Sorry for the lack of update, but things became a little slow when I left on vacation. But since I’m back, let’s look into annoying character cliches that really need to stop being created.

Here we will look at the honest to goody-goody, saint/holy man or woman that should be God’s right hand. That is right, I ‘m talking about the Good Guy (or woman). The guy that defends justice, God’s will, and whatever other crap that involves “goodness”. The guy that will defeat the demon, but shows mercy when the enemy wishes it. And then realizes that he/she should have never showed mercy because the enemy was using the good guy’s characteristic as an advantage. Yes, that guy. Let’s look at a few reasons why he/she is so wrong in manga, or any other type of mediums for that matter.

Fighting for Justice/Moral Reasons

A character of good quality will defend their actions based on their belief or past. Example: kid wants to see dead father so bad he asks the Earl for help. Instead the dead father’s soul gets turns into a demonic creature called akuma. Kid regrets action and kills the akuma to save the soul of the captured father. From then on he decides to save not just humans from these demon creatures, but the akuma as well.

Awww…how sweet. Because of what the kid, Allen Walker from D. Gray-man, experienced with the akuma, he wants to save all of humanity from this chaos. That totally justifies his actions as a warrior of justice.

BOOOO!

Allen Walker is a good guy not because he wants to save humanity, but because he wants to save everyone. The good, the bad, and the oddly ugly are all on his list of need. How unselfish of him, wanting to help all those in need and none needy. Sadly, this personal trait is the most annoying part of him I would rather not acknowledge. I’m not against saving things, but basing it on a higher moral or a higher justice is too ridiculous to see through. (This creates a question of what is “justice” and “moral”, but that is too long to write about.) I would rather see them save things because they want to rather than feel it is necessary to. You can argue Allen wants to save everyone, but I will argue there is a feeling that he needs to save rather than wanting to save. That also leads me to my next point.

The Prophesy Child

We have heard this story before: a child is born to be the one that will determine the fate of the [fill in the blank]. This should be it’s own article, but it plays into the good guy complex in many manga titles. Naruto, D. Gray-man, and 07 Ghost are a few examples of leading characters that are the overall factor to the fate of their world. Each character has a pre-determined destiny they cannot escape and must follow it through the told prophesy.

It’s okay to be special, but being in charge of saving the world is a little too extreme don’t you think? It’s not like they are Superman, but even Superman has his own problems (like being less popular than Batman). Anyway, sometimes I think this pre-destiny thing is used just to make the leading character more special than they should be. That is a sad excuse for character development, especially when the character has enough personality to stand on his or her own.

Good Guy Gets Best Power/Weapon EVER

It’s not enough to be the good guy and hold the fate of the world on their shoulders. In order to overcome evil powered armies, they need the best resources available. But guess who gets the best equipment ever created (within their own manga titles)? The best powers or weapons are exclusive only to the good guys, that or the rarest power/weapon. Tell me you have not noticed that in manga recently. The three previous manga examples follow this concept to the brim. Rare wind element and technique for Naruto, rare parasitic weapon for Allen, and one of two eye weapons only Teito can handle. This special concept works well with fated characters better than others since prophesies give special properties to destined characters.

Too “Perfect” to Relate to

I already talked about the moral side of characters, but maybe there is a personal level with the reader that keeps it at a distance. These good guy characters have their complex plotlines but when it comes to their personality and sense of justice/morals, maybe the reader just tunes out. No one is perfect, but the connection with a damn near perfect fictional character can make the reader distance themselves from reading any more. The leading character has little to no flaws, and the reader may feel inadequate with their own flaws weighing more than this prefect. This seems like a long shot, but maybe that is why Superman is less popular than Batman.

I probably was stretching the last one a bit, but I said a few reasons not a couple. Next time we will explore the terrible cliches of shoujo girls. Which one, I don’t know yet. But if you have something to add on the good guy cliche, please write in. Would love to hear from you.