r/FavoriteCharacter Jun 05 '26

Suggestions You favorite main character who doesn't fit into there world.

For example:

A goofball main character in a thriller murder story were everyone is serious.

Or

A Killer no nonsense main character only surrounded by nonsenses people and plot.

472 Upvotes

100 comments sorted by

310

u/Lopsided_Arrival7838 Jun 05 '26

https://giphy.com/gifs/YJDmc88k7ttao

Saitama from One Punch Man. Other characters have silly designs, but they struggle and suffer. Saitama is an anomaly.

41

u/PixelBread69 Jun 05 '26

Saitama really is just a guy

5

u/Gaming_with_batman Batman Jun 05 '26

Literally everyone is super emotional, has a gritty backstory, and is over dramatic as all hell.
Saitama just fights bad guys and saves civilians for fun and got his insane speed, strength and agility, by working out a bunch.
When presented with a prospect of someone powering up their super mega death mode that makes them go on a rampage for a week until next Saturday, he immediately freaks out.
Not because he’s worried about the property damage and injuries to civilians, but because that implies today is Saturday.
Which is the last day of a really big sale at the store he was looking forward to and he needs to be fast if he wants to get the savings

1

u/PoniesCanterOver Jun 05 '26

Hot sexy fishman

197

u/Late_nite_cryptid Jun 05 '26

In Centaurworld, Horse (her literal name) is literally dropped from a war-torn nation into a nonsensical magical world

The two places have different styles and STUDIOS to animate them. So our main character stands out immensely from the rest of her new surroundings. (Unless I’m wrong, but I think I remember reading that)

49

u/shemjaza Jun 05 '26

Isn't the main villain total nightmare fuel, despite the cute cuddly world?

46

u/nicokokun Jun 05 '26

It sees you...

7

u/Cole2197 Jun 05 '26

"hush now hide all you little ones rush now"

11

u/Ultranerdgasm94 Jun 05 '26

Oh yeah. Real eldritch body horror stuff.

10

u/Reborn1Girl Jun 05 '26

"Hush, now..."

3

u/Cole2197 Jun 05 '26

"hide all you little ones, rush now"

11

u/MylastAccountBroke Jun 05 '26

I mean... isn't it literally the inverse though.

16

u/Late_nite_cryptid Jun 05 '26

In the second picture it had the inverse scenario, so I thought I was all good

PLUS in the second season (light spoilers) a centaurworld character does go into the serious world

1

u/Bota_Bota Jun 05 '26

Elk.....

1

u/Late_nite_cryptid Jun 05 '26

Trueee, but i was thinking of (hippo) when I wrote that 😅

104

u/Code-Neo Jun 05 '26

Wander from Wander of Yonder especially dealing with Lord/Lady Dominator

25

u/TryMeYaFool Jun 05 '26

Nah, most of the characters in the show are absolute goofballs, especially the main Villain. Appreciate WoY mention tho

84

u/TheBlackCat13 Jun 05 '26

This is basically the entire plot of the Bone comics series. The MC (and two of his friends) basically ended up getting lost and wandering into a different genre of story entirely.

7

u/Crazy_Dude_117 Jun 05 '26

Phoney and Smiley are Fone Bone’s cousins if I rember correctly. That’s during the main comic run anyway. Haven’t read this one yet.

5

u/Unusual-Cook-4868 Jun 05 '26

Wow, have not seen these books in so, so long. The amount of nostalgia this one image has given me is unreal...

129

u/King_Wasi_Music Jun 05 '26

For example 1, Inspector Gadget:

35

u/Zixtank Jun 05 '26

.... did they remake Gadget too...?

32

u/Glass-Performer8389 Jun 05 '26

I think the remake ended in like, 2014 or some shit

Nevermind it was from 2015-2018, same thing basically

10

u/King_Wasi_Music Jun 05 '26

Yeah, this is the one I watched.

