Does protagonist of a combat story need to be the best at everything?

[CheertheSecond]

Been checking a heap of old and new manga, manhwa, fictions recently, I noticed this trend in the shounen battle sector. The protag is always the one that can do things better than anyone else, faster than anyone else, more efficient than anyone else, or do those more creatively than anyone. If it's something another character had already done, then the way the protag did is the best, most effective way, most rewarding way. Apparently, the audiences like these a lot so I was wondering if the protag always have to be so.

Almost every reincarnated manhwa, isekai manhwa, time reverse manhwa, dungeon manhwa has this type of protag.


So if this is the more optimal way of making protag, I am considering to convert into it.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

What?

 

[Deleted member 139452]

No it ruins all the tension when the protagonist is good at everything from the start i would recommend you make the protagonist reach that level last stages of your story or after the end

 

[georgelee5786]

A protagonist who is the best at everything from the get-go is a shitty, bland plank of wood masquerading as a protagonist.

 

[Rhaps]

A protagonist who is the best at everything from the get-go is a shitty, bland plank of wood masquerading as a protagonist.

I feel called out lol, I even adressed this in my story. So having heeps of mental illness piling on really help to flesh out the character. Also having the main tag as Slice of Life tells it isn't a story focuses on combat.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

I feel called out lol, I even adressed this in my story. So having heeps of mental illness piling on really help to flesh out the character. Also having the main tag as Slice of Life tells it isn't a story focuses on combat.

Bruh

 

[RepresentingPride]

Been checking a heap of old and new manga, manhwa, fictions recently, I noticed this trend in the shounen battle sector. The protag is always the one that can do things better than anyone else, faster than anyone else, more efficient than anyone else, or do those more creatively than anyone. If it's something another character had already done, then the way the protag did is the best, most effective way, most rewarding way. Apparently, the audiences like these a lot so I was wondering if the protag always have to be so.

Almost every reincarnated manhwa, isekai manhwa, time reverse manhwa, dungeon manhwa has this type of protag.


So if this is the more optimal way of making protag, I am considering to convert into it.

Don't know which old manga you're talking about. And for reincarnated, isekai, time reverse, and dungeon, these story tend to be fast paced and the mc have to do everything alone so yes he become Jack the god of all trade.

But if you look at the best sell, none are the best at everything.

 

[Kalliel]

I feel called out lol, I even adressed this in my story. So having heeps of mental illness piling on really help to flesh out the character. Also having the main tag as Slice of Life tells it isn't a story focuses on combat.

And I don't like mental illnesses.
That's why I don't make any of my characters good at everything. Besides, it would just be boring.
...Not like my smut ass story has any plot to begin with.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

...Not like my smut ass story has any plot to begin with.

 

[CheertheSecond]

Don't know which old manga you're talking about. And for reincarnated, isekai, time reverse, and dungeon, these story tend to be fast paced and the mc have to do everything alone so yes he become Jack the god of all trade.

But if you look at the best sell, none are the best at everything.

maybe the old ones weren't but after swimming through releases of Realmscans, Flamescans, reaper scans, asura scans, etc., a lot of the manhwa there fit the description I made. They seems to be quite popular too, else no one would bother transl those.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

maybe the old ones weren't but after swimming through releases of Realmscans, Flamescans, reaper scans, asura scans, etc., a lot of the manhwa there fit the description I made. They seems to be quite popular too, else no one would bother transl those.

Bruh, those are Korean webtoons, sometimes Chinese manhua. It's their thing. An OP mc who regresses to Koreans is like Isekai with beta MC to Japanese.

 

[RepresentingPride]

They popular at the beginning and become forgotten when they reach the chapter 50. The only one who stayed like that was solo leveling and it's just because it get carried by the art.

 

[owotrucked]

Depends on the genre, in solo story, MC is OP in every dimensions.

In the greatest ensemble stories, the MC is definitely S tier character in the roster, but they are usually all-rounder with finishers because they have to last-hit the enemy to look good. Being an all-rounder allows the MC to be the binder to smoothen the cooperations between the min-max weirdos of his party.

