Rules of Shonen Action Main Character

Until an updated list comes along, I'm just gonna address the bullet points in the OP.

Got this quote from the Wikipedia page for Cutie Honey:

"According to Nagai, she is the first female to be the protagonist of a shōnen manga series."

Then there's also Lucy from Fairy Tail.

Detective Conan's eponymous protagonist doesn't have spikey hair or Anime Hair. Yusuke from Yu Yu Hakusho also doesn't have either hair.

Light of Death Note is probably the one of the most well-known averters of this shonen protagonist trait.

Kenshin of Rurouni Kenshin is very calm in battle unless someone he has a strong relationship with has been hurt. I'm not sure about having a plan before going into battle, but he usually does manage to make sure the correct side of the blade is being used against his opponent so as not to kill them or such.

In the first Yu Gi Oh anime by Toei, Yugi and Atem used clever strategy and deception to beat foes who could kill him with a fist to the gut.

Yeah, I've got nothing.

Naruto does a lot of hard training to make sure he becomes a better ninja. Despite his attacks being powerful, he usually exerts a lot more energy/chakra than is needed and thus he wears out faster. Sasuke, one of the antagonists in the Shippuden saga, seem to have a much bigger output than Naruto, at least until Naruto managed to control the Nine-Tailed Fox's chakra. As for input, I'm not sure if Sasuke puts in a lot, but it doesn't really look like it.

I'm certain that at least three of the protagonists I mentioned avert this.

While it's true that Conan likes to solve mysteries for fun, he also doesn't like seeing people in danger, be they criminal or otherwise, also not mattering whether it's someone he knows or not.

Yusuke chose to save Keiko's life at one point by risking the one chance he had to come back to life, and after he's revived, even though he's defeating demons because he has an obligation to Koenma (who gave him a second chance at regaining his life), Yusuke was very pissed when he found that a demon was digesting the soul of a little kid.

Yugi, being the friendly guy he is, will help anyone who wants or needs it.

Again averted with Yugi as he lost face when he lost to rival Kaiba after the latter threatened to jump off the castle to his death should he have lost. Atem (the spirit in Yugi's puzzle) wanted to win the duel anyway (though I forget if it was to keep going and save Yugi's grandfather), but Yugi stopped him from making the winning move and forfeited the match. He got better when Tea convinced him to continue the other tournament, noting that he could still get star chips to enter the finals by defeating other duelists, such as Mai (who had lost to Tea and given her the star chips so that Yugi could keep going).

From what I've read on Wikipedia, the main protagonists of Rosario To Vampire seem to have a decent relationship.

The thing with Light is that, even though he has the power to easily kill anyone he chooses and is smart enough to do this while being able to avoid looking conspicuous, his cockiness leaves him vulnerable because he underestimates his opponents. These aren't outright defeats, but these close calls make him go over his plans and see where his errors in judgment were. As for antagonists, his first antagonist (at least) is on the side of societal justice and does not believe that someone should handle the fate of other people's lives as though they were a deity.

edited 12th Sep '11 4:30:58 PM by Enzeru

Detective Conan, Yu Gi Oh, and Death Note aren't shonen action series so they are not good examples to counter against my points.

Yu-gi-oh! is. Even if the action is with holograms, it still counts as action.

I'll give you the other two though.

I've read Kenichi The Mightiest Disciple and it is the first one I've read (again, I don't read THAT many series) that at least partially averts the Rule #1.

"Incapable of normal romance" Snonen protagonist have often unrequired crushs, in older mangas and animes it were also used for invoking The Dulcinea Effect.

So I disagree with that as common trait, I think both cases are about same level.

