Random Poorly Written Anime Characters (13 items)

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  (#1) Sakura Haruno

  • Naruto, Naruto Shippūden, Naruto the Movie: Guardians of the Crescent Moon Kingdom, Naruto Shippuden the Movie: Bonds, Naruto the Movie: Legend of the Stone of Gelel, Naruto Shippuden the Movie: The Will of Fire, Naruto the Movie: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow, Naruto Shippuden the Movie, Ninja World

  As a member of Team 7, Sakura could and should have been written to be every bit as awesome as her male counterparts. Though she starts off with some serious potential, the series never capitalizes on it. Most of her arcs can be split into two categories: trying to measure up to her talented teammates, and pining over Sasuke.

  While her medical ninjutsu and physical strength are impressive, those things don't compare to Naruto and Sasuke's legendary abilities. While not every character has to be on that level, the fact that she's the only girl on the team and the only one whose skills aren't transcendent is kind of glaring. There's also nothing wrong with her having a crush, but there is something wrong with her having little development outside of that. 

  The writing around Sakura could be so much better. She - and all the other female characters in shonen anime who fall into this trap - deserve better. 
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  (#12) Myne & Motoyasu - 'The Rising Of The Shield Hero'

  Rising of the Shield Hero has a lot of good points, but these villains are not among them. Lets start with Myne. She begins the series by accusing Naofumi of a serious crime he didn't commit. Already, we're off to a bad start. While lies and manipulation are well within the purview of a good villain, false assault accusations are statistically rare compared to actual assaults, which makes this story choice socially irresponsible at best. 

  Could Myne still be an interesting villain despite this? Sure - a character doesn't have to be socially responsible to be well-written. But after that dramatic misdeed, she becomes far less intimidating and far more irritating. She shows up randomly to do everything from cheat during a race to try and eliminate her own sister. Why? Because a cult told her to. Why was she attracted to this cult? Unless Season 2 decides to pick up that storyline again, it will remain a mystery. 

  Her lackey, Motoyasu, isn't any better. He follows her around like a drooling dog and pretty much does whatever she says without question. The only time he acts on his own, it's to flirt with Filo, a child. So, that's pretty gross.

  The Filo thing aside, he can be kind of funny sometimes, but that's only before the same jokes have been repeated ten billion times.
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  (#6) Sieg - 'Fate/Apocrypha'

  Sieg is a homunculus who acts as theMaster of Rider of Black during the Great Holy Grail War. He begins his life with no emotions or personality traits, before eventually progressing towards a slightly more specific personality. 

  Does it make sense that Sieg spends most of the series without much of a personality? Sure, but that doesn't make it a good choice for a main character. He does change over time, but he fails to hook many viewers in the beginning. It takes master-level character work to pull off a protagonist like that, and Fate/Apocrypha just isn't up to the task. The process of becoming a real person could be fascinating, but not if there's not enough of a hook to get viewers to care about him in the first place. 
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  (#8) Satomi Murano - 'Parasyte'

  Parasyte is an amazing show in most respects, but it's not great when it comes to its female characters - Reiko Tamura being a noteworthy exception. For now, we're going to focus on Shinichi's love interest, Satomi Murano. 

  Murano is supposed to represent Shinichi's attachment to the world outside of parasites and constant battle. Basically, she has the same role as Keiko Yukimura from Yu Yu Hakusho, but unlike Keiko, she lacks any defining characteristics. She's a kind, caring, ordinary girl who is worried about Shinichi's increasingly strange behavior. All fine - but shouldn't she have some ambition or emotions that don't totally revolve around her boyfriend?

  One could argue that Shinichi is the main character, and so it makes sense for the side characters to amplify his narrative - but if that's all they do, the whole story is not as compelling. We don't know why Shinichi loves Murano other than the fact that she's nice.

  Considering how deeply the series probes into some aspects of human nature, you'd think they could put some of that energy into a character with Murano's screen time. 
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  (#11) Shippo

  • Inu Yasha, InuYasha the Movie: Affections Touching Across Time

  Inuyasha is a beloved series, but not all of its characters are actually well-done. One example of this is Shippo, a child kitsune who originally tried to steal the Shikon jewel in order to become strong enough to avenge his father. Kagome and Inuyasha foil his plan, but they decide to let him tag along on their journey after hearing his motivation. 

  Avenging a felled parent is a fairly standard anime motivation, so some extra legwork has to be done in order for it to come off as resonant instead of cliche. That's not what happens here. After the initial conflict, Shippo doesn't really seem to care about what happened to his dad. His emotional response, as much as it exists, is totally secondary to his status as group mascot. There are a lot of ways to react to something as traumatic as your father's demise, but none of them are "the writer forgot about it." Trauma like that doesn't go away in a few episodes, it just doesn't. 

  Also, while it's not like Shippo has to be as strong as the protagonist in order to be a worthwhile character, he could pull his weight a little more. The kid is a kitsune who can transform into anything he wants, but that ability is only occasionally capitalized on. 
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  (#13) Ayumi Otosaka - 'Charlotte'

  Ayumi Otosaka is Yu's adorable little sister... and that's basically all she is. While not every character has to be an incredible warrior to be likeable, a character who the protagonist deeply cares for should have more than one or two traits.

  Here's what happens with Ayumi: she cooks everything using pizza sauce because she thinks her beloved older brother likes it, and he can't bring himself to tell her otherwise. This joke gets used over and over again, and never becomes more complex. Later in the series, a boy she's not interested in asks her out, and then a female classmate attacks her out of jealousy. This causes her power, Collapse, to activate, and she's buried under a building. Her brother gets depressed for a while, then uses time travel to bring her back. 

  Basically, Ayumi is an adorable, affectionate victim who exists for Yu to react to. This is pretty common in anime - Ayumi is far from the only example - but it definitely qualifies her as a poorly written character. 

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