A recent post by lostty over on Anime Princess discussed the ever prominent fan activity of bashing anime’s many weak-willed male leads. lostty considers most hate for these guys “unjust.” I tend to agree and would like to examine why…
As I touched on in a previous post, it’s only in certain genres of anime – particularly harem, slice-of-life, romance, and mecha to some extent – where male characters tend to be weak, wimpy, whiny, and annoyingly unassertive. Barring shonen series, where male characters are emphasized and female characters de-emphasized, it’s usually the anime that emphasizes its female characters that tend to produce this trope of a weak-willed male protagonist.
Probably the most famous male lead fans associate with “weak-willed” is Shinji Ikari from Evangelion. He’s a character people love to hate because of how whiny and wussy he acts. However, I’m among the people who believes Shinji is one of the weak male leads who does not deserve such hatred. It makes perfect sense for him to act the way he does – his mother died, his dad is a bastard to him, he grew up without any love or encouragement, he gets nothing but horrific, traumatizing experiences while piloting an Eva – how could you expect a 14-year old kid with such a background to be strong, outgoing, and confident? Even though he is indeed a weak-willed male lead, I find him a good character because he’s given a personality that matches his backstory. Even if his personality doesn’t warrant respect, I can at least appreciate how his character is written.
Which brings me to why I’m okay with some weak male leads like Shinji, but not okay with others. One male lead I don’t like is Kujo from Gosick. Why is he a worse protagonist than Shinji? He’s given little backstory and pretty much all that comprises his character is how blindly devoted he is to Victorique and just being an overall insufferable goody-goody all the time. So for me, I won’t dislike a male lead just because they’re weak-willed or whiny; if they’re a decently written character who has a reason to be wimpy, then fine. It’s when they’re poorly written with a bland personality, whether it’s being unjustifiably weak or insufferably nice, that I get annoyed. lostty states that she can appreciate characters like Shinji because they’re different from the norm, and she often finds them more interesting. For me, how a character is written matters more than whether I find their personality likable. If a character is solidly written but has a personality I don’t particularly go for (like Shinji), I could still like them. It’s when they’re nauseatingly bland and uninteresting, in addition to being weak-willed (like Kujo), that I get frustrated.
To illustrate with a few more examples, sometimes character development can save an otherwise weak-willed male lead from becoming a stale character. Simon from Gurren Lagann started out pretty weak and wimpy, especially when compared to his companion/idol Kamina. But we get to see exactly how Kamina affected Simon and how he goes through emotional changes before growing up to become a confident leader. Likewise, even Kyon could be guilty of being weak-willed in the beginning of the Haruhi series (though he doesn’t garnish much hate because his sarcasm and witty dialogue make him so entertaining). It’s only further down the line that he vows to become a more invaluable SOS Brigade member and not just stand on the sidelines. Then we have Yukiteru from the currently airing Mirai Nikki. He seems to be gaining a lot of hate for being another weak and wimpy male lead. But when I try and put myself in his place, I don’t think there’s anything more strong-willed or “macho” he could do when he has a psycho yandere stalker on one hand and several magical diary users who want to kill him on the other. I don’t dislike him too much, at least not yet, because I feel like his actions and personality are reasonable within his situation. Compared again to a bad weak-willed male lead, Yuuto from Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu. We’re give no reason for him to act so wimpy and unassertive – he just is, and is incredibly bland at that. Again, for me it’s bad when male protagonist are weak-willed and poorly written as opposed to just weak-willed.
Besides the obvious reason of male protagonists in female-centered anime given bland personalities so male otaku can easily insert themselves into the male lead’s place, weak-willed male leads may very well have origins in overall Japanese culture. Speaking from an American perspective, maybe the reason there’s so much hate for weak, wimpy male leads among English-speaking fans is because our culture emphasizes macho-ism and manliness in guys – they’re supposed to be rough, tough, and decisive. In Japanese culture however, these traits are de-emphasized and a guy who is a bit effeminate, polite rather than macho, or just not “manly” is okay. Consideration of Japan’s culture of politeness, tatemae, and emphasis and not being a burden to others, might help in understanding the trope of weak-willed male leads in anime. To conclude, they’re rarely my favorite characters, but as long as they’re well written, I can usually forgive personality flaws ;)
*Announcement*: I’m going to be busy in the coming weeks and might not be able to keep up my regular blogging schedule. My mom is going into surgery tomorrow and I’m going to have to be driving her, bringing her things while she’s in the hospital, and taking care of her and doing pretty much every household chore/errand while she’s recovering at home. I should still be able to post again before too long, it just might take longer than usual. So…I’ll be back when I can!
