SociallyIneptMaleMainCharacter

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A trait common to quite a few anime series, where the main male character is socially inept. This can just mean has no idea how to relate to girls, or can mean has no idea how to relate to anybody at all ^^

The suggested explanation for predominance of this type of character: it gives the typical audience member someone to empathise with -.-;;; This would suggest they'd mostly appear in series aimed at males, which is one definition of Shounen anime. This hypothesis seems to be reasonably borne out.
In most cases the bloke will also have black hair, which also corroborates with this suggested explanation. (Black being the hair colour of all Japanese (apart from immigrants and suchlike), it sometimes indicates a character the audience is meant to identify with.)

There are some similar cases where a SociallyIneptMaleMainCharacter may not be someone the audience would particularly want to identify with, due to having something seriously dysfunctional or wrong with said main character, his family situation, etc. These still fit the other aspects of this category, though.

: Does this summarise your point below, Kazuhiko-sama? If so, delete it and this comment --AlexChurchill

Spotted in:
NeonGenesisEvangelion | FullMetalPanic | ChoBits? | HandMaidMay | LoveHina | AhMyGoddess | VideoGirlAi? | TenchiMuyo
Some of the GundamSeries?? I don't know them well enough to say... --AlexChurchill

Arguably in:
Mahoromatic (he's kinda normal) | DotHackSlashSlashSign (he's seriously messed up, in Kazuhiko's words)

Some of the above are in the genre "x girls fall for the SociallyIneptMaleMainCharacter", otherwise known as HaremAnime, which is viewed by different people as either shounen or shoujo.

Not sure about Eva, since I don't think anyone would want to be Shinji :/ Also not sure about including Hack Sign. Both cases where the main character is socially inept due to being seriously messed up as opposed to just not good at talking to people.

LoveHina, like Tenchi and Ranma, is a very good representation of the "x girls fall for the SociallyIneptMaleMainCharacter" which I would place fairly firmly into the Shounen category. -- Kazuhiko

: I agree with Kazuhiko - IMO DotHackSlashSlashSign and NeonGenesisEvangelion do not fall into this category at all. And Mahoromatic and TenchiMuyo definitely do. I'm not certain about FMP, since it follows Eva in so many ways.
: I suspish the SociallyIneptMaleMainCharacter generally comes from one of two types of anime, both of which could be classed as Shounen; the HaremAnime (eg LoveHina, TenchiMuyo) and the RobotGirl anime (eg ChoBits?, HandMaidMay but not KeyTheMetalIdol?). Both are wish-fulfilment, one through the supply of many girls, and the other through the supply of an innocent robot/alien girl, who fall(s) for the main character despite his shortcomings. Eva, FMP and .hack//SIGN don't fall into these two categories which is why I wouldn't say Shinji, Sousuke and Tsukasa count as SociallyIneptMaleMainCharacters.
: If harem animes are shounen, that might explain why I don't like them ;) - SunKitten

I suspish it's much wider than that. It might well be that you and I have primarily come across the SociallyIneptMaleMainCharacter in HaremAnimes and RobotGirl animes. I have a feeling it might be widespread amongst more normal shounen anime like Akira?, TheGuyver?, RanmaHalf, or whatever. But due to not having seen much traditionally-Shounen anime, I wouldn't know :) But if my suspishon is correct, then we certainly can't discount Shinji, Sousuke and Tsukasa for that reason.

Besides which, I think you're misunderstanding the idea of this page. This isn't ment to be trying to fit existing anime into a genre; it's spotting a recurring theme between a variety of anime and wondering about it. In other words, this is meant to be a category catching *all* Main Male Characters who are Socially Inept, for whatever reason. And in that case, I don't see quite how you can discount Shinji, Sousuke or Tsukasa :) -- AlexChurchill

: It doesn't include Tsukasa. It can't possibly, because (bigspoilercensored). - MoonShadow

My first reaction is to say "surely an anime determines within the first few episodes whether the male main character is a SociallyIneptMaleMainCharacter". And hence if it's a spoiler, it can't affect whether the character classifies as this or not. I still think there's something there. However, I guess the spoiler you refer to might argue against the audience being meant to identify with him :) I'll agree DotHackSlashSlashSign is an arguable inclusion in the list. One the one side you have your good point; and on the other, there's the fact that - from the point of view of the first few episodes - there's a male main character, and he's socially inept. --AlexChurchill

Not to be confused with the AbsolutelyBrainDeadMaleMainCharacter, as immortalised in SlayersSeries...

: There are AbsolutelyBrainDeadFemaleMainCharacter?s too, though :) - SunKitten

CategoryAnime