| I've been watching Tsuki to Laika to Nosferatu since it started airing and at some point started wondering why its protagonist isn't more popular, so the issue of this topic is quite simple: what does it take for a male character to appear on your favorite character list? Going back to Tsuki to Laika to Nosferatu, let's compare its male main character Lev Leps to Shinei Nouzen from 86. I do understand that 86 is significantly more popular, however the difference in popularity isn't that big compared to the gap both character have between them (13 member favorites Lev has is around ~0.5% of Shinei's ~2200). Furthermore, my selection was based on the fact that both anime started airing the same year and in addition they both have female counterparts and potential romantic partners in their respective stories (Milizé and Irina). I won't comment much about attractiveness in terms of physical appearance since I believe they are both quite handsome, so I'll point some of the personality traits both men have according to what I've noticed in anime. Lev Honest, goal oriented, diligent, kind and pleasant, outgoing and socially confident, has a strong sense of responsibility and justice, doesn't hold grudges, orderly, intelligent and well informed about different topics. Shinei Smart and dutiful to his friends, but keeps to himself, often doesn't follow orders, requests or advices, gloomy/depressive and possibly has tons of mental issues to deal with. So what makes Shinei better than Lev? Is it his sad story? Him being cool while on the battlefield? His intelligent and lonely silhouette when he reads books? Question is primarily targeted at female audience, but men are welcome to participate too if they so desire. |
| I feel there's more than one question on this thread, unfortunately i can just answer one. what does it take for a male character to appear on your favorite character list? Well tbh male or female doesn't matter much. A character needs to be really likeable and memorable to be worth of my favorite list. Taking Battler as example, i love his extreme deduction and coolness he puts when standing against Beatrice. He's not all-win character but still has glorious moments in Umi series. Another example from my list is Kumagawa of Medaka Box. |
  I play BanG Dream! Girls Band Party Garupa EN ID: 10759829 Garupa JP ID: 36753163 |
SmallBombEnjoyer said: Well tbh male or female doesn't matter I think it varies from person to person. In my case, when it comes to male characters the most important factors are charisma, style, memorability (e.g. Reinhard von Lohengramm, Saeba Ryou, Kazami Yuuji) and in rarer cases relatableness to myself (e.g. Rean Schwarzer, Satou Kazuma), whereas for female characters feelings of affection and fascination I feel towards them are top priority. |
| Well Shinei is the best character on 86(atleast when it comes to complexity) a show that most would say is just better outright then Tsuki to Laika to Nosferatu, Lev is a pretty standard character personality wise, where as Shinei is the most intriguing character in the whole show, infact without him the whole show would suffer massively. 86 is a character driven show mostly where as Tsuki to Laika to Nosferatu is a romance story based show so overall I would say it's pretty obvious. |
| Even as a dude looking at the designs clearly Shinei looks way better than Lev. Shinei looks peak bishoujo (what females like most). |
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| Well if I'm being honest most people who like Levi do you like him because of the hype around him and because others like him.. I personally do not hate him I think it's a good character and type of a badass if i'm being honest. If I wanted to compare the characters I would not compare the characters with visuals but rather how well the character is written for example gintoki sakata from gintama it's my favorite character because he has an moral compass that I can relate to ,he is true to himself hey knows what it wants and protects what he wants which makes him the ideal character for me not only that but the character is also very funny no to compare him with let's say him another shonen main character Edward elric from fullmetal alchemist no most of you love Edward elric because you love the show but we were talking about character writing I personally think that gintoki sakata this way better written thanks to this long Showtime and the writers behind him because even though both characters have a clear goal and a set of morals.. |
Stawberry Milk Supremacy  |
| I haven't watched the show that you are talking about so idk who better in terms of writing but writing aside imo it's because 86 has many source material readers too and because yes Shinei is cool, I really like him too. |
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| @dabdabgoose @Sayali567 Can you guys explain what makes Shinei a well-written character and how it correlates with his popularity? I won't argue whether I agree or disagree since I don't particularly concern myself with complexity and depth, but I want to remind you that not everyone has the same standards. For example, this is a painting of Pablo Picasso, one of the most prominent artists of 20th century.  And these are fanarts of Zero Two from Darling in the FranXX and Nakano Miku from 5-toubun no Hanayome made by an Italian artist named Mirco Cabbia.   An expert with art or history degree might tell that the first picture greatly contributed in the development of cubism and modern art, that it was revolutionary at the time, that it has some deep meaning behind it or that it affected the life of the author or his career in some way. However, with all due respect to Pablo Picasso, if it were up to me what to display somewhere where it can be seen, I'd choose works of Mirco Cabbia. Why? Because it's pleasant to look at. The logic here is quite simple: in my opinion the purpose of a decoration is to be visually pleasing and invoke strong emotions in those who look at it. By the same token, a character's purpose is to be likeable and it can be achieved regardless of him or her being bland or complex as the universe. |