From below list these are proof. (there may be another from shows I didn't see/manga I didn't read)

• Naruto
• Kuzumi
• Rin
• Ageha
• Tsukune

Some may be debatable but signs of crushs are here from very begening

edited 29th Dec '11 8:09:11 AM by Tenzen12

Listing Shonen action protagonists and the points that I think fit them:

• Luffy: 4, 8, 10
• Naruto: 1, 2, 3, 8
• Ichigo: 2 - 7, 9, 10
• Oga (Beelzebub): 1, 3 - 7, 9, 10
• Shion (magico): 2, partly 3 (he admits he's dumb, but it's justified and he compensates for it well enough)
• Kuzumi (Mx0): 2, 3, 6 (justified; his enemies are better at magic but he's better at fighting), 10 somewhat
• Natsu (Fairy Tail) 2 - 6, 9, 10
• Rin (Ao no Exorcist): 3 - 6, 10 (kinda)
• Kitano (Angel Densetsu): 5
• Allen (D Gray Man): 1, 10
• Gon (HxH): 2, 3, 6 (via planning), 7
• Tsuna (Reborn): 2, 3, 8
• Ageha (Psyren): 1 and 2
• Tsukune (Rosario Vampire): 1, 3, 5 - 9
• Negi (Negima): 2 (well, his ponytail), 10
• Toriko (Toriko): 1

And that's about what I can pull from memory in five minutes or so.

I did this for one of my stories the only two that applied though were 9. and 10. :3

Maybe Jotaro Kujo averts 1 somewhat, because while his parents are useless, Joseph isn’t. He averts 2. Now, as for 3, he is a marine biologist, but it is definitely an informed attribute so it’s played straight. The rest fits pretty well.

I wouldn't say so. Most of the time, he is victorious because of quick thinking and superior tactics compared to his opponents. The fact that Star Platinum usually reduces them to paste after he's cornered them is merely the icing on the cake.

edited 29th Dec '11 11:47:26 AM by Fluid

• He often has two or more girls who admire him (likely to be a Yamato Nadeshiko and a Tsundere, or some other Betty and Veronica-type duo.)
• He's brash, rude, and disrespectful of authority - and is never called out on it.

While I don't mind the Hot-Blooded archetype, it'd be nice to see something different. Maybe more types who are polite and friendly most of the time, but will make sure you regret it if you push them too far. (Hey, it's been done before. Just not nearly often enough.) Or a shonen hero who's a Badass Bookworm and thinks up strategies rather than charging headfirst into battle.

edited 6th Jan '12 6:57:25 AM by Xandriel

It really does look we have a trope here.

Mahou Sensei Negima.

The annoying part, though, is he sometimes actually does best when forced to just charge headfirst, instead of going in with a plan...

That really depends really he is flat out told in the work by other people that he should be like that (Asuna and Kotaro are already there).

The every time he actually went and did it it worked but it was at great cost to his body.

I really don't like when the universe seems to encourage a character to follow the Idiot Hero ruleset.

Except for the fact that the real Idiot Hero failed he won the battle but basically lost the war (and pretty darkly too).

Every time Negi does it he won the battle but slipped farther from being human... however to win this war and save 2 billion people he is going to have to go back to using his mind. (Negi's Idealism does not equal idiotic too.)

edited 6th Jan '12 9:04:51 AM by Raso

To be fair, his loss of humanity seems to be an inconvenient for the girls, but not at all for him. He hasn't given any sign of it troubling him since the Mundus Magicus arc ended.

Then agian the other extreme isn't that much better, Light Yagami and Yami Yugi both left bad tastes in my mouth especially Light Yagami. There needs to be a balance.

The impression I always got from Yami Yugi (in the anime, at least) was he owed most of his success to Plot Shielding and Ass Pulling rather than to actual strategy.

edited 6th Jan '12 2:29:11 PM by NapoleonDeCheese

At the moment, I'm thinking of launching this as a trope, under the name of Standardized Shonen Hero.

I wonder if I can make that title alliterative.

Also, you suppose all those criteria reflects Japanese teenagers desire? If so, how?

I think that it has something to do with being free and important. I'm too tired to make any in-depth analysis at the moment.

I'm not sure just how standard this is, though. I've seen this kind of hero a lot, but I've seen other kinds a lot too.

You are right. I need to do some research before launching a YKTTW. It is probably not going to happen, though, at least not by me.

Wouldn't this work better as an index? Unless we already have one...

Yeah, an index might be better. It would let us point out all the things shonen did in utilizing its tropes.

Standardized Shonen Hero Index sounds perfect.

Yeah, I agree.