Speaking of mcs what do you guys think of the Ronin from samurai of hyuga? They used to be my favorite mc back in the day but after book two, I started to slowly like them less and less. I can't put my finger on why, though.
SoH has never been a literary masterpiece by any means, but I used to have a lot of fun just messing around in the world. Like you, I really liked the ronin—not because they were a deep character or anything, but because they were a fun vessel to play around in such a little weeaboo world even as they struggled.
But then they kept struggling… and kept struggling… and then they’d take two steps forward just to get dropkicked right back to being the weakest character in the series after we worked so hard to build them up again that it started to feel like a chore with no finishing line in sight or real development. That, and the fact that the author can’t seem to close a plot point to save their life really finished my care for the series.
Literally every single thing that has ever happened to the ronin has no conclusion, instead we are constantly meeting new characters, plot devices and lore drops that the author just drags us away from for the next one—like the possible pregnancy, Momoko and her demon, Jun/ko in Hell, the reveal of the ronins cannibalistic demon powers, the emperor and Toshi/o etc—and then suddenly in this new book, we’re not even the ronin anymore, we’re Masa/mi and in a goddamn high school of all places trying to pretend to be them. Which could have been a fun little side plot if the author hadn’t decided to make it the whole book instead and (surprise, surprise) didn’t give us closure again by ending it early because they wanted to post half a book. It’s just… disappointing.
The ronin was once fun to play as because of how ridiculous it was, but then they became an eternal cycle of misery pawn and
“throw every trope at the wall and see what sticks but make sure you don’t give the readers any closure or answers even after years” that I’m honestly tossing in the towel.
