Why do Kirito and Asuna have so many favourites when they have no personality?

Peaceful_Critic said:
Being sad isn't a personality trait though. I do agree they have personality, but being upset isn't one of their traits.

dizzyur said:
My dear, dear OP. Most of the top 50 characters suck.

jgames111 said:
Asuna is a badass with motherly instinct in the first half of SAO, a useless princess peach violated by tentacle. A mom in the first half of season 2, and some actual character in the second half of season two that makes her really likable and relatable. Also Progressive (especially the manga) make her a really fun and likable character aside from being a sexy waifu. I mean it is all subjective. I mean people love Jo Jo despite being a piece of crap :-p.

operasinger said:
So why do these shiity character Kirito has over thirty thousand favourites and asuna has over eighteen thousand, they have no personality

Mirai said:
Because Kirito is the cool black swordsman!

Peaceful_Critic said:
Umm...don't you think it's in bad taste to say your opinion as if it were fact?

Peaceful_Critic said:
I don't know why so many people have that impression of them(at least in the Aincrad arc). I'm not going to have an in-depth analysis of their characters(it doesn't take that much to debunk this), but I do wanna focus on Kirito a bit. I mean people often say that the abridged version fixed their characters into actually having personalities, but truth be told the Abridged just had better diction, a good VA, and more exaggeration. The abridged version of Kirito is quite similar to the actual Kirito from the show. First, let's go through his defining traits:

Diet Kirito is arrogant, just like Regular Kirito("I can handle it myself, I'd rather not have you slowing me down."- Regular Kirito to Lizbeth).

Diet Kirito is bad at socializing like, dare, I say it Regular Kirito("I'm sorry, I didn't think yours would break so easily, honest"-Kirito(sincerely apologizing) and when asked about the implied meaning(that Lisbeth's sword sucked) said yes)

Diet Kirito likes messing with people similar to how Regular Kirito freaked Asuna out by telling her a ghost story right before they saw Yui.

Diet Kirito is reckless(oh, wait, that's something the original only had). I guess this is where the two differ, Diet Kirito is more of a smart alec who spews most of the abridged part of the show("relax. You're wearing virtual gloves, over virtual HANDS, holding something that came out of a virtual, not to mention mythical creature"). Meanwhile, Regular Kirito is more reckless(break Lisbeth's sword because of his lack of thought instead of Diet Kirito's reaction of "give me another one").

That being said personality wise, that's where the differences really stop, they are for the most part almost identical characters. The original kirito is better balanced(he isn't an anti-sue like the diet one) as has gone out of his way to help people, and has better backstory(as it was stated at the beginning of the series he shut himself off of his family when he found out he was adopted, so he used gaming as an escape). However, the abridged has better diction and a better VA as this line: " What test a baby's durability by smashing it into another Baby?" which makes the Diet Kirito better compared to the, um averagely shown trait in the original. Anyway, people need to give the SAO cast more credit in my opinion, they aren't as bland as you think they are. The biggest failing in the original is how Kirito doesn't have enough character moments to shine(the same can be said for Liz and Asuna), when they do, I'll say they are solid 7/10s, too bad I have to give 5/10s(indifferent), as I do with most characters because they are only entertaining once and awhile(with the later season making them out to be bland making my impression of them worse).

Peaceful_Critic said:
1- My examples came from the first arc because that arc had the most focus on him. Later arcs dealt with the girls. The Gun arc had a heavy focus on Shinon while the Fairy Dance had Leafa, and the Mother's Rosario had Yuki(with Kirito only showing up as a cameo). However, it isn't like he only had a personality there. He did pretend and brisk into the whole "I'm a girl" thing in GGO. In fact, he didn't tell Shinon that when they first meant until after she was getting unchanged. He still likes messing with people, and he is still bad at socializing(the next arc is where he started to lack personality). Going over each and every incident of his personality would be exhausting if that's what I have to do to be able to say Kirito has a personality. An example is enough, if he didn't have any, I wouldn't be able to show you a single incident of any of his traits.

2-???

3-Feeling indifferent means I was semi-entertained with his character, and I thought he was done kind of well. He's above average, and he didn't bore me(which is a lot more than I can say of most characters(even from shows I loved)). I don't see how indifferent could be worse than being bored with a character.

Our views on him are the complete opposite, you don't even think he has any flaws while I find him deeply flawed(with it taking up most of his personality).

Peaceful_Critic said:
You are really downgrading his flaws. It wasn't more so a joke, but just general messing with people. Kirito didn't make a pun, he told a ghost story to scare his wife in the middle of the woods with a smug look on his face(my siblings do that kind of thing to me as well, I'm counting it as a flaw). Kinda awkward? You mean completely socially inept. How many people do you know has their apology come off as an insult or have a situation go so bad because of a lack of communication that a girl takes off her clothes and that his whole party died due to them being overconfident of their skill. Both situations he failed to say some pretty crucial things and got punished for it(through a hit and a deep personal regret(with the leader committing suicide right in front of him) that he had to deal with for the rest of the Aincrad arc).

Yes, he can be a kind, compassionate person, he doesn't only have flaws(that's more of a problem with the abridged Kirito), but aside from that, being smart with computers and good at video games his positive traits are less than his negative ones.

This is where our taste differs, you may value layers and complexity, while uniqueness and expressiveness is something I value a lot more. I like the characters who are entertaining to watch on screen, and if they aren't(which sadly most aren't) they'll get a bad score from me.

Peaceful_Critic said:
I just got the impression you valued layers above just having something unique(because it's why you called said characters good). I didn't think you hated it, I just thought you didn't value it as much. I'm not againist layered or complex characters either, but it's not the deciding factor to me on what makes a good character. What do you think of Death the Kid(Soul Eater) then?

Peaceful_Critic said:
Not really, I saw a bit of Ayumu, but that's it.

Kuraya said:
Because they do have personality, their character development may have been mostly off camera but they have personality. From the top of my head I can say Kirito was a shut-in guy who thought at first he was content with a virtual world but the experience of being completely shallowed by one changed him into a compassionate human.
Asuna was pretty stressed out by her life of high expectations and tried the game SAO for the sake of it. She felt the terror of her life being put in the biggest danger when she did virtually nothing. She didn't crumble in that. She's one to rise under pressure. She became skilled with the sword and became one of the commandants of the strongest guild. Then she met Kirito again from the first time they met when the game only just begun. To sum up Asuna is a kind and strong person. Her screen time being pretty much cut off is another subject.

Peaceful_Critic said:
What did I get wrong about their characters? Did I miss something? What do the others not get? Kuraya was the only one who talked about their development, no one else mentioned it because the thread asked about personality.

NbQuil said:
reword the title:

why is sao so popular when the show is complete garbo