Common Traits in Shonen Protagonists

Diving into the nuances that really make up a good shonen (shounen) protagonist. Once again nerding out about writing through anime! Is your fav on here?

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Tags: #ShonenAnime #Protagonists #Writing #Shounen

[TortillaBill]

Don't forget about Asta. Asta, Naruto, and Itadori are essentially the same character. All three are kind, strong, dumb, brave, hard working, and have a demon inside them.

[dj-umel]

"Selfless And Empathetic"
Gon: ._.

[helsyfinduspictures]

Awesome analysis! Also refreshing to see FMA a bit more in the big shounen debate, mostly it's just OP, Naruto, ... which isn't bad, they're classics for a reason, but to see "smaller" shounen mentioned is really cool

[EldenRingBuildsArchive]

I fear you confused anti hero for villain protagonist. Take Light, for example, he’s an egomaniacal genius driven to change the world in order to fight his boredom, he’s not a form of antihero like say, Guts, or some versions of Batman/Punisher, they tend to avoid having some of the checklists the shonen protagonist usually has, and sometimes veer into the edgy territory, but they still wind up being a positive force of good, though their methodology differs, people like Light or Eren, we just see their villain stories through first lenses, and their downfall right at the end

[wavychavo]

"well Goku's just Goku"

[mdtisthebest]

This lady just explained why I prefer supporting characters

[bearseatchips]

7:27 There is a clear difference with saying Goku doesn't have a lot of Character development and saying Goku has no character development. You're telling me the Goku in cell saga the one who sent his son to fight instead of himself is the same Goku in dbs that got super Saiyan God.

[KougarManx]

Personally, l prefer protagonist or characters that are on the morally grey side of things, since they behave more realistic compared to the classic cookie cutter shonen m.c .

[Stinkfly]

I personally see shounen anime as a kid hero with a dream and the friends he makes along the way.

[dylanthompson]

This video is right on point. Touched on some amazing animes here. I absolutely love My hero academia 👊🏼😎

[gabriele]

I kind of agree with this video, however, while this is completely true at a first glance to the characters often they are selfish or give up, and not only in recent shonens:
in dragon ball Z Goku makes vegeta escape just to fight him again putting at risk the world and his friends, in yu Yu hakusho, the protagonist while inside cares about other people, he doesn't hesitate to start fights or to sexually molest a girl in the very first episodes. If you consider mushoku tensei a shonen, (which to a certain degree you can) then all of these tropes fall because the character improves over time instead of being this god of morality from the first episode.

[popho]

Deku's quirk is One For All not All For One

[FINEYOUBABYGIRL]

Read one piece, it super slow in the beginning but the payoff is worth it

[BELIEVE_IT_FR]

Its called one for all not all for one ;-;

[kaseynorth]

Shonen is enjoyable to a certain extent. Alot of the writing is cheesy as hell mainly becasue of the protagonist. Yeah make an anti-hero video.

[hiimtruong]

I was expecting something a bit different. All of the thing you mentioned sounds so text book

[mdtisthebest]

Imma be honest, characters like these bore me

[CharroArgentino]

I don't understand how anyone who cares about writing could not get into OP twice. OP is like Lord of the Rings compared to almost every other shonen out there, it is written as a proper story with a solid structure, themes that are apparent and executed in every arc (almost) perfectly, incredibly and concise world building, and so on. Oda thinks like an actual writer, unlike Kishimoto and Toriyama.