Why are most male protagonists typical japanese guy-looking?

[george1234]

from SAO to To aru matsuju no index, nisekoi, world customise(ation) creator, and many many others I cant remember now the protagonist is the typica short black hair, with or without glasses guy even though not always have black hair (eg shaoran from tsubasa). I suspect its so that male viewers find themselves into the respective character, but it has started getting boring. What do you think ?

 

[Lorde-Kowz]

I suspect its so that male viewers find themselves into the respective character

You got it. The more generic or average looking, the easier it is to self-insert into the character.

 

[Martin]

Yeah, having a 'Joe Average' main character makes them more relatable. Which does make it boring I admit, but that's the convention I guess.

One interesting conversation I had with a friend of mine once was "list anime male leads who aren't stupid, boring, spineless or jerks." It was a very short list.

 

[Puddle Boots]

I would agree. I don't know how familiar you all are with action movies made in the United States, but most of the ones I've seen feature exclusively white men of about twenty-five years of age. It's the same phenomenon, just targeted at a different audience.

In response to Martin's comment on the stupid, boring, etc. male anime leads... well, at least we'll always have Edward Elric.

 

[george1234]

I watch alot of holywood action movies too, since its the best genre to watch at a cinema apart from sci-fi and fiction, and i have noticed it, but its less bothersome since in these movies they use mostly different actors each time, while in the anime's / game's case, even when the VA is different, the design cant differ that much.

 

[Martin]

This thread has reminded me that I ought to watch some FMA...enough of my friends have recommended Brotherhood already!