JRPGs, anime, and hateful main characters

[Little Woodsman]

And why are all protagonists like 15-18? And the 30 year olds called old men/women and are annoying? Um, I'm 30. If I was going around saving the planet I would not trust anything to a teenager, except maybe to carry my gear. They just don't have the life experience to make such heavy decisions that they always do go around making, and the only reason the games are games is because these kids make all the wrong decisions and then have to fix it, and then they screw up even more.

Hmm, you might give

Utawarerumono
Irresponsible Captain Tylor
Ruroni Kenshin
Any Lupin movie
City Hunter
and Mermaid Forest

a try for protagonists/positive supporting characters in a more believable age range.
I *get* why younger protagonists are so often used, but like you I could really stand to see some more
who are reasonably mature in both years and emotional development.
These recommendations-like most that come from me-could be considered very "old school".

 

[JagermanXcell]

Then there's also the main protagonist who refuses to kill anyone that annoys the hell out of me. In some cases the character will have no problem slicing their way through henchmen who are just doing their job but when they reach the main villain who is actually responsible for the actions of the henchmen and they grow some messed up conscience and decide that killing the villain is wrong. I know that it is more interesting to leave the villains alive so they can return later etc but I'd rather have some deus ex machina brought out to save the villain than have them be saved by the main protagonists idiotic and nonsensical morals.

In certain shows this does work, like Trigun, except the difference with Trigun is that the protagonist Vash is so stupid likable you can look past the fact that his morals can constantly put many lives in danger. Why, because good writing. But when I watch DBZ and see Goku let Frieza live because... ugggmmmh... The guy friking conquers planets and blows them up when he is bored, committed more Holocausts then Hitler and Bin Laden combined, the least you can do is fling the guy into the nearest Sun. But no with all your god-like power you let him live... *sigh*

OT: Yeah the whole eastern unlikable character trope is such a joke, what absolutely boggles my mind is how people over there have grown to simply have that SAME DAMN CHARACTER in everything that comes out, not to mention the fact that we all wish they would die but nooooooo they have that "super secret hidden power" they'll put out of their ass that'll save them when the going gets tough. They won't die in their show and they won't die in writers minds, my God.

I've reached the point to where I prefer blank slate characters. recently watched Persona 4: The Animation based of the game that featured a blank slate character, now he has an official name and pretty much starts off as a blank slate which when I started watching was so strange... and then the later episodes showed up...
Wow they managed to turn Yu Narukami into the most hilarious, monotone, one-liner delivering badass, with episodes literally centered around him that were fun to watch and were deep.

This isn't one of those "deep" parts, but its one of the badass ones.

Spoiler

youtube=UYaGw_HUVHA

And by the end he even had a character you could relate to along with the other cast of stereotype breaking characters that already got their fame from the game.
No THAT, is good writing.

 

[lord canti]

Despite the fact that he falls in category of idiot, I genuinely love luffy as a character I can't quite explain the reason.In fact one piece seems to have this strange charm about it despite the fact it has so many things I usually hate about manga.

 

[Zeldias]

Luke Fon Fabre, by the gods, this guy made me want to snap the fucking cartridge in half (played the 3DS version) He is insufferable for the first half of the game

To be fair, thats what they were going for. Luke is arrogant and selfish and gets called out for it by the other protagonists until in the middle he has to change and trie to be a better person. Luke being an asshole at first is more or less the whole theme of the game.

I get that, but they took it too far.

Spoiler: Tales of the Abyss spoilers.

Saying that saving Ions life was "a waste of time" That was just plain nasty, especially with Ion apologizing to Luke and he just scoffs at it. When Ion knows that what Van wants Luke to do is bad, he pretty much ignore him and proceeds to help the obviously evil dude.

Luke was far more interesting before they turn him into a punk-ass. He was a douche, but all he'd ever known was living in his home being waited on hand and foot. He didn't even understand money! Far worse are his "friends" who all know Van is evil, all know that Luke loves the man like a second father, and don't say shit. Then when shit hits the fan they act like Luke is the jerk! Fucking ridiculous!

I loved Luke at first. I thought he was really interesting as a protagonist and I liked his arrogant douchebaggery clashing with his naivete, like when he doesn't want to kill people and stuff like that. It was really interesting. Then they turn him into your regular ass milquetoast anime hero.

To be on topic, God I hated Luke in Tales of the Abyss post-change. I agree with OP that Rush was an idiot, but I didn't find him offensive. I also HATE Tidus from FFX. Some of my favorite scenes from the game involve Jecht making him cry. Stupid little toolbag.

