Inability To Like Main Heroines

[Nosebleed]

So I've watched plenty of anime and read plenty of manga in the past years and I've started to notice a trend that has been developing in the course of all those years.

 

When I began watching anime, in terms of romance anime, I was always hyped to see the protagonist with the main love interest, maybe because I was naive and just liked thinking "aw they like each other they should be together". But after a few hundred anime watched, I often now start off despising main love interests and always end up turning to the love rivals, even the ones I know have 0 chance of getting with the main character.

 

And it's begun to pain me in the sense that nowadays most of the heroines I like and find interesting are never the main romantic interest and I can never bring myself to like the actual main interest most of the time. I always feel like the main interest is now plagued with tropes that make them appealling to the general public but to me they just feel like carbon copies, like hollow shells that have little personality and character depth, and I've started to become tired of a lot of the heroines I now see as main interests in the genre which makes for watching a lot of anime with romantic plots quite the painful task sometimes.

 

Of course this is not to say I can't like all main heroines, there's always exceptions, but the majority really follows the trend.

 

I feel like, while I genuinely usually only try to look at a character's personality, I can't help but notice that a lot of times rivals, just because they are rivals, or are characters with less chances to get with the MC, genuinely become more interesting to me based on their position in the story.

 

This is also a major reason I've turned to VNs, so all my love for non main heroines can be fulfilled (at least in most cases).

 

Does anyone feel this way? 

Do you find yourself liking the main heroine or the side heroines more?

[TheFantasm]

I've felt this way with Golden Time and quite a few others. If I can't stand a main heroine, I'll usually be drawn to the side heroine, and hope the MC ends up with her.

[Down]

You just dislike them because you know they always win and you're an M

 

(Personally it's usually the MC that I don't like in this kind of show, it's fairly rare for me to dislike characters. But I don't really watch harem shows anyway.)

[Nosebleed]

I wouldn't say this is pertaining to harems, it's actually more of the opposite, a good harem gives all heroines a fair chance (Refer to Highschool DxD)

This is about those anime that try to push a heroine as main, even if not a romantic anime in nature, and yet the main heroine manages to be more dull than all of the other ones that may show up later, but you know all the other ones that show up later, or even ones that were here earlier but are now overhshadowed by a new heroine appearing out of nowhere, have near 0 chance of anything meaningful happening.

[Down]

This is about those anime that try to push a heroine as main, even if not a romantic anime in nature, and yet the main heroine manages to be more dull than all of the other ones that may show up later, but you know all the other ones that show up later have near 0 chance of anything meaningful happening.

That's still pretty much assuming that there's a male protagonist with multiple romantic interests including a 'main one'. Maybe a bit broad to tag it harem but that's still a kind of show I don't really watch anymore.

[Nosebleed]

That's still pretty much assuming that there's a male protagonist with multiple romantic interests including a 'main one'. Maybe a bit broad to tag it harem but that's still a kind of show I don't really watch anymore.

I guess, but writing good male protagonists takes effort

I mostly stopped paying attention to male MCs just because there's absolutely no point in it most  of the time and unless they're mind blowingly annoying I no longer care, so I mostly just care about the heroines and how they feel and stuff, so situations like this are kind of painful. This is also why Yuri is superior to het romance, because instead of just dealing with shitty male characters, you just pair the two heroines together and solve all the problems in the world.

[Sovereign1612]

i totally agree

in some cases i completly quit watching that particular anime because the main heroine is annoying as muck or just not very intressting 

thats also the reason for me why i started playing visual novels

but most of the time the main protagonist just makes me want to vomit that happens to me more often

[babiker]

I guess, but writing good male protagonists takes effort

While a good female lead only needs dem front bumpers 

Seriously though, like Down, I don't watch much of these kinds of shows. The only thing that rings a bell when I read your description is OriEmo. Now THAT was one dispicable female lead surrounded by girls who were all cooler than her. Not because the other possible love interests were awesome, but because she was so disgusting, a trash can would become a lovable character when put next to her.

[Kosakyun]

I'm not frustrated at the fact that my preferred heroine doesn't end up with the guy. I'm more of a character man. If I like the character, then I like her. Her fate is in the hands of the show. As long as they end up happy, I'm fine with that. Even if they don't end up with their man.

 

Liking the main heroine is not something I always do, yeah. Because of the same reasons, more or less. There are far more interesting characters along the sidelines, that's a fact. A good main heroine sometimes comes out of nowhere though, and that's great. Though not liking the main heroine doesn't really affect my enjoyment of the medium.

