LumberingCrane posted:

"I stick to a rule that boys are no good for main characters"

Is it bad that I absolutely have no problems with this rule, at least most of the times sometimes?

Well it's true more often than not. Far too many male characters just end up a generic everyman. It happens with female main characters as well but it's not nearly as prevalent.

LumberingCrane posted:

"I stick to a rule that boys are no good for main characters"

Is it bad that I absolutely have no problems with this rule, at least most of the times sometimes?

Well it's true more often than not. Far too many male characters just end up a generic everyman. It happens with female main characters as well but it's not nearly as prevalent.

This guy begs to differ.

last edited at Dec 15, 2016 12:10PM

"I stick to a rule that boys are no good for main characters"

Is it bad that I absolutely have no problems with this rule, at least most of the times sometimes?

Acctually someone mentioned that this sentence was translated wrong and it's more like:
"The main character cannot be male - was a requirement."
So it seems like someone sugested to mangaka to make that story only about girls.

"I stick to a rule that boys are no good for main characters"

Is it bad that I absolutely have no problems with this rule, at least most of the times sometimes?

Acctually someone mentioned that this sentence was translated wrong and it's more like:
"The main character cannot be male - was a requirement."
So it seems like someone sugested to mangaka to make that story only about girls.

That's not reeallly the case, although it is a super super loose translation. Can't remember the exact wording but the most literal translation would have been something like 'because of the restriction that having a male for a main character is NG (no good), i made it...'
It isn't implied that it was someone else's rule, it is ambiguous though. Admittedly, the entire translation of the afterword was a bit of a babbling 3:00 in the morning piece of trash written on the last dying embers of a dose of caffeine. I gave up on a literal TL that didn't sound awkward.

The reason I assume it is just a self-imposed rule is that 1, i'm not aware of Sugano Manami having had a male main character in the last 10 years, 2, the book is a collection of one-shots and doujins, so it seems unlikely there would be any external requirements and 3, let's be honest, it's true.

last edited at Dec 16, 2016 11:16AM

Aand... That's all? Damn, too many erotic mangas here...

but all people arround the world that would seriously offer cigarrettes/drugs/alcohol to other people with a smile on their faces make me sick.

If I smoked/drank, I'd offer to share(?) if I knew that whoever I was with consumed those substances too
Then again, even if I don't smoke nor really drink, if someone offered some to me, I don't see what the big deal would be with just saying no, thanks? Unless you really judge ppl who have those habits I guess

Ooh, how sexy. I really hope the scanlations continue.

Love it, hoping for chapter two!

Best Mangaka Rohan posted:

This guy begs to differ.

I have no idea who that is but I'd still disagree with the sentiment. The overwhelming majority of male main characters are someone who has a generic look and a generic personality in order to try and appeal to the main viewerbase/readership of the series. This is why you get completely terrible characters such as the protagonist in Muv-luv who seemingly has no actual redeeming traits and is constantly a dim-witted asshole yet has hordes of girls fighting over him. (To the detriment of the story might I add. I couldn't continue playing because he was so terrible.)

the sensei's look at the pool is exactlyyyyy my typpeeeeee <3

Wow. That teacher was hot! oh. brain . . . something useful.
oh. I liked where it went. thought it was going into some cliched good girl goes bad thing or something that worked better as pwp erotica. The surprise I got that it didn't makes this all the more memorable. The teacher just seems like fun.

I have no idea who that is but I'd still disagree with the sentiment. The overwhelming majority of male main characters are someone who has a generic look and a generic personality in order to try and appeal to the main viewerbase/readership of the series. This is why you get completely terrible characters such as the protagonist in Muv-luv who seemingly has no actual redeeming traits and is constantly a dim-witted asshole yet has hordes of girls fighting over him. (To the detriment of the story might I add. I couldn't continue playing because he was so terrible.)

Your comment made me think, but I indeed found it surprisingly hard to come up with a decent anime where the main protagonist is male without falling into the “generic template” trap. Even in something like Black Lagoon, where Rock is a decent and relatively well fleshed-out character, it is Revy who, at least in my opinion, defines the series*. Mononoke Hime falls into a similar category, with Ashitaka very much coming up short without San and Eboshi. One character I did come up with would be Ichise from Texhnolyze, but then again, it is very hard to argue one would want to identify with anyone in that “…long, violent spiral into utter hopelessness” (Carl Kimlinger in his review). The only “proper” protagonist that came to mind is Ginko, from Mushishi.

As for the story in Good Girl & Bad Teacher, I like it, although I am personally slightly bothered by the way in which smoking is portrayed as this cool and romantic thing. This being a collection of older one-shots though, it is not too unexpected. If it is not too much to hope for, I would also love to see a fully canon yuri couple in one of the stories. Miss Sunflower is very enjoyable, but it is staying firmly on the side of fluff at this stage, so would be great to have Sugano Manami craft a story with an unabashed and unapologetic, openly lesbian couple.

* as a woman, I do tend to find it easier to identify with a female character anyway though, so my perspective here is not entirely unbiased. Also: Revy!!!

Those eyebrows <3

I have no idea who that is but I'd still disagree with the sentiment. The overwhelming majority of male main characters are someone who has a generic look and a generic personality in order to try and appeal to the main viewerbase/readership of the series. This is why you get completely terrible characters such as the protagonist in Muv-luv who seemingly has no actual redeeming traits and is constantly a dim-witted asshole yet has hordes of girls fighting over him. (To the detriment of the story might I add. I couldn't continue playing because he was so terrible.)