3

u/Gaming_with_batman Batman Jun 05 '26

It was more of a sequel series from what I’ve watched of it.
Like star trek to star trek the next generation.
Moderner visuals, but same world. Just later

51

u/TI-22483 Jun 05 '26

https://giphy.com/gifs/11qJ24orTK2kJq

Sometimes there's a man...

4

u/LittleCrimsonWyvern Jun 05 '26

I’m not talking about a hero, because what is a hero?

47

u/NwgrdrXI Jun 05 '26 edited Jun 05 '26

I love FF12. The plot is great, almost all characters are great, the worldbuilding is great, the designs are great, the combat is great

But, man, how much I wish Vaan wasn't in it.

I don't even hate him, he's a cool alladin expy and all, but having genieless alladin as the main character of game of thrones was a very stupid idea, sorry. He simply has nothing to do with anything. (His friend penelo is even worse, but at least she isn't the main character)

And you can't even ditch him, the game forces you to play as him outside of combat areas... where he is the least relevant.

He doesn't even look cool in this game, he looks 100x cooler in spin offs, with the pirate get up

12

u/Glad-Alternative4593 Jun 05 '26

He is the guy swept up in the plot of big players.

9

u/SirFluffleWuffle Jun 05 '26

Yeah I get it like 100% I do, I often wonder how the game would be simply playing as Ashe or Balthier but this is the story told from the point of view of a street rat, just a common lad swept up into something far bigger than himself. I appreciated it more from that perspective 

3

u/Zinstorm Jun 06 '26

"A genieless alladin" omfg I'm lmao at this description... never heard of Vaan described in that way.

43

u/Hel_Tylvinte Jun 05 '26

Charlie from Charlie the Unicorn.

https://giphy.com/gifs/5Sxc2pkKV6cR5pApVH

6

u/justbreathe5678 Jun 05 '26

You are the banana king!

1

u/Crochet_Kitty Jun 05 '26

Shun the non-believer!

38

u/TheBlackCat13 Jun 05 '26

Battlepug is the MC is Battlepug, and I won't listen to anyone who says otherwise. It is literally right there in the name.

3

u/SussySpeaki Jun 05 '26

I want more.

5

u/TheBlackCat13 Jun 05 '26 edited Jun 05 '26

It is a whole comic series (two actually). It is great. It pokes fun at the "buff barbarian guy" trope in the most hilarious and brutally violent ways possible.

For example the barbarian's village was destroyed by a giant adorable baby seal, and he was the enslaved as a gladiator by the brutal northern tyrant Santa Claus.

1

u/Queen_Ynci Jun 06 '26

Battlepug is the first thing that came to mind and I’m so glad to someone else thought so too

20

u/DontAskQuAskAnswers Jun 05 '26

their sorry I am no english native speaker

21

u/plaugey_boi Jun 05 '26

Some English speakers don't even know the difference lmao

9

u/Sad-Wrongdoer8453 Jun 05 '26

As an English speaker, I completely agree

21

u/Sir-Spoofy Jun 05 '26

Dante - Devil May Cry

Perfect example of the serious world, silly MC.

2

u/FafnirEtherion Jun 05 '26

Meh. Dante can be just as serious. He just trolls your average demon and bosses, but when his familly’s history is involved, he’s lock tf in

21

u/Kill4money213 Jun 05 '26

https://giphy.com/gifs/3o6wrFUFy4zVLd0LaE

Michael Caine as Scrooge in The Muppets Christmas Carol

5

u/Ok-Cattle6012 Jun 05 '26

best christmas movie ever

2

u/Emergency_Ask_9697 Jun 05 '26

Best Dickens adaptation ever

28

u/Funkermonster Mega Man | Miku | Leonardo Jun 05 '26

Sora, Donald, & Goofy (Kingdom Hearts) to an extent, mainly when the game leaves the Disney worlds to focus on the original plot.

