Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-5398287-20130814021842

There's something I've been thinking about as of late, and I'd like to hear others' thoughts on it.

In every shounen manga series I've read, it seems to me that the main character of each series isn't the most popular out of all of them. Now, I'm not saying that the fans don't like them, but other characters have much larger fanbases, from what I can tell. Within Bleach, there's Hitsugaya, Ulquiorra, Gin, Grimmjow - quite a few others as well. While I personally like Ichigo, he's not the character I like the most, and I'm certain this is true for others as well.

Now, my question isn't if people like Ichigo, or shounen main characters in general, the most out of all characters. Instead, I ask you this: why do you think people generally prefer, for lack of a better term, secondary characters? Does it stem from how much time we spend with them? I mean, Ulquiorra wasn't in a fifth of as many chapters as Ichigo was, yet his fanbase is much more apparent. Does it stem from their personalities? I personally don't see the fuss about Hitsugaya, but the popularity polls indicate he has far more fans than any other character, at least fans that are willing/able to mail in votes. Does it stem from us spending too much time with Ichigo/shounen main characters? I can understand if it reaches a point where you're not really interested in them anymore - after all, you've been with them for so long that you pretty much know everything about them. Do you think the authors know this and intentionally make their side characters more interesting than the main character, but balance it out with screentime so one doesn't overshadow the other? Gin was intended to be creepy and offsetting to women, but he was still focused on quite a bit, especially in regards to his relationship with Rangiku. I'd like to hear the thoughts and opinions of others on this, since I'm not sure what the reason is. 