Discussion OP MC's and their direction of growth

Discussion in 'Novel General' started by Bad Storm, May 13, 2021.

?

Do you like OP MC?

  1. Yes, I like watching them crush weaklings

    68.6%
  2. No, everything is too easy and boring

    31.4%
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Darius Drake

    Darius Drake A poster of verbose posts

    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2017
    Messages:
    1,085
    Likes Received:
    544
    Reading List:
    Link
    My opinion on OP MC's depends on the story being told and the supporting cast. Saitama being ungodly levels of OP is fine, due to his blasé attitude to things most would consider major, being easily peeved about things many would consider minor, the incredible supporting cast, and the stories that end with Saitama but revolve around said supporting cast. In other words, while Saitama most certainly is an OP MC who doesn't actually undergo character growth, there's enough character development and variety from the supporting cast that the story remains pleasant and interesting, even with a MC who can take everyone else out if he chose to flick his pinkie finger hard enough.

    On the other hand, I've seen a number of stories where the only focus of the story is that the MC's the best. I've seen it done with MC's who started out weak but developed to becoming "the strongest", "the most knowledgeable", or simply "the best at everything", while others start with a MC who's "the strongest/most knowledgeable/best at everything". Some are decent, some aren't, but I generally see myself giving more leeway to stories where the MC at least built up their power over ones where they start out great. Part of that is carryover from when the MC was just starting out, and part of that is people who make an OP MC right off the bat usually ruin their personality by making them a poor Saitama Clone while ignoring the fact that Saitama's main role tends to be that of the missing MC. That is to say, when Saitama shows up to a big battle the fight is over, and everybody who actually matters knows it, so he typically only shows up late to the fight. The number of author's who start stories with OP MC's and have them in the centre of each fight playing around with opponents who can't touch them is just upsetting. And the other option typically taken is to imitate DBZ, with the MC and every villain being able to destroy the planet with a sneeze, which brings it's own vast set of problems. The Dragon Ball Series gets away with it due to DB Build Up and the fact that it was the precursor story that created the concept, everybody else needs something substantial before you get to the people powerful enough to destroy worlds, as well as an explanation as to why there's still worlds around to be destroyed if creatures such as them are so relatively commonplace (1, maybe 2 is enough for a universe, but having 10 all going for one planet doesn't make sense unless they've done something stupid like already destroyed all the inhabitable planets).
     
  2. Bad Storm

    Bad Storm no thought, head empty

    Joined:
    Jun 8, 2017
    Messages:
    4,836
    Likes Received:
    52,807
    Reading List:
    Link
    I have a confession to make... I haven't watched One Punch Man yet or read it :blobrofl:

    But I agree that building up the characters' powers is important. For me, it makes the character more fleshed out. Or at least slowly revealing where his/her power came from. Not just some suddenly OP situations.
     
  3. AliceShiki

    AliceShiki 『Ms. Tree』『Magical Girl of Love and Justice』

    Joined:
    Apr 27, 2016
    Messages:
    24,647
    Likes Received:
    98,365
    Reading List:
    Link
    On a side note, I kinda hate polls with only yes/no options in them... I mean... Can't there be a "I don't exactly dislike them, but I'm not super fond of them either" option?
     
    c.reo and Bad Storm like this.
  4. Bad Storm

    Bad Storm no thought, head empty

    Joined:
    Jun 8, 2017
    Messages:
    4,836
    Likes Received:
    52,807
    Reading List:
    Link
    I actually forgot to put other options, when I realised it was a yes or no, there were already some answers so I just didn't add the I don't care option... :blobsweat_2:
     
    AliceShiki likes this.
  5. AliceShiki

    AliceShiki 『Ms. Tree』『Magical Girl of Love and Justice』

    Joined:
    Apr 27, 2016
    Messages:
    24,647
    Likes Received:
    98,365
    Reading List:
    Link
    :blobpats::blobpats::blobpats::blobpats::blobpats::blobpats::blobpats::blobpats::blobpats::blobpats::blobpats::blobpats:
     
    Bad Storm likes this.
  6. Darius Drake

    Darius Drake A poster of verbose posts

    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2017
    Messages:
    1,085
    Likes Received:
    544
    Reading List:
    Link
    If you like any story with an OP MC, I feel like you should at least try One Punch Man, it's a great action comedy story. I suspect that anything I can bring up will either push you away for being "too spoiler-y", or would have already been mentioned to you from other fans, so I won't go into details such as that. Both the versions of the manga (the original version drawn by ONE, the author, and the redrawn version) are great, as is the anime, so the choice between them really comes down to how you would prefer to want to take in the story.

    But it's your free time that I'm suggesting that you fill up. If you aren't interested in One Punch Man, you don't need to watch it. And if you don't like it, feel free to drop it. I do feel the need to mention that the story proper only really starts after Genos shows up, though.
     
    Bad Storm likes this.
  7. Bad Storm

    Bad Storm no thought, head empty

    Joined:
    Jun 8, 2017
    Messages:
    4,836
    Likes Received:
    52,807
    Reading List:
    Link
    I was thinking of hitting it up anyway, just kept procrastinating. My brother said Mob and Saitama is almost the opposite among other stuff so spoilers aren't that bad. But thanks for the suggestion, I'll look into it when I don't have anything to do :cookie:
     
  8. Darius Drake

    Darius Drake A poster of verbose posts

    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2017
    Messages:
    1,085
    Likes Received:
    544
    Reading List:
    Link
    Mob Psycho 100 and One Punch Man approach the subject of an OP MC from opposite directions. Mob's born with his OP Psychic Powers, and chooses not to have said powers define who he is. Saitama trains himself and becomes OP, and ends up losing the "fun" part of what he was training himself for (the adrenaline rush from fighting monsters). You can call them two stories about reasonable people having the absolute limits on power, and how that affects them, though, it's more of a running sub-theme of both the stories, even if both characters handle it differently.
     