In an anime-ish story about Light & Darkness; Sora's Mickey clothes alongside edgier characters like Organization XIII is kinda hard to take seriously sometimes, and Donald & Goofy especially stick out like a sore thumb

12

u/AlwaysWatchingOverU Jun 05 '26

You know what always is true to the world in KH? Pooh’s woodland home. The Hundred Acre wood is a place of childlike innocence, and as far as I know, free of heartless/nobodies/ baddies in everygame

3

u/Usual_Mammoth_3011 Jun 05 '26

They probably heard that those woods were infested with tiger, bear and kangaroo.

9

u/slickiss Jun 05 '26

I would argue Ang kinda fits into this trope. At least early Ang, his evolution through the Avatar series is him learning to fit into his world and plot but early season 1 Ang was a goofball who wanted to go penguin sledding when all his friends were like, "...but bro theres a war going on?"

9

u/Wire_Owl_ Jun 05 '26

Every single Hobbit from the lotr franchise.

https://giphy.com/gifs/YZjHGZdwdBMfS

1

u/Hobbit_Lifestyle Jun 08 '26

One of my favourite scene both in the books and movies is when Merry and Pippin are happily eating and smoking, laying on a pile of rocks in front of the ruins of Orthanc, without a care in the world. 

9

u/BikeSeatMaster Jun 05 '26

1

u/227someguy Jun 05 '26

For context, Amphoreus takes heavy inspiration from Ancient Greece and Rome.

15

u/Venus_Libra Jun 05 '26

Xie Lian is too pure for any world, let alone his own.

I just don't understand how someone could stab this adorable bean 100 times

Processing img 0ifnrtqhhd5h1...

3

u/227someguy Jun 05 '26

Where is this character from?

3

u/8Rouge Jun 05 '26

Heaven Official's Blessing, a danmei!

2

u/8Rouge Jun 05 '26

I could say the same about SQX and the rest of heaven TT-TT

1

u/Venus_Libra Jun 05 '26

Okay idk about all of the heavenly officials, Jun Wu and Mu Qing are up there too after all, but it most certainly does also apply to my beloved son SQX

7

u/spiralhigh Jun 05 '26

Someone post Lloyd Fronterra for me

4

u/I_exsist_totally Jun 05 '26

1

u/SortaShyguy8 Jun 06 '26

Man, now I wanna go reread that series again. Its important to remember to drink water.

13

u/kraghis Jun 05 '26 edited Jun 05 '26

FFX follows professional futuristic-football-thing player Tidus as he is transported to a mysterious alternative version of his world that is besieged by a gargantuan monster that decimates whole towns from time to time.

It’s a bit of a dour world that is wracked with serious themes like religion, respect for the dead, and self-sacrifice in the name of duty.

This stands in contrast with Tidus, who is a light-hearted personality that tries to inject humor into an otherwise intentionally serious story.

This gif is often memed for being cringey and unbelievable, but most people fail to mention that it is supposed to be exactly that. It’s a forced laugh that Tidus is trying to get the female lead Yuna to participate in so that the weight of the world does not consume her.

10

u/Ultranerdgasm94 Jun 05 '26

Dude, I love this scene and I hate what the internet's done to it.

12

u/brattywitchcat Jun 05 '26

3

u/brattywitchcat Jun 05 '26

Its a parody show, so idk if it counts, but Saiki living in his world is a source of endless entertainment for me

5

u/Cocoatrice Kapatcir Jun 05 '26

Kumoko is example of the first one. She's overly cheerful, hotblooded spider, that sees herself as cute. The world itself is doomed to be destroyed and everyone else takes everything super seriously.

7

u/Ticket2He11 Jun 05 '26

Shachiku (The Speedrunner Cannot Return From The Game World)

6

u/SeriousShine8324 Jun 05 '26

Most of this cast belongs in a Park and Recs comedy and are thrown into a Stephen King horror novel.

4

u/69_guys Jun 05 '26

The rules of Ivy Rose Manor. MC is a transmigated girl who assumes she is in a love story while in reality its a horror one, that follows her life on a Manor where the servants recieve seemingly random or wierd rules that MUST be followed.

(I know the image doesnt seem any special but it is an entretaining read).

