I have read your article and it's true,OP characters can be enjoyable if they have something to make them interesting or balanced. There are 3 types of OP characters:
Balanced,Power Fantasy and Gary Stu.
Balanced are type of OP character that are enjoyable because of their traits,personality and because their powers are balanced because of their internal struggles,holes in heart,core motivations and they faced difficult challenges and conflicts and they are paying price for their powers.
Example: Edward Elric (Fullmetal Alchemist),Simon (Gurren Laggan),Saitama (One Punch Man),Spike Spiegel (Cowboy Bebop),Ken Kaneki (Tokyo Ghoul),Tanjiro Kamado (Kimetsu No Yaiba),Guts (Berserk),Lelouch (Code Geass),Naofumi (Rising of Shield Hero),Goblin Slayer,Kirito (Sword Art Online series),Meliodas (Seven Deadly Sins) and Hajime Nagumo (Arifureta light novels)
Power fantasy are type of OP character that are OP for readers or audience who enjoy OP characters kicking asses,but they lack some balance in their powers and do not pay price for their powers very often. They can be enjoyable and they have motivations or at least one bit of difficult challenge,but not to everyone. They are OP just for fan service or because of stakes in their fights,in short words.
Example: Goku (Dragon Ball),Luffy (One Piece),Naruto (Naruto series),
Tatsuya Shiba (Mahouka Koukou No Rettousei),Asta (Black Clover),Ichigo (Bleach),Natsu Dragneel (Fairy Tail),Eren Jaeger (Attack On Titan),Shin Wolford (Kenja No Mago) and Ikki Kurogane (Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry)
Gary Stu character is kind of OP character that is aimlessly OP with completely unbalanced powers,perfect at anything,lacking core motivation,wandering around,defeating anyone without losing blood,breaking a sweat or paying any price at all. Even if one of Gary Stu bleed and break a sweat,they can be boring also if his character design and writing is bland or generic and that kind of character can be somewhat annoying.
Example: Touya Mochizuki (Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni),Taichi Nishimura (Isekai Cheat Magician),Ichirou Suzuki (Death March kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyousoukyoku) and Christopher Chiaki (Garzey's Wings)
Why some protagonists are sometimes always overpowering his enemy? Answer: The stake. Take a look at final fights in Gurren Lagann and Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood,where many lives or fate of the world was at stake. If characters lost,many would die or their world would be destroyed. The point is,you can't expect some characters to lose when something is at stake. Also,plots would progress very badly if some characters lost. I know that it's can be annoying if some characters win over and over again,but some of them sometimes lose specific fights because nothing special was at stake or to develop their character.
What makes Saitama from One Punch Man very interesting,even though he is very OP? He is not happy with his power and how his fights end with only one punch. Because of his powers,he was left emotionless and finds his power boring. Not only that,but his personality. He is funny character because of his personality and dialogues between some characters and villains.
Many people call some specific characters a Gary Stu or power fantasy,not knowing what that truly means and misunderstanding and misinterpreting some of my favorite OP characters without paying attention to anime. |