You’ll hate Yuki, he deserves to be hated.
I’ll see if that’s the case when I watch the whole series XD
I wish your mom a speedy recovery. Prepare to exercise extreme patience.
I agree with you on not hating Yukiteru. Of course I have not read the manga yet but from what I have seen in the anime he has a reason to be upset and scared. In the last episode I think he was a little too…eager to believe in friendship when he should have trusted Yuno but other than that his reactions are those I would expect from a teenager thrown into a crazy situation.
Thanks for the well wishes ^_^
I too thought Yukki’s sudden friendship with Hinata was a bit too quick. But if you think about the fact that he’s always been a loner who has problems communicating with people, it’s not too surprising that he’s naive about what being a friend means. But yeah, for the most part I feel like his actions and reactions fit with his age and background.
Oh, I really do not like the unassertive characters. But I have to agree that it has a lot to do with out cultures. It’s “wrong” for a male character to be like that, but if we have a shy, unassertive, female character, it is not a problem at all, and may even look cute.
I do agree that well written characters can come out ok, even if they are a bit weak. Sakai from Shakugan no Shana starts out pretty weak and useless, and takes a while to change that, but I never disliked him even at the beginning. I never liked Shinji though, even if I can understand his background. So I guess it’s also something in everyone’s personality that will make some characters click, and others not.
Good point about shy, weak-willed female characters being considered “cute” while shy, weak-willed male character elicit mostly hate. This is probably a reflection of anime’s primary audience – male otaku who like to see cute female characters but don’t care for male characters with a similar personality (especially among English-speaking fans). And actually, I think the opposite can be said with female fans – obviously weak-willed female characters don’t do much for feminism, and I’m sure a lot of female fans like the more “moe” male characters as opposed to the “bad ass” ones.
Yuuji from Shana is a good example of a male protagonist who definitely starts out as a typical bland male hero archetype but does in fact get decent character development later on.
I know. When I first saw him I was like, “aw come on not another copy and paste good guy” but when I found out that he almost becomes *SPOILERS* evil/antirehero, I was like, “whoah, dude, I underestimated the writer of this thing”
Thank you for sticking up for Shinji! I feel the same way. In fact, I love him. He’s probably my second of third character in Evangelion.
Yuki hasn’t become a source of hatred yet because he’s also got understandable reasons. I’m completely hating Shuu from Guilty Crown right now. He’s not utterly weak, but he’s so damn bland and generic.
I know there are other weak willed male protagonists that I like and don’t like, but my mind’s not working right now. (All I can think of are some harem anime leads, but I think they’re less weak and more indecisive. With the exception of a couple.)
And I hope your mother’s surgery goes well and that she makes a swift recovery!
Glad to know another non-hater of Shinji XD I don’t even particularly like him – I just don’t feel he deserves the amount of hate he gets.
I liked Shuu at the beginning of Guilty Crown but now he’s just…whatever. I think it’s because, from the early promo art for the series, I thought he was gonna be a stereotypical bad ass shonen-like hero. So I was pleasantly surprised when I saw his personality was actually that of a gentle and rather confidence-lacking guy. But unfortunately his character hasn’t gone much beyond that, at least not yet.
And thanks for the well wishes for my mom ^_^
I the point of Yuki throughout the series is that his entire character is centered around being weak and selfish while trying to be good. I mean later on he starts to become gullible, wanting to believe things will be okay in the end, leading him to do actions that are kinda evil, but still changes in a dynamic way.
In general, I don’t really mind weak-willed males as long they grow stronger through character development. As in life, you can’t expect every male to be a macho man that everyone seems to prefer from the popularity of shouen shows. As for Kazuya from Gosick, yes I agree that he allows himself to get pushed by Victorique way too much from his niceness. Despite not being the main feature of the show, he grows stronger when his relationship with her grows and of course protect her from her father. Either way, at least he grew a backbone compared to Yuuto from Nogizaka Haruka… No matter what he does, his inability to show his feelings for Haruka and willingly let her go when she was put in a dubious idol career kind of ticked me off.
