Shounen Heroes, Self -Centered?

[naanima]

*re-reads last entry* Hmm, this probably explains why I get so easily addicted to shounen crack. I mean it, see, most -true- shounen heroes starts off not really knowing anything, but it's that inner fire to fullfill their dreams, their hopes that attract me to them. Their obnoxious self been a strangely appealing factor as well.

Lets just look at the storylines of my favourite shounen manga; YuYuHakusho, Houshin Engi, Hikaru no Go, HunterxHunter, Bleach, Shaman King, and recently Prince of Tennis (there are more I just can't remember them all). See the common link? It isn't hard, young boys becoming more and more powerful at their chosen sport/game/passion, they go through crap, the mature, yet they can still be a prat at times.

The main leads in the stories can also be considered extremely self-centered. *ducks the flying fruits* Seriously, I love them, but there's no fucking way that people can tell me the protagonists in their respective series are not selfish when it comes to fullfiling their dreams. They don't purposely hurt people, but they do it anyway, and most of them are aware of this, but, up to a point, they can't stop moving forward because of their dream, their ambition. They have to become stronger!

Hmm, that would explain Griffith *mumblestoself*

Comments

[amei.livejournal.com]

Hmmm HxH admittedly, HnG definately, but I'd debate the Houshin Engi one...

Taikoubou is probably the most altruistic protaganist I've come across to date because the way I read it, his dream *was* everyone else's dream. No way he went through all that shit for himself. He would have been just as happy meditating in Kunlun. In the end of book 23, when he finally fufilled the task he was set, well, the last few pages of the manga gave me the feeling he didn't really know what to do with his future, simply because he's lived for everyone else's lives for so long. How it ends with him staring at the sky and all, struck me as lonely and somewhat sad.

Of course it -has- been a long time since I've read Houshin so...

(Shaman King? ambition? er..? Yoh? I have only read like...3 volumes. He's the most ambitionless character I've ever seen...--")

obnoxious protagonists

[perseid.livejournal.com]

I should reaaally start on Houshin no Engi - I know you've explained the plot to me multiple times, but for some strange reason I can never hold on to the story. o__O

I love more than 3/4s of the manga and anime that you've listed - I've always been a sucker for that kind of thing, protagonists growing stronger and more mature through the course of the story. And yes, it is the obnoxious factor that makes them so appealing. I'd prefer that rather than snivelling kids who sit in a corner and sulk because they're unwilling to do something about their hangups.

Hmm, I'd contend that it's possible to be self-centered about their dreams, but aware of how it affects others around them. Because in the end, half of them do what they do because they are driven by other ppl's needs or situations.

Except Griffith, of course. ^^

PerSeiD