To-Love Ru’s Rito is without a doubt one of the worst leads I know of. All that time surrounded by a group of hot women and he ends up not deciding on any of them. Or so you’d think. What most people don’t catch on to is the fact that these boring male leads have it made. They’re the biggest pimps in anime. It’s all for one reason: because they suck.
Look at this group of leads.
Now this group of leads.
Exactly.
The first group of leads are all powerful, confident badasses, just straight-up awesome guys… who’ve never had more than a single girl interested in them romantically.
The spineless cowards , after a certain point, never have less than three girld interested in them romantically. Guess they’re the ones doing it right.
The idiots are the real geniuses here. Have you ever thought that no-one could be that useless, or quite that shy or dense? That’s because they’re not. They only act that way because all the girls around them are suckers for the character they portray. It’s all a part of their plan to live the live of a hardcore bachelor for as long as they can.
Woops, sorry I accidentally ended up groping your breasts! It wasn’t because I was trying to cop a feel, I was just clumsy and nervous!
Woops, sorry I accidentally shoved my face in your crotch! It wasn’t because I was trying to sneak a peek, I was just clumsy and nervous!
Woops, sorry I accidentally had sex with every other girl I met! It wasn’t because I was trying to get with as many girls as possible, I was just clumsy and nervous!
Well, that last one isn’t common, but there’s clearly a natural progression here. When does being clumsy and nervous stop being an excuse? Never. For the girls, it’s something they can punish him for (punching, kicking, general abuse etc), blame on him being a “baka” and call it a day. Whereas for the guy it’s like an instant get out of jail free card for every situation, one that he never has to give back to the bank. Genius.
Then there’s a host of other factors: the pity factor, the “nice guy” factor, the “being in the right moment at the right time” factor. If you really think about it, all the things that make the leads attractive can be put down to acting, dumb luck or coincedence.
And just in case the girl starts to have doubts about their white knight, the leads perform a brief action of courage and heroism, screaming out “I WILL PROTECT THE ONES MOST IMPORTANT TO ME”, to prove their “love” and assure they stay respected in the eyes of their women. But the thing is, they never really stay as heroic as they do in those moments. They’re careful to make sure that everyone knows this is a spur of the moment thing and not guaranteed to happen again by reverting to their shameful character type straight afterwards. For you see, if they were as competent as that all the time, they’d lose their get out of jail free card, as well as the benefits that come with it.
You can’t deny the correlation between awesome leads and crap leads, and since we all know correlation is fact, this must be the reason the worst leads are so popular. So who really comes out on top in the end? The admirable, complex leads with a single faithful woman waiting for them the entire time, or the shallow dumbasses who have a bevy of beautfiful girls all around them? Well, it depends – would you want to be married with children or a bachelor for life?
It’s not down to the leads not being able to chose between the girls – it’s that they don’t want to. They like being spoilt for choice and having (some form of) control over all the idiot girls stupid enough to fall for them. The best lead would be able to combine being a confident badass while also having a harem, stating his intentions in the open and still going for it no matter what.
Which is why Ken from Seitokai no Ichizon rules.
People genuinely dislike Makoto? If anything he should be the role model for all leads, since he actually does something about them bitches and whores as oppossed to pansies. Ken’s fun and all, but at the end of the day, he’s still just all talk.
There’s a fine line between being a player and being a douchebag. The general consensus is that Makoto crosses that line.
So, are the bachelors for life a wish fulfillment thing then? That it’s trying to send a message that you can be a vapid loser and still get the girls fawning over you (which doesn’t reflect reality in the slightest) rather than be a badass and win them over that way?
If it is trying to send that message, then no wonder we have the 2D complex, dakimakuras, etc. Probably the disappointment of the vapid losers from being deceived by anime.
The best male leads are the asexual ones. Girls are always hitting on them, and they’re always like, “bitch, please, don’t interrupt me when I’m staring blankly into space.”
As the opposite of love is apathy, and since the girls in these shows are backwards, they probably find themselves hoplessly smitten by those types of leads. Meanwhile, Hosaka’s left loveless. Sad, sad times.
Oh I see, I’ve been doing it wrong. I’m just too much of a badass.
It’s always good to be badass. Just don’t expect any women out of it.
Minor correction:
“… who’ve never had more than a single girl interested in them romantically.”
Edward Elric, in addition to Winry (in the mana and new series) has that Chinese girl all excited – until she sees him, of course.
And Light Yagami had Misa and that chick who sent to college with him.
Ehhh I don’t really count the imaginations of a small Chinese girl in this.
Forgot about that girl though, she’s a pretty minor character.
Kiyomi Takada a minor character? Well, she became quite prominent in the last quarter of the series as Kira’s messenger.
Sorry, Light is NOT a good example of badassery.
Oh, wait, now I remember, she gets manipulated by him. Sorry about that.
But in any case, Light is still a badass, in all his chip eating glory.
To be fair, Light Yagami has girls falling over to have sex with him. He’s just too busy eating crisps (ahaha, we’re not in American anymore!) to pay attention to them
Okay okay okay! Light’s awesome, PIMP, whatever!
Wow, it takes this post to realize the reason I hate all those spineless shit shows.
Thank you.
Now I have a reason to back up my hatred for ecchi harem.
As if you needed another.
You seem to have stacked the deck a bit, don’t you think? Comparing male leads from quality shows like FMA and Death Note to fluff like To Love Ru?
How about comparing leads from good shows like Tomoya from Clannad?
But then this would turn into a serious, balanced post. We don’t want that :O
Personally, I like my manly men.
Not just Ken. Negima from Negima is epic! 😀
Add Miaka from Fushigi Yuugi to that list. She’s a fat whore who juggles around four guys and she is one of the most illogical heroines I’ve ever seen. God, I hate her. It could just be jealousy talking but she’s so dumb.