Example: In Air Gear, Kazu exceeds MC's speed, Bucha is tankier, Agito has better technique, the pig has special matchup against female enemies

In Konosuba, Megumin has unparalleled oneshot burst, Darkness has unparalleled tankiness, Aqua can rez dead people, MC has the party's braincells

 

[Tsuru]

Been checking a heap of old and new manga, manhwa, fictions recently, I noticed this trend in the shounen battle sector. The protag is always the one that can do things better than anyone else, faster than anyone else, more efficient than anyone else, or do those more creatively than anyone. If it's something another character had already done, then the way the protag did is the best, most effective way, most rewarding way. Apparently, the audiences like these a lot so I was wondering if the protag always have to be so.

Almost every reincarnated manhwa, isekai manhwa, time reverse manhwa, dungeon manhwa has this type of protag.


So if this is the more optimal way of making protag, I am considering to convert into it.

Steins gate
the protag, suffered a ton of timeloops

Re:zero
same

Onepiece
lost his brother, bc of being weak at that time

To aru majutsu
ULTRA WEAK HUMAN with just a hand (ONE not both) that cancel any magic/supernatural/superpower

THE GRANDPA OF THE ISEKAI GENRE (not the first one) (the one that helped giga boost popularity the term)
Mushoku Tensei
horny, low eq
not the strongest in the world, EVEN UNTIL HIS DEATH
even red hair waifu, is stronger than him in term of pure swords fight (no magic)
didnt even kill the true enemy until death (his descendants will)

Pokemon..............
never won a league

Ranma
very low eq, just strong martial arts, annoying male tsundere, just like the heroine, macho, indecisive

EVANGELION
very shitty beta protag, very stupid too

Baka to test
very stupid protag but also its charm

SAO
huuuuuuuuuuuuuh.......just very lucky to have a body with high reflex, hence winning the doubleswords skill, plot armor to get waifus?

 

[Lloyd]

Usually the protag isn't the best at everything though, unless it's a shitty self insert isekai.

 

[J_Chemist]

Manwha's are a niche field. Look in other places as well to expand your research because there are definitely combat protags that get beat up before their growth.

 

[HungrySheep]

No.

 

[Hollex]

Definitely no.

Being the best at something is good and I think necessary, but not being the best at everything. An example would be the cultivation novels where are experts in differents subjects (Alchemy, Runes,Talismans, Blacksmithing, Medicine, Taming etc) and also have different possible magical affinities with some compatibility.

In my opinion having a perfect character good at everything takes away personality, since in my opinion having flaws (or things you are not good at) is part of what makes a character unique.

how do you imagine the next protagonist?

First a protagonist that only uses a spear, only has the element of water and only has a little knowledge of medicine?

Now what if the protagonist uses an axe with the fire element, has knowledge of runes and blacksmithing and has a black wolf as pet?

Or maybe the character uses the bow and daggers with dark and wind affinity as well as knowledge in medicine and alchemy?

Now compare it with the typical protagonist with supreme knowledge of all weapons, all subjects and all affinities and you will have the typical generic protagonist with nothing to highlight because he excels in everything.

 

[SirContro]

Hypercompetent protagonists can be done well but you need to give them enough personality flaws to give the story reason. If your protagonists don't struggle physically, make them struggle mentally. If they never struggle there's no journey, and therefore no reason for these events to be transcribed.

If you want to go that route I suggest making your protagonists, greedy, prideful, or any other bad trait you can think of so that there is something to develop.

 

[CheertheSecond]

The only one who stayed like that was solo leveling and it's just because it get carried by the art.

Well, either my preference for art style is in the opposite spectrum to everyone or their readers are very easy to please 'cause I don't see solo leveling has art as a strong enough aspect.

No it ruins all the tension when the protagonist is good at everything from the start i would recommend you make the protagonist reach that level last stages of your story or after the end

A protagonist who is the best at everything from the get-go is a shitty, bland plank of wood masquerading as a protagonist.

Don't know which old manga you're talking about. And for reincarnated, isekai, time reverse, and dungeon, these story tend to be fast paced and the mc have to do everything alone so yes he become Jack the god of all trade.

But if you look at the best sell, none are the best at everything.

Depends on the genre, in solo story, MC is OP in every dimensions.