 

[DrOswald]

I'm currently playing through "the last remnant", and am so far enjoying it. It has an interesting take on the turn based method of gameplay so many JRPGs adopt. There's just one major flaw in it I've seen so far.

The main protagonist is completely hate-able.

He never thinks things through, always seems to misunderstand things that, at least to me, seem incredibly obvious and basic, and all around whines when people don't help him find his sister, even though he has the help of the fucking ruler of a country, who quite clearly has some other things to worry about than one little girl.

This got me thinking though, most main characters I've seen in eastern, and particularly Japanese media, often have this trait. I personally loved FFXII (I know I'm a minority there), but I simply could not like Vaan, and was actually shocked when I found out that originally Basch, a character I really enjoyed, was meant to be the main character, but they made him a supporting character so they could have a more traditional protagonist.

It seems to be the same in anime as well. I will admit I'm not a huge anime fan, but I'm on the council of the gaming society at my university, and our sister society is the anime society, so I end up going to most of their sessions anyway (as well as watching a choice few anime that I will enjoy), and the vast majority of male protagonists seem to be complete dumb-asses who refuse to understand anyone elses point of view, and a large amount of character conflict is caused simply because they won't explain anything.

I dunno, I just find it weird that these always seem to be the traits Japanese protagonists have. What do you thin escapist? Do you agree with me, disagree? What's your take on it all?

I agree to some extent. This is not always the case, but it is true far to often.

I think the trend can be traced back to an anime called Neon Genesis Evangelion, along with a lot of other really bad trends in anime and Japanese gaming.

Neon Genesis Evangelion was a single season anime released in 1995. In order to understand the state of Japanese video game and anime you need to understand that this show was insanely popular and influential. Within the anime community (and by spillover the video game community) it was similar to Star Wars in level of influence and popularity.

The problem is that Evangelion, while enjoyable in its own right, was really shit in a lot of ways. It started or popularized most of the trends people hate in JRPGs, including but not limited to:

- Whiny teenage male protagonists that are practically hand crafted to be objects of scorn
- Over complicated and pointlessly convoluted stories that don't make any sense
- Pseudo religious symbolism (Lets put crosses everywhere and make references to angels and the fall of Lucifer! that will make our story seem deep!)
- The introduction of random plot threads with no intention of ever resolving them
- An ending that resolves nothing, doesn't make sense, or just plain has nothing to do with the work
- Underage fan service

So every time you have a whiny male protagonist that you want to strangle, know that the problem can almost certainly be traced to Evangelion.

 

[chinangel]

i loved Luke...but my most hated protagonist?

Tidus. and I don't know if you'd count Steiner from FF9 in there or not...but I hated Steiner. His romance with Beatrix was so friggin forced it was painful.

 

[Roxas1359]

This got me thinking though, most main characters I've seen in eastern, and particularly Japanese media, often have this trait. I personally loved FFXII (I know I'm a minority there), but I simply could not like Vaan, and was actually shocked when I found out that originally Basch, a character I really enjoyed, was meant to be the main character, but they made him a supporting character so they could have a more traditional protagonist.

I'd actually heard Ashe had been intended to be the main character, but I can't find any information regarding main character changes on the wiki. At the very least, Vaan went through several redesigns to make him more appealing to their demographic (put that in air-quotes if you like). Hell, if FFXII had been released in 2011 instead of 2006, Ashe probably would have been the main character...for exactly the same reasons.

Most FFXII fans (myself included) consider Ashe to be the main character, and Basch the lead secondary. It was a good game, but when two of your main six can vanish entirely, and the story won't change one iota, you may have a problem.

I agree with you, the story revolved more around Ashe and Basch, and a bit with Balthier towards the later half of the game when going to Arcadia. The reason apparently they didn't make them the main characters was because the team thought that Basch was too old to be the main character, which is stupid if you ask me. Still love XII though and I'm gonna go and play the International version now. ^.^

OT: For me I feel that Sora has kinda gone a bit too silly when it comes to the KH series, and while I don't mind it too much I wouldn't mind if he acted sorta like how he was in the first Kingdom Hearts game a bit more.

 

[Black Reaper]

Yukiteru from Future Diary.
The kid wouldn't stop crying or whinning. Granted he is 14 years old so all the nonsense going around might be overwhelming, but I couldn't feel that at all from the character. I keep trying to tell myself, "He's just a kid, of course he is going to feel this way" but I can't. Perhaps the fear and anxiety was overdone so I got annoyed at it.
Thats not to say his personality didn't improve, it just (in my opinion) didn't happen fast enough.

