I only like character development when the the character actually goes through things that slowly makes them change their perspective and develop. Oniisama e is one series that really impressed me with how they developed their characters, all the characters were shit in the beginning to the point I was about to drop the anime but I grew to like them by the end. |
Always the same… Every age, every generation. Human beings are infinitely more cruel and selfish than any demon in hell ~Dantalion (Makai Ouji) |
Reply to DigiCat
keeltrust said:
If we talk about adult characters, then any character development simply does not have any sense considering people do not change after 16 yo
If we talk about adult characters, then any character development simply does not have any sense considering people do not change after 16 yo
What the hell did i jut read??
Considering your statement i'm gonna guess this has been your thought process since you were 16, and it's honestly quite sad that you've stagnated for probably 10 or more years
| @DigiCat DigiCat said: it's honestly quite sad that you've stagnated for probably 10 or more years Mentally people grow up till 16 and then they just keep living with the same attitude and the same behaviour. They do not change at all and for that reason personally I do not believe in character development for any adult character. My behaviour has not been changed since my teenage arc. |
Reply to keeltrust
@DigiCat
Mentally people grow up till 16 and then they just keep living with the same attitude and the same behaviour. They do not change at all and for that reason personally I do not believe in character development for any adult character.
My behaviour has not been changed since my teenage arc.
DigiCat said:
it's honestly quite sad that you've stagnated for probably 10 or more years
it's honestly quite sad that you've stagnated for probably 10 or more years
Mentally people grow up till 16 and then they just keep living with the same attitude and the same behaviour. They do not change at all and for that reason personally I do not believe in character development for any adult character.
My behaviour has not been changed since my teenage arc.
| @keeltrust Exept character developement is quite different than growing up (aka phisical developement, in body and mind... which does not stop at 16, it's actually closer to 20) of course they go hand in hand, but you can still have character growth once the physical stops keeltrust said: My behaviour has not been changed since my teenage arc I can very well see that, and like i said before, it's sad |
|
Reply to keeltrust
@DigiCat
Mentally people grow up till 16 and then they just keep living with the same attitude and the same behaviour. They do not change at all and for that reason personally I do not believe in character development for any adult character.
My behaviour has not been changed since my teenage arc.
DigiCat said:
it's honestly quite sad that you've stagnated for probably 10 or more years
it's honestly quite sad that you've stagnated for probably 10 or more years
Mentally people grow up till 16 and then they just keep living with the same attitude and the same behaviour. They do not change at all and for that reason personally I do not believe in character development for any adult character.
My behaviour has not been changed since my teenage arc.
| @keeltrust Character development is defined as a character's perspective being fleshed out or developed on screen. You're referring to character growth/regression in dynamic characters and that you believe people become static. I thought about it and it's interesting that most people I've studied retain similar attitudes to their lives as they grow beyond age 16. In the general population, it is primarily because people refuse to let go of the pains they grow up acquiring because having to accept it and live with it for a part of their life would mean admitting they wasted part of their life being wrong. Being stagnant comes from believing that being ignorant allows you to retain innocence and that life needs to stay as permanent as possible even though it is temporary, such as the self-centeredness you see on the TLC show Hoarders where the hoarders' problems becomes everyone's problems in the neighborhood and their family but they don't care. Another is the social aspect where our lives are only stories to us, the people living in them. People demand comfort and identity over skill, which is why you can lie about your degrees and certifications and get a decent job that way. Being predictable in a line of habits is important to maintain a livelihood, so we're not going to see other people's life ruining stories until they reach the news or if the story can't be traced back to them. Adults can change. It typically takes profound suffering, loss, betrayal, or some injustice to force an adult to change how they make and consider decisions, but that can be a mixed bag. I didn't learn to use people because I was like that when I was 16. I became that way because that was how people were getting ahead and America was built on con artistry. Most people believe the see hear and speak no evil makes them not evil, which is not true. Identifying evil in yourself and everyone acknowledges that real good is actually a balance and actual evil is about an imbalance. Anyway, to answer OP's question, character development is important, the amount is dependent on the story you want to tell. If you want a character study or a character arc, you're gonna need to develop their philosophies on what influenced their perceptions and decisions growing up. If it's not a character driven story, don't need much of it. A character that changes can be interesting or boring or completely unbelievable depending on execution. Though, they don't need to change to be interesting. Arslan from Arslan Senki doesn't change, but he's still a good leader to root for. |
