Alrighty. First things first; a character can 100%
have Mary Sue energy and still be well written and interesting. I think the issue arises once the
writers feel like the character can't demonstrate flaws or insecurities beyond a surface level.
And yes, I believe most viewers find the perfect, overpowered, super-nice protagonist to be
quite boring. Guess what? They really are. People like to relate to characters and see
characters reflect parts of the real world. And literally no one from
the real world is perfect. The first times I saw the term "Mary Sue" tossed
around was in the midst of my anime teen phase back in the 9th grade. Loved that. People were
calling characters Mary Sues and I finally realized why so many protagonists felt boring
compared to side characters for me. There's this one type of character I can think of. He's your
average guy, average height, doesn't get angry, doesn't get emotional at all really. He's usually
surrounded by a bunch of people, mostly girls, and they all have more personality than he does,
but they're all obsessed with him. He's super nice, super generous, and never messes up. He can
often have a random power that feels overdone, or underpowered but everyone in the show is still
super obsessed with him. Sure, not all the people who I'm thinking of are boring, and maybe there's
a fun catch or something that makes the character unique. But for the most part, these are boring
characters with no flaws, no personalities to build on. So why are they so popular? Mary Sue
characters are made this way because their lack of specific personalities or flaws make it super
easy for the viewer to project onto them, making it a self-insert of sorts—the same reason that Y/N
fan fictions and Wattpad stories were so popular at the time. And yeah, maybe this worked when some
of us were 12 and thought having no personality would be ideal compared to whatever, you know, we
were actually doing at age 12. But now, it just feels really dry. I don't want to watch a show
where the protagonist is someone who would go into an ice cream shop and order vanilla soft serve
with rainbow sprinkles and think it's a fun day. No. I want a protagonist who orders funky chunky
mint choco dunky and gets extra fudge and then fights with their best friend who prefers peanut
butter slammin bammin supreme. The point of a character, protagonist specifically, isn't to make
them a blank slate for any viewer to project onto. Instead, they're supposed to be their own unique
person who the viewer may find a trait or two to relate to, and perhaps learn a lesson from in
a more abridged sense. This is why shows and movies have a plethora of characters. And yeah,
I know there are other reasons why there are a lot of characters but I'm holding on to this
one. Most shows have a bunch of characters who, echoing reality, have different aspirations,
fears, attitudes, even if there's overlap. This is always present, but it's clearest
in cases like My Little Pony. Each pony has their own rump design—which is the official term—I
watched a documentary, believe me. And this helps differentiate what character has what personality.
It's the same with Ninja Turtles. Essentially, for children, writers are color-coding the
personalities of the characters and it helps differentiate them. Then, in other shows, it
becomes easier to pick on character differences without it being spelt out for us. So, what does
this have to do with the Mary Sue trope? Well, there's nothing wrong with the protagonist
having some OP energy, but once they're brought so far out of the realm of the other
characters with specific flavors and faults, the specialness of the main character ends up
being the very thing that makes them bland. So what do we do? We find a balance. Sure, your
protagonist doesn't have to be a Mary Sue to be well written. In fact, it's safer to avoid that.
But there are shows that provide a balance. A term I haven't used yet but is 100% relevant
is, "the chosen one." This is a trope that is massively common, and that's perfectly fine. The
problem, once again, arises when being the chosen one becomes the character's whole personality.