rohan121 said: Even as a dude looking at the designs clearly Shinei looks way better than Lev. Shinei looks peak bishoujo (what females like most). Bishounen, perhaps? Lev's MAL page doesn't do him justice. He might be not as sleek as Shinei, but he's handsome nonetheless; probably cuter too. |
Tannhauser said: @dabdabgoose @Sayali567 Can you guys explain what makes Shinei a well-written character and how it correlates with his popularity? I won't argue whether I agree or disagree since I don't particularly concern myself with complexity and depth, but I want to remind you that not everyone has the same standards. For example, this is a painting of Pablo Picasso, one of the most prominent artists of 20th century. An expert with art or history degree might tell that the first picture greatly contributed in the development of cubism and modern art, that it was revolutionary at the time, that it has some deep meaning behind it or that it affected the life of the author or his career in some way. However, with all due respect to Pablo Picasso, if it were up to me what to display somewhere where it can be seen, I'd choose works of Mirco Cabbia. Why? Because it's pleasant to look at. The logic here is quite simple: in my opinion the purpose of a decoration is to be visually pleasing and invoke strong emotions in those who look at it. By the same token, a character's purpose is to be likeable and it can be achieved regardless of him or her being bland or complex as the universe. Picasso was an ugly person outside and incredibly more ugly inside, his ugly art merely shows a small side of his ugly inside. True art doesn't lie. |
| Male characters on my list I like badass one-man army type guys, preferably lacking in super powers or other enhancements as I think that's a little lame. Other question I can't really answer. |
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Feircei said: Picasso was an ugly person outside and incredibly more ugly inside, his ugly art merely shows a small side of his ugly inside. True art doesn't lie. I can agree that art represents their creators in some way, but I don't know much of what kind of person Picasso was, so I'd rather avoid being judgmental. The point is, however, is that I don't like his art one bit. |
| I don't watched any of the anime that you mentioned so I can't understand your example but I don't have particular criteria or looking for any appeal in male characters. If I feel I like it then I like it. I know it's vague, but pretty much many things occurred like this to me, which is without specific reasons. |
  𝑇𝐼𝑃𝑆 𝐼𝑁 𝐺𝐼𝑁𝑇𝐴𝑀𝐴 - 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 |
| For me I don't have a specific appeal for a male character,but my mostly male characters are dumb,love their friends, become badaas when they are serious might they be my characters appeals |
 For your Information: |
| I like male characters based on their personality and how much character development they have in the anime The same goes for female characters but I usually don't keep them in my favourites. |
| Gender doesn't matter to me, but it's just harder to write better female characters, idk why. When the female characters are written well though, they are incredible. |
| "Did you forget already? In my word the color "red" doesn't exist. These must be...my tears. Ever since I woke up from my coma...I think I've been waiting for this very moment. You'd do well to remember this, Maya. The only time a lawyer can cry is when it's all over." (Ace Attorney T&T: Bridge to the Turnabout) "I'm my worst critic." (Kendrick Lamar)  |
tinker3bellz1 said: If I feel I like it then I like it. I know it's vague, but pretty much many things occurred like this to me, which is without specific reasons. Fair enough! No one needs a reason to love something or someone, after all. I think it's a great reason and way more honest than shallow attempts at objectivity I observe from time to time here on forums. |
| I don't see the appeal of male characters, probably because I'm not male, and I'm not attracted to males. |
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| Since I've watched so much anime over the years I got tired of stand in, goofy ass, empty headed male protags; they're not good as side characters either but THEY can work. Plus I don't find male characters attractive in a "I want to marry/smash" kind of way. More of a "my son" sort of feels. So that's why Deku since 2017 has been at the top. He's perfect combination of cute, smart, funny, and drive. I'm not gonna bust out an essay or the thesaurus here but I think male characters that feel multi faceted but also have their own traits, it's kind of rare. I do think a lot of females cruise on cuteness/hotness though. It's shallow but true, look at the top 100 characters of MAL. 32 are women and not to slam on anyone's wives here but I'd say a third of them are little bit empty on memorable side, their designs and looks probably more so then their personalities. |
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Stripes said: 32 are women and not to slam on anyone's wives here but I'd say a third of them are little bit empty on memorable side, their designs and looks probably more so then their personalities. If you don't mind, can you list the ones you consider to be empty on memorable side? |
