Ask John: Who is John’s Least Favorite Anime Character?
Question:
Some characters (like Scrappy Doo or Cape Man) are seen widely as annoying by much of the fanbase and are heavily detested. Who is the most annoying anime character you’ve ever seen? Someone that’s made you say, “I’m really sick of this guy and wish they’d just get rid of him already.”
Answer:
I honestly don’t have a singular most disliked anime character. I don’t think that anime has a Jar Jar Binks for me. However, there is one character attribute that periodically appears in anime that I vehemently detest. It’s an aggrevating personality flaw that most afflicted characters eventually overcome, and it’s also an interesting reflection of the Japanese culture from which it comes. I have a particular distaste for weak-willed, indecisive characters, particularly those that star in action anime. Lead characters in harem anime get a pass because its their very hesitation to commit that serves as narrative foundation. And the stars of harem anime have to be non-committal in order to serve their purpose as avatars for viewer immersion. But the stars of action anime are different. Their hesitation is not vital, and while its appearance may provide personality, it’s aggrevating personality.
When placed in positions of duress or immediate responsibility, I believe that people should react accordingly. Doing nothing at all or waffling between decisions is annoying at best and irresponsible at worst. So this sort of irresponsibility is particularly frustrating from characters that come from Japanese culture, which indoctrinates its citizens into a pervasive sense of responsibility. Kyota, the star of the 2002 Aquarian Age television series, remained a weak-willed, indecisive character throughout the series’ 13 episodes. The early episodes of the 1997 Maze Bakunetsu Jikuu television series infuriated me because Female Maze was a pacifistic character horrified by the slaughter she witnessed around her. Yet she spent multiple episodes wrestling with her moral quandries instead of exerting her power to stop the killing. In the intrim, more and more people died just because Female Maze couldn’t make up her mind. In the 2007 Bokurano television series several of the children hesitate to fight because they know that choosing to fight will result in their death. But refusing to fight will result in not only their own death, but the death of others, as well. In effect, even when faced with no choice, several of the characters still insist on hesitating. To paraphrase Battle: Los Angeles’ Staff Seargent Michael Nantz, go left; go right; I don’t care which. Just make a decision.
Japan is traditionally a culture that can’t say no. The current Kamisama no Memocho television series depicts a protagonist that gets roped into a variety of tasks simply because he just can’t summon the willpower to simply say “No.” Anime characters that endlessly deliberate and seem unable to assert a decision seem representative of a contemporary strata of Japanese people who are propelled through life by social expectation and convention. Making resolute decisions, taking firm action, or deciding definitive choices are the exception within Japanese psychology because such deliberate decisions affect not only the self but also society, and Japanese society traditionally espouses a “don’t rock the boat” philosophy. Not standing out by making strong, assertive decisions, going along with the flow is the traditional Japanese way. So anime characters that hesitate, deliberate, and vacillate are probably more authentic and representative of average Japanese teens than characters who are aggressively assertive. Occassionally anime viewers are rewarded with protagonists like Shinku Izumi of Dog Days, Dan JD in Basquash!, Guin in Guin Saga, and Akira Takizawa in Higashi no Eden who quickly take stock of their situations and immediately snap to action, but most anime star protagonists that fall inbetween the two poles, including characters like Takashi Komuro of High School of the Dead, Muneakira Yagyu of Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Girls, and Keima Katsuragi of Kami Nomi zo Shiru Sekai, and Kenji Koiso of Summer Wars.
I believe it’s my American heritage that causes me to instinctively become frustrated with characters that find themselves in situations in which action seems obvious and natural, yet they hesitate and refuse to commit to any firm decision. Unlike Japan, which proposes that care and deliberation should be exercised to avoid causing inconvenience, American culture encourages action. Right or wrong is nearly ancillary to simply being assertive. So I instinctively dislike anime characters that seem especially weak-willed or indecisive. Making a bad choice is fine and natural. However, just refusing to make any choice at all is aggravating.
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Agree, stoped to watch Baccano because it had one of those characters… and also because the story din’t make any fucking sense.
??? Made enough sense to me.