 

Babiker's right too.

 

While a good female lead only needs dem front bumpers  

[Turnip Sensei]

I always feels frustrated with shows to try to bring up side heroines that obviously have no chance. It just feels like they made a character for the sole purpose of creating friction between the main couple, and usually as a result, it feels like they wasted the character. This coupled with the fact that usually the main heroine is the most boring one or has awful personality, which is forgiven solely because she's the main heroine, makes these shows a pain to watch.

 

And usually the side characters have more interesting character quirks to them, so most of the time I end up rooting them in vain. This is why don't watch that many harem shows anymore.

[starlessn1ght]

Usually, yes, most main heroines I don't like or at least aren't my favorite. But I like to be shipping non-canon stuff, looking at them and just imagining and dreaming, having a little hope that they can be canon.

[Fiddle]

This matter accounts for my opposition to VNs in which there is a "true" route or some routes are locked. I care not about your hackneyed osananajimi; allow me to pursue my unconventional fetishes love interests in peace!

[solidbatman]

So edgy 

 

I was hating on main heroines before you was even born kid. 

 

But yeah, this is my biggest issue with VNs and anime now. I honestly don't watch any anime anymore because its all so samey. Everyone acts the same, and everyone has the same problem. Granted, their are still plenty of original anime out there. Its even worse in VNs because of the small nature of the market. Fans will turn on a company in an instant. So these companies have to play it safe. 

[Mr Poltroon]

I'm still mostly fresh. I'm in for repetitive stories. However, I'm a fan of romance which avoids love triangles and harems like the plague, so I don't tend to have this kind of problem. And If I do, it's because the protagonist starts dating someone other than the main heroine and then goes back to her.

[Sovereign1612]

I'm still mostly fresh. I'm in for repetitive stories. However, I'm a fan of romance which avoids love triangles and harems like the plague, so I don't tend to have this kind of problem. And If I do, it's because the protagonist starts dating someone other than the main heroine and then goes back to her.

The only anime that i can up with is probably 

 

Kimi no Iru Machi

 

if i remember correctly

 

Edit which one did you have in mind?

Edited May 10, 2015 by Sovereign1612

[Eclipsed]

Put me in the fresh club, I still am a hardcore shipper of main heroines.

Though Ami did give Taiga a good run for her money

[Mr Poltroon]

The only anime that i can up with is probably 

 

Kimi no Iru Machi

 

if i remember correctly

 

Edit which one did you have in mind?

Suzuka.

[sanahtlig]

I find that I gravitate towards the heroine that gets more screen-time / development.  Which is usually the main heroine.  A recent exception that comes to mind is Parasyte.  I really really liked Kana Kimishima and I was really disappointed when the relationship with her went nowhere.

[Heizei_koukousei]

Romance anime is my favorite genre of anime so I have noticed this many times over the years. Although I still root for the main heroine the majority of the time. Another problem that I have come across, that doesn't really affect VNs as much, is pacing of the romance. Like, if there's a kiss in the first episode, they better be doing it by the last.

 

For me, Itazura na Kiss redefined the female lead in a romance. The main characters had personality traits that you don't really see very often which was very refreshing for me. 

[Kenshin_sama]

I feel you, Nosebleed. Now, there are a few rare shows I've come across where best girl does end up being canon, but it's pretty awful how they won't most of the time. OreImo is a shining example of this, and KoiChoco ends up giving the gold to worst girl too.

 

There was a point in time where I use to think that canon pairings in shoujo would always be the best, but Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun has unfortunately taught me otherwise. The entire time I watched that anime, I was overly frustrated with how annoying the main heroine was. She's pessimistic, only cared about schoolwork, was against the idea of having friends, and then she suddenly develops an interest in the male lead for reasons that don't justify her character. Their interactions were kinda crazy at first, but they grew stale very quickly and it became a chore to keep watching it. But the anime actually became a lot more enjoyable when they focus on another pairing. Now, it's not quite the same as being a rival, but lets just say that the series is written in a way that makes you feel sorry for the girl in the other pairing and it ends up having a similar effect.

