Well I disagree that Video Games come from Japan in general. Unless your just talking about JRPGs where it becomes "duh". 
*THAT* said guys like Rush from Last Remnant are annoying all on their own. It seems like you either have the "emos" or overly enthusiastic moron kids, with little middle ground. Let's be fair, these things are stereotypes of the genere, and this is coming from someone who plays and enjoys them. Truthfully while the game itself is good, it's rare when they write a really good main character. The supporting cast is usually better/less annoying with rare exception, and gives the games their personality.
Now I suspect that this is part of the genere because they want cardboard cut out protaganists that the players can identify with. Generic emo-ness or exploding over enthusiasm can be annoying but can be related to to an extent by the player base. To be honest Yuri's black costume (can't remember the name exactly, Dark Avenger or whatever) pretty much defines gothic emo-ness yet it's one of the most popular options for him.
As far as the androgynous protaganists, I think the idea is to create characters that can be identified with by both male and female gamers (as a lot of women DO play JRPGs). This way you have these meterosexuals that "could be you" even cross gender or are at least feminine enough to be attractive to a lot of women who are put off by overflowing testosterone.
As far as girl-boys, well I'm a JRPG player and honestly the first one that comes to mind is Vaan from Final Fantasy XII. Admittedly he managed to have a personality between the two extremes falling to the depths of both of them at times. But by the same token he looked and dressed like he should be the star of a gay porn movie based on Aladdin.
I thought Squall looked sort of like Boy George.
In FF IX Zidane looked very similar to the princess at times, and he again tended towards the other non-emo stereotype. Truthfully I enjoyed foth FF 8 and FF XII more than FF IX.
Then of course we have the guy Kaim from Lost Odyssey which is probably like the poster child for wrist-slitting Emo. "OMG, feel my pain from being an immortal with no memories". Just about every story from his past is at least slightly depressing, and the guy looks, dresses, and acts the part. I mean being immortal could be an upbeat thing, but this pretty much hit every emo-vampire, and Highlander (the TV series) "down" moment and condensed them into ultra concentrate and spewed it out with a protaganist and haircut that probably made a lot of Emos go "no, no, that's going just a wee bit too far". Lost Odyssey was a good game (don't get me wrong) but honestly... Kaim comes to mind as the poster child for JRPG emoness (there are many others, but I'd say he's the most obvious), and of course Vaan wins the prize for androgynous girl-boy (again there are others, but again he's probably the most obvious).
I talk about the overenthusiasm being just as bad of a stereotype as the emo thing. Frankly that one is a toss up between Rush and Tidus (Final Fantasy X), but I think Rush takes the prize.
>>>----Therumancer--->
*THAT* said guys like Rush from Last Remnant are annoying all on their own. It seems like you either have the "emos" or overly enthusiastic moron kids, with little middle ground. Let's be fair, these things are stereotypes of the genere, and this is coming from someone who plays and enjoys them. Truthfully while the game itself is good, it's rare when they write a really good main character. The supporting cast is usually better/less annoying with rare exception, and gives the games their personality.
Now I suspect that this is part of the genere because they want cardboard cut out protaganists that the players can identify with. Generic emo-ness or exploding over enthusiasm can be annoying but can be related to to an extent by the player base. To be honest Yuri's black costume (can't remember the name exactly, Dark Avenger or whatever) pretty much defines gothic emo-ness yet it's one of the most popular options for him.
As far as the androgynous protaganists, I think the idea is to create characters that can be identified with by both male and female gamers (as a lot of women DO play JRPGs). This way you have these meterosexuals that "could be you" even cross gender or are at least feminine enough to be attractive to a lot of women who are put off by overflowing testosterone.
As far as girl-boys, well I'm a JRPG player and honestly the first one that comes to mind is Vaan from Final Fantasy XII. Admittedly he managed to have a personality between the two extremes falling to the depths of both of them at times. But by the same token he looked and dressed like he should be the star of a gay porn movie based on Aladdin.
I thought Squall looked sort of like Boy George.
In FF IX Zidane looked very similar to the princess at times, and he again tended towards the other non-emo stereotype. Truthfully I enjoyed foth FF 8 and FF XII more than FF IX.
Then of course we have the guy Kaim from Lost Odyssey which is probably like the poster child for wrist-slitting Emo. "OMG, feel my pain from being an immortal with no memories". Just about every story from his past is at least slightly depressing, and the guy looks, dresses, and acts the part. I mean being immortal could be an upbeat thing, but this pretty much hit every emo-vampire, and Highlander (the TV series) "down" moment and condensed them into ultra concentrate and spewed it out with a protaganist and haircut that probably made a lot of Emos go "no, no, that's going just a wee bit too far". Lost Odyssey was a good game (don't get me wrong) but honestly... Kaim comes to mind as the poster child for JRPG emoness (there are many others, but I'd say he's the most obvious), and of course Vaan wins the prize for androgynous girl-boy (again there are others, but again he's probably the most obvious).
I talk about the overenthusiasm being just as bad of a stereotype as the emo thing. Frankly that one is a toss up between Rush and Tidus (Final Fantasy X), but I think Rush takes the prize.
>>>----Therumancer--->