I had a love-hate thing going with Maze. And I’ve only read the manga, but Bokurano has other irritating things I can’t stand about it, like being a godawful tween Eva clone cribbing off of Gantz, for one. Plus, I don’t really care about the character’s personal backgrounds or the button-pushing meant to replace real action scenes.
“Unlike Japan, which proposes that care and deliberation should be exercised to avoid causing inconvenience, American culture encourages action.”
Well, in their defense, we seem to be even more apathetic against systematic corruption than currently, say, the Egyptians and Tunisians.
kyouki: I stopped watching Baccano because it seemed like a confused alternate reality homage/re-telling which didn’t quite motivate me to continue it.
I always thought that this main character from Black Lagoon was annoying, because for me he was so apathetic and weak.
I am amazed how accurate John’s articles are. Not that I don’t have my own opinion.
I dunno, I enjoyed watching Rock from Black Lagoon. He’s assertive when it comes down to it, and many of his hang-ups stem from him trying to impose a moral structure upon a world that vehemently rejects it. I always found that conflict pretty interesting, but I’m also a foreign policy aficionado of sorts, where quandaries like those are central to everything.
I’m shocked nobody mentioned Shinji from (the original) Evangelion, who always comes up in topics like these. But like BL’s Rock, he’s such a well-written character that everything he does seems justifiable, or at least reasonable in terms of how an introverted teenager with abandonment issues would behave in a scenario as absurd as Evangelion’s. He’s empathizable, if that’s a word.
I totally agree with (Ask) John. It’s the poorly written protagonists, whose actions & reactions can’t be justified or empathized with, that infuriate me the most. The presence of those characters only serve to show that nobody thought very hard about the world and the characters of the anime.
I find there’s a fine line that needs to be met. For instance in the examples given by John, I can’t stand the protagonist in Dog Days. He’s too gung-ho, appears to never think about the consequences of his actions what-so-ever and yet everything ends up roses for him, like he can’t do wrong. Annoyingly perfect so to say. But in Kamisama no Memocho, I’m reserving my judgement on the main character for a few episodes. I can accept his indecisiveness so far because it seems natural, asserting his ‘weak’ presence. Presumably the goal of the show it’s self will be a development of character and when push comes to shove he won’t disappoint and will have the conviction to take the action he deems appropriate.
It’s characters like Saya in Blood+ I detest. They’re so supremely unsure of themselves to the point the character falls apart and becomes uninteresting and agrivating. Even when it comes down to the wire they can’t put any strength behind their actions and constantly need to be saved by the surrounding cast even though there’s supposed to be something special about them. It’s unnatural, in a life or death situation even such characters will put more effort into defending themselves.
The mention of Shinji of Eva fame seems quite appropriate to the conversation. He does assert himself when tension is high (even if through a complete, whiney, mental break down and not necessarily the correct direction of action), but everything else about him is conflicted. He’s a teen who’s yet to find himself as a person and thus has yet to come to terms with the absurdity of the events that happen to him. He’s also extremely damaged which gives reason to his indecisiveness (and ultimately his freak outs), but even in this state he is still aware that he has to make a decision when lives are on the line.
So, ultimately, I think it’s a balancing act. A character has no room to grow if they’re 100% sure of everything and it alleviates the tension indecision adds to a situation. It’s also annoying if a character is ‘too perfect’. It’s just worse when it ends up at the other end of the spectrum. Characters who constantly waffle seem unnatural non-entities that are impossible to care about and confusing when other people in the series do.
seanny: Uh, no, jerking off on Asuka in a coma is not “reasonable”. But Shinji-bashing’s become its own cliche, so…
lol I forgot about that, but everyone flew off the deep end in that movie.
Characters I hate most are loli’s and child characters. Always annoying and distracting. The only good one is Detective Conan because he’s actually a young man in a child’s body.
I also hate extremely timid shy girls, they are annoying, as is the “tsundere” archtype, which is getting really out of control.
I don’t think I’ve liked a child character since Ed from Cowboy Bebop, and she’s a weirdo. She’s also probably too old to be considered a little kid, especially since she has useful skiils. Hmm, I guess the lead from Detective Conan. Can’t think of any kids who are really cool.