What you think is the most common charachter?

[Cassiopeia]

Alright, we know Xepher.net is about originality, and not using ideas that have been used a thousand times. So in stories/manga (meaning Japanese art style books. I know manga in Japanese means all comic books, not just the anime style)/comics that we have all read, which would most people think of as the most "typical" kind of main charachter? I read Ticky's Mary-sue thing, and it has some good points. But please tell me, when you think of a main charchter, what do you think are the most common qualities almost everyone puts into their main charachters? I mean as personality wise. The sweet cute little innocent girl who's like virtally perfect, the newbie hero who ends up to be the storngest of them all, or the cold mistreated person who grievs about their lives? If there are more you can think of, go ahead and state it. I just thought this may help some writers and comic artist out a bit more when there trying to come up with an original charachter ^_^...

My opinion, I think the cute inncoent girl is used waaaaay too often in manga's and stuff. I mean some girls are cute, but there are different kinds of people out there besides the cute ones @_@...

[Chow]

The newbie hero one...that's all over the place, although more in anime than manga. Regradless, you're looking at a similar audience, and we've all seen an inexperiance heroic character that overcomes odds or learns to use his powers, or realizes some big truth about himself, etc...

This dynamic is hard to shake off because it's so ingrained in our thinking. I mean, deeper discovery of one's self is a universal theme, and if you save the world while doing it, well...bonus.

Some very successful manga and anime have avoided this with a character that doesn't get explained in excess for the sake of the audience, but let's the audience figure it out on their own.

-Rouroni Kenshin: Kenshin, Saito Hajime
-Appleseed:Deunan
-Cowboy Bebop: Almost every character

Letting the reader infer backstory through hints rather than flat out telling them is always better. It's hard, I know, because you don't want them to miss something subtle, but give them some credit and you'll be rewarded.

[tickyhead]

Whith just main characters, I'm not so good at finding the #1 stereotype. But GROUP stereotypes? That's where the real money is. I guarantee you that most comics/movies/anime/anything that has a semi-large group of main and secondary characters will have, if not all, MOST of the personalities I listed below. Some characters even have two, or three.

Here's the list:
1) The dense, "shoot first and ask questions later" character. (often in the form of the inexperienced hero)
2) The smart character who is always either really short, really tall, or ironically sexy.
3) The quiet character who most likely has a tragic past.
4) The "cute" character who has no real purpose other than being cute. Occasionally freakishly strong for comedic purposes.
5) The character who has their smart moments, but is usually dense and always obsessed with the opposite gender. (or just one person of the opposite gender)
6) The character who gets angry very, very easily, and usually takes it out on whoever angers them. (or tries to)
7) The bubbly character, usually female, a very effeminate male, or of unknown gender, who just NEVER STOPS BEING HAPPY until it comes time for a major plot twist, wherein they suddenly become serious for the duration of the twist, then return to being HAPPY ALL THE TIME.
The other "cute" character who isn't humanoid in any way. (the "mascot" character)
9) The gratuitous "sexy" character for fanboys (or girls, depending on the character's gender) to gawk at. comes in two varieties:
---9.1) The gratuitous "sexy" character who is very naive and/or innocent, and doesn't realize they're sexy.
---9.2) The gratuitous "sexy" character who is in no way naive, and flaunts their sexiness constantly.
10) The character who THINKS they are the gratuitous "sexy" character, but really isn't.

There's more, obviously, but that's my top ten. And by that I mean, the first ten that came off the top of my head. (ohoho pun!)

Also, for your future reference Cassi, it's spelled "character."

[Munerift]

I think an "original" character these days would sadly consist of someone who:

Has a regular, loving family; no domestic trouble
Does average in school, neither As nor Fs.
Doesnt date.
Isnt a social butterly nor an introvert.
A THERIAN!

BWAHAHAHA. Ok, I had to put my own bias in there... sawwies. =0)

[Delia]

I think an "original" character these days would sadly consist of someone who:

Has a regular, loving family; no domestic trouble
Does average in school, neither As nor Fs.
Doesnt date.
Isnt a social butterly nor an introvert.
A THERIAN!

BWAHAHAHA. Ok, I had to put my own bias in there... sawwies. =0)

That sounds like me...

*cough*

Just kidding.  I get As on occasion. XP

Anyway, I agree with that - a character that's actually "normal" (and not just called normal for the sake of trying to get people to associate with said character) would be pretty shockingly original.

As for common characters, it looks to me like a lot of them have been pretty well covered already - "newbie hero" and "normal schoolgirl" ("normal" taken with a grain of salt, of course) stick out in my mind with shonen and shojo respectively.  I've been out of the anime/manga loop for a while, though, so my perception may be obsolete.

If a character's stereotyped or common I don't think it really matters as long as they're written well and are interesting.

[Xepher]

Mune kinda touched on this, but how about the obvious? That is to say, HUMAN! Or, for that matter, biped. Heck, while we're at it, how many non mamalian/tetrapods get leading roles anywhere? :-P

I'm just saying, if you're going to think outside the box, then please, step away from the box!

[Cassiopeia]

Mune kinda touched on this, but how about the obvious? That is to say, HUMAN! Or, for that matter, biped. Heck, while we're at it, how many non mamalian/tetrapods get leading roles anywhere? :-P

I'm just saying, if you're going to think outside the box, then please, step away from the box!

Haha, so true. That's kins of why I respect stories like redwall because their all animal... lol. Plus the art on the cover is nice ^_^...

[Munerift]

Therians arnt physically animals... therians are people who possess an animal soul or contousness(sp!!!) walking around in a human body.


Plug:  http://werelist.com

[Xepher]

*cough* that's why I said "KINDA touched on this..."

Sorry, precision/grammar nazi attack there... I'm better now. :-P

[dragyn]

Hey, Xepher, no worries.  Everyone has their "grammar Nazi attacks" from time to time.

Oh, and Mune-- I believe that "consciousness" is what you may have been after.

That, or conscience.

[rozencrantz]

I think some of the most overused characters are so used because they are so usable.

Yes, I actually mean something by that:

Alyosha Karamazov, the main character in The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoyevski, is a textbook Mary Sue: A man who, were he to find himself in a foreign country where he did not speak the language and did not have a penny to his name, would be taken care of and want for nothing because he was so incredibly likeable, and if anyone ever didn't like him it was only because they were jealous of how much everyone liked him, and if they ever met him they would like him too.

But the reason that everyone can identify a MS is because they are all very similar, even though different people are acting out their own sueish desires. So when you see a well written sue, you don't see it as masturbatory, but rather as a character who you can identify with almost immediately, because he speaks to something shared in all of us.