Would it be wrong to assume you didn't like him?, i mean, there are a lot of misunderstandings in this forum
So far, i'm not liking the series very much,most of the characters have undiagnosed brain tumors

Spoiler: stupidity

Yuki:
I am gonna tell this group of people i just met that i can see the future!, it's not like that could make them suddenly want to brutally murder me since i am participating in a Battle Royale right!?

Kurusu(detective guy):

Spoiler

i am going to go into this hospital that currently houses a terrorist,a psychopathic yandere *****,and a guy that has killed numerous people with darts,it's not like i have underlings i could send in my place, and i am going to take my cellphone, my one weakness! with me, i see no way this could ever go wrong

Yuno:

Spoiler

there is a diary owner in Yuki's house!, i must go kill the shit out of him inmediatly, it's not like there are other people in the house who could get accidentally hurt or call the police after they see me stabbing the shit out of him!,subtlety is for pussies!

Yuno 2:

Spoiler

i am going to kidnap Yuki!, it's not like i could just talk to him and tell him "Yuki we must hide!" or something

Altough, to be fair, Yuno is a psychopathic *****, and she may not have thought this trough

The eyepatch chick:
A diary owner?,awesome!, i am going to blow up his fucking school, and i am going to appear in public and announce that i am going to blow up his fucking school!, it's not like that could draw the attention of other diary owners or something
Kill him stealthily you say?
Fuck that, subtlety is for pussies

That is why i stick with seinen,it is generelly more intelligent and stuff

 

[Fdzzaigl]

Yukiteru from Future Diary.
The kid wouldn't stop crying or whinning. Granted he is 14 years old so all the nonsense going around might be overwhelming, but I couldn't feel that at all from the character. I keep trying to tell myself, "He's just a kid, of course he is going to feel this way" but I can't. Perhaps the fear and anxiety was overdone so I got annoyed at it.
Thats not to say his personality didn't improve, it just (in my opinion) didn't happen fast enough.

Would it be wrong to assume you didn't like him?, i mean, there are a lot of misunderstandings in this forum
So far, i'm not liking the series very much,most of the characters have undiagnosed brain tumors

Spoiler: stupidity

Yuki:
I am gonna tell this group of people i just met that i can see the future!, it's not like that could make them suddenly want to brutally murder me since i am participating in a Battle Royale right!?

Kurusu(detective guy):

Spoiler

i am going to go into this hospital that currently houses a terrorist,a psychopathic yandere *****,and a guy that has killed numerous people with darts,it's not like i have underlings i could send in my place, and i am going to take my cellphone, my one weakness! with me, i see no way this could ever go wrong

Yuno:

Spoiler

there is a diary owner in Yuki's house!, i must go kill the shit out of him inmediatly, it's not like there are other people in the house who could get accidentally hurt or call the police after they see me stabbing the shit out of him!,subtlety is for pussies!

Yuno 2:

Spoiler

i am going to kidnap Yuki!, it's not like i could just talk to him and tell him "Yuki we must hide!" or something

Altough, to be fair, Yuno is a psychopathic *****, and she may not have thought this trough

The eyepatch chick:
A diary owner?,awesome!, i am going to blow up his fucking school, and i am going to appear in public and announce that i am going to blow up his fucking school!, it's not like that could draw the attention of other diary owners or something
Kill him stealthily you say?
Fuck that, subtlety is for pussies

That is why i stick with seinen,it is generelly more intelligent and stuff

I personally liked Mirai Nikki a lot. Mostly because I really found the concept of it pretty intriguing. Normally I would hate any sort of time-travel shit, but getting messages from your future self in your diary is well thought of.

Of course Yuki was a pathetic little kid, but that's also exactly the role he's meant to play. Furthermore, his character does go through some interesting changes as he tries to find the answer to all the shit that goes on around him, only to fail again. Considering the demographic I'd say he's quite a "round" character overall.

Series for a "Shonen" public in the west wouldn't ever dare to tackle these kinds of themes imo. Well maybe in the past, but I haven't seen any recent series that would.

 

[verdant monkai]

The only real main characters in anime I have problems with are the violent girls, the ones who regularly punch the men who have displeased them as hard and as viciously as they can. I dont find it funny or feel that their victims deserved it, it just makes me dislike the violent *****. Sakura from Naruto is a prime example of the violent ***** trope.

