[Discussion] Who is the best introverted romance protagonist?

Comments

• lvxferre@mander.xyz ⁨22⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  I’m a fan of Wakana (Sono Bisque Doll wa Koi wo Suru). For two reasons.

  One of them is that he does not start as a protagonist; he develops into one.

  People often conflate “protagonist” and “main character”, but they’re different:

  • The main character is the one you share the view with, as if they were telling the story
  • The protagonist is the one moving the story forward through their actions

  At the start of the series, is Wakana the MC? Yes; we typically experience his point of view of the story. But he is not the one moving it forward, like a protagonist would; that’s only Marin, with Wakana only reacting to what she comes up with.

  But as the series evolves, we get to experience increasingly more Marin’s point of view and, at the same time, Wakana stops simply reacting to Marin. Late Season 2 already shows signs of that: the one who decides to play Coffin all night is Wakana, but we get to see Marin’s frustration. (Without giving you guys spoilers, this tendency only grows stronger in the to-be-animated manga chapters.)

  So Wakana stops being “just” the main character, and Marin stops being “just” the protagonist; at the end they’re both protagonists and both main characters. And this plays so nicely with the theme of the story (people who live in different “worlds”, that got intermingled by chance, and their lives becoming richer as a result) that I don’t think it’s coincidental.

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  The second reason I like Wakana as a protagonist is that, although he’s introverted, he is not a misanthrope, a failure in life, or cold, or whatever. He’s shy, and his rather unique hobby/profession gives him a hard time relating to other people. That’s it. He’s still helpful to the others (this is shown since the beginning), and he craves relationships as much as anyone else.

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• Unboxious@ani.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  I’m thinking Kaguya from Kaguya-sama: Love is War. Unlike most introverted protagonists, she actually tries, even if her fear and pride still cause things to advance at a slower pace than the characters might have preferred. But she tries, and her ridiculous plots are fun to watch unfold.

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• aeronmelon@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  Komi

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• FinjaminPoach@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  I like Sawako from Kimi Ni Todoke

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  • sleet01@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    Oh, yeah, Sawako is the poster child, to my mind.

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• zero_spelled_with_an_ecks@programming.dev ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  Does Hachiman from Oregairu count? He might for into more misanthropy than introversion, but I like that he’s capable and the non-standard way he goes about finding solutions.

  Oreki from Hyouka seems like more of a standard introvert that gets dragged out of his shell by an extrovert. He’s depicted as intelligent and capable of lateral thinking. I adore how his realization about his feelings is done.

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