| It just depends on what the story is going for. Most of the time, I'd say it's a plus, but sometimes a lack of development is the point. For example, Spike in Cowboy Bebop doesn't develop, but that is one of the major reasons the tragedy is so compelling. |
Reply to DigiCat
@keeltrust Exept character developement is quite different than growing up (aka phisical developement, in body and mind... which does not stop at 16, it's actually closer to 20) of course they go hand in hand, but you can still have character growth once the physical stops
I can very well see that, and like i said before, it's sad
keeltrust said:
My behaviour has not been changed since my teenage arc
My behaviour has not been changed since my teenage arc
I can very well see that, and like i said before, it's sad
| @DigiCat DigiCat said: Exept character developement is quite different than growing up I do not think so, that they are different, from my perspective most of the example of the so-called character development is just growing up. For example, take a look at the typical character development in the series Steins; Gate. At the beginning of the series the main character Okabe is alone, insecure and childish and on top of that he suffers from "chunibyo" (questionable). Throughout the series he becomes mature, takes responsibility for someone else's lives and The above example is a typical story where character has been changed, but apparently the visible changes belong to growing up. Okabe was not an adult character, he was written as a child who only grew up to adult at the end of the series. |
Reply to keeltrust
@DigiCat
I do not think so, that they are different, from my perspective most of the example of the so-called character development is just growing up.
For example, take a look at the typical character development in the series Steins; Gate.
At the beginning of the series the main character Okabe is alone, insecure and childish and on top of that he suffers from "chunibyo" (questionable). Throughout the series he becomes mature, takes responsibility for someone else's lives and
The above example is a typical story where character has been changed, but apparently the visible changes belong to growing up. Okabe was not an adult character, he was written as a child who only grew up to adult at the end of the series.
DigiCat said:
Exept character developement is quite different than growing up
Exept character developement is quite different than growing up
I do not think so, that they are different, from my perspective most of the example of the so-called character development is just growing up.
For example, take a look at the typical character development in the series Steins; Gate.
At the beginning of the series the main character Okabe is alone, insecure and childish and on top of that he suffers from "chunibyo" (questionable). Throughout the series he becomes mature, takes responsibility for someone else's lives and
The above example is a typical story where character has been changed, but apparently the visible changes belong to growing up. Okabe was not an adult character, he was written as a child who only grew up to adult at the end of the series.
| @keeltrust True, in Okabe's case you could say there's a delayed growing up, but if that's anything to go by, it kinda disproves that you can't do so after 16, though i won't deny it get's a lot harder the older you are But that is not the only way one can give a character developement Take for example Attack On Titan, which was mentioned at the beginning of this thread, would you say Eren is more mature at the end of the series than at the beginning, that he grew up? He definitely goes thru a lot of changes due to the circumstances he's in, but i wouldn't really call it maturity Or My Hero Academia, how does Endeavor develope? By your logic in theory he shouldn't being already in his 40s, and if you ask me most people who behave like him usually don't, yet if you look at the subltle details, if you look at his backstory, the pieces of the puzzle for that developement to happen come together, and it works cuz it's not drastic, he doesn't change overnight, but different layers get added to the character as the series progresses |
|
| Most characters are lack luster, so character development would hardly matter. |
Reply to LeonhartAugust
Define "character development". There's nothing inherently wrong with static characters.
| @LeonhartAugust Also, not all character changes are good changes. |
| |
| What a strange question. Comedy can make stock characters work, but not if you want me to take your story seriously, let alone allow it to even pass writing circle peer review. Any fan review that describes characters solely by how well they fit stock archetypes like tsundere is an anti-endorsement. |
 ♪Strong from the inside, you're still my lifeline! I feel you wherever you are!♪ |
| Anime gives us that hypercharged version of reality where character transformations—be they for better or worse—keep us glued to the screen. It's like hitting the fast-forward button on life's emotional Rollercoaster. in the world of anime, character development is like an adrenaline shot to the plot. We love watching our heroes evolve, right? From zero to hero, or sometimes the other way around |
Reply to juanlqr
It depends on the length and genre of a series. If it's a short series, like 12 episodes, I feel like the character could be more static. If it is a series of many seasons, and the character does not change at all after lots of situations, it seems terrible to me.
Edward Elric from FMAb and Gon Freecss from HxH seem like two examples of mediocre characters to me. They are exactly the same from the first episode to the last. Especially the first one.