Although those on the receiving end of the beating recover very quickly, its really just not an endearing trait.

 

[Denamic]

I can deal with dumbass characters when they've got character development through the anime/game. For example, Yoko from Juuni Kokuki/Twelve Kingdoms is a whiny little weakling, but gradually turns into kind of a badass. I love that shit. I can also deal with certain kinds of dumbasses, too, if they're done right. Like Luffy from One Piece. He's such an idiot, but by the gods is he awesome.

My all-time favourite character is probably Rance in Sengoku Rance. It's a porn game with fantastic strategic gameplay. Anyway, Rance is an egotistical, arrogant, rapist, dumbass, evil ************ that has a slave that he mistreats. The only reason he fights in the first place is to get laid. And yet he's somehow completely lovable. Maybe it's because of his twisted sincerity or something, I dunno. I hesitate to call him a hero, or even an anti-hero. He's probably more evil than the villains he defeats.

Spoiler: Yup. Typical Rance.

 

[Dr. Crawver]

Snip

I agree to some extent. This is not always the case, but it is true far to often.

I think the trend can be traced back to an anime called Neon Genesis Evangelion, along with a lot of other really bad trends in anime and Japanese gaming.

Neon Genesis Evangelion was a single season anime released in 1995. In order to understand the state of Japanese video game and anime you need to understand that this show was insanely popular and influential. Within the anime community (and by spillover the video game community) it was similar to Star Wars in level of influence and popularity.

The problem is that Evangelion, while enjoyable in its own right, was really shit in a lot of ways. It started or popularized most of the trends people hate in JRPGs, including but not limited to:

- Whiny teenage male protagonists that are practically hand crafted to be objects of scorn
- Over complicated and pointlessly convoluted stories that don't make any sense
- Pseudo religious symbolism (Lets put crosses everywhere and make references to angels and the fall of Lucifer! that will make our story seem deep!)
- The introduction of random plot threads with no intention of ever resolving them
- An ending that resolves nothing, doesn't make sense, or just plain has nothing to do with the work
- Underage fan service

So every time you have a whiny male protagonist that you want to strangle, know that the problem can almost certainly be traced to Evangelion.

That...I find genuinely interesting. Do you think They adopt those traits for their main character just because that was popular, or because people genuinely liked it? Also do you know if Evangelion was the first to do it, or just the one to popularize it?

 

[Miyenne]

Hmm, you might give

Utawarerumono
Irresponsible Captain Tylor
Ruroni Kenshin
Any Lupin movie
City Hunter
and Mermaid Forest

a try for protagonists/positive supporting characters in a more believable age range.
I *get* why younger protagonists are so often used, but like you I could really stand to see some more
who are reasonably mature in both years and emotional development.
These recommendations-like most that come from me-could be considered very "old school".

Thanks for those, I'll give them a try, though I saw/read a few of those when I was a teenager, they might be worth it to go through again as now I'm not a teenager.

I did watch Psycho Pass (I read it, but the manga I found didn't get very far) and it was pretty good. The lead female, I forget her name was a bit too weak for my liking, but at least she didn't rely on the men do protect her, as much as they tried to.

 

[Talaris]

Yukiteru from Future Diary.
The kid wouldn't stop crying or whinning. Granted he is 14 years old so all the nonsense going around might be overwhelming, but I couldn't feel that at all from the character. I keep trying to tell myself, "He's just a kid, of course he is going to feel this way" but I can't. Perhaps the fear and anxiety was overdone so I got annoyed at it.
Thats not to say his personality didn't improve, it just (in my opinion) didn't happen fast enough.

Yeah I would think most would say this is how they feel about Yuki, in a similar fashion to Shinji from Evangelion. Considering how much Shinja pissed me right off, I was surprised I actually found myself accepting Yuki's behaviour.

I think your last point has something to do with it, in that his character does have more of an arc to it, and in the last 7 episodes or so he has the conviction to make his own choices and carry them out without all the complaining. Also,

Spoiler

To me the fact that his parents betray him and die right in front of him would mess anyone up emotionally, more so than Shinja having a neglectful father. Not to mention a girl who loves you, yet at the same time drug and try to kill you.

 

[DrOswald]

Snip

I agree to some extent. This is not always the case, but it is true far to often.

I think the trend can be traced back to an anime called Neon Genesis Evangelion, along with a lot of other really bad trends in anime and Japanese gaming.

