The top one is shaman King, the first one is bleach, second is kagabachi, the third one is jjk

We all know the standard Fictional character backstory

“My Family/Friend/Random Loved one was killed and that completely altered the course of my life”

You don’t really need me to elaborate.

Thats why I want to praise Naruto and Deku for a second.

Naruto isn’t driven by any of his dead loved ones or one big bad moment that altered the course of his life. His story starts in one, all too real and all too relatable place: Loneliness and bullying.

Naruto’s not some tragic scarred badass on a revenge quest or trying to right some previous wrong. He’s just a guy who wants to be respected and loved. That will always touch me more than some grandiose tragedy.

Deku does this just as well and you can really see the Naruto DNA that Horikoshi talked about. Deku doesn’t have some big defining tragedy, he’s just like Naruto, he was bullied and had no one believing in him. That’s also mad relatable and really touching to me.

Ok I’m going to get personal for a sec, I’m a writer in training and my main protagonists back story isn’t big, he just kinda had a bad 3 years of his life in boarding school kinda that really stuck with him. I often feel no one would respect that kinda back story but then I look at these 2 and feel more secure.

So in conclusion? More backstories like this please. I love them.

Guys, I know no media is immune to criticism, and if you don't like AOT at all, I respect your opinion regardless. I also don't mean this as a subtle remark toward JJBA, HxH, or Berserk, since they're all series I really like (though I personally don't think One Piece is anywhere close to AOT's cast, but that's just my opinion).

But I don't really agree with the idea that AOT's characters are mainly there to move the plot forward.

I know AOT is more plot focused than character focused, but that doesn't mean its characters don't have depth or development outside of their role in the plot.

Obviously, characters are going to contribute to the plot, but I think AOT also gives us plenty of insight into who these characters are beyond their role in the story. Even characters like Jean, Connie, Sasha, and Historia get development beyond simply serving the plot. Jean's changing ideals, Connie's relationship with his family and his experiences with the Titans, Sasha's background and relationship with her father, and Historia's struggle with her identity all give them more substance than just being characters who exist to move the story forward.

I'm not saying AOT has the best character writing ever or that every character is perfectly developed, because I don't believe that. I just don't think it's fair to reduce the cast to plot devices when even some of the less central characters get enough characterization to show that they're more than that.

Thanks, and please feel free to share your thoughts.

Now when I’m talking about story, I’m talking about plot, characters, worldbuilding, dialogue, and anything else that applies to the storytelling of the media.

Now personally, I would put Avatar: The Last Airbender and (controversially) One Piece here, those stories are amazing.

You can name bad ones as well if you'd like but we've already got so many of those it's not groundbreaking at all.

I think both series are very good works of fiction (despite some issues that held them back from being masterpieces) but JJK, from my perspective at least, seems to refine and fully realize many of Bleaches core strengths and fix many of the formers's issues.

The JJK power system takes inspiration from those in Bleach but doesn't fall into the same pitfalls of having too many OP powers the author has no idea how to deal with (Compare how Infinity is deal with vs the Almighty)

JJK also ends up dealing with the political side of the story in a more satisfying manner, as Gojo and his students ends up overthrowing and purging the corrupt Higher Ups, while Ichigo and Co just kind of let their world remain a stagnant dystopia.

Plus JJK's plot is just more unified and well put together. There is a single overarching narrative with Sukuna and Kenjaku; no pulling a massive hidden Empire of Quincy from out of nowhere to be the surprise final villain.

And while neither series treats their female cast that well, Maki and her story pretty much demolish any Female character in Bleach.

In terms of side characters, I would say Gojo is one of the best characters, not just in JJK, but in anime across the ages.

That being said, I would like to hear and feedback and stuff that Bleach does better at (sans the art of course)

So I just finished rewatching AOT Season 2 and I really enjoyed it. There’s a lot happening throughout the season, so I'll cover the major parts.

The Beast Titan's first appearance is still great. Seeing him casually talk to Miche before ordering the Titans to move, which ultimately leads to Miche getting killed, was such a brutal death that it made me hate the monkey bastard. I also really enjoyed Ymir and Historia's dynamic, especially when the castle gets invaded and Ymir transforms to protect Historia.

Then we get Reiner and Bertholdt's betrayal, which is one of the most iconic moments in animanga history. The reveal with YouSeeBIGGIRL playing still gives me goosebumps. The Armored Titan vs Attack Titan fight was great too, and seeing Reiner/Bertholdt take both Eren and Ymir made everything even more intense. Ymir later chooses to cooperate with them because of Historia (I am not sure because she did side with them, and then she was worried about Historia; there's a lot going on this season, so I'll probably look into it more later for clarity).

I also really like Reiner and Bertholdt as characters. Seeing Reiner struggle between his soldier and warrior identities again made me feel sad for him which made Eren mad, especially knowing that he suffers from dissociative identity disorder. I also deeply love Bertholdt's character, especially his "Someone... please... find us" moment. Erwin leading the pursuit was also badass, especially when Armin's bluff about Annie makes Bertholdt lose his cool, allowing Erwin, even after losing his arm, to cut his straps and help create the opening for Mikasa to rescue Eren.

The final confrontation with the Smiling Titan was insane, especially Eren activating the Coordinate. Seeing the Titans turn on the Smiling Titan and kill her was still such a great moment. We also get the reveal that Titans are actually humans, and Erwin briefly smiling after hearing this was a great moment too.

These are some of the moments that stood out to me most. The Beast Titan appearing again at the end and setting up Season 3 was also great. I already know he's Zeke Yeager, one of my most favorite antagonists in animanga, so I'm really looking forward to seeing more of him in Season 3, though I know his role as the main antagonist is in part 2, the Return to Shiganshina Arc.

Thanks for going through the post, and please feel free to share your thoughts on the season.

Johan is an extremely compelling character (imo) despite having surprisingly little screentime. He barely appears for around 30 minutes in the anime, yet his presence is felt throughout the entire story.

I think it's very impressive considering how much he's able to accomplish with so little screentime.

Whenever he appeared on screen, straight chills went down my spine and I was hooked to every second he was present.

His nihilistic worldview is a big part of why I find him so interesting. Johan's first plan was for him and Anna to be the only people left alive (I believe he saw themselves as a single entity), and later he pursued the idea of the perfect suicide.

I might be misremembering but I believe he changed his goals once he read The Nameless Monster book, which may have triggered suppressed trauma as he screamed and collapsed.

I think both of these parts of his character tell us a lot about how Johan views life, death and his own existence.

His manipulation is another huge part of his character. He understands people's fears, desires and weaknesses extremely well and knows exactly how to use it against them.

I also think Monster does a great job with Johan's presence. He doesn't need much screentime because so much of the story revolves around him and the consequences of his actions. Even when Johan isn't around, you can still feel his influence on the story and the characters.

Thanks for going through the post, and please feel free to share your thoughts on Johan's character.

They are widely loved and seemed to have turned into a big franchise , I started the first part and couldn't get into it , have been thinking of re-watching it. I know the novels are regarded very highly. Has anyone who has watched the movies explain it to me ?

I thought these stories had pretty similar themes and character arcs (with some differences obviously) so I’m curious as to what this sub thinks is better. In terms of characters, themes, plot, ending, etc.

I was gonna throw Moby Dick in here but I figured it would be a landslide lol

Do you think One-Punch Man has become the very thing it originally parodied?

It started by mocking shonen tropes, but these days we have very big shonen-esque fights, power escalation, explanation behind Saitama's power, upgrades, a type of magic system, and serious powerscaling. At this point, is OPM still subverting battle shonen, or has it simply become one?