Either way, I hope your mother’s surgery goes well. I know it’s tough since I’m going through the same as my mom has to go for one to remove a Stage I Kidney Cancer.
I agree, I can usually like, or at least tolerate, the typical bland male protagonist if he shows some kind of character development or complexity of personality, or something interesting. When he’s just a punching bag or unfaltering devoted love interest to the female protagonists, it can be a bit annoying. That’s why I didn’t go for Kujo in Gosick – he was already devoted to Victorique early in the series (I recall he was even ready to sacrifice himself to protect her when he had only known her for like, a few days). And by the end of the series, he was of course still devoted to her – I just didn’t see anything dynamic or interesting as far as his feelings for her other than the fact that they were, well, strong.
Thank you so much for your get well wishes for my mom =) I wish the same for your mom too!
The most weak will male lead of the season gotta go to Guilty Crown’s protagonist: Shu. I can’t handle him at all.
Like I said to Myna above, I liked Shuu at first but now he’s becoming more bland than interesting…I’ll have to wait and see which one he really is by the end of the series.
I can’t think of many weak-willed male protagonists, probably because I don’t really pay attention to them. I do know that Ayato Kamina in RahXephon is in a similar position to Shinji Ikari in Evangelion, but I like Ayato better because he is presented as a young man who’s intensely conflicted or caught in a difficult situation rather than simply weak-willed. Also, the fact that, thanks to RahXephon’s better artwork, Ayato looks like an attractive young man rather than a whiny kid helps a lot.
I agree, Kujo from Gosick is really more of a plot device than a personality or character, which is fine since Victorique is the star of the show. Maybe he gets more screen/page time in the original light novels? I finally finished the series and there’s nothing more I know about him other than the fact that he now loves Victorique, but that’s no surprise, right?
It’s been several years since I watched RahXephon but I do remember not thinking Ayato was weak, or even that similar to Shinji considering how often the series is compared to Evangelion.
I agree about Kujo. He really just seemed to be there to bring out the “dere” side of Victorique more than be a solid character on his own.
Another good example is Shiratori from Mahoraba.
I haven’t seen that anime but I’ll keep him in mind if I ever watch it ;)
It never ceases to amaze me, what foul and sick people the Americans are. How can you not like such a nice chap’ as Kujou?
It’s not a matter of disliking him personally so much as finding him a poorly written character. I’m sure I’d like him if he was real, since he is indeed a nice guy. But since he’s an anime character, people tend to judge him by how entertaining he is, how well written and developed his character is, and how he plays a role in the story. Whether his personality is that of a nice person or not isn’t usually top priority when judging fictional characters, at least from what I’ve seen. How else would you explain the amount of love that anime’s many truly wicked, villainous characters get?
He-e-ey, I’m from America, and uh…Jeremia, what you said was uh…how do I put it…kinda insulting. Look, there are phycopths killers, all sorts of people EVERYWHERE. Here in America, there are really, I mean really stupid things, like how past presidents kept invading for stupid reasons, but at the same time there are good things. There’s an equally good chance you’ll run into good people here. So take that comment back unless your insulting specific bad people kay? all countries have their good and bad parts.
Yeah, I definitely agree about the Shinji thing. If you consider the fact that he’s only 14 and has to pilot a giant mecha to fight against ‘monsters’ that can very realistically kill him and many others, I think it’s extremely justified for him to act wimpy and weak when he isn’t busy fighting, even without all his other problems. If I had to do that when I was 14 I’d probably shit myself or something. >_>
I’m currently watching Welcome to the NHK! and Satou and Yamazaki can both be considered ‘weak-willed male leads’. However, like you said, because the story is based around Satou’s hikikomori status (and to a lesser extent, Yamazaki’s otaku-ness), it makes his ‘weak’ moments tolerable because it’s an essential part of the story, and it gets developed. Occasionally you want to strangle him for being so pathetic, but it’s equally stimulating to see him overcome his problems.
In any case, I wish your mum a smooth and quick recovery!
I haven’t seen Welcome to the NHK, but from what you’re describing it sounds like those two characters are kind of parodying the trope, and in doing so, adding a unique and entertaining twist to it. Obviously a good thing considering the popularity of the series =)
Thank you for the well wishes! So far my mom is recovering well at the hospital.
