Who is THE WORST anime PROTAGONIST?

Nalusa_Falaya said:

It's funny how you talk about shit taste in protagonists and can't stand a protagonist who isn't going berserk every episode, Yes, Shinji is a loser, It's not flashy but it's portrayed realistically, That's why people praise him.

Also, Isayama didn't need 60 to convince us that Eren is an angry boi, Because one, We get it, Two, Using repetition to that extent is called laziness, He did the same with Mikasa trying to say she's overprotective by her saying Eren way too much.

And even if he needed these 60 episodes it doesn't change that he wasn't a good protagonist in them since him being annoying isn't an inevitable thing.

Why did you recommend me a video that'll spoil the show ?, I ain't gonna watch it, You're saying the same thing dude, "He gets better" and even if he does, Isayama should've chosen better ways to communicate his anger than this repetition until it gets annoying shit.

If you're trying to defend S4 then I didn't watch it, If you're trying to defend the previous seasons then don't say "He's gonna get better in S4"

Nobara98 said:
you really don't understand what I mean here, I painstakingly explain if you look at it you will understand how Eren is, yes obviously that is a big spoiler, and to explain to someone like you really need a big spoiler like that. you are just a hater. I just spend time explaining to you why Eren is the opposite of worst. oh yeah i forgot i was arguing with a 15 year old kid sorry XD

If you don't want to watch AOT S4 well I don't care either.

light_straight said:

I think you really dislike eren, so I am not gonna convince you otherwise. But I have some points.

1. Eren never did a 180 in character. The whole first 3 seasons are a story of gradual breakdown of a revenge driven kid. You should also realise that s1 ep25 - s2 ep12 happened in a single day. So he was betrayed by 3 best friends in 1 day, 4 if you count ymir. In S3, he was so devastated because he realised that grisha killed historia's family. So his father did it to someone what titans did it to him. That's one hell of a guilt, because it nullifed his whole life goal.
S1 eren was not ready to abandon Levi squad to die. But S3 eren went through with a plan that will cause his best friend's death.

2. Why is a character developed in the 60th episode a bad thing? Different authors prioritise different things. Isayama just prioritised the world and the mysteries. That's why people who hate eren continue to watch aot, whereas people who hate, say light, drop death note quickly. If author is forced to flash out the best of their story in initial chapters, it is really not good for long term storytelling. AoT is all about long term storytelling. People leave questions and mysteries unsolved, because they have faith that the author will reward them with a good payoff.

Btw I like Shinji too. He's just a victim of the situation. He has the curse of being special. But the same thing applies to eren. This was discussed in S3.

Chiibi said:


Did you like...not WATCH the show? Lol.

Kirito has a savior complex; he blames himself too much when bad things happen and that stunts his emotional growth. He is afraid to get close to ANYONE in the beginning until Asuna pretty much forces herself into his life.

He actually doesn't have a lot of self-worth. If you take away his support (Asuna and his friends), he's like a helpless child. Fairy Arc also shows how powerless his human self is when he is not in the VR world. That's why he spends so much time there; you can take from that he is someone who dislikes facing reality.

He has a hard time letting go of the past; he is still haunted by what happened to Sachi even though it was so long ago. He reacts the same way with Eugeo and actually tries to kill himself after reliving the memory of Eugeo's death.

He is reckless and that also gets him into trouble. Like I said, he doesn't CONSTANTLY need help but he SOMETIMES does...cause he's still a human teenager. Asuna had to save his life twice in Aincrad, Leafa had to help him rescue Asuna in Fairy Dance and Sinon had to save his life in GGO (because he thought he could handle her attacker on his own; turns out, he couldn't.)

And this is a minor thing but he's clumsy as fuck...also doesn't seem to like using anything but a sword because he's stubborn that way.



@slightycognizant
Lol that's a motherfucking lie if I ever heard one.

Kirito has a savior complex; he blames himself too much when bad things happen and that stunts his emotional growth. He is afraid to get close to ANYONE in the beginning until Asuna pretty much forces herself into his life.

He actually doesn't have a lot of self-worth. If you take away his support (Asuna and his friends), he's like a helpless child. Fairy Arc also shows how powerless his human self is when he is not in the VR world. That's why he spends so much time there; you can take from that he is someone who dislikes facing reality.

He has a hard time letting go of the past; he is still haunted by what happened to Sachi even though it was so long ago. He reacts the same way with Eugeo and actually tries to kill himself after reliving the memory of Eugeo's death.