Your comment made me think, but I indeed found it surprisingly hard to come up with a decent anime where the main protagonist is male without falling into the “generic template” trap. Even in something like Black Lagoon, where Rock is a decent and relatively well fleshed-out character, it is Revy who, at least in my opinion, defines the series*. Mononoke Hime falls into a similar category, with Ashitaka very much coming up short without San and Eboshi. One character I did come up with would be Ichise from Texhnolyze, but then again, it is very hard to argue one would want to identify with anyone in that “…long, violent spiral into utter hopelessness” (Carl Kimlinger in his review). The only “proper” protagonist that came to mind is Ginko, from Mushishi.

As for the story in Good Girl & Bad Teacher, I like it, although I am personally slightly bothered by the way in which smoking is portrayed as this cool and romantic thing. This being a collection of older one-shots though, it is not too unexpected. If it is not too much to hope for, I would also love to see a fully canon yuri couple in one of the stories. Miss Sunflower is very enjoyable, but it is staying firmly on the side of fluff at this stage, so would be great to have Sugano Manami craft a story with an unabashed and unapologetic, openly lesbian couple.

---

* as a woman, I do tend to find it easier to identify with a female character anyway though, so my perspective here is not entirely unbiased. Also: Revy!!!

I think an excellent example of this Male MC vs Female MC is To Aru Majitsu no Index and To Aru Kaguka no Railgun, I dropped Index after 17 episodes because Touma was a terrible lead and the arcs were getting progressively worse, meanwhile I completed both seasons of Railgun because Mikoto was a much stronger lead and generally had much more solid arcs.

I think an excellent example of this Male MC vs Female MC is To Aru Majitsu no Index and To Aru Kaguka no Railgun, I dropped Index after 17 episodes because Touma was a terrible lead and the arcs were getting progressively worse, meanwhile I completed both seasons of Railgun because Mikoto was a much stronger lead and generally had much more solid arcs.

I agree. Railgun > Index. However I do like Accelerator. I think he would be a cool male MC.

I think manga and anime have a problem with unlikable male protagonists because the protagonist is supposed to be the "coolest" character. The Japanese male conception of coolness is to be stoic, humorless, and superficially rebellious but not really, resulting in a character who's just not very fun to watch. And the issue is exacerbated when every other character in the show is magnetically attracted to them for no apparent reason.

jtt posted:

Your comment made me think, but I indeed found it surprisingly hard to come up with a decent anime where the main protagonist is male without falling into the “generic template” trap. Even in something like Black Lagoon, where Rock is a decent and relatively well fleshed-out character, it is Revy who, at least in my opinion, defines the series*. Mononoke Hime falls into a similar category, with Ashitaka very much coming up short without San and Eboshi. One character I did come up with would be Ichise from Texhnolyze, but then again, it is very hard to argue one would want to identify with anyone in that “…long, violent spiral into utter hopelessness” (Carl Kimlinger in his review). The only “proper” protagonist that came to mind is Ginko, from Mushishi.

I can come up with one off the top of my head which is Ed from Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood. He does occasionally exhibit annoying traits but he's a well-written character and doesn't come across as generic nor made up of nothing but awful traits piled upon more awful traits. Can't really comment on Black Lagoon though because I have yet to watch it. It is on my to-watch list though so I'll get around to it eventually. Though "eventually" could mean tomorrow or it could mean a few years from now, lol.

It would be so awesome if this turned out to be a series....

smoking is bad.

but all people arround the world that would seriously offer cigarrettes/drugs/alcohol to other people with a smile on their faces make me sick.

If I smoked/drank, I'd offer to share(?) if I knew that whoever I was with consumed those substances too
Then again, even if I don't smoke nor really drink, if someone offered some to me, I don't see what the big deal would be with just saying no, thanks? Unless you really judge ppl who have those habits I guess

Well, until some point, just offering have indeed no harm, but if someone smokes near you, they are slowly killing you, and that's bad.

I agree. Railgun > Index. However I do like Accelerator. I think he would be a cool male MC.

I too, agree with that. And about Accelerator, there's no anime (hopefully, yet), but I recommend you to read the "To Aru Kagaku no Accelerator" manga.

I think manga and anime have a problem with unlikable male protagonists because the protagonist is supposed to be the "coolest" character.

When I read "coolest", I can only think about Sakamoto.

And for not to be completely off topic, this one shot was good, would read if was a series.

^It's just a one-shot, but there's a small sequel. Even translated.

h3x posted:

^It's just a one-shot, but there's a small sequel. Even translated.

You might consider linking it or otherwise letting people know where/how they can find it.

h3x posted:

^It's just a one-shot, but there's a small sequel. Even translated.

You might consider linking it or otherwise letting people know where/how they can find it.

Raw: http://manami-pipipi.tumblr.com/post/153326986323/
TL: http://pastebin.com/NZsiKETD

Love the art! Love the characterization!! MOAR!!!

Your comment made me think, but I indeed found it surprisingly hard to come up with a decent anime where the main protagonist is male without falling into the “generic template” trap.

Takeo Gouda from My Love Story!!/Oremonogatari was pretty non-generic.