    Bad Storm likes this.
  9. asriu

    asriu fu~ fu~ fu~

    Joined:
    Jan 9, 2016
    Messages:
    18,546
    Likes Received:
    18,145
    Reading List:
    Link
    when superman realize he can't just kill someone to solve the problem that interesting, when superman must choice kill to prevent greater destruction that interesting~ when certain unnamed monster create skill called abraham lincoln to destroy slave collar without injury the wearer thats funny~ when certain pervert lazybum decide to retired but eventually get smacked on face by inkstone cuz ogling boob that funny~

    op mc is just another trope~
     
  10. shyja

    shyja 『Seinen』『School life』『Sports』

    Joined:
    Feb 27, 2021
    Messages:
    105
    Likes Received:
    2,661
    Reading List:
    Link
    remind me again what's the difference between an OP MC versus 'Protagonist Strong from the Start' tag here?
    being stupidly strong in combat won't exactly solve everything in the long run, so ideally I'd like them to be a bit playful
     
  11. Fluffums

    Fluffums 【R-18 Researcher】【Seeker of Moe】

    Joined:
    May 12, 2016
    Messages:
    2,403
    Likes Received:
    3,650
    Reading List:
    Link
    OP is relative. For instance, if the protagonist is an average adult, he'd be considered overpowered if the story is about arm-wrestling with children. Conversely, Hercules was pretty strong from the start, but he wasn't OP compared to the trials he had to go through and often needed help to accomplish them.
     
  12. Darius Drake

    Darius Drake A poster of verbose posts

    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2017
    Messages:
    1,085
    Likes Received:
    544
    Reading List:
    Link
    There's also the fact that an OP MC doesn't need to be strong from the start. A MC who's enemies shouldn't be able to conceive of challenging the MC after 500 chapters of a story 2000+ chapters long is still an OP MC, just as much as one who can easily body everyone in the world simultaneously from chapter 1. And that's ignoring that there's several different flavours of being OP, though, admittedly, when we're talking about OP, we're typically talking about OP in combat, as that's what most stories with a protagonist who could be considered OP focus on. After all, a Mystery Of The Week/Arc/Book story who's protagonist DOESN'T solve the mystery isn't a good Mystery Of The Week/Arc/Book Protagonist, even if, otherwise, they should be considered to be Over Powered in their Deductive Reasoning and probably even their Ability To Get Out Of Traps.
     
  13. Shiroikaze42

    Shiroikaze42 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 18, 2016
    Messages:
    213
    Likes Received:
    231
    Reading List:
    Link
    OP MCs are fun when they're used well. "watching them crush weaklings" isn't really my flavor though; that's the boring part. We already know they're going to crush the weaklings. We don't even need to read the story to figure that out. As was mentioned above, Saitama is a great example of an OP MC, but that's because One Punch Man is a parody comedy, and most of the story is about everyone around Saitama. The author knows that Saitama just killing everyone isn't an interesting story. In one instance he even kills a big baddie off-screen because how it happened just doesn't matter.

    A commonly good way to use an OP MC is to give them challenges that can't be solved just because they're overpowered. For example, a single person (usually) can't be in two places at once, so how do they solve two problems in far separated locations at the same time? Or maybe they have a fatal weakness that can be used against them (Superman for a classic example). Or how do they handle problems that fall outside their overpowered expertise? Maybe they can punch really hard, but how about solving puzzles?

    The main thing I never want to see in an OP MC story is the story revolving around how awesome the MC is for being OP. I don't want to see the MC strolling along and never having any real trouble or challenges. That's just boring. But the concept of an OP MC? That's fine.
     
  14. powwder

    powwder Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Feb 6, 2017
    Messages:
    159
    Likes Received:
    106
    Reading List:
    Link
    I like having an OP MC but it has to be done well. This isn't a novel but the anime Kenshin did this very well. in the TV series, Kenshin was the strongest swordsmen of the time and achieved this title by fighting and helping overthrow the corrupt Japanese government. Thus the series starts with Kenshin already being at the pinnacle of strength but he has vowed to never kill again and uses a reverse bladed katana. The series is then about how Kenshin deals with the never ending waves of people seeking revenge or fame by killing him when he is just trying to live a normal peaceful life and deal with his inner demons of slaughtering countless people in the revolution. This is an OP MC done well.
     
  15. c.reo

    c.reo Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 15, 2020
    Messages:
    20
    Likes Received:
    24
    Reading List:
    Link
    My definition of OP is a blur of strong from the start and the general OP definition.

    I don’t hate the troupe but I don’t necessarily I love it as well. I don’t really like it if it’s focused on dominating its peers. That MC has no more challenges that they can’t handle. Sorry to be mean but like why not end the story if that’s it’s purpose.

    But there are instances where in I actually enjoyed the troupe such as in The Strongest Sage with the Weakest Crest were in admittedly MC reincarnated due to the pursuit of power but learns that the world is too weak that he sidelined teaching the new generation how to be powerful... that was enjoyable to me. I dunno about later chaps since I’m notorious on reading and dropping tho.

    I enjoy OP MC in terms of a hidden ace troupe. Like how it was presented in stories like UnOrdinary and Black Haze and how their power is more of an accessory than what drives the story forward.

    Then there were stories that have OP MCs but character interaction were given more value like in MP100 and Tower of God. (I think OPM is good but in my overall taste and opinion... MP100 takes the cake.)

    On the other hand, there are OP MC where in their growth is more entertaining than when they reached the summit. Ex. Solo Leveling/I Alone Level-Up.
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.