Why is almost every single anime protagonist 17 years old?
Is it a marketing thing? Is there some kind of anime creator committee that decided that all anime protagonists have to be teenagers? I'm racking my brain trying to figure this out.
Most Japanese lives turn to shit once they get out of high school.
>>137611053
Springtime of youth
The worst is when it's a drama/romance/etc. and MC and his friends are in middle school
You really expect me to take a bunch of little kid "drama" seriously? At least I can suspend my disbelief with high schoolers because some high schoolers are actually pretty adult-like
It's so they can draw the same outfit for every character
>>137611053
>Why is anime like anime?
Is there a single easier way to betray that you're a newfag than threads like this?
>>137611053
From what I understand, high school is to Japan what college is to America: supposedly the best time in your life before everything goes to shit.
Guess this is also why Saitama is 25, which is pretty fucking old by anime main character standards. He started training to become a superhero at 22, when you've just graduated university, can't find a job and suddenly everything is shit. Your once strucutred life, a life with a clear goal, has ended and you're thrown into the deep.
>>137611291
This I don't understand. I get that there are school uniforms, but the main characters rarely conform to the dress code. They always have strange accessoires, differently colored shirts/vests and other things that make them stand out, making the high school setting kind of superfluous.
>>137611960
Even the main characters who don't even go to high school are still ~17.
If what you guys said about life turning to shit after high school is true, then that's pretty depressing. But still, its a work of fiction, the creators can do anything they want so why don't they do something else?
>>137612095
>the creators can do anything they want
Exactly. And they're trying to sell, everyone in japan has dealt with going to high school so it appeals to more people instead of being some 30 something alcoholic that's out of a job.
Why is almost every single american TV protagonist a white guy?
>>137612243
Because the grand majority of Americans who aren't in jail are white, but the grand majority of Japanese who aren't in jail aren't high schoolers.
>>137612315
The grand majority of the people who watch anime in Japan are...?
No seriously I don't know
>>137612243
Non-threatening, easy to write since there isn't any race-related stuff to incorporate into the character
>>137612502
Well, the target audience for Seinen is 18-40, yet shitload of seinen focus on slice of life high school bullshit.So yes, by design manga and anime intended for adults are about high school life.
>>137612243
>/a/ in charge of analogies
>>137611053
Who the fuck knows. My 17-year-old self wanted to kill himself but was too much of a pussy. I ate my lunches in the bathroom in high school, masturbated three times a day on average, watched anime and sat on this shithole image board all day.
Fuck the only thing that's changed in the last six years is that I'm not in school.
>>137611053
The same reason why almost every single anime is pandering garbage.
This is why I'm waiting for Stone Ocean and Steel Ball Run to be adapted
>>137613070
>17 year old me
>Insecure as fuck
>"tfw no gf"
>Constantly in fights with my mom
>Depressed
>Hardly watch anime because hiding my power level for my parents
>26
>Don't even care about shit anymore
>"Why would I even want a gf? She'll just keep me away from my vidya and anime"
>Live on my own, relationship with parents actually improved because of it
>Pretty happy
>Watch more anime than ever before
Everything went better than expected.Now I just need a job.
![[D-M_M-S]Worst_v12_c046_058_059.png](https://i.imgur.com/dESjTL6.png "[D-M_M-S]Worst_v12_c046_058_059.png")
>>137611053
How do you feel about characters who are 17 but look like they are in their 30s?
If this sounds appealing, make your read everything written and drawn by Hiroshi Takahashi.
My other suggestion is to explore some subgenres of seinen manga where characters are older (and obviously not seinen manga like K-ON! where everyone is still the little girl).
>>137611053
Kids want protagonists they can identify with, so it should be obvious why protagonist in most shounen anime are kids. Adults want protagonists they can identify with too, yet most people who watch anime as adults are manchildren who are mentally eternally stuck in highschool and still dream about having that perfect teenage romance under the cherry tree rather than facing real life.