He is reckless and that also gets him into trouble. Like I said, he doesn't CONSTANTLY need help but he SOMETIMES does...cause he's still a human teenager. Asuna had to save his life twice in Aincrad, Leafa had to help him rescue Asuna in Fairy Dance and Sinon had to save his life in GGO (because he thought he could handle her attacker on his own; turns out, he couldn't.)

And this is a minor thing but he's clumsy as fuck...also doesn't seem to like using anything but a sword because he's stubborn that way.

Nalusa_Falaya said:

I agree with some of the points and I don't want to turn this to a fight like with Nobara98, I just wanna ask two questions

Reiner, Bertholt and Ymir are best friends to Eren ?, He seemed to hate everyone most of the time, And the only interaction between them was 1 or 2 conversations, Isn't it a bit weird for him to feel so betrayed with people he didn't even like that much ?

If you think that it was understandably hard for Isayama to have to write good worldbuilding/mysteries AND characters, That's cool, But how does that make Eren a good protagonist (At least in the first 3 seasons) ?, You're saying that Death note didn't focus on stuff like worldbuilding and mysteries but tried to flesh out the characters more while AOT did the opposite, Which is fine, Y'know, The thing is I won't say that the worldbuilding in Death note was good, Am I makin sense ?

Attackonfiller said:

Somehow, I get what you mean. His character transformation is incredibly well done and fascinating to experience, but his ideology holds him back so fucking much in the world of Vinland Saga lol. He's one of the best, but it's hard to get behind some of his actions and decisions.


I've seen many criticisms, but is yelling seriously what makes him the worst of them all? That's something lol

light_straight said:


Now they are not friends like say gon and Killua, but they are close friends. Many moments in anime has shown that, like eren discussing his mother's death and his motivation. You don't tell it to strangers. And the scenes where they were sparring and eating and hiking, are enough to convey that they are close friends. Now if you exclusively want a friendship arc, it would really hurt the pacing, because the events in anime are reordered from manga.

Death note is not really a good example here, because world building is not its main focus and selling point. It's not a fantasy anime ffs.

I really didn't want to say this, buy I think you missed or ignored Eren's development. There are hundreds of video essays on YouTube. Watch them if you want to.

For a reference, in the initial story, Eren and Edward from FmaB are the same angry but capable teens. Both don't talk gently to anyone. Both are clinging to an impossible goal, and disregard everyone else. I would even say Edward is more harsh. So it's not a problem of eren being badly written, because it's really not the first time a shonen series had an angry protagonist, who has tunnel vision, and is shouting all the time.

This is not directed to you, but bashing eren is the only way haters could've really justified hating aot. I have noticed hundreds of posts and comments on social media in which if someone wants to give a reason to hate aot, they would instantly say eren, or maybe pacing of season 1. General crowd, who are not on MAL is guilty of this.

Now as I initially said, nothing I say would make you love eren. And I am not trying to make you. But saying he's the "worst" protagonist, or even a badly written one is kinda unfair, or even idiotic.

I didn't come here to bash you or anything, but I just wanted to point out that maybe you hate him for bad reasons. And it's fine, you don't need to like him. But acknowledging him doesn't make you small.

Nalusa_Falaya said:
I want to deflate the tension with some points, One: I don't think he's the worst protagonist, If you look at my list, I haven't watched that many shows, And many of them had protagonists I liked (Light, Lelouch, Tenma) Or protagonists that weren't really noticeable and kinda just did what they had to do (Like in Anohana or Angel Beats) And I'm sure when I watch more stuff he won't be in the 4th spot.

Two: I've watched their first meeting and sparring scene again and yeah, I agree with you on that betrayal point

Three:I did watch some videos on AOT and Eren, And like many people in the fandom, Most of their points were valid if you saw a future event or read the manga (So I usually just close the video)

Another point is that I can bring other examples of stuff other than Death note, Shinsekai Yori for example focuses on world building and directing the most (Both of these are fantasy shows), And even though I don't really mind the characters being meh since other factors overshadow it, I won't say that the characters are good, Hope I cleared this point.

And I haven't seen FMA:B so I can't really use that reference, I don't know if Edward will be like Eren or not

I don't get it, How is seeing someone say that he hates titans over and over again way past the point of knowing that he's angry considered good ?

I said this to a previous user that Isayama could've communicated that he's angry in other ways instead of repeatedly saying his motivation, Even if it's realistic it's an annoying thing none the less, And don't tell me that he was focusing on mysteries and worldbuilding cuz then you'll be just saying Eren is good and justifiably bad.