 

That said, there is one recent title that manages to ship a sweet and satisfying pairing. In Mikakunin, it was actually the love rival that loses out and canon girl is best girl (though it was kinda thrown in lackadaisically). The pairing was great, the focus and development were where they should be, and I had nothing but praise over how it ended. It's a gem, to say the least. What really gets me is that it wasn't until the later episodes that I realized this series was gonna take its romance seriously. I thought it would be something like Hayate where romance acts as a back-burner that enables other events to unfold. Shoot, most of the earlier episodes were focused on Mashiro.

[edwd2]

anime has degraded over the years.

 

i cant think of any serious romance anime from the recent years, mostly high school comedy ecchi or generic shoujo crap. to put it in perspective

 

then (2005-09):

 

 

 

and now... (2012-15)

 

[Nosebleed]

@edwd2

 

Not really representative, lots of different demographics you got going on there.

Nodame Cantabile and Hachimitsu to Clover are much more mature romances which are and have always been scarce.

Go look at the year 2007 and you'll also find plenty of the same stuff you still find today like Goshuushou-sama Ninomiya-kun, Moetan, Hitohira, Kono Aozora ni Yakusoku wo, etc etc.

 

Sakurasou, Oreshura and Nisekoi are all shounen romances that aren't really meant to be super serious and if you've read the novels for the first two you'd know the plot does go somewhere after a while (Nisekoi is a lost cause though).

KimiUso was actually pretty decent for recent years.

 

 

Not denying there's a lot of great anime in the past, but I don't think this has to do with time periods at all, it's always been a present thing.

[kyrt]

you skipped 2011 and Penguindrum and Steinsl;Gate for serious romance anime.

 

also this argument is bullshit...whether one is better than the other I mean.

[Abyssal Monkey]

This is my take on how I look at things:

 

I would mostly chalk it up to the fact that most side heroines are delegated to the role of acting as a foil for the main character and the heroine.  The main heroine usually gets more screen time comparatively to the others, which creates an imbalance in character development comparatively.  This imbalance causes one to want to know more about the other characters that they never got to see, which in turn leaves a deeper/more substantial mark on the consumer for the character.  This influence is possibly being confused for "them being the better character" or rather "I want to see more of them".

 

My other thought about how this could be arising is that the side characters compared to the main heroine, have to be more severely flawed in some aspect, making them far more interesting.  

 

 

anime has degraded over the years.

 

i cant think of any serious romance anime from the recent years, mostly high school comedy ecchi or generic shoujo crap. to put it in perspective

 

then (2005-09):

 

 

 

and now... (2012-15)

 

 

I'd agree for the most part, except Spice and Wolf anime was terribly rushed in the second half, so it's trash, and Sakurasou still attempts to be dramatically realistic compared to the other ones in the second category.

 

Actually, you've just made a clusterfuck of genres in a weak attempt to make a point.  The first parts are all, for the most part of what I can remember pure romances, while the second one has two romances, and two romantic comedy harems.  If I were to take a guess, the biggest difference between them is that you might just not like how the art style of typical anime over the years has shifted to a more deformed, "cuter"? style.  All the characters in the first category that you would like people to claim are "good"  have realistic and properly proportioned characters compared to the second category.

[Narcosis]

Anime quality is degrading. Not in graphics and animation, but storylines and characters. Current trends are mixed and over the years, studios came to the point where shows are often a hotchpotch and rarely stand out. This is mainly because of the market oversaturation and consumers who have a lot more impact on actual development, than they had ever before. The number of series produced every season grew expotentially, but at the same it creates way too much competition. Due to the fact that sales had fallen down, it forced studios to seek a wider audience in order to stay in the business. You may know it's very difficult to please everyone, while producing original content. In order to succeed, they had to start producing shows that cater to more people. That's how the current trends roll. As much as better tools allowed us to create higher quality animation and reduce the costs, there's also a lot of friction; animators tend to have the lowest possible wages in the entire industry, and as if this wouldn't be enough, a lot of japanese studios already outsource much of the animation work to korean and chinese studios, simply because it's even cheaper. With huge oversaturation, most series rarely sell enough to cover the production costs and fees from the TV aren't enough for the studios to grow. If you're even slightly interested in the industry more than just watching what they produce, you can tell a lot just by visiting certain japanese community hubs; a lot of people working in the industry states awful times came, even though the technology allowed us for so much more.

 

I have to admit, I'm worried those trends will continue to affect the whole industry untill some sort of a disaster will struck the market and force both the creators and consumers to change their attitude. It would definately fix some things, but disasters like these usually leave terrible mess behind.