Edward Elric from FMAb and Gon Freecss from HxH seem like two examples of mediocre characters to me. They are exactly the same from the first episode to the last. Especially the first one.
| @juanlqr Of course you have Homura in your favourites. |
| |
| I love it when it happens, but it's a bonus, not a requirement. I enjoy many anime without character development. |
"Wonder is always difficult until you forgive whoever destroyed your love of surprises" — Edmond Manning  |
| Depends on the work and what it is going for. My favorite character in anime, Yang Wen-li is a static character who doesn't really develop in the story however, that aspect creates a lot of interesting conflict with the political forces in the world. If you are doing a comedy, it can be fun to have the characters repeat those gags, some characters exist to serve a singular purpose. Not everyone needs a 1,2,3 character arc. |
Reply to Archean-Return
Depends on how you define "development" to begin with. If you define it in such a way that it's synonymous with "character growth" (i.e., a character's personality being altered over time), then it isn't a particularly imperative process; character arcs used to represent a change of philosophy are only one of the routes you can take a character. Personally, I think this interpretation of character development is overly reductive myself.
On the other hand, more advanced fictional writing credos would define character development as simply exploring the character more, through illuminating the reader/viewer on their introspective thoughts, interests, motives, subtle peculiarities, etc. Even if a character's mindset remains steadfast throughout a series, there's often a justifiable reason for this being the case, for reasons as simple as the character being confident in their viewpoint, sufficiently strong of will, or just particularly stubborn. If anything, change for the sake of change can be even more jarring as a literary device than for a character to remain constant in their behaviour. Having evaluated my own psychology, I can say that, realistically, a detectable change in demeanour over any given reasonable period of time is not guaranteed, and any alterations in personality traits that do occur become more and more subtle as someone matures into the adolescent stage.
On the other hand, more advanced fictional writing credos would define character development as simply exploring the character more, through illuminating the reader/viewer on their introspective thoughts, interests, motives, subtle peculiarities, etc. Even if a character's mindset remains steadfast throughout a series, there's often a justifiable reason for this being the case, for reasons as simple as the character being confident in their viewpoint, sufficiently strong of will, or just particularly stubborn. If anything, change for the sake of change can be even more jarring as a literary device than for a character to remain constant in their behaviour. Having evaluated my own psychology, I can say that, realistically, a detectable change in demeanour over any given reasonable period of time is not guaranteed, and any alterations in personality traits that do occur become more and more subtle as someone matures into the adolescent stage.
| @Archean-Return THIS^^ People are quick to dismiss shows because they dont have as much of "Character development" as your regular Shonen or Drama anime. But they don't consider the introspective part of expanding on a character and their views/behavior in certain situations. Which is common to slice of life for e.g. |
jieanteaterFeb 17, 12:20 AM
   The Perfect Duo - has one who thinks and one who do's. To have a party, there's at least two When the world is dark, and you feel near to end. Just remember there's hope, in the form of a friend. |
| I don't think character development is very important. Nobody watches anime for the plot anyways. |
| It depends on what anime. If it's a plot heavy anime, you need characters to drive the plot. So character development is very important. If it's just one of those relaxing slice of life shows, you don't need much character development. As long as the characters are likable, then it's ok for me. Any character development is a bonus though. |
 |
| Sometimes. Some series need it, some other series don't. I don't think you need to have hyper complicated character development in a gag comedy series |
| No, I don't think character development in the progression/regression sense it's always necessary and sometimes I think it's even unwelcomed. You can have good stories with focus on the plot and minimal development of characters, about character stagnation or about character exploration. |
More topics from this board
Poll: » Do you have a preference for length of a show?Captain-577 - 7 hours ago |
17 |
by Seven
»»
23 minutes ago |
|
» Are there "difficult" anime?thewiru - Yesterday |
44 |
by DesuMaiden
»»
30 minutes ago |
|
» Second Monitor Activities?slimeco - 11 hours ago |
23 |
by TransferUser
»»
38 minutes ago |
|
» Was the anime community smarter in the past? ( 1 2 3 )thewiru - Feb 28 |
107 |
by Reckoner
»»
39 minutes ago |
|
Sticky: » AWC 2025 Anime Watching Challenge - Sign-Up (Open Until December 10th) ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page )AWC_mod - Jan 1 |
625 |
by ILIII
»»
1 hour ago |