Neon Genesis Evangelion was a single season anime released in 1995. In order to understand the state of Japanese video game and anime you need to understand that this show was insanely popular and influential. Within the anime community (and by spillover the video game community) it was similar to Star Wars in level of influence and popularity.

The problem is that Evangelion, while enjoyable in its own right, was really shit in a lot of ways. It started or popularized most of the trends people hate in JRPGs, including but not limited to:

- Whiny teenage male protagonists that are practically hand crafted to be objects of scorn
- Over complicated and pointlessly convoluted stories that don't make any sense
- Pseudo religious symbolism (Lets put crosses everywhere and make references to angels and the fall of Lucifer! that will make our story seem deep!)
- The introduction of random plot threads with no intention of ever resolving them
- An ending that resolves nothing, doesn't make sense, or just plain has nothing to do with the work
- Underage fan service

So every time you have a whiny male protagonist that you want to strangle, know that the problem can almost certainly be traced to Evangelion.

That...I find genuinely interesting. Do you think They adopt those traits for their main character just because that was popular, or because people genuinely liked it? Also do you know if Evangelion was the first to do it, or just the one to popularize it?

Actually, as I understand it Evangelion did it because it was counter the norm at the time. You see, there were tons of anime back then where a "typical" teenagers get super powers or something and becomes a hero. The idea behind the main character of Evangelion (Shinji) was to subvert the trope.

Shinji is a completely non heroic person and what is more he does not have the potential to be a hero. He is by the standards of even average people cowardly, weak, stupid, whiny, and generally bad at life. He is the last person you would ever count on to save the world because he would so obviously fail.

The idea behind Evangelion was to take such an individual and make them the last hope of humanity. If he (and a few other equally broken individuals like him) cannot save the world then it is doomed. So the weight of the world is put on his shoulders and we watch it crush him.

This was actually the best part of the anime. It made for a very interesting story and a very interesting and unusual main character. Shinji was highly relatable and even though he was whiny and weak and stupid it was done so well that you can't help but like him and hope for his success. His weakness added to the tension because not only do we have to worry that he might be horribly killed by giant monsters but we have to wonder if he is just going to snap from the pressure.

But then Evangelion got super popular and everyone copied it and here we have the problem. A protagonist like Shinji only works when it is against the norm and when handled with great care. What most copies have done is take their previous super human protagonists, kept them super human but also made them whiny idiots in a cheap attempt to copy Evangelion. They fundamentally misunderstand the idea of a broken protagonist and misapply the character and story elements to horrible effect.

P.S. I want to make it clear that Evangelion is not a great anime by my estimation. I think it is worth seeing because it will help you understand anime and the Japanese video game industry and even just because it is an ok ride, but know that you will be disappointing by it in the end. It was an anime with one really good idea done pretty well that messed up in a whole lot of other ways. I may be a little biased though. I was told by many that it was the best anime of all time (which many still believe) and it even makes you think it might be for a little while. I was really disappointed when the house of cards came crashing down and it became apparent that 75% of the show is random bullshit thrown in to make it look deeper than it actually is.

If you want to see a good giant robot anime look for Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. Done by the same studio as Evangelion, it is kind of an apology for popularizing the failure as a main character. It is basically about the most heroic individuals ever powering giant robots by the sheer force of their awesome.

 

[scorptatious]

I don't think main characters have to be likable. Laharl from Disgaea is a horrible brat and despite his character development never grows out of it. I still to find him a very good main character.

I suppose JRPG and anime heroes can be hit and miss but i actually only encountered ''hits'' and actually find their reputation a but overblown. I know those horrible emo or dumbass characters exist i just haven't seen them. The jrp's i pick usually have main characters that are praised a lot or at least don't have a hatedom.


For every emo or unlikable main character in anime's and JRPGs you also have great once like Zidane, Yuri Lowel, Laharl, and Edward Elric.

I agree about Laharl.

Speaking as someone who has just gotten into Disgaea, I personally found Laharl kind of endearing. He's an obnoxious and naive brat who talks big game, but he has the power and vassals to back it up. Plus I do like how he changes a bit over the course of the game.

Spoiler

I particularly liked it when he sent Kurtis to heaven to be with his family after he sacrificed himself to save Jennifer.

Also, dat evil laugh.

captcha: shaken not stirred

No captcha, we're talking about characters from JRPG's and anime.

Although I guess that does make me wonder what the general consensus on James Bond as a character is on this site.

