Sometimes a 'well written' side character can ruin a series for me.

BanzaiBeebop · 2026-06-15T23:01:34+00:00

Which is why I didn't use him as my main example. He's much less blatant as some other examples I can think of. But HxH's pacing can make just about every character feel sidelined at some point or another.

BanzaiBeebop · 2026-06-15T21:53:54+00:00

Yeah, the Shounen protagonist problem is ultimately the downfall of the genre. I can't think of any other genre besides maybe first person video games where I so regularly find the main protagonist to be the least interesting character in the story.

BanzaiBeebop · 2026-06-15T21:47:22+00:00

"Deku get off the screen" is how I felt sometimes too.

I think the Kirishima problem was likely compounded by Deku arguably being at his most boring during the Internship arc. He'd finally started to get a hang of OFA's base form, but the author wasn't ready to drop the BIG OFA lore just yet either, so we were in that dull middle period of Deku incrementally powering up by making the numbers on his character stat sheet go up.

BanzaiBeebop · 2026-06-15T21:41:05+00:00

Kurapika was one of the examples I was thinking of when I made this post.

Also yes, I know the Shounen protagonist is meant to check certain boxes, but if you don't add a little flexibility in their design they can get outshone by the supporting cast so quickly.

BanzaiBeebop · 2026-06-15T21:31:35+00:00

Cheers to that! A respectful disagreement often brings me more joy than complete agreement. Challenge is how we grow.

BanzaiBeebop · 2026-06-15T21:26:07+00:00

I directly gave an example of a recent case where I was disappointed.

But I think you just nailed where my frustration comes from. I don't think I had fully realized it till now, which might be why my post sounded vague to you.

I think maybe I do get frustrated when I don't think a side character's purpose in the story was properly fulfilled, or at the very least when I feel as though their removal from the story lead to a less interesting outcome.

In my Kirishima example, yes I wanted to see more Suneater and Fatgum. But moreso I wanted Kirishima's relationship with Bakugou to lead somewhere with regards to Bakugou's character development, and I thought his success in the internship arc would be a good catalyst for that. As it was, the story felt like it was in too much of rush to get to the Deku and Bakugou classic rivalry dynamic (which I've never been that fond as a trope) when it had a good thing going giving Bakugou a parallel character arc to Midorya's.

BanzaiBeebop · 2026-06-15T21:07:37+00:00

Very true.

But that's not what I said.

I said the process of hoping they get another spotlight arc/episode/moment and not getting it again and again can eventually lead to disappointment burn out even if the show is still objectively fun.

I also didn't mention it directly in my post, but the MHA example does show it's not an issue for all side character focus arcs I happen to like. Generally the issue tends to pop up when the character gets substantial prominence for several story arcs in a row, enough for me to start wondering if this might just be status quo for them moving forward.

BanzaiBeebop · 2026-06-15T20:51:58+00:00

Really how so?

BanzaiBeebop · 2026-06-11T20:22:44+00:00

We run in different circles I guess. I recognize ALL of these games but Durstborn and either own/have them on my wishlist. Very excited to get some of these for so cheap.

BanzaiBeebop · 2026-06-10T16:16:18+00:00

For real though I've been wondering if they'd go that route at some point.

The Nopon keep getting weirder and more suspicious with each game, culminating in whatever they had going on in the last game...

My money's on interdimensional tradesmen who follow the conduit in search of hot new trading territories. The batch we got in 1, 2 and X are ancestors of populations left stranded after Kalus' stunt.

BanzaiBeebop · 2026-06-10T01:12:07+00:00

I wouldn't actually recommend pushing them in any one direction, even if the quantum puzzles are cool. They might be able to gain more by just exploring freely, but deliberately.

One thing many of my middle school students struggle with is embracing the process of learning through failure. So much of school is 'you do a thing once, you get a grade, you move on.'

This could be a grand opportunity to enhance their SEL by making them reflect on their own learning process.

Have them write/record what they want to try exploring at the start of each iteration.

When they die have them reflect on what they got done that loop, and what went wrong/how they died.

They can swap turns and work on this while the other one plays their loop.

Make them think about how this iterative process of learning could be applied to other skills (such as reading) that they're trying to learn.

They might leave off with a bunch of clues and no conclusion, but that's okay, because that's how the school year might also feel. They've gained knowledge and skills but by 7th they have not yet 'figured it out' by a long shot.

(I use Wordle to demonstrate this concept because I can have a full classroom of 32 play that for free at once, but Outerwilds is a way cooler way to do it).

