Forum - View topicWho is the most underrated or overlooked anime character?
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MrVince
Posts: 67 |
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In some anime series, the lead character(s) take in most the credit, glory, and the fans. However, there might be a lead or supporting character which doesn't get what is due to him or her! So with that said...
Who is the most underrated (or overlooked) anime character?* Maybe it's the writing of the script* or the lack of character development. Perhaps it's a character who gets buried by the lunacy of a lead or the thick plot. It could be merely the will of the majority of the fans! So who is the person who should get more credit or attention? Perhaps a second look? If you have more than one pick that's fine too. * - Note to the moderators: I looked for the terms "underrated character" and "underrated characters" using the search page functionality. If you do lock this thread, please provide a link to the thread I should have found. Thank you. ** - It could also be that way because of the manga it was based on. ----- I'll start... Roy Mustang from Fullmetal Alchemist. I know many people already know of Roy and like him, but he's considered always a distant second to Ed Elric. Sure, there was a feature "Flame Alchemist" episode (and I believe a Flame Alchemist feature in the manga), but Roy's aspirations to become the King/Fuhrer/President is pushed onto the story back burner in favor of exclusively Ed and Al's search for the stone! Granted, he's a supporting character, but he has a lot of depth and his relations to his team really demonstrates that. |
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BES Null Core
 Posts: 604 Location: 六十周年的东方裁判 |
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In general, one of the reasons a character is considered the main character because he is the most prominent one. Thus, it's rather silly to accuse the story of being set up so that he overshadows the other characters. There are exceptions to this rule, such as when the main character acts as the narrator and the passive observer, but those types are by far not the most common method of setting up a narrative.
As far as underappreciated by the fandom, I'm not sure Roy Mustang fits. It can just be because I have a bloated impression of his popularity, but I see him mentioned as the favorite and most interesting character of Fullmetal Alchemist more often than Edward Elric. Of course, this is through the internet. Given the popularity of the franchise, my impression may very well be an accurate reflection of the attitudes of the internet fandom, and Roy is underappreciated. It may be (and probably is) true that the internet fandom is not a representative sample of the fandom of FMA as a whole, in which case Roy may qualify. I thought the character who had too little attention was Aoi Housen of Infinite Ryvius. With a large panorama of characters, this is one of the series where the main character isn't obviously more prominent than the others. It would not, I think, be inaccurate to say that he is painted as a rather ordinary person whose distinction is his otherwise lack of distinction while being among exceptional people. Even so, i thought the story didn't develop much of Aoi's potential. She is one of two factors that influence Yuki Aiba's actions in a positive manner, as Yuki's music obsessed friend pointed out (indirectly) later in the series. This element, however, only arose on an occasion or two. For the most part, she is just a good friend to her more troubled room mates. She seems like just a female version of Kouji: a passive observer of the more interesting characters around her. This interpretation is reinforced by the manga, where the narrative was from her point of view, and her role was more or less analogous to Kouji's in the anime. With her somewhat maternal role towards the more troubled friends around her, I thought the story could have done more with her than simply make her a second Kouji. |
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Dorcas_Aurelia
 Posts: 5344 Location: Philly |
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Being a "distant second" to the lead character of the most popular anime series out hardly qualifies as under-rated. Roy Mustang has a legion of fans larger than that of some entire series. Plus, he doesn't inspire the same backlash of annoyingness that Ed provokes with his constant whining about being short.
I'd being willing to say Kyohei from Burst Angel is underrated. Yes, he's a bit of a wuss, but that's in comparison to someone like Jo, who is a spoiler[bio-engineered] killing machine. So he whines about travelling to the shadiest, most dangerous part of the city or when he's kidnapped by gangsters; he's going to college to be a pastry chef, that's not what he's spent his life preparing for. What's more, he doesn't run away. In episode 4, he manages to earn Jo's respect by toughing it out (and even being useful) when they are stuck together on the run. When the giant robotic crow grabs his classmate, he ATTACKS it. Not successfully, mind you, but he almost dies trying to save her. In the episode when he meets his former high school friend, the flashback points out that Kyohei was the only one of the half dozen or so guys busted for the prank that had the guts to accept the teacher's punishment (running around the school in his underwear), thereby bailing out everyone else. Kyohei may not be badass, or even a competant combatant, but he's not a coward, either. |
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