I agree with your points. It seems to me that the primary creative reason for having so many weak-willed characters (besides appealing to males in the audience) is for creative storytelling purposes. As you mentioned, these characters can become really interesting if they are later given worthy back stories and/or develop through the series. If a character starts out strong, there often isn’t a whole of ways to go in developing him.
Great point. Maybe that’s why I never cared to get into America’s many superhero comics/cartoons. From what I’ve seen of them at least, the main male heroes are already strong, smart, and nearly perfect, often in an unrealistic way. Sure, it’s just for fun wish-fulfillment, but I find it more interesting when the hero is flawed more than not and I get to see how he overcomes his flaws.
Right on the nose! And furthermore I agree with TWWK. The way I’ve always excused it to people who didn’t understand the cultural part is to try and push the character development angle.
And good wishes for your mum!
Thanks so much for your comment and well wishes ^_^
best wishes for your mom!
Thanks!
I think contributing to the hostility, at least in some cases, is the habit amongst sci-fi fans, (which anime fandom is closely linked to, at least in the West), of judging a character by their ability to contribute to solving the sci-fi problems in a competent way, rather than thinking of them as real people. I was reading a review recently of the DW story Tomb of the Cybermen, where the reviewer expressed hatred of the character Victoria for committing a number of “sins”, most grievously, putting down the enemy’s gun which she just complains when she goes off to get help. For being, in this case, a weak female lead. Not considering that this character probably hasn’t seen a gun before in her life, might not have ever even seen a physical fight, and certainly wouldn’t have the skills to do anything useful with a gun, much less pull the trigger and kill someone. (You don’t really want guns in the hands of less than competent people. Putting it down was probably a good idea.)
But generally, agreed. Well-written weak-willed male leads are just as good as well-written leads of almost any personality type. But if they’re just like that just to appeal to the right demographic, no thanks.
Great thoughts as always. That’s an interesting sci-fi example you mentioned. I can understand getting angry at a character for doing something stupid or illogical, but one really needs to examine their character as a whole – background, personality, function in the story, putting yourself in their shoes – rather than just judging them on a few less significant instances.
Hahaha, I always LIKE weak male leads cuz I think, “hey I wouldn’t do that, what a puss-cake”(I have a delusional sense of alpha male-ism) but also, I think when their back story and situation are fleshed out, often the character is deserving of such a troubled personality, like Shinji(I LOVE Evangelion).
My least favorite male lead ever was Kyon during endless eight which I watched in it’s entirety so the effect when he gets out would have full effect. I couldn’t BELIEVE he wouldn’t just stop her! Oh man. Other than THAT, I like him. But that guy from, I think Chaos Head? Where he’s an otaku framed for murder, made me sick. I hope everything goes well for you n’ your mom.
Interesting reason for liking weak male leads, but to each their own XD
It was much less of a chore reading Endless Eight, which I had done already before it was in the anime, since it was only one chapter in the novel. But since I’m a hopeless Haruhi fan, I could never hate Kyon even after watching him fail six times to stop Haruhi!
Thanks for your well wishes. My mom is currently doing fine at the hospital.
Before I go on let me wish your mother a speedy recovery and good health.
On the topic of weak willed main character’s…. eh? I don’t know what two cents I can properly provide for this. On one hand you could say it is understandable. If I were a normal person made to do extraordinary things, I’d be pretty intimidated. I wouldn’t go around doing heroic acts, I’d be trying to find a way out.
Recent anime Guilty Crown presents us Shuu, a weak willed character who basically doesn’t want to stick out in life and doesn’t want trouble. When the anime took the turn that Shuu had been taken in on accusations of being a terrorist, I was really hoping he would snap and go axe-crazy on everyone. Sadly this is anime and that just can’t happen. Much like how we will not have Jun Fukuyama voice a strategic genius in the same show (which if they do this I will be elated).
The weak willed male lead is basically the man we should relate to. On the other hand, people who would basically be akin to these male leads would very much urge them to take action where they themselves would not.
To look at this from the story telling point of view, they allow us to better understand the world. While in anime, we can basically understand the world already, through this character, we vicariously live a life we could never fulfill. In this, it gives the viewer a certain connection to the show as the male protagonist overcomes problems he believed to be impossible.
I was gonna look more deeply into actual people who can basically be described as the weak willed character, I would think shy and introverted people fit the label somewhat, but I decided against it. I don’t feel typing on such a subject.