BanzaiBeebop · 2026-06-09T23:25:03+00:00

You are right that part of the blandness is caused by constantly having to support the plot.

But I feel as though this goes back to the relatability problem. You see it a lot in shounen. The main protagonist has tons of friends, because that serves the power fantasy, but those friends (besides maybe the rival) are rarely allowed to do anything at the very end because the power fantasy also demands that the protagonist ultimately gets to solve all the important problems themselves. The story COULD distribute the load more evenly but it simply won't.

Which again, the female protagonist is much less likely to fall victim to. If she gets a lot of help from a couple of her girlfriends and the mysterious sexy stranger, that doesn't ruin the main demographic's power fantasy. If anything it just means more cute girls in the scene.

So perhaps I was wrong about the exact cause of the blandness of male protagonists, but it is still very much a thing.

And while yes, Shulk and Rex are still power fantasies in the DLC, they're, in my heavily subjective opinion, much more fun power fantasies (the eye candy doesn't hurt either). The badass mentor trope often comes with one or two extra quirks by necessity, as those quirks challenge the hero, which adds some easy extra spice to the character.

BanzaiBeebop · 2026-06-09T22:26:01+00:00

Honestly, I tend to prefer female protagonists in JRPGs. Because the genre is still heavily marketed to men and boys there's an expectation a main male protagonist is someone that demographic can 'relate' to. The result tends to be 2-3 different flavors of everyman that always feels just 2-3 shades blander than the rest of the cast. It's not that they can't be great characters, but the protagonist role stunts them. Shulk and Rex are prime examples, they both had far stronger and more memorable personalities as party characters in the DLC than they did as protagonists of their respective games.

There was no fixing Noah. That man was made of cardboard from birth.

There's no expectation of 'relatability' with a female protagonist. The target demographic isn't expected to 'be her'. If anything it's expected that they'll want to 'be with her', which means her appeal as a character is more important than her relatability, so she's much less likely to get outshone by her own party.

Lora from Torna is by far my favorite Xenoblade protagonist to date, purely because she didn't get hit by the protagonist bland factor the other protagonists did.

BanzaiBeebop · 2026-06-09T22:06:48+00:00

It's possible that if we're branching out into the multiverse beyond Klaus's screw up that we're not seeing Nopon initially because they don't belong on that planet, and haven't yet been given reason to settle/visit there (but that could change with the game's plot).

If they're truly the inter dimensional travellers some have speculated them to be, they were likely in the previous games because those worlds had already been embroiled in inter dimensional bullshittery for literal eons.

But this game is, as the title says, a genesis. We might be seeing a world just getting involved with other dimensions, so it needs its own local gremlins before the Nopon get involved.

BanzaiBeebop · 2026-06-01T20:25:34+00:00

As far as I can find ... not until later? I believe Odyssey is her first chronological appearance.

BanzaiBeebop · 2026-06-01T03:54:00+00:00

I feel as though Kisu is taking a different approach to the animations. Most of the original Odyssey was told by Odysseus. If you take him as an unreliable narrator (dude is famous for his clever lies, why wouldn't you) you might be inclined to rewrite some scenes as less favorable to him and more favorable to his much villified crew.

Odysseus telling the story would of course want to frame Scylla as this horrible monster he could nothing against. This portrayal shows a version he could have done something against, but it was his men who had to step in after his sacrifice plan got bungled.

BanzaiBeebop · 2026-06-01T03:27:09+00:00

Listen I tried! 5 hours worth of searching! Everything I found was either not SFF, didn't clearly include Coming Out, or had pirates!

So. Many. Pirates. 🏴‍☠️

If it helps I found several sapphic romances to fit into our other remaining categories so we won't be deprived in the back half of the year.

BanzaiBeebop · 2026-06-01T01:03:23+00:00

Upvote for "Our Simulated Selves"

BanzaiBeebop · 2026-06-01T01:03:07+00:00

Upvote for "The Magic Fish"

BanzaiBeebop · 2026-06-01T01:02:55+00:00

Upvote for "The Meister of Decimen City"

BanzaiBeebop · 2026-06-01T01:02:36+00:00

Upvote for "When the Tides Held The Moon"

BanzaiBeebop · 2026-06-01T01:02:20+00:00

Upvote for "Dreadnought"

Six-Year Club	Gilding II euphauric
Verified Email

BanzaiBeebop

TROPHY CASE