The THREE Steps to Writing a GREAT Shonen Main Character
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- Опубликовано: 31 июл 2024
- Protagonists are the most important character in a story. That's WHY they are the protagonist. So how do you even go about writing such a character? That's what today's video is all about in this entry of HOW TO WRITE, through the lens of anime and manga. I hope you enjoy the video!
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Intro 0:00
Taking us on a Journey 0:36
THEMES 3:38
Make 'Em Likable 6:02
Conclusion & Outro 7:32
Music Used:
• One Piece - WE ARE Red...
• STILL BLADE - Vinland ...
• Monkey King's Theme HQ...
• Near's Theme - Ultra E... 
Кино
Thanks to everyone who was there for the original premier! I appreciate it a lot. I'm gonna start setting my main videos as premiers and see what happens. Call it a little experiment, I guess. Anyway, hope y'all dug the video!
Interasting, cant wait for the premiers then!
6:18 I was actually rooting for him because I wanted to know where else and how much further he can go. It's because he's likable that you can push morals aside and be invested in his ends justifying the means argument. But he shouldn't and doesn't because otherwise he wouldn't be emblematic to the story's themes like you said. I just think rooting for him is a sign that they're doing a good job at embodying the themes and in this case it's because he's psychologically interesting enough to where morbid curiosity for his New World is justified. Or maybe there's something wrong in the head of the person watching or reading. But naa that can't be me :)
I can definitely see that. Light is just a VERY unique protagonist, even by anti-hero standards, so the same language doesnt necessarily apply I guess.
How is this for my protagonist Marshall?
1. His journey into winning 100,000 dollars in a game show and ending a war
2. The theme is an object show so he’s an object. But he starts out just having fun but then learning to fight his way to peace.
3. Whats makes him likable is his empathy and kindness. But if his friends are hurt, he will fight for them.
I definitely agree. A lot of why I like the MCs I do is because of how well they execute the themes of the story and just how fun they are to follow lol. Great video!
Thanks, man. Just making this video made me aprecciate some of my favorite MCs even more.
Great video man!
One of my favorite protagonists is Kaneda from Akira. His overall attitude, and his outfit. As well as his impact in the series.
It's something about delinquent protagonists that I really like....and I would like to write a protagonist
like Kaneda, with a mix of Yusuke Urameshi. A really firey one.
Deku, Hachiman & Mob are my favourites as I found some traits of these character quite relatable & their journey is quite amazing.
I feel that, I like all three of them. They have really personal kinds of struggles
I personally hate Deku
Bro makes quality vids, deserves way more subs. 🙏
Thanks, I aprecciate that
I want to create a story that conveys the effects of discrimination and using bonds to break them. I’ve already got some ideas as to how it effects different species and places and why, but with my MC I don’t know if he learns to embody the theme or not.
In my world people can make contracts with spirits in exchange for their power. Spirits are their own sentient beings, so there are many things they can bargain, even goals. At birth a contract was forced upon my MC to save his people, which led to some problems. His people were divided, some supporting him as if he was a god, and others who shunned him for what his spirit did. For the most part he was happy, not that bothered by their comments. A while after “bandits” come to retrieve his spirit (at the time they didn’t know he had it). They take his mother, forcing him to flee with his 2 year old sister. From then on he starts to raise her the best he can, but after that incident, he acted colder. He was more distant, cold, dismissive, and most of all protective of her. He would be wary of strangers who walked by, sometimes even resorting to killing. Of course he did this away from his sister and kept up a smile, but she knew. He prioritized her, protecting his family no matter the cost. After finding signs that indicated his mother was alive, he learns to harness his spirit’s power to save her and protect his sister. Along the way he meets people who show him that there are others who don’t have bad intent and slowly he changes. He was more social and happy, choosing not to resort to killing. He never forgot his past and stayed protective of his sister, learning to protect not only family but those he cares for.
thia video helped me alot
Great video! I would love to see a video on character design and the fanservice debate
Character design is definitely really interesting, I might do that sometime. And a fanservice video would be neat, but I get the distinct feeling that would get immediately demonitized.
