This is partly a rant but I'm also trying to figure out why this is such a popular trend. I think it started off with series like DBZ where the main character was honest, pure hearted, and generally an idiot who sticks to his ideals and friends no matter what (even when common sense says not to). Series like naruto and one piece followed this trend and it branched out.
However, in recent years I've seen a trend of main characters who are simply idiots with pretty much no redeeming characteristics what so ever, and even worse they're so shallow and have zero character development throughout the series (I almost feel that way about luffy in one piece but the fact that one piece is so tongue in cheek anyway makes it forgivable, and even everyone in the series knows he's an idiot, they just deal with it).
I think the most recent series I saw with a baka main character was Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon, where the main character (the guy with golden threads coming out of his head or something, I think he was the main character anyway, never finished the series) was such a overwhelming moron I couldnt keep watching the series past ep 2. I literally wanted to throttle him for the sake of humanity's future. I think the thing that probably makes me the angriest is the fact that the idiotic main characters always end up the series's hero and get all the woman, only because they are the main character, not because of any intelligent action on their part.
I'm trying to figure out what the popular appeal of these characters are these days? Some of the most famous and successful series (Death Note, Code Geass, Hellsing, Cowboy Bebop, Ghost in the Shell) have main characters who are intelligent, cunning or just plain badass. Is it just easier to write a story with an idiot as the main character or is there some subconscious appeal to it that I'm not aware of?