 

[scorptatious]

The only real main characters in anime I have problems with are the violent girls, the ones who regularly punch the men who have displeased them as hard and as viciously as they can. I dont find it funny or feel that their victims deserved it, it just makes me dislike the violent *****. Sakura from Naruto is a prime example of the violent ***** trope.

Although those on the receiving end of the beating recover very quickly, its really just not an endearing trait.

Sorta agreed with this.

I watched this anime called "Love Hina" and the main character would always accidentally do something that would be misinterpreted as perverted and then he gets beat up by his love interest. This was sort of a running gag throughout the show, and to me it got very old very quick.

 

[lord.jeff]

Plot armor comes with a -10 intelligence modifier.

 

[Atmos Duality]

Luke Fon Fabre, by the gods, this guy made me want to snap the fucking cartridge in half (played the 3DS version) He is insufferable for the first half of the game, my sister says he gets better and I reached the part in the story where he casually fucks up everything and might start becoming less of a ****, but for the most part, I wanted to stop playing because this bitchbag is the protagonist.

Seriously, anyone who complains about Tidus, Tidus is nothing compared to Luke in terms of annoyance.

I disagree. Tidus started out as a whiny *****, and he stayed a whiny *****.
You're right, Luke is irritating and obnoxious to the point where I could feel my skin peeling until Akzeriuth, but your sister was right: he has a couple of good, strong character arcs later on.

(The only reason I managed to get that far was because of Jade Curtiss; I love that sarcastic ************.
90% of the plot would not occur at all were it not for him, and he fucking knows it.)

I'll give Luke the benefit of actually addressing a few things most story-driven games completely gloss over.
Tidus can die of cancer for all I care. Throat cancer preferably, so I don't have to listen to that keening brat's voice.

 

[Mistilteinn]

Oh boy...

Spoiler: Rant Time!

You haven't watched .hack//SIGN, have you? The main character, Tsukasa, is a jerk and a half.

Spoiler: Pictured: Tsukasa 90% of the time

Yeah. He's the annoying emo type that is too good to be nice to people.​

The first episode is just there to establish how much of a jerk he is. Hell, I can't even watch the dub without wanting to punch his face.

[small]And there's the fact that the dub is terrible anyway...[/small]

At least the kid gets a huge dose of character development.

Don't even get me started on Idiot Heroes... Just focus on the character you like, in some cases the other characters are more interesting than the main protagonist anyway.

As much as I loved .hack//SIGN (and still consider it to be damn good), Tsukasa was definitely a douche for a lot of the beginning. But then again, they did a pretty good job of showing how crappy of a life he had in the real world, and how that translated to how she acted in The World. Being trapped there notwithstanding.

Still, I can't fault them for displaying him like that. He and Mimiru are foils for one another, and she acted as a nice background to show how he developed more as a person (ie being less of a jerk).

OT: I'm with you on this one TC. FFXII is probably my favorite in the series right now, and it's a damn shame they replaced Basch with Vaan. I played through it again a couple summers ago, and I can now honestly say that if Vaan and Penelo were removed from the game, absolutely nothing would have changed. Perspective character be damned--Tidus may have been a whiner, but at least he was a good lens for the player to see the world through. Vaan and Penelo are just dead-weight.

Spoiler: Rant incoming

Neither of them even got their storylines resolved in a meaningful way! Actually, allow me to amend that: Vaan never got his storyline resolved, and Penelo never had one in the first place. I mean, yeah, Vaan found Basch and realized that it wasn't he who killed Reks, but at the same time that's not really a resolution, either. I forget when exactly, but Vaan eventually ups and realizes that getting revenge won't bring Reks back, and that ends his sub-plot. Penelo, meanwhile, got kidnapped and rescued, which I don't consider to be her sub-plot, as she just became a plot device. Outside of that and her scenes with Larsa, there really wasn't much else for her to do.

Looking at the rest of the cast, Balthier and his father have their relationship explained and resolved (even briefly integrating Ashe into it), Fran has her issues with her sisters resolved, Basch and Gabranth's problems with one another are resolved, and Ashe's plot with the is resolved (which is the plot of the game), and Larsa and Vayne both receive closure to their stories.

If any good came out of Vaan and Penelo, it was that in Revenant Wings they gave both Vaan and Penelo real character development, with a real storyline.

Anyway, with that out of my system, I don't think this is purely an issue with JRPGs or anime. Hell, look at Assassin's Creed 3: Conner was an awful protagonist, and every side-character was more interesting and likable than him. His best friend in his village was a more interesting character, and was only in the game for 20 minutes!