I’m just gonna make a book since I am literally the absolute worst drawer you will ever see in your entire life. The only thing I can draw properly is a freaking tree.
doesn't guts from berserk go through both of the character journeys you described like at first in the golden age arc he starts with the wrong ideals then forms the themes of the story and is tested again and again after that
my main character has some kind of « main character syndrome » and he always feels like he have to do everything he can to make the world happier and less dangerous… and he is sure he can do it. but as the story goes we also discover that he’s obsessed with control and his ideal of « happier world » and throughout the story, he just becomes completely insane and start to do entire genocides, he also create wars with other innocent creatures because « they’re dangerous and prevent my goal for a happy world, look : some of them even killed humans for food ! » (until the middle of part 3 where he gets reasoned by another character who is basically the opposite of the mc by the beginning (aka : a bounty huntress that LOVES killing everything, even if she wasn’t meant to and takes nothing seriously because she’s sure the world around her is doomed, but by encountering the main character she starts to regain hope for their world and even starts to feel bad for the ones she killed and even starts to sometimes talk her way out of some battles because she doesn’t want to kill someone innocent and she ends up preferring trying to change people instead of going like a killing machine… becoming like an ideal version of someone who want a said « happier world » she even starts sharing her view trough politics and she tries really hard to change the world in the best and the more ethical way possible, becoming once again the opposite of the mc but this time in a good way. this role switch make the story escalate to a point where someone evil became good, and the good mc became even worse than the previous evil person and all of this starts to shake the entire world trough his foundations with all these huge wars of mages, creatures of all kinds like vampires, werewolves, dragons and more) and finally she changes the main character to someone good again… but when the worse has already been made, so the following parts of the story will be around resolving all of this…. before the timelines split up and takes the world trough 4 different endings where only one is good…. but it the next part some of the people who caused the end of their world find out how to cross the timelines, and they end up devastating other timelines out of frustration… and when they find the good one, the main cast have to stop them… but this time it changes the main character to another, which we don’t know as much. and i talk too much 😅)
Bro I'd recommend not to share your ideas coz other might copy it. So don't comment your ideas. You explained almost entrie story, people might copy it. 😇
@@v3wizard530 ye ur right 😅 i definitely talk too much, at least my story will have multiple times after this one
but yeah you’re right if it gets copied it isn’t a good thing 😅
but there is so much more even in this time that if this trope get copied i still could make my story because of the insane depth i put in it 😅
A while ago you did a video on writing interesting powers so this question is more related to that
I need to ask this For example consider I'm writing pure horror story . I need the powers to be visually psychedelic and scary at the same time they should not be predictable since horror is all about mystery and unknown.If I'm writing short story I can keep the story limited to very small cast of characters without exploring the world building deeply and keep the tone and visuals interesting like junji ito I don't even need set system for that or set abilities for that mattr. But how can I create Interesting power for this genre If i were to write a horror story that's going to long running series with deep world building like many series you mentioned
I won't lie, that's difficult. Because what you're going for is so different from what I described, the approach has to be equally different as well. The usual approach to this is to not give the main cast any powers while having them deal with supernatural forces they don't understand. Any instance of the main cast having powers is usually very limited. An example of this would be old ghost movies, where the only powers on the side of the main cast would be someone like an exorcist. Otherwise, there isn't much horror. The horror generally comes from the supernatural unknown of it and the powerlessness in the face of it.
Horror generally comes from suspense and that comes from anticipation driven by a lack of information. I don't know what kind of world you want to have, but you gotta be patient and keep a lot of it mysterious. In terms of powers, keep it limited and keep the power ceiling low. There isn't much horror involved if we know the characters can train for a bit or learn some new techniques and then have some epic battle to the death. Whatever powers you choose, they should be limited enough to where the best course of action is creatively using them to escape danger.
