I have never hated a character more than Lenalee Lee from DGM. First she rants about how her friends are her whole world and the Black Order is her home, and then when said friends and home are under attack, she sits on her ass and bawls. What makes it worse is that everyone sympathises with her, whereas if ANY other character is in pain or stalling because of trauma or whatever, they get yelled at. She is treated like such a special snowflake when she doesn't deserve it, and it drives me up a wall. For an entire arc she does nothing and just has the main guys saving her ass, while she's wearing a swimsuit in everything but name. The fanservice is just painfully obvious.
When the main character has to leave the Order because he's being hounded and is in deep, deep shit, the bitch doesn't give a goddamn thought as to how difficult this must be for him - she only cares about the fact that she'll be without him. This would make her interesting were it not for the fact that everyone - other characters and fans alike - thinks she's the purest, kindest being to ever exist. Everyone just happily overlooks her flaws and never calls her out on her bullshit. She gets away with so much crap, it's enraging - if she were a male character, people would call her manipulative and badly handled, but no. She's the female lead, so if you criticise her AT ALL, for ANYTHING, you are branded as a misogynist.
In the Ark, when the team has to leave people behind so everyone can have a chance at eventually surviving, she throws a hissy fit and refuses to get a fucking grip, while other characters have the maturity to accept their situation and move on. Instead of telling her to shut the hell up and stop acting so spoiled and self-entitled, as if HER opinion is the only one that matters, the characters just constantly comfort and baby her. Which basically negates every chance of character development, because everyone is convinced this bitch is the most perfect being on planet Earth. Allen, Kanda and Lavi consistently get their asses beaten when they DARE sit on their asses and cry/get emotional (as opposed to fight, which they are trained to do) while other people are dying, but Lenalee only gets sympathy and hugs and people rushing to carry her.
Also, Keiko and Yukina from Yu Yu Hakusho. Both their narratives revolve entirely around the male characters. They never go beyond being 'the girlfriend' and 'the sister and potential love interest'. Idk why Togashi couldn't make more female characters like Genkai and Mukuro, but that would have been great.
He does get a lot better with female characters in HxH; personally, I love the way he wrote Melody. She's nowhere near conventionally pretty (she's canonically mistaken for a guy), she has an interesting backstory, and can kick some serious ass - plus she's a big support for Kurapika. Now that's the kind of female character I'll happily read about. |