| "what does it take for a male character to appear on your favorite character list?" i can't pinpoint why, but i'm attracted to shunsui kyoraku such a handsome man and quite possibly the greatest bleach character ever |
indrawn said: i can't pinpoint why, but i'm attracted to shunsui kyoraku such a handsome man and quite possibly the greatest bleach character ever It's either him or Aizen for me, both have attractive personalities and visuals. I'd say Bleach as a whole has many decent male characters as opposed to the smaller number of a bit less flashy girls. I like Orihime and Yoruichi, though. |
| idk, as of now, all my favorite characters are male. So, I don't think its that difficult? |
Tannhauser said: those thighs damn, nice art..ehdjdki@dabdabgoose @Sayali567 Can you guys explain what makes Shinei a well-written character and how it correlates with his popularity? I won't argue whether I agree or disagree since I don't particularly concern myself with complexity and depth, but I want to remind you that not everyone has the same standards. For example, this is a painting of Pablo Picasso, one of the most prominent artists of 20th century. And these are fanarts of Zero Two from Darling in the FranXX and Nakano Miku from 5-toubun no Hanayome made by an Italian artist named Mirco Cabbia. An expert with art or history degree might tell that the first picture greatly contributed in the development of cubism and modern art, that it was revolutionary at the time, that it has some deep meaning behind it or that it affected the life of the author or his career in some way. However, with all due respect to Pablo Picasso, if it were up to me what to display somewhere where it can be seen, I'd choose works of Mirco Cabbia. Why? Because it's pleasant to look at. The logic here is quite simple: in my opinion the purpose of a decoration is to be visually pleasing and invoke strong emotions in those who look at it. By the same token, a character's purpose is to be likeable and it can be achieved regardless of him or her being bland or complex as the universe. |
| Anime is fun. |
| I'll explain. sword: musclehead who eats steak, loves tits, that's it. absolutely relatable. accelerator: best character ever. ok I'll stop. I like each of my favorites for a different reason. and I'm only attracted to the looks of two. both female, and neither is my ideal type. |
| 馬鹿げた倫理 全部ガラクタで |
| all of my favorite male characters seem to fit into one of three categories. Big bro, little bro or father figure |
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| "what does it take for a male character to appear on your favorite character list?" I'll have to like him a lot in both personality and looks (I can still like characters I don't find attractive) Be voiced by Miki Shinichiro Nice big bro/mentor figure Be nice to everyone Be handsome In other words, Lockon Stratos |
| He must be cool or relatable or funny. All fairly rare traits, in my experience. |
| その目だれの目？ |
nyugvo6 said: sword: musclehead who eats steak, loves tits, that's it. absolutely relatable. He looks like someone I could be friends with. |
| All they need to be is sexy, regardless of gender. |
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| I have four male characters in favs and I have different reasons for them. or at least I don't see a connection. Alfred J Kwak - He's a duck, ducks are cute and I like all duck characters. But I like how strong determined that duck is and literally goes against furry Hitler. Guts - While he is all manly and such I think it is amazing we see his emotional side too and doesn't lack them. He needs a hug. On another note he is the only male character in my favs I find attractive. Yugi & Kaiba - I more so like their friendship rivalry thing and their character growth during the story. I will fight anyone who says Kaiba doesn't grow as a person in the story. But to be fair my fav female characters neither have much similarity between each other. The only personality trait I value is having resolution, which maybe can be seen in all my favs. |
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| Considering Satoru Gojou's popularity, it seems like obnoxious personality is in high demand for modern audiences. |
| "what does it take for a male character to appear on your favorite character list?" Gender bender on application of cold water.. |
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Tiosar said: Considering Satoru Gojou's popularity, it seems like obnoxious personality is in high demand for modern audiences. Yet when I do it they ban my ass.. People these days are confused about what they actually like |
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| You just need to be based and a chad like Kintarou from Golden Boy |
Complex Stories are basically sleeping pills . Helps to get some sleep . |
| Enough charismatic and interesting personality that I cared about them or even saw them as a projection of myself in the plot. |
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| For me, i'm always creamed by Masa from Seto no Hanayome everytime he appears. He's so cool even myself as male also find it very attractive |
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Tiosar said: Good looks and character design + charismatic personality is almost always a success. It helps tremendously that Gojo is not the protagonist.Considering Satoru Gojou's popularity, it seems like obnoxious personality is in high demand for modern audiences. It's the same for waifus, good looks and character design + so form of dere |
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