I just started watching JoJo and I'm like how the fuck would anybody look like Jotaro at 17. Then again nobody has special powers and vampires don't exist so I guess there's that.
>>137613585
I find it easier to believe there are invisbile time stopping punch ghosts than I do beliving that a half jap/quarter english/quater italian kid can be 195cm at the age of 17.
Josuke in the later half of Part 4 is the most normal sized JoJo, I was his height at that age.
>>137613585
>special powers and vampires don't exist
>
>>137611053
You're not looking at the big picture. The female cutie has to be 14-17, so the male counterpart must be at the same age so that the romance is acceptable.
>>137613676
There are quite a few manga which pair teenagers with adults though.
>>137613585
I think that was the joke. JoJo parodied plenty of shounen manga, Jotaro in particular is a parody of characters like the ones in Sakigake Otokojuku.
>>137612243
a better question would be why every american tv protagonist is middle class?
>>137613052
It's the perfect analogy, actually, because every Hollywood producer will tell you that they don't commonly do Black protagonists because White guys - who are the primary target audience - can't identify with them.
>>137613348
How did you move out without a job?
>>137614783
he's probably swedish and gets free government allowance
>>137614502
So what's with all the prime time shows that star Black women now?
>>137612095
>If what you guys said about life turning to shit after high school is true
You must be 18 to browse this site you know.
>>137614843
Fucking Nordics.
>>137614844
I don't watch TV so I wouldn't know about that, but I do have read an article a few years ago which basically said what I just said. People like protagonists they can identify with. That doesn't mean that they can't appreciate anything besides that, but they generally don't like moving out of their comfort zone.
>>137614783
>>137614843Dutch actually
Because the second you hit your 20s you've missed out on any massive epic adventure you could have possibly had in your lifetime. Now you're stuck with light comedy middle-age adventures and will never ever amount to anything.
A life wasted.
>>137615438
Holy shit a flying dutchman
>>137611187
You have to be over 18 to bost here, boya.
>>137611053
To self insert yourself as the MC because life fucking sucks mate after 17
>>137615533
>Not being a middle-aged American action hero
I bet you're not even a bad enough dude to save the president!
>>137612243
Because they're the only ones that aren't in jail.
~16-17 are good ages to start a story. You'll find it in even YA novels and books.
Basically because 16-17 is the cusp of adulthood. The mind is still mend able.
>>137614423
It'll be a lot less interesting since anything below middle class is working themselves to death in order to pay bills
>>137614938
>not fucking around in college
>not getting a job as a hedge fund manager where all you do is play golf and snort lines of coke off of girls asses
wew
>>137611187
Middle school is 7, 8, and 9th in japan. They're older than you'd think (14 or 15)
>>137613585
>vampires don't exist
If that's what helps you sleep at night.
>>137611100
fact
This thread is depressing.
>>137614054
Otokojuku is already a parody of those same archetypes.
Because they find a way.
>>137611053
>School settings are a logical choice for dating games-for both male and female players, alike. "'Schoolgirls' is a keyword that recalls a nostalgic period all Japanese people share," says Hirohiko Yoshida, CEO of PC game company ACID. "That time of junior high and high school is, in particular, a transitional period," Yoshida continues. "There are people who feel they've lost something, who feel that they didn't want to grow up, or didn't think they'd end up like they have," he adds. "The fantasy of returning to the days of their youth makes for an easy place to play."
Based Kouki.
Being young is fucking sick
>>137613663
I was 193cm at 15, it's uncommon but not impossible.
>>137621323
>>>/fa/
Get out Josuke, no one wants to see your ugly hair.
>>137614938
Lmao college got better than high school for me, then it did get a little worse for a bit (worrying about applying for jobs or grad school), but overall it was a much better experience. Then again I don't live in japan so
>>137611053
Yeah, it's a marketing thing.
The adults are also obsessed with reliving their high school days.
Guts from Berserk
>>137613663
I've been 6'1" since I was like 16, and there was a kid in my grade in highschool that was 7'
