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Lots of characters, but no Character Development
Looking over the anime series that I've really liked, a promenant feature of them is that they have a very small group of main characters (like 3-5). Most series aren't like this though and tend to have about 12 main characters. I feel there's a really noticable difference in quality as a result of this difference. I can't think of one above average series that has a huge group of main characters.
The problem with it is that because of the number of characters the amount of time for character development is really restrained. When it does happen it comes across as really superficial and forced.
For example, I recently watched Macross Frontier and felt it was really let down by the excessive number of focused on characters. I remember the original Macross series didn't suffer from this at all and it was very focused on the 3 main characters even though there were many other characters.
I don't watch as many series as a lot of other people, so how much of a problem is this?
The problem with it is that because of the number of characters the amount of time for character development is really restrained. When it does happen it comes across as really superficial and forced.
For example, I recently watched Macross Frontier and felt it was really let down by the excessive number of focused on characters. I remember the original Macross series didn't suffer from this at all and it was very focused on the 3 main characters even though there were many other characters.
I don't watch as many series as a lot of other people, so how much of a problem is this?
Comments
One example is Kare Kano. The show was only 26 episodes and mainly focused on the two main characters, Yukino and Soichiro, and their relationship.
The manga goes further into their relationship and their character as well as their friend's characters and relationship with others. They all pretty much have a self-discovery/self-realization of some sort and become the people they want to be.
Same strategy is now being applied in idol musical groups. Why do you think SNSD has 9 members? When you have just one Justin Beiber, some people love and some people hate. If you have 9 Justin Beibers on a team, each with a different style, almost everyone will like at least one of them.
$$$$
Also, Hokuto no Ken had a million characters, but they're all great.
However, such cast intensive shows of 5 or more do sometimes simply focus on the 'main characters' or the 'main grouping', while the secondary characters for these shows propels both the show and the mains forward,getting subtle development of their own to boot as a result.
If the story tellers can maintain the cast then great for them, Just look at My little Pony FIM. Im not sure if i can think of any anime off the top of my head which can sustain a main group of 6 characters. Even the ones ive listed or can think off are more often 2-4 mains and the rest supporting
It has a huge cast of characters and because the author seems to want us to follow every last footstep of their journey the pacing of the books grinds to a halt. So much so that the original projection of something like 6 books exploded into 14, or is it 15 now?.
Even though the characters do grow and mature it takes whole volumes to cover maybe 3 or 4 months of time and some characters can disappear for a whole novel.
He does seem to solve this in the later novels, but the middle books are so hard to get through.
There are like 25 recurring characters and most of the side characters get as much focus as the main characters. For example ep5 focuses on the back story and motivations of a character who was only introduced in the previous episode and is overall not important to the story at all. Again in one of the middle eps there's an entire flashback episode which shows the back story of 3 characters who are also not particularly important. Meanwhile, the couple who are supposed to be the centre of this "epic" love story get hardly any development together.
In smaller games, each PC gets way more individual attention and thus grows exponentially faster.
/obligatory
You have a primary protagonist and antagonist who go through the entire series. They change in phases. Whenever there is a climax in the main plot, they evolve like Pokemon. Then at the end of the series, final evolution.
Then you have supporting cast of the protagonist. The supporting cast are mostly flat. They come in flat and are used for jokes or for the protagonist to play off of for jokes or support. Each major supporting character eventually gets an arc dedicated to them. They rarely evolve during this arc, but sometimes do. Usually what happens is the protagonist and the reader just get a deeper insight into this side character. They continue to act as they always have, but with that additional backstory knowledge, the character now has some depth.
The supporting or minor antagonists are much the same way. The difference is that they always evolve after they get a story arc dedicated to them. That evolution could just be them leaving or dying, but it usually ends up with them converting to good, or going into hiding to make a comeback.
Take for example Hajime no Ippo. Ippo goes throughout the series and develops in stages.
Miyata is the main antagonist, and you see him evolve every time a climax happens in his plot. He keeps coming back, but he changes after each major encounter with Ippo.
Supporting characters like the coach are pretty much the same the whole time, but then there's the chapter where you learn the coach's history and now you read him differently.
All the other boxers that Ippo fights are presented with a flat personality. Then as the fight approaches and happens you learn everything there is to learn about them. Then the fight changes them, usually into good guys. Then they become background flavor. Usually you see them at boxing matches cheering or giving advice and commentary.
Fist of the North Star follows the same thing with one key difference. Almost every antagonist explodes and dies, not leaving much time for them to hang out or get forgiven for their sins.