Protagonists in mecha anime I've seen tend to be annoying brats. I'm probably not within the target audience but nevertheless that's what they are. Brats. Why are 14 year olds entrusted with saving the world? Must be that target audience thing.
Let's see... Neon Genesis Evangelion had the invariably passive agressive Shinji who never seemed to get past, "Why me?", and as such was willing to let other people die as long as Shinji didn't have to do something. Oh yeah, and Shinji was a pervert. What a wonderful protagonist.
Kira from Gundam Seed wasn't as bad. Whatever you say about his whining and crying, at least Kira went out and did something. Still, the look-at-me-suffer, woe-is-me stuff grew old, quick.
Now I've just seen another mecha anime with a 14 year old protagonist who at least isn't passive agressive. In fact, this protagonist is agressive to a fault, clearly delusional and stupid. Describing him as egotistical wouldn't be wrong, evidently lacking understanding of cause and effect all too depressingly true.
The appeal of these characters to children is unfathomable. And yet, here I am drawn to the next episode to see if the protagonists can grow and change for the better, but ultimately and inevitably disappointed, cursing their very existance all the way to the series finale.
Perhaps that's the trick. Maybe this is a case of nice guys finishing last. Shows don't necessarily have to make characters likeable or well adjusted just as long as people watch the anime, bemoaning the waste of their time until the very bitter end.
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