Does being Shy stop one from being heroic? Let's discuss.
The main protagonist of Shy, which is an ongoing anime series, is Shy, the Japanese hero, who is also a fourteen-year-old girl. In the Shy universe, heroes appear in different countries to stop wars and deal with various other dangers.
Shy seems to have some superpowers, but one has to ask, can a really shy and awkward person be a hero?
"I can't accept her Shyness, it's schrodinger's shyness," as u/Ralathar44 put it on Reddit.
It can be argued that extreme shyness like the one Shy experiences when she goes out with her friend would become debilitating in heroism-related situations. Shy is very soft-spoken and constantly thinks she is doing something wrong when talking to her friend; how could she possibly be capable of performing heroic deeds?
Well, it can also be argued that Shy does get debilitating shyness at times, and then, she cannot transform at all. In the first episode she got so ashamed of her attempts to save people that were not perfect, she could not transform at all until she got a boost of confidence.
Little is explained at this time about the bracelets that enable Shy to be a hero, but they seem to be connected to the hero's emotions, which means that negative emotion can stop and has stopped Shy from transforming.
But is the anime inconsistent in its portrayal of Shy's shyness?
It can be argued that it is. For example, at the end of the third episode, when she is about to fight another hero, who is clearly more trained and generally stronger than a fourteen-year-old, Shy seems to be anything but shy. She is ready to do her best, and since the stakes are fairly high, with Shy's title as a hero as the bet, Shy looks a little too determined and not afraid at all.
On the other hand, it can be argued that Shy had received a lot of support from her friend Iko and other heroes, specifically Spirit and Unilord. In our opinion, it is possible to get bursts of confidence even when you are shy. Shyness can be dealt with, and when it is as extreme as Shy's shyness, it might require interventions.
That is exactly what Spirit did in the first episode: she gave Shy a boost of confidence. Sometimes, that is enough.
While it can be argued that Shy is not consistently shy, and that can totally be on the anime-makers, we can also find justifications for Shy getting a burst of confidence every now and then.