Also, I'm not trying to shit on AOT for no reason or to not look "small", You said it's not directed to me but tbh I dunno why you included it if it's not. I can talk about other flaws in AOT like (Ep 1 Mikasa and Ep 60 Mikasa are the same, The asspull that was at the end of S2, Plot armor, etc) I just criticize Eren since the OP mentioned the topic, I have nothing to gain if I said a flaw I saw in AOT, I'm not some youtuber who'll gain views from the catchy title

Nalusa_Falaya said:

If you think I'm a hater and you don't talk to 15 year olds then stop talking to me.

Also, If you want to actually have debates about shows or other media in the future, I advise you to stop randomly bringing the age of people, It makes you look like a loser that can't debate

light_straight said:


Sorry dude, you really lost me at the "asspull" in s2. It was explained in S3 very well. I guess you really didn't pay attention. No point in arguing with you.

And "shouting your goal" is a pretty usual trope in shonen. And eren says it a whole lot less than Naruto, Luffy, Gon etc.

Nobara98 said:
okay kid I wait for you to mature to argue again, we adults can understand your unstable mind, argue with me when you grow up XD

Nalusa_Falaya said:

Lol, Didn't know you were that much into AOT

The difference between Lelouch and Light is that they start good and become better, Y'know, Like most well written characters.

Isayama didn't have to make Eren annoying if he was a more clever writer, I dunno why AOT fans think that when things get better all the previous episodes are erased, Nah, S4 is about 21% of the show and even if it's all that amazing we had to go through 59 episodes of Eren screaming to get here because Isayama couldn't write a good protagonist, Das it fam

Nalusa_Falaya said:

Lol, Didn't know you were that much into AOT

The difference between Lelouch and Light is that they start good and become better, Y'know, Like most well written characters.

Isayama didn't have to make Eren annoying if he was a more clever writer, I dunno why AOT fans think that when things get better all the previous episodes are erased, Nah, S4 is about 21% of the show and even if it's all that amazing we had to go through 59 episodes of Eren screaming to get here because Isayama couldn't write a good protagonist, Das it fam

Snow_dropindo99 said:
Well I Saw all your comments in this discussion, it looks like you just hate Eren and can't accept his development, I'm a bit bad at explaining but try watching this video, surely all your question will be answered, why does it take 60 eps to develop Eren's character and why is Eren the best protagonist of all time.

https://youtu.be/V3d7-_xRpaA

Snow_dropindo99 said:
Well I Saw all your comments in this discussion, it looks like you just hate Eren and can't accept his development, I'm a bit bad at explaining but try watching this video, surely all your question will be answered, why does it take 60 eps to develop Eren's character and why is Eren the best protagonist of all time.

https://youtu.be/V3d7-_xRpaA

shingojira-chan said:

Bruh doesn't that have a lot of spoilers ?

Nalusa_Falaya said:

Umm, Well, I don't want to spoil things for myself, I told the previous user the same thing when he recommended me a video.

I'll probably watch them both when I actually finish S4 since this video talks about chapter 121

Snow_dropindo99 said:
Hmm i see

it's up to you whether you want to see the spoilers or not because all the answers to your questions are all on this video.

Tendo_GM said:



There is also a great comeback line if he says “Eren gets better later when he grows up”, you then say “So does Thorfinn” :D

Aftab01 said:
Well I can see that lead to some pretty friendly discussions, all kidding aside the AOT fandom is so annoying these days.

slightycognizant said:

I don't think so. There is a good reason why Kirito is often considered a "self-insert"

"Kirito literally does not change in the slightest nor really learn from his experiences and when he does it is usually at the detriment of another character"

Kirito, in game and even in real life, does not in anyway lack self-esteem, it's quite the opposite, He is quite cocky; think of the time Kirito faced Roselia and her clique.

Most of these examples show his selflessness which is the root of his reckless behavior and selflessness is more so viewed as a positive trait.

How is he clumsy in the first place.

Appraises said:
Easy question, no doubt, Kazuma from Rent-a-girlfriend, WORST OF THE WORST.

hades884balding said:
Haruyuki Arita from Accel World

Boruto Uzumaki from Boruto: Naruto Next Generations

Fujii, Natsuo from domestic girlfriend

AnimeDownUnder said:


Boruto is far from a bad protagonist, dude is actually pretty cool. Not as cool as naruto was obviously but far more skilled and smarter at the same age