In terms of powers for the main cast to deal with, horror can be driven from three things: powerlessness, visual horror, or psychological horror. Powerlessness generally comes in the form of just something that can't be dealt with. Like ghosts can't be touched, so you can't do anything to them. Good visual horror would be something like body horror. Gory stuff, but that's not for everyone. And there are other ways to go about it, like just having creepy designs, but that's really broad advice. Psychological horror would be stuff that tortures the characters, like horrifying visions or stuff that preys on their fears and insecurities. The key thing is to never fully explain it. Even if the characters have a general idea of the ability, there should always be room for something more to be possible. I'd really recommend looking into some really good ghost stories or some really solid cosmic horror. I think that has what you're looking for.
Anyway, I know that was a lot, but I don't really know what your vision is, so I hope something in that was helpful.
Roughly, what kind of story do you have in mind?
@@mattb.7079 Hard to say but I'm looking for something similar to junji ito works but instead of it being short I want a long running story with set power system and interesting world building without losing the sense of horror his stories contain
@@sanathkomire4719 It seems like something very difficult to put successfully into practice. I think Junji Ito's stories work as well as they do partly because they got the right length for a horror-driven plot. In the other hand, as a long-run horror series I can think of, there is Gantz which, for me, work really well regarding the horror aspect because it's pretty much a succession of different horror stories but with the same characters. Also, pretty much nothing is explained to the reader about the sphere, the reason of this whole situation, etc., plus the setting and the threats change with each arc which keep things fresh and fearful because unknown. There are also multiple Gantz series with each time a new cast of characters.
For a fixed setting, a fixed cast of characters or established threat(s)/antagonist(s), it seems really difficult to me to keep the horror aspect into place if the story's gonna last for a long time (more than Spirale for instance). Furthermore if there's a set power/magic system that's gonna make the situations clearer to the main characters, and give em the opportunity to fight back
Honestly i love the video it really captures what makes a great MC
My favorite MC is deku atleast hes My favorite new gen MC
His character devolpmeant is realising the flaws of society that its not all black and White
.
.
Its all gray
He realised that the society that he Lives in unfair and that it breeds hatred and the fact he Might have to kill Someone(shigaraki) to save them (tenko)
Also a character going through character devolpmeant doesnt mean doesnt always mean hes going to change his belifes(like you Said), personallity ect but they mature as a person and character the example Being deku
I think hes a very likable character ,his journey is what find interasting and a greatly written mc imo
I love the series dude keep it up!
I can tell your going to be a great writer!
That was well put, I definitely think Deku hits all the major points in some way.
And thank you, that's my goal anyway.
@@ZenithAniManga thank you! Its Means alot actually
Again keep up the good Work!
I actually think Deku is a bad main character.
Takes him way too long to realise the world isn’t black and white and it happens almost on a whim when he does. And I don’t think the society is portrayed as that unfair, most of the villains are just straight up sociopaths and shigiraki should most definitely be killed he’s a mass murder with the ability to erase an entire city in a moment. He’s way too much a threat to be alive and has done way to much to be able to give redemption to. The fact that Deku still wavers to kill him despite prolonging his life means it puts many innocent people in trouble and the fact that he’s still not in check of his emotions shows the wrong kind of development.
I also don’t find him likeable because I don’t think his likeable traits such as kindness of intelligence have been written well. I think characters like mob and tanjiro are better examples of kindly written characters.
I have a question abt the theme part how does naruto relate?
Could you clarify? I'm not sure what you mean
@@ZenithAniManga you said that denji uses growth to convey the theme and said naruto fits under this category I wanna know how?
@@BoiTeron Ah gotcha. Well, that's complicated because it's a very long series, but I'll sum it up. Basically, Naruto is a story at it's core about finding peace in a world torn by conflict. It's shown in the ninja system and world building in Part 1, it shows in the Cycle of Hatred speech, it shows in just about every major historical event in the series. I would say Naruto's concept of "conflict" is it's main theme and Naruto has to internally grow to overcome it. Early Shippuden has him constantly losing control to the 9-tails (a manifestation of hatred) before refusing to submit to it and kill Pain in the Pain arc. And he literally overcomes the cycle of Asura and Indra killing each other every generation, severing that cycle of violence forever. There is a lot more to it and honestly it deserve a whole video someday. But that's the gist.
@@ZenithAniManga ok thx
I think I might have made good protagonist 👁️👄👁️
I know you did not put 1 pc there trash