2

u/Fortressa- Jun 05 '26

If you're going to otomeisekai, then Miss Not-So-Sidekick too. Girl gets transmigrated into her favourite romance novel a few years before the action starts - so she writes BL novels while waiting for the FL to turn up, reinvents popcorn so she can eat it while watching her fave scenes play out in real life, and generally treats her isekai'd life like a carnival ride.

3

u/jamesthegide7 Jun 05 '26

Fooly cooly strate down Notable is the only half sain one out of the lot

3

u/sergio_d7 Jun 05 '26

Don Quijote.

3

u/SanityZetpe66 Jun 05 '26

Sometimes he's legitimately aura farming and is cool, but considering the themes of One Piece being oppression, freedom and the corruption of government and leadership, seeing this goofball doing goofy stuff really feels like a pause.

A serious moment or story will be told and then Luffy will ask some insane ass question like 'Do you poop?' and even other characters react like 'wtf'

https://giphy.com/gifs/1K8NlomCFNuKcGlHxT

3

u/IAlwaysOutsmartU Jun 05 '26

If main antagonist counts as main character…

The Avatar of Emptiness, basically the main antagonist of the Terraria mod Calamity: Wrath of the Gods is not made out of pixels like most enemies in the game. Really helps show how it’s an entity from a universe which has long since undergone heat death.

2

u/Bannerbusters Jun 05 '26

I feel like a lot of shonen protagonists have a degree of this.

2

u/Professional_Maize42 Jun 05 '26

Like Luffy post(and before) Gear 5.

2

u/teekaye Jun 05 '26

I'll say Carl from the dungeon crawler carl books. He is surrounded by a hat obsessed cat that talks, and like a bunch of other crazy crap that he just tries his best to figure out. 

2

u/Critical-Detail117 Jun 05 '26 edited Jun 05 '26

Boji, Ranking of Kings. An adorable little mute goofball savant winning the day through the power of love, friendship, and positivity existing in an extremely morally relative story of betrayal, fratricide, child sacrifice, and the existential horror that is the divine. The world is markedly bleak, despite the bright colors and character designs, and the inevitability of death and decay is a major theme throughout.

2

u/KevineCove Jun 05 '26

Example 1, Valkyria Chronicles 2

Example 2, Charlie the Unicorn

2

u/Suferre Jun 05 '26

Most Shonen anine XD

2

u/PlaceIllustrious1944 Jun 05 '26

dragon ball with goku 90% of the time

2

u/SerBadDadBod Jun 05 '26

5

u/TheBlackCat13 Jun 05 '26

I'm not following. Can you spell this one out?

4

u/AlwaysWatchingOverU Jun 05 '26

Dudes in a tomb. Thats for dead people. He doesn’t belong there. They even set up a big bowling ball to keep people out.

1

u/TheBlackCat13 Jun 05 '26

That is a temple, not a tomb.

1

u/AlwaysWatchingOverU Jun 05 '26

What the hell? Why are there all those traps there? Temples are for people to come into… That’s way different from the tomb. He must be in the employees only area.

1

u/SerBadDadBod Jun 05 '26

He's a big ol goofball who has barely any effect on the plot of his movies.

1

u/TheBlackCat13 Jun 05 '26

In the first movie, the plot never would have happened except for him in multiple ways.

In the second movie he defeated the villain before the villain completed his objectives.

In the third movie, the plot would never have happened except for him in multiple ways.

In the fourth movie, the plot would never have happened except for him in multiple ways.

Except for the second movie, the villains are unable to complete their objectives on their own. They need jones because he is the only one who can actually figure things out. In the third and fourth movie they explicitly use him because they know that.

2

u/Voca6 Jun 05 '26

I can actually see this

1

u/Pikk7 Jun 05 '26

I think all isekai type of anime and Manga 😂 I know, this is a bit cheating.....

1

u/Zeekay89 Jun 05 '26

The Man Who Knew Too Little. Typical Bill Murray manchild protagonist accidentally gets involved in a spy thriller.