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If you like a certain character, is he/she automatically considered well-written?

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Jan 27, 5:46 PM
#1
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I feel like whenever someone says this or that character is well-written is because they like the character and just want to praise and show how good their favorite character publicly, what do you think?




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Jan 27, 5:49 PM
#2

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Oct 2017
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I would not necessarily say so actually. You can like something regardless or not of quality. Theres a few characters in some movies I have watched who are god awfully written but they're kind of funny unintentionally so I like them, and I think that some people can point to examples like that in Japanese anime and manga as well.
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Jan 27, 6:07 PM
#3
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Oct 2024
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When it comes to male characters, I usually gravitate towards them based on their personalities or some cool aspect about them. Whereas for female characters, it's personality and/ or looks. So, I don't really judge my favorites from a writing standpoint.
Jan 27, 6:09 PM
#4

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Sep 2018
12148
Well written is a subjective merit. I consider a character well written if I liked him/her. You do not even need to write complex characters to be likable.
rohan121Jan 27, 6:20 PM
Jan 27, 6:17 PM
#5
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Liking a character doesnโ€™t automatically mean theyโ€™re well-written. It could just mean youโ€™re drawn to their personality, their story arc, or how they relate to you personally. A well-written character, though, usually has depth, complexity, and a consistent development that feels organic to the story. It's about how their traits, motivations, and actions make sense within the context of the narrative.
Jan 27, 6:27 PM
#6
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Feb 2020
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Only if people don`t give reasons, I mean, giving a well-written description of why something is well-writen.
Jan 27, 6:27 PM
#7

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If I like a character, it's probably enough to suggest that they're not "poorly-written" at least. I don't think it's necessarily a sign that they're definitely well-written though.
Jan 27, 6:42 PM
#8

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Jul 2017
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"If you like a certain character, is he/she automatically considered well-written?"
Nope.

I know that there are a lot of people who like certain characters because they're well-written, and that totally makes sense, but it wouldn't make much sense to me if someone were to say โ€œmy favorite characters are well-written because they're my favorites.โ€ โ€œWell-writtenโ€ and โ€œfavoriteโ€ are both effects/outcomes, and in this case, the person hasn't told us what his/her causes were that led to those characters being well-written and favorites.
Jan 27, 7:50 PM
#9
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Feb 2020
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Not always. I just happen to like their appearance and/or personality.

SerafosFeb 8, 5:06 AM
Jan 27, 8:07 PM

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Feb 2015
344
Absolutely not. It's really easy to like flat characters in a comedy, for example. "Well-written" is phrase I infer to specifically mean depth and consistency/growth of character.
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Jan 27, 8:15 PM
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Sep 2021
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Nah, the characters i like necessarilly dont have be to well written characters and on the other hand, it is not that i like every well written character. Chika Fujiwara,Shiina mayuuri, Sakura,Kurogane Ikki, Luffy, Wang Ling, Saitama,Yuzaki Nasa, Mikasa - I like all of all them, but i dont think they are very well written character, they are good but not great .
Jan 27, 8:17 PM

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Oct 2021
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Definitely not! I have a few characters I really love that I am happy to admit are also poorly written and feel their stories were not very well thought through. These are generally more of my "comfort characters" - I don't necessarily need them to be well written, because they and the content they originate from are more for distraction when things are difficult.
Jan 27, 8:28 PM

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Mar 2021
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I don't need the character to be perfect... I just like relatable characters even if they aren't well written and I also think it depends since some of my friends don't think Zangetsu was as well written as I seem to think he is......
Jan 27, 8:28 PM

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Jul 2021
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It's usually the other way around for me.

"If a character is well-written, then I like the character"

as opposed to:

"If I like a character, the character is well-written"

The first case is of course not always true, but definitely more common than the second case.
Jan 27, 8:52 PM

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Oct 2016
2597
Usually that's the case but not necessarilly, sometimes you can acknowledge that a character is well written without necessarilly liking them. And you can also like a character for very superficial and shallow reasons.
Jan 27, 9:04 PM

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Jun 2019
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Of course, we sometimes overlook certain things. However, I recognize that no matter how much I like a particular character (whether for their looks, personality, story, etc.), if they are not well-written, that is something I wouldnโ€™t ignore. The same applies to works in general.
Jan 28, 12:40 AM

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Jan 2021
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Not always. I do love a well written character but a character I like might not be well written relatively to another character.
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Jan 28, 1:35 AM

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Dec 2015
8734
No, that just means you like a certain character. Same with real life people, when you like someone it doesn't automatically mean that this person is pure angel.
Jan 28, 1:58 AM

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May 2012
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Hmm...characters are important in moving a story along. But the story has to be good as well. So it's only a 50% yes.

