This is a character analysis from an anime that tackles a lot of issues that frequently come up in this sub. Thought I would share in case anyone is interested (see comment below for more).

PassedPawn_ · 2021-08-28T12:52:40+00:00

I wonder what you guys think about Guts from Berserk. He's perhaps my favourite character in fiction.

BloomingBrains · 2021-08-28T08:13:50+00:00

I’ve been thinking lately about how a lot of us seem to have gripes about how males are often portrayed in media, particularly in the subject of romance. I made a post about it, and recently someone else did too. Which is fine; I think it’s important to point out when things are doing it the wrong way. However, I also think it’s important to give praise when things do it the right way, too. And since this anime is a personal favorite of mine that I have already pointed to several times when people asked me for examples of media that do depict lonely men in a more sympathetic light, I figured I’d better just go ahead and put this up already. (I even made my icon a headshot of the main character, which should tell you something about how inspirational it is to me).

You’ll notice there is a spoiler warning right away, but I honestly feel like most of the video up until about the 7 minute mark isn’t that spoilery, and even past that, it doesn’t go too deeply into specific plot points and is more about the general themes of the show. Which cover a variety of subjects, particularly male altruism/disposability and emotional vulnerability. This is where I see a lot of crossover with ideas talked about on this sub.

TL;DR: The main character is what most of society would probably call an “incel” type guy, except instead of pathologizing him or presenting him as a mindless woman hater, the story itself makes an effort to understand what made him the way he is and offers a metaphorical ray of sunshine to people who have or are going through the same thing.

MysteriousNomad87 · 2021-08-28T10:36:58+00:00

SNAFU’s such a great series, but I still think Anime remains a niche form of entertainment here in the West. If people look past the first impression, they’ll stand a chance of finding something incredible beneath the surface.

CyclopeWarrior · 2021-08-28T11:51:59+00:00

Well that's a particular front anime focused on highschool always take, as it's their main focus for a go at having a plot. You can find elements of male mental health in any anime with male focused characters once you know how to spot them. There's a reason the journey of the hero is so popular and how it usually portrays men, usually young men, in their way to becoming mature let's call it, and how they face life in general. It's a really nice thing and I always appreciate the author's in Japan who make an effort to portray these.

This anime though, Oreigaru, does a poor job at it, as it falls prey to the cliches in these type of drama based highschool Rom coms that DON'T go in line with message of male mental health, a couple of examples are not having almost any agency on their own and just reacting to what other characters do, in this case mostly the female "pet waifu" characters taking interests in the cynical "life is useless" guy that is the MC for no other reason than to move the drama plot forward. You can tell that it's not intentional or something done on purpose as it's never brought up or addressed.

I believe there are plenty other great examples in the anime industry that really hit home in what it feels to be man, as this is a fairly new anime. This one isn't one of them sadly, as the MC is more like a recollection of "sounds deep" one-liners whose problems will be solved once he gets a girlfriend, and that I think is one of the cliches i dislike the most. The idea that all you need is a relationship to fix yourself.

This is about the anime, not whatever written source this has, as that's an entirely different medium on its own.

toploops · 2021-08-29T00:50:41+00:00

I’ve watched this before. It’s good but not anything groundbreaking. The dialog seems very forced and confusing, and the story progresses too slow. I understand why people love Oregairu so much, but it’s just not for me!

RockmanXX · 2021-08-28T19:00:01+00:00

This anime's story would make more sense if the MC looked like someone who would be actually bullied. This dude is a generic Cute Anime Boy, i mean at least make the dude short so its believable. But then again, he has 2 girls interested in him despite being an unlikable person, so its pretty unrealistic.

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