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But, what exactly has changed in the shonen genre specifically from how it used to be? Well, let’s take a look at some older shonen tropes that, quite simply, aren’t seen much in shows nowadays.
Disclaimer: Of course there are exceptions to these examples, this list is looking more at the genre as a whole.
8 Through Raw Effort, Anything Is Possible
In shonen series, is possible, as long as people put the work in. Even the most underpowered, disadvantaged, and truly weak protagonists could rise above everyone else through sheer dedication and hard work. And, this trope is still around nowadays, it’s just not as ‘honest’ as it used to be.
Characters like Midoriya from My Hero Academia, Ichigo from Bleach, and Luffy from One Piece all start out as being these ’looked down on’ protagonists’ who climbed up from the realm of a normal person through pure dedication, but that’s not completely true. Whether it’s a Devil Fruit, a Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, or the Quirk of the number 1 hero, these characters all have massive advantages over the common man, and it takes away from their achievements when taken into consideration.
7 Battles Against Non-Supernatural Enemies
It seems like every anime these days is about fighting some ‘hidden threat’ that the world at large doesn’t know about. Whether it’s Curses in Jujutsu Kaisen, Demons in Demon Slayer, or technically even Infernals in Fire Force, it’s all about the supernatural.
What happened to people fighting against regular natural threats or even just other people? Sure, it’s easier to rely on to keep a main character ’lawful good’ since. they’re killing monsters, not other people. But, it takes some of the relatability and realism out of shonen, even if the genre didn’t have much in the first place.
6 An Intelligent, Experienced, & Realist Main Character
What happened to all the nihilistic, realistic, or even straight-up antagonistic main characters? These days, every new shonen protagonist is another flavor of ‘airheaded emotion-based do-gooder’ or some slight twist on it.
Yes obviously protagonists like Naruto, Tanjiro, and Goku are all very different characters, but they all have the same foundation. This isn’t to say that old shonen protagonists were perfect or even all that amazing either, just that they were a bit more varied between leads like Kenshiro from Fist of the North Star and Yusuke Urameshi from Yuyu Hakusho. Most recently, Denji from Chainsaw Man is a standout example of an innovative shonen protagonist, though he’s obviously a bit of a unique case.
5 Things Don’t Always Go According To Plan
The word ‘bittersweet’ is a perfect term to describe a lot of older shonen endings or at least the conclusions to their final arc. Characters don’t exactly end up where they thought they would, their dreams changed partway through, or sometimes they didn’t even make it. Vash the Stampede doesn’t end up in his idealized world of ’love and peace’, Gon Freecc’s father is an absolute jerk, and while things don’t end horribly for the Elric twins, it’s not the life or resolution they were aiming for.
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But, nowadays, a lot of main characters are getting exactly what they want, and they tend to talk about it constantly. Of course, this is in reference to the ‘future’ Pirate King, Hokage of the Hidden Leaf, and Wizard King who won’t stop yelling about their goals whenever things are tense.
4 A Protagonist Fans Don’t Know Every Little Factoid About
Remember when finding out even the slightest bit of Spike Spiegel’s backstory in Cowboy Bebop was enthralling? How about slowly learning more and more about Train Heartnet’s past life as Chrono Number XIII in Black Cat?
Shonen protagonists used to have a lot of mystery surrounding who they were, where they came from, and how they got to where the story takes place. Sure, some were more mysterious than others, but a lot of the main characters in series these days have their whole past and present revealed to the viewer in the first couple of episodes. And, in the instances where it isn’t revealed quickly when they do reveal it, they leave basically nothing out.
3 Characters Sustaining Permanent Injuries From Smaller Battles
The ‘stakes’ of the fights in modern-day shonen anime only seem to be getting more and more exaggerated. In older series, characters would have a chance to sustain permanent injuries from even routine fights, and any huge hits or damage from the elements (AKA fire or electricity) would be deadly.
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And, while this obviously is still the case in the more modern shonen series, the injuries and overall damage are usually shrugged off in the aftermath. My Hero Academia is usually a perfect example of this, as Deku has blown his arms to bits tons of times and has (yet) to really suffer any permanent repercussions from them. Of course, with what’s going on in season 6, that might not be the case for much longer.
2 Main Characters Without Some Sort Of ‘Super-Strength’ Ability
Super Strength has to be one of the most overused and boring superpowers of all time. Yet, even in the modern age, tons of shonen series are still coming out with protagonists whose main set of skills revolves around some sort of superhuman strength. Deku’s One-for-All, Yuji Itadori’s unique natural toughness, and even Luffy’s absurd durability are all perfect examples of it.
Yes, they may have other powers or abilities layered on top, but most of their fights tend to boil down to how hard they end up punching their opponent. It’s part of the reason why people adore JoJo’s Bizzare Adventure so much, Stands are just weird as a type of superpower so characters have to be creative in order to survive.
1 Any Sort Of Realistic Romance
And finally, is it time to mention how shonen romance subplots are all awful and have been for years now? That isn’t to say that there isn’t any in the shonen genre, as the chemistry between characters like Midoriya and Uraraka, Ichigo and Orihime, or Naruto and Hinata isn’t there or believable.
But, it’s massively downplayed and usually barely results in anything more than flirting. The actual courtship, dating process, and basically all romance are developed offscreen or during a timeskip. How many times has it happened where a big time jump happens near the end of a shonen series, and suddenly all the characters people ’thought’ were interested in each other are now married and have kids? Way too many times to count.
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