I did get into a discussion on a similar topic as to a weak male lead and a very powerful female lead and her conclusion was “sex sells”. Mine was much more simply “it gives men a way to live vicariously in a situation they would otherwise never be able to experience.” I can not say I heavily disagree with her conclusion as it is a factor but I feel that it is not a main factor.
But enough of me and my friends intellectual discourse. This has been my four cents that I was able to scrounge up.
As I said before, I wish your mother a speedy recovery and good health.
Thanks for the well wishes. My mom is currently doing fine in the hospital.
Great points on the topic, especially what you said in your 4th to 7th paragraphs XD It’s strange how these male protagonists are supposed to be the “average guy” viewers can relate to, but then they don’t like him if he’s not some kind of superman. It’s like I said to Jeremia several comments above – our relationship with fictional characters is different than real people precisely because they’re fictional, thus we judge them on totally different principles.
Weak leads are a pet peeve of mine, but there are a good amount of exceptions to that rule. I agree for the most part with your points. The primary factors that determines for me whether a weak male lead is likable or not is (a) his personal growth throughout the series, and (b), whether he has any reasonable excuse to why he is that way.
Gurren Lagann is probably the best example of the first one. Simon isn’t particularly unlikable, but he’s not a very interesting character to watch at the beginning. Bit by bit, he begins to step out of Kamina’s shadow and come into his own until he’s a complete badass by the end of the series. Watching him grow as a person was one of the most rewarding parts of that series for me.
On the other hand, Shinji, or more recently Yukiteru both have fair reasons as to why they are that way. Their whining can be grating at times, but I genuinely feel for their plight, so it’s easier to forgive them for being weak.
In harems, it’s almost inexcusable to have a weak willed protaganist. For me, it shatters my suspension of disbelief to see all these attractive girls throwing themselves at a man that has no worthwhile traits whatsoever. That’s why I love Key’s works such as Clannad or Kanon. The main character is always a fairly likable guy whom you could actually see girls falling for.
Finally, I wish the best for your mom and her recovery.
Wow, I think I agree with just about everything in your comment, so I don’t have much else to say ^_^
And thank you so much for wishing my mom well~
I’m kind of like you in that I generally can’t stand the weak-willed cliched protagonist unless the story and the character are really well done.
I think if I can tolerate them more if they aren’t denser than a bag of bricks. I couldn’t stand how dumb Ichika from Infinite Stratos was. He drove me nuts.
As Myna said earlier. Shu from Guilty Crown is a god awful lead. The show itself isn’t particularly well written so it makes his character’s flaws even more glaring. Just from reading posts on Animesuki and MAL, I can attest to the fact the Shu brings out the blubbering moron in all of us. He’s just THAT bad.
BTW, best male protagonist of the year is a toss up between Kyouma of Steins Gate, Diakichi of Usagi Drop, and Kodaka of Haganai. I enjoy all three for various reasons.
I still enjoy Guilty Crown but so far it’s not as good as I thought it would be. I liked Shu at first but you’re right that he’s just becoming more bland. I hope that changes before the series ends.
I agree about your top male leads for the year…I’d also like to add Keima from Kami Nomi season 2 and Takanashi from Working’!! :3
Guilty Crown, even with all it’s faults in the story/screenplay department, is a beautifully designed anime. I think you can argue that the reason people despise Shu and the show as much as the do is due to the fact that they feel the production is being wasted on such a poorly written show. That’s the conclusion I came to through introspection.
Keima is ok. He doesn’t wow me like the others do. Other than his intellect, he’s got nothing. He does seem to grow a little bit which is nice. But I’d consider him a tier lower then the top list. After all, I don’t find getting your ass kicked in every arc until the girl finally accepts you, an appealing lead.
I haven’t seen Working! 1 or 2, so I can’t comment. I might marathon it since you seem to think he’s a worthy male lead. Having a good lead is refreshing to any series.
I don’t get it? starting off as a coward, then going dictator, then going calm and badass is bad? Thats changing not once, but TWICE throughout the series.
What do you think about Renton from Eureka 7? I think of all the”weak male leads” he probably has the best character growth of all. I really appreciated that and it helped me get into his character I really related with his problems as well.
I think these type of characters can be wonderful if dealt with and written well, is a shame good ones are a dime a dosen.
