Have you ever tried looking for some fan content on your beloved protagonist online, but found countless fanarts and video edits of a side character of the show instead? Or maybe you’ve seen people talking about Dazai so much that you actually thought he was the main protagonist of Bungou Stray Dogs? Feels familiar? Let’s discuss why!
Main protagonists are always given a lot of screen time, but they sometimes lack attention to details. We don’t see side characters this often, so the writers need to take advantage of this and fill the limited screen time with more information.
Another reason for getting attention might be connected with character development. Main characters rarely start off being overpowered and a complete badass. Writers take their time to carefully build the journey that will lead the protagonist to their destination point. Some side characters don’t need it. Speaking of Jujutsu Kaisen, we have to mention Yuji and Gojo. We’re following Yuji’s development, he’s yet to become skilled and powerful, but Gojo already has a lot of tricks up his sleeve to impress you with. Or let’s remember Eren and Levi from Attack on Titan. Eren keeps losing battle after battle because his training is a crucial thing for his personality and character development, while Levi is that magical force that comes into every fight like a hurricane and solves the problems quickly. Eren gets his true fame among the fans only in the middle of Season 4, when he becomes the biggest danger of the series.
A pretty obvious but yet worth mentioning thing is the writing. A lot of side characters are so well written that they can compete with the main character. Death Note is such a great example for that. L, while not being the protagonist, is incredibly well written. Light is a very difficult character to overshadow, but for some fans L is even more compelling. It also has a lot to do with the both characters’ ideology. Despite being the main protagonist, Light is more of a villain in the universal sense of morality, while L is on the side of the law. Such things also matter!
Moreover, some characters are just more…memeable. Yeah, it sounds like a ridiculous reason, but we can’t deny that memes have become an inseparable part of all media fandoms, and some characters are just more prone to be made fun of. We’ve all seen JoJo memes, even if we’ve never actually watched the show.
Overall, side characters are popular because they don’t have to follow some of the rules the main characters do, and they bring a lot of different details into a series, be it a simple comic relief or a strong emotional bond.
Why do we like them so much?
Have you ever tried looking for some fan content on your beloved protagonist online, but found countless fanarts and video edits of a side character of the show instead? Or maybe you’ve seen people talking about Dazai so much that you actually thought he was the main protagonist of Bungou Stray Dogs? Feels familiar? Let’s discuss why!
Main protagonists are always given a lot of screen time, but they sometimes lack attention to details. We don’t see side characters this often, so the writers need to take advantage of this and fill the limited screen time with more information.
Another reason for getting attention might be connected with character development. Main characters rarely start off being overpowered and a complete badass. Writers take their time to carefully build the journey that will lead the protagonist to their destination point. Some side characters don’t need it. Speaking of Jujutsu Kaisen, we have to mention Yuji and Gojo. We’re following Yuji’s development, he’s yet to become skilled and powerful, but Gojo already has a lot of tricks up his sleeve to impress you with. Or let’s remember Eren and Levi from Attack on Titan. Eren keeps losing battle after battle because his training is a crucial thing for his personality and character development, while Levi is that magical force that comes into every fight like a hurricane and solves the problems quickly. Eren gets his true fame among the fans only in the middle of Season 4, when he becomes the biggest danger of the series.
A pretty obvious but yet worth mentioning thing is the writing. A lot of side characters are so well written that they can compete with the main character. Death Note is such a great example for that. L, while not being the protagonist, is incredibly well written. Light is a very difficult character to overshadow, but for some fans L is even more compelling. It also has a lot to do with the both characters’ ideology. Despite being the main protagonist, Light is more of a villain in the universal sense of morality, while L is on the side of the law. Such things also matter!
Moreover, some characters are just more…memeable. Yeah, it sounds like a ridiculous reason, but we can’t deny that memes have become an inseparable part of all media fandoms, and some characters are just more prone to be made fun of. We’ve all seen JoJo memes, even if we’ve never actually watched the show.
Overall, side characters are popular because they don’t have to follow some of the rules the main characters do, and they bring a lot of different details into a series, be it a simple comic relief or a strong emotional bond.