Jan 28, 2:12 AM

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Feb 2020
1315
It depends, actually. More often than not, I tend to dislike characters because I find them terribly written, and so the more I love a character, the more I find them to be well written, but that's just a personal opinion.
Some characters aren't exactly well-written but there's something about them that makes them charming anyway... But then again, if these characters somehow managed to be likable, that means they're not "failed", so in a way, they are well-written. It all depends on what the show intended for this character (for example, in a comedy, characters usually won't be deep, but if they're funny, that's enough to consider that the show did a good job with them).
Jan 28, 2:53 AM

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Sep 2016
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Not necessarily, I also like many simply-written characters, they just need to be entertaining.
Jan 28, 3:04 AM

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Apr 2020
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Not really. For example, Delta from Kage no Jitsuryokusha ni Naritakute! 2nd Season was just a dumb one-dimensional funny furry character, yet she's my favorite from that season.

A good question: Do you think your no. 1 favorite character is the most well written?

In my case, I dont know, since he had a short time of appearance from the series he's in. But I believe he's a masterfully written one
Jan 28, 3:13 AM
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Sep 2022
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I'm unlikely to like a character who seems badly written. Which isn't quite an answer to the question but it's all you're getting :)
Jan 28, 3:26 AM

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Jan 2021
1994
Most of the time I do. Even if I like them for simple things like their personality, I still consider it well-written, as the author wrote their personality and delivered it in a way I found entertaining.
Jan 28, 3:28 AM

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Jan 2009
103099
not for me i just find them attractive looking a lot of times ye im a simple man of culture
Jan 28, 3:56 AM

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Jan 2024
1652
Generally yes, if I like character to me he/she will be considered be well written. But there are exceptions like ik one character is better written than my liked one but still I like her/him more.

Like in Oshi No Ko, I love Arima Kana which is one of the worst written characters out there.(Not early on but later parts)Meanwhile Kurokawa Akane is written far better atleast compared to her. But that doesn't matter to me I like both of them but Kana more because of preference.
Jan 28, 5:14 AM

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May 2019
8494
No, i love leina but she's terribly written.
Jan 28, 5:19 AM

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Mar 2012
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No, there are a lot of inconsistencies in Conrad's writing all of which come from the author getting super salty that a character she hated got more popular than her beloved rapist. There are a lot of things which Conrad does in the LN which just don't make any sense based on how his character was described till that point.

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Jan 28, 8:47 AM

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Feb 2020
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No. I can like badly written character just because they are cute or funny. Well written character needs to be consistent and have depth. Character progression is also nice bonus. Being well written can actually make me dislike character.
Jan 28, 9:21 AM

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May 2018
3764
Just look at top favorite female characters. Some of them are not just badly written, but not written at all. Emilia, Rem, Mikasa having tons of fans can't stop them from being nothing but hollow images. They won't become well-written even if a million of simps say so.
Jan 28, 9:46 AM

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Jan 2022
1931
I wish @Rinrinka was a well-written character, tbh.
Jan 28, 10:28 AM

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Apr 2016
105
for most cases, yep. if i like a character lots its usually because i find them well written

Jan 28, 4:41 PM

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Aug 2019
1988
No, I've liked characters who don't have much going on, but the more well-written they are, the more I will like them.
Jan 30, 1:36 PM

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Oct 2022
1711
I have never even thought about how they are written..
Simpler anime characters are better that I think in all fiction, overwritten characters are annoying.

The audience wants to project themselves + experiences onto characters in fiction, they don't want to form an idea about the character and then have that image ripped apart by some overdone, violent backstory.
I've had that problem before like with the characters in Case Study of Vanitas, I felt the tragic backstories were so overwrought, too gruesome and disturbing, it didn't make the story better. It just made me pull away from some of the main characters, red flagged by all the baggage the writers attached.

It's more fun characters whose identity comes about organically by their experiences of the story, that way the audience is involved in how they became who they are.
Jan 30, 1:38 PM

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May 2009
8214
I don't think they have to be "well-written" for me to like them. Sometimes, it's just the character concept and one or two important scenes, that make me I just really love a character, who might even be an otherwise unimportant secondary character. And sometimes a main character that I love ends up getting screwed by the story, in which case there's a chance I might just simply get mad at the story itself.
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Jan 30, 1:58 PM

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Jul 2017
399
not at all, I like a character for many different reasons merged together and they don't need to be well written to earn that spot, even if that sometimes tends to be the case.
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Jan 30, 2:08 PM

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Apr 2022
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nah not like those cornballs, i'll like a character as long as they entertain me.
Jan 30, 4:07 PM

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May 2021
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Rinrinka said:
I feel like whenever someone says this or that character is well-written is because they like the character and just want to praise and show how good their favorite character publicly, what do you think?