In the greatest ensemble stories, the MC is definitely S tier character in the roster, but they are usually all-rounder with finishers because they have to last-hit the enemy to look good. Being an all-rounder allows the MC to be the binder to smoothen the cooperations between the min-max weirdos of his party.

Example: In Air Gear, Kazu exceeds MC's speed, Bucha is tankier, Agito has better technique, the pig has special matchup against female enemies

In Konosuba, Megumin has unparalleled oneshot burst, Darkness has unparalleled tankiness, Aqua can rez dead people, MC has the party's braincells

Steins gate
the protag, suffered a ton of timeloops

Re:zero
same

Onepiece
lost his brother, bc of being weak at that time

To aru majutsu
ULTRA WEAK HUMAN with just a hand (ONE not both) that cancel any magic/supernatural/superpower

THE GRANDPA OF THE ISEKAI GENRE (not the first one) (the one that helped giga boost popularity the term)
Mushoku Tensei
horny, low eq
not the strongest in the world, EVEN UNTIL HIS DEATH
even red hair waifu, is stronger than him in term of pure swords fight (no magic)
didnt even kill the true enemy until death (his descendants will)

Pokemon..............
never won a league

Ranma
very low eq, just strong martial arts, annoying male tsundere, just like the heroine, macho, indecisive

EVANGELION
very shitty beta protag, very stupid too

Baka to test
very stupid protag but also its charm

SAO
huuuuuuuuuuuuuh.......just very lucky to have a body with high reflex, hence winning the doubleswords skill, plot armor to get waifus?

Usually the protag isn't the best at everything though, unless it's a shitty self insert isekai.

Manwha's are a niche field. Look in other places as well to expand your research because there are definitely combat protags that get beat up before their growth.

No.

Definitely no.

Being the best at something is good and I think necessary, but not being the best at everything. An example would be the cultivation novels where are experts in differents subjects (Alchemy, Runes,Talismans, Blacksmithing, Medicine, Taming etc) and also have different possible magical affinities with some compatibility.

In my opinion having a perfect character good at everything takes away personality, since in my opinion having flaws (or things you are not good at) is part of what makes a character unique.

how do you imagine the next protagonist?

First a protagonist that only uses a spear, only has the element of water and only has a little knowledge of medicine?

Now what if the protagonist uses an axe with the fire element, has knowledge of runes and blacksmithing and has a black wolf as pet?

Or maybe the character uses the bow and daggers with dark and wind affinity as well as knowledge in medicine and alchemy?

Now compare it with the typical protagonist with supreme knowledge of all weapons, all subjects and all affinities and you will have the typical generic protagonist with nothing to highlight because he excels in everything.

Hypercompetent protagonists can be done well but you need to give them enough personality flaws to give the story reason. If your protagonists don't struggle physically, make them struggle mentally. If they never struggle there's no journey, and therefore no reason for these events to be transcribed.

If you want to go that route I suggest making your protagonists, greedy, prideful, or any other bad trait you can think of so that there is something to develop.

It even extend to things like.

Protag is great at mana so he is great at magic, since he controls magic so great, he boost his body so much better and made him champion at physical games too. His magic can heal, gather intel, dissolve poison, ntr I mean mind break, mind control, bring people together, and attract some pussies to fuck, then he discover summoning art and his summons are the best, outnumber everyone's summon, cost the least mana etc.

Or protag is great with qi. He control qi so good, his qi resists all negative buffs. He can heal, gather intel, dissolve poison, do alchemy, unlock allies' potentials, mind control, bring people together, and attract some pussies to fuck, then he discover summoning art and his summons are the best, outnumber everyone's summon, cost the least mana etc.

Or protag is great with speed. He speeds so fast. He dodges explosion, magic, mind control, and can do a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h,i,j,k,l,m,n,o,p...

Or protag is great with sword. He instinctively knows how to forge the best sword. Since he is good with sword arts, he is also good at other martial arts since they operates under the same principle. Martial arts can do things like heal, gather intel, dissolve poison, do alchemy, unlock allies' potentials, mind control, bring people together, and attract some pussies to fuck, then he discover summoning art and his summons are the best, outnumber everyone's summon, cost the least mana etc.

You get the idea why I said being able to do everything better than everyone else.