P.S hope your mom recovers soon.
I don’t know about having the best growth, but I agree that Renton is a very well developed character.
Thanks, my mom’s recovery is going well ^_^
Not reading through the rest of the comments (wow, I’m a lazy bastard!), but dunno if anybody’s brought this point up: a show with likeable characters isn’t necessarily a good show. A likeable show isn’t even necessarily a good show.
I liked Croisée. It was a likeable show, with likeable characters and likeable personalities. But I don’t think it was a good show. Sure, everything was likeable, but where was the conflict? The unfamiliar, the unknown, the uncomfortable things that make anime /interesting/?
I don’t care whether I like a main character’s personality or not. I don’t care if he’s nauseatingly bland, uninteresting, and weak-willed if that supports an interesting show. I don’t care if he’s nauseatingly bland, uninteresting, and strong-willed if that doesn’t make the show interesting. I don’t care what the characters are like, what the plot is like, what the direction is like, or what the music is like – as long as the overall show is interesting.
(That was a bit of a derail, so I’ll wrap up: uninteresting characters usually lead to uninteresting shows, though. Thus, I usually dislike nauseatingly bland, uninteresting, and weak-willed characters. I also dislike nauseatingly bland, uninteresting, and strong-willed characters, as well as nauseatingly bland, uninteresting, and [insert any personality here] characters. Uninteresting characters are uninteresting, no matter their personality.)
Are the weak male leads really weak or just being a pain? is it a matter of culture or simply a reverse empathy to strong male leads? All the weak willed male leads posses very strong powers or at least theyre given to make big choices or been made important for just any kind of reason often being put in a pedestal and glorified by slutty female characters of various designs and personality.
How can you associate yourself with these characters or even see them as weak unless you just dont know theyre being a manipulative weak person who just want other female characters to complete their weak and bland character is just cheap . Discouraging males to have compatible personality of their own and just want to a female bouncer to do everything for the male character who is just filled with excuses.
How is Shinji weak when his so called bastard father gave him the most powerful robot and opportunity to defend mankind plus being surrounded with beautiful horny girls, not everyone even at 14 years old or 9 years old would react the same way as Shinji. Some boys who are orphan actually have the balls to stand up themselves by just being angry and fed up being put through hell in their lives. But these weak willed characters are all spoiled and have a mother complex or a hate for their fathers.
Yes they deserve to be hated, theyre cheap characters written to encourage weak willed men and empower their excuses to be weak, instead of trying to give men to be better, they just encourage men to just be otakus who fantasize about how girls complete their character and just spend money on buying and being stuck on anime and manga products, in japan, otakus spend thousands and almost all their salary on fetishly designed anime girls. These animes are just a domain where losers fantasize about themselves. Their circle is getting bigger and more and more males just want to be losers and feel that being like that justifies because why? their life sucks? as if their life sucks, just look at where they are.. do you really think their life sucks if you look closely, its all just BS.
The whole weak willed lead just destroys all the creativity in which story and character can be written, theres no character chemistry, the formula is the same, the weak male leads will always be treated like a cute pet, and all female characters will be given grand roles but the cute pet will be treated special in the center, it just limit character depth and roles, they destroy characters with potential, weak male leads have predictable dialogues and never try to say anything daring or new, atleast Kyon have the decency to speak out, but he isnt considered a weak male lead compare to like the ones in Amagami, Nazo no Kanojo X, Blue Lagoon, Murder Princess, and titles alike.. this trend has become a plague and its sick.. there are no more male leads which are normal anymore, if they are.. theyd just become a yaoi in genre or put up with some annoying girl, the sick idea that only great girls would pair up with loser guys and cool guys would pair up with dumb girls is just stereotype bullshit that needs to end for a new breeze to begin… otherwise anime is just a repetitive crap that wont grow in the market or it will just manifest itself to become a circle where losers can brag and fantasize about themselves.. if this is so, then weak male leads deserve to be hated for the misinterpretation of justification they have made for themselves..
the point of simon’s personality was supposed to be someone who starts off weak but grows stronger and more confident. The point of Yuki’s personality was that he IS weak and gets more selfish while changing throughout the show. Both developments are interesting and engaging because of the 2 changing. However, when you put in a protagonist who is clearly some self insert character in a video game which doesn’t quite translate well into a tv series…thats when you’re not even trying to make them interesting.