I think it's easier to find both characters that you like and dislike as well written than to be able to find ones you like as badly written, afterall if a character is badly written it'll be harder to connect to them

There are a couple characters that writing is pretty bad i still have a soft spot for though
Jan 30, 4:15 PM

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May 2020
2914
Kurumi is probably a good example for me on that...

Which is kinda unfortunate because shes on a show that is not good especially without her...

& vice versa is more likely to find in a show than the one OP writes...

I hate Yuigahama Yui from SNAFU but i think she was the most well written of all the female casts in that show...
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Jan 31, 6:10 AM

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Jul 2013
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Define what is a "well-written" character.
Jan 31, 9:23 PM
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Jul 2024
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Reply to Hitagi__Furude
Kurumi is probably a good example for me on that...

Which is kinda unfortunate because shes on a show that is not good especially without her...

& vice versa is more likely to find in a show than the one OP writes...

I hate Yuigahama Yui from SNAFU but i think she was the most well written of all the female casts in that show...
@Hitagi__Furude Kurumi ends up being one of the best written characters in THAT show. And though I hated her at first, so does Mio. The others, NOT SO much alas. Still I love DAL. For idiotic reasons & for the fact that what some people think is a Harem Rom Com is also quite a Dark Sci Fi/Fantasy as well.
Jan 31, 9:36 PM

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Aug 2016
1847
I wouldn't say so, I like Asuna from SAO but I would hardly call her a well-written character outside of maybe the very first arc of the series, and even then most of the qualities that made her interesting initially get slowly stripped away as she becomes Kirito's bland and barely relevant waifu. Then again, the criteria that leads to something being considered well-written is mostly subjective, I'm just using mine to talk about Asuna.
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Jan 31, 9:52 PM

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Oct 2013
7430
Nope. I like quite a few characters that don't always have the best writing and I have no issues admitting that.
Feb 6, 10:55 AM
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Nov 2018
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Not always, there are many aspects that make me like a character, one of which is good writing, but there are other aspects such as characterization, comedy and how they relate to me.
Feb 7, 10:26 AM

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Apr 2023
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Not really. I mean, Aizen is one of my favorite anime villains of all time but he's not the best written. He has plenty of flaws, mainly with how OP he is (granted, that's a problem with Bleach in general).

Luffy is one of my favorite main characters in anime, I think top 3 even, but I like Thorfinn more and he's more well written than Luffy.
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Feb 8, 9:27 AM

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Jul 2023
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Well, well-written is a coin of two side... what they are calling "well-written" someone others are labeling them by "horrible written".


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Feb 11, 9:11 PM

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Li Meiling from Cardcaptor Sakura fits this topic well. On one level, she's a Chinese stereotype that gets discarded for the Japanese girl and her supposed character development is being okay with that, and she's frequently treated as dumb and poorly integrated into Japanese society like in a lot of anime. And yet, she's still the funniest, most engaging character in the entire show that has a similar appeal as Donald Duck to Europeans.

Basically, she may not be the best written character, but I always wanted a friend like her in real life (and even got my wish).

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Feb 13, 2:36 PM

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nope, i love so many characters even if theyโ€™re not deep or developed. sometimes itโ€™s just their design, personality, or how relatable they feel. but just because i like them doesnโ€™t mean theyโ€™re well-written.


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Feb 13, 3:04 PM
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Apr 2014
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Most of the time when people talk about poorly written characters, what they are actually doing is requiring you to make the characters align with how they think that people think. Really there are not many poorly written characters, with most of the arguments I see you could have just said that real life is full of poorly written humans. Basically yes, I think that to most people characters are well written if they like the character and poorly written if they do not. Then I would say there is another large group that decides if a character is well written based on if they think the character is consistent or not based on aspects they have personally deemed as being consistent with one another based on their personal biases, despite how flawed that line of thinking is. There are also some insane people that think a well written character means they have to make intelligent decisions or react in the same way they would to situations. I could really go on and on, but to keep it simple most characters are well written, but people have deluded themselves into needing to finding meaning through critiquing every ounce of an anime, despite this killing the enjoyment for them and setting them onto a default path of thinking everything sucks. Just have fun bakas.
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