[nội dung được nhúng]
When I first heard that some anime and manga fans didn't like Tanjiro from Demon Slayer, I was really surprised. For me, he is one of the best shounen protagonists in a long time: a gentle soul whose greatest qualities are love and empathy, and who is motivated by emotions that to become stronger. And considering the battles Tanjjro fights, I really enjoyed the feeling that each victory came at a high cost to him, both emotionally and physically.
“How could anyone not like Tanjiro?” I wonder. Even knowing that this is probably only a minority of viewers, I decided to just look at the online comments in more detail and accuracy, and saw some frequent criticism. Specifically, Tanjiro's kindness can cause him to come across as preachy or self-righteous. He's so good, there isn't any darkness and this can be hard to relate to.
I understand that I don't like wearing good shoes, but what confused me at first was that Tanjiro wasn't a perfect unstoppable hero. He often cannot defeat demons on his own, and that means battles require more of a collective effort. However, I eventually realized that this could also be seen as an unattractive trait since he doesn't win on his own.
Things changed in my understanding when I started thinking about professional wrestling terms. Basically, I think a lot of people who don't like Tanjiro — or other similar characters like Deku from My Hero AcadeKaren — want heroes who are more similar to wrestling greats like Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, and Sting after the 1980. Back in the 1990s, anti-heroes in general became much more prominent in entertainment, and although they were often the underdogs to an oppressive larger force, they are also noisemakers. Tanjiro, on the other hand, is what wrestling fans call “white babyface” or an unabashedly good guy. In wrestling, this is often “solved” by having the good guy turn evil, get edgier, and then go back to good so they carry at least a little bit of their dark side with them. This actually happened to The Rock, and even Deku had a similar phase—one that certain fans wanted Deku to reach the entire time. Some people are just looking for cool guys.
[nội dung được nhúng]
This all reminds me of a post I wrote when Kill la Kill was a big deal. At the time, some fans considered Ryuko a one-dimensional protagonist because she was an angry person and didn't have an epic plot of character development. She doesn’t change on a fundamental level, and this is considered inaccurate as “poor writing.” I think the same thing happened with Demon Slayer, just with a different type of main character. That does not mean that preferences should not be allowed to exist, but they should not be confused with neutral objectivity.
For Tanjiro and the other “good guy” characters, the purity of their compassion is a beacon of hope that kindness and love can be sources of lasting strength. The fact that Tanjiro never changes his core further strengthens that power. At least that's my interpretation. What I learned from that is that others may see that aspect as something bland and in need of “development.” In this regard, I can say that being able to maintain one's empathy even as the world becomes more and more cruel is a good character because it is a real challenge in itself that requires liking Doubt and sharpen yourself to overcome the temptation to do the opposite.
