Weak or strong, Shonen anime characters bear a significance to their audiences despite a matter of ability or personality. However, for the protagonist, the standards are unimaginably high. These elements become absolutely key to set the bar high, maybe a little too high. The basic standard in Best shonen animes for protagonists has been strong power and unimaginable strength. For instance,
When watching Anime we always expect the main character to be the strongest and one who stands out among others, right? Best shonen animes without their strong main character is the same as a recipe without an important ingredient. We can taste the bland and empty dish without the presence of the main ingredient. No one wishes to miss out on the “All favorite” scenes where the main character gives a one-sided defeat to the foes.
Those emotions we felt were overwhelmingly satisfying, and not to mention the chance to see the beautiful animation of blazing colors. See? Starting an Anime with a feeble and lackluster character, this is what you’ll miss out on in the best anime shonen. Be it the Best shonen animes or the worst, we can’t help but possibly facepalm through a painful season of an anime when the protagonist is a lackluster for sure.
6. Subaru Natsuki (Re:ZERO)
Do you think it would be right if we are to add him? Well, It would be more fitting to say that among the other strong protagonists in the Anime world Subaru wouldn’t stand a chance. His ability to rewind time before his death sounds crazy, however it doesn’t show a great deal of power at all.
At first, Subaru was weak in both power and physical strength. As the series progresses, he does get more powerful and could beat half of the characters in the series. Arguably, he is strong since the other characters are rather weak. If we do acknowledge Subaru, calling him weak would overshadow the fact that he managed to garner achievements in his world.
5. Ciel Phantomhive (Black Butler)
Ciel Phantomhive is powerful by intellect, though would definitely not be able to stand a chance in terms of physical power or ability. He may be young and premature, even in terms of intellect, there are various who’d surpass him.
The only reason many fear him would be because of his demon butler, Sebastian. Sebatian, who holds inhuman powers, made the youngster seem more like a threat thanks to Ciel’s pact with the demon. With the exception of the butler and plot armor; Ciel would probably be helpless and perhaps may have died halfway through the Anime. Sebastian’s ability was the real deal breaker for Ciel in the Anime, making him seem much stronger than he actually was.
4. Yukiteru Amano (Future Diary)
In the Future Diary, Twelve individuals are chosen by the god of time and space to fight. In conclusion, the winner will become heir to the Universe. Yukiteru Amano on the other hand had barely any chances of survival if it weren’t for his psychotic, stalker classmate, Yuno Gasai. Her help was what made him a winner and without her, he would have not survived.
He did have the future diary to help him, but so did the other contestants. Unlike others, he couldn’t utilize it to get the odds in his favor and achieve victory. In terms of intellect or physical strength, he’s hopeless. Forget victory, his chances of survival were hanging on a thin string. His only trait was manipulation by which he successfully persuaded Yuno Gasai into becoming his faithful guardian.
Future Diary isn’t one of the “Best shonen animes” since it can hardly be considered shonen, but Yukiteru Amano definitely deserved to be called out.
3. Igarashi Ganta (Deadman Wonderland)
When Ganta was first introduced, many were puzzled due to his unusually frail manner in an action-filled Anime. Everyone was expecting a hero starting from zero and his journey to the road to victory. A fighter who’ll gradually become a killing machine that would somewhat match the atmosphere of the Anime. Instead, we were left with a character who was losing his chances of survival day by day. Speaking honestly, his power showed mighty improvement as the Anime progressed.
In a final fight with Shiro, he lost all his grown abilities; meaning he was back at square one. At that time, everyone believed there was no more hope for this boy. Despite having lost his powers, his determined self was always ahead to improve and fight. So there always had been a chance for Ganta after all.
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2. Kazuma Sato (Konosuba)
The Konosuba series isn’t exactly one of the Best shonen animes. It does have abundant characters who lack power and the wits, be it even a god or a brown-hatted witch. And for Kazuma, he’s no god nor an outstanding fighter. There are various characters that could beat Kazuma in combat or ability. He is very intelligent which does manage to give him some favor.
Conveniently he does have his teammates to help him, unfortunately, they all prefer to flee from battle than fight. It was unbearable to watch how he acted upon given opportunities and complications. Typically protagonists in Isekai start from the basics 101 ” Becoming the weakest to the strongest” stereotype. However, our questionable protagonist Kazuma Sato breaks the generic rule of an Isekai-Action-Fantasy Anime with his unusual ways in the series.
1.Takemichi Hanagaki (Tokyo Revengers)
Tokyo Revengers, a shonen jump anime, has had three seasons so far. In the first few seasons, Takemichi Hanagaki could barely put up a fight against his foes. His ability to fight isn’t great compared to his allies and nor was he the brightest of the bunch. Such as strategizing or atleast creating a plan in mind in order to defeat his front-facing opponent.
Time was on his side, but that’s just not enough to win a battle. His bravery was commendable too, it felt as if at any moment Takemichi would show his true powers (That never happened). He can show great determination meanwhile his enemy can give a one-sided defeat overpowering him completely. Takemichi would certainly fit in a peaceful sport Anime but not in the best shonen anime thanks to his faint abilities.
