YMMV / Weak Hero

• Catharsis Factor: The series is very good at building up its Hate Sinks to be as annoying and pathetic as possible, and then having their shit kicked in by the protagonists. Especially satisfying with Phillip Kim - he spends a good sixty chapters cruising along on his bravado, only to finally get taken down by Gray in a quick, brutal beatdown.
• Die for Our Ship: Lily's character mostly revolves around admiring Gray from afar and having meltdowns about any interactions they have. This renders her a bit of a roadblock for fans, because the webtoon is action-based and they'd prefer it stay that way, or they have alternate ships involving Gray they're far more passionate about.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Of the Yeongdeungpo Union, Wolf has grabbed the fans' attention the most. His savage nature paired with his surprising intelligence and respect for Gray quickly made him very popular (nevermind his looks) and in the PIKU popularity contests he's consistently scored at the top alongside the actual protagonists Gray and Ben. Perhaps owning to his popularity, he's the third character to appear on Naver's banner for the third season alongside Gray and Big Bad Donald.
• Epileptic Trees: Before it was thoroughly Jossed by repeated flashbacks to Donald in his youth, there was a popular theory among fans that Donald was a post-coma Stephen, given their similar builds, eye colour, overwhelming talent, and the potential drama of Gray having to fight against his best friend.
• Fan Nickname: Korean fans have taken to calling the main group 바쿠팸, or "Bakufam", a combination of "Baku" (Ben's nickname in Korean; though Gray is the protagonist of the story, Ben is the undisputed leader of the group) and "family".
• Foe Yay Shipping:
  • First Wolf takes Gray by the chin and demands that he look him in the eye, and then there's his line after:
    Wolf: Did you always get away with it like this? By trembling in fear with that pretty face of yours?
  • Giju's fixation on Wolf, with some fans even comparing him to Hisoka. He takes a personal interest in Wolf way before Mapo and Yeongdeungpo come to blows, wondering with a smile how "entertaining" he'll be, and later on thinks "He's all mine" while gleefully staring at a picture of him. When the two finally meet up for battle, they repeatedly comment about showing each other a good time, and their fight is described as one of "pure joy".
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: The introduction of Gerard's backstory was sharply criticised by the Korean fanbase, who felt that it was very poorly timed after the introduction of the Mok-ha Duo, and also that Gerard wasn't compelling enough of a character to carry the webcomic for eight episodes (and, in fact, Weak Hero fell in the rankings during this period). The Western fanbase, on the other hand, were much more receptive to learning about Gerard, and overall become much more enamoured with him after learning about his tragic past.
• Growing the Beard: The Hyeongshin arc is where the webtoon really starts to come into its own. The artstyle and characterisations are solidified, Rowan is introduced and Teddy undergoes a well-received Heel–Face Turn, the Yeongdeungpo Union are expanded upon, and Gray starts undergoing his character development and becomes more than just a cold-hearted Bully Hunter.
• Heartwarming in Hindsight: In Season 2, the gang find a guitar in the school's annex building that Gerard takes to playing on the sly. Alex notices one day and encourages Gerard to play for an audience, which he eventually does. This was already a sweet sentiment, but becomes even moreso in Season 3 when it's revealed that, back in middle school, Gerard swore never to play music again after being betrayed by someone he thought was a friend. It truly shows how close all of the boys have gotten over the course of the story, and how much they trust each other.
• Karmic Death: Some may see Donald's ultimate demise as this, given his history of ordering and executing brutal beatings of both the guilty and innocent to achieve his goals.
  • However, others may believe Donald was Driven to Suicide based off Gray later blaming himself for not "stopping" Donald and preventing his death, since Donald appeared aware of the truck yet did not attempt to get off the road.
• Narm: One of the early battle grunt sounds is translated, rather strangely, as "Eek!" Takes some of the seriousness out of a fight when a big guy like Ben suddenly squeaks in the middle of it.
• One-Scene Wonder:
  • Toby Kim is a minor character in the Ganghak arc who ends up being screwed by Jared when he's forced to serve him alcohol at his father's store. This ends up with the store being suspended, and his father sick in bed with worry. This makes it immensely satisfying when Toby exposes Jared's crimes online and beats the shit out of him when Jared confronts him about it. There's no better way for a Hate Sink to go down than by the hands of one of the hapless kids he bullied.
    Toby: My dad is sick at home. I have nothing to fear and nothing to lose. You should have kept my family out of this, you bastard!!
  • Ms. Lee is a teacher that only has a sparse appearance in Gray's backstory, but not only does she actively support Gray and Stephen when the rest of the school are against them, she's also one of the only positively portrayed adults in the series, causing her to leave a warm impression on fans.
• Tear Jerker:
  • The tragedy between Stephen and Gray in middle school. Watching Stephen fall victim to bullying all because he was nice to a fellow student, gradually losing the spark that drew Gray to him in the first place, until he eventually ends up comatose in the hospital with Gray sobbing uncontrollably, is utterly heartbreaking.
  • After Gray is severely beaten by Wolf but still manages to take him down, Ben arrives on the scene and calls Gray's name. The barely conscious Gray sees Ben's silhouette, mistakes him for the comatose Stephen, and asks where he's been with tears in his eyes.
  • Eugene's state after getting attacked by Dongha Baek. He starts out as a struggling student who turns his grades around with Gray's help, eventually getting first prize in a science contest. His reward? Getting beaten into a coma because his invention (which is smashed to pieces for good measure) was bad for the Union's business partner. It feels very much like a repeat of Stephen Ahn, with Gray once again watching his closest friend be broken in an act of petty cruelty.
  • Directly after the episode where Donald has been hit by a truck and the readers are unsure if he survived, we finally receive a detailed backstory about his childhood and the horrors he faced with his terminally ill mother, an abusive stepfather who forced him to be homeless, and a school full of corrupt educators and spoiled bullies. The things he goes through are nothing short of heartbreaking and after learning all he'd endured to become who he is, the episode following his backstory shows him embracing his younger self and admitting he did all of it to mask the fact that he missed his mom. Then it cuts to the present, where the Union members are holding a funeral for Donald, revealing he did not survive the truck hit after all.

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