Let's take Naruto. Naruto is the chosen one, and he has great amounts of power and is running on so
much protagonist juice. But why is he not boring? Why is he a type of Mary Sue without crossing the
line? For starters, Naruto isn't super nice and perfect. He starts off rather annoying and loud
and kind of bad at being a ninja. His personality is specific, so the viewer has to find specific
ways to relate to him instead of just projecting onto a clean slate. In addition to this, Naruto
isn’t the only “special” one in the series. Sasuke is stated as the most powerful in the
beginning, with his own tragic origin story. Then you meet Neji, who is a prodigy with his
own personality as well. Then Rock Lee, who in literally any other show ever would have been
the protagonist. And yes, I’ve seen the spin-off. Then there’s Gaara, and even Shikamaru. So many
characters are seen as super powerful and unique, so while Naruto is the protagonist, he doesn't
sit so high above the others that he feels stale. Another way a character can avoid crossing the
line as a Mary Sue is to reinterpret the chosen one trope as a whole. I recently watched The Owl
House and one line sticks out to me. [EDA] “Look kid, everyone wants to believe they’re chosen. But
if we all waited around for a prophecy to make us special, we'd die waiting. And that's why you
need to choose yourself.” Luz, like every other child at that age, wants to be special, wants to
be the chosen one. In a way, she kind of is. She's the only human in this magical realm, but the
show makes it clear that this happens by chance, being at the right place at the right time,
and it's not some long-awaited destiny. Luz wants to feel special at a higher level,
though, but Eda lets her know that everyone is the protagonist of their own story, and has to
forge their own path. And this is what happened, essentially: Luz is supposed to go back
home but makes the decision to stay, even if she's not meant to. She's created the
position herself in which she is the only human in this world. It's not destiny, and they make that
clear with how she struggles to pick up the magic. I think this was an important detail to add,
because if Luz was the chosen one, I'd find her a lot more boring. She’s nice and hardworking
already, so we needed her to have to fight hard to make a place in this world. If not, everything
would have come easy to her and the show would have nothing to push her towards. So, this raises
the question, are all chosen ones Mary Sues? I don’t think so, but I do think there’s a huge
overlap. Because, like I said, many writers are afraid of giving flaws and individuality to
their characters who are meant to be special, which completely defeats the point. Guess what
time it is? It's time for me to bring up She-Ra into literally any conversation ever. So unlike
me. Okay, confession. I did not like Adora in the first two episodes BECAUSE I’m so wary of the
chosen ones. I remember the line that really did it to me. [ADORA] “What’s written on this door?
It looks like some kind of password.” [BOW] “You can read that?” [ADORA] “You can’t?” Yeah.
This kind of mindset gets old. The whole, “I'm special? I-I had no idea!” It’s that thing where
the protagonist's whole personality is being the chosen one. I immediately changed my mind about
her when I saw them in Thaymore because you get to see her personality. That's why I think it's okay.
Adora has flaws, has quirks, has her own story. Her being the chosen one is just something that's
part of it. In fact, the show does a great job in creating a connection between Adora's personal
story and the concept of her being the chosen one. Her personal story is that she was on the side of
evil without knowing. Shadow Weaver's emotional manipulation has led her to believe that if she's
not of use to people around her then she has no worth. This is a dangerous sentiment that stays
with Adora throughout all five seasons. You see Adora thrive on being the chosen one. The show
even pokes fun at it with Glimmer trying to activate the sword and then Catra dragging on
Adora for being special. But there are darker tones to this as well. Adora loves being She-Ra
because this has made her an indispensable part of the Rebellion. She feels useful, which is exactly
what Shadow Weaver has told her she needs to be. That's why when she breaks the sword at the end
of season 4, Adora is met with a lot of internal grief. She hates not having a destiny, hates not
feeling useful, and she conveys this in her weird 3 a.m. dream sequences. This is where her friends
step in and assure her that they like her as Adora, not just She-Ra. I love this detail because
it connects one of Adora’s main character traits with the fact that she's the chosen one. Her
being She-Ra doesn't feel like an afterthought, which, I know it's a reboot, so I appreciate even
more how deeply they delved into this. So yeah, they thought about this since episode one, but
do all shows think about it since episode one? I think Ruby from RWBY was a bit of a Mary Sue
towards the start of the series, but let me explain first. Ruby is about as far as a Mary
Sue can get before they cross the line into, “Oh, this isn't good anymore,” territory. I think
she's safe, and has been slowly walking away from the line in recent seasons. But it's definitely
close. The problem here is that Ruby has always been the special one. Yes, the other characters
have their own backgrounds and stories, but Ruby, in terms of power, is so far above them with her
special eyes, special semblance, special admission into the school two years early, special leader of
the team, special connection with Ozpin, special, special, special. What stops her from crossing
the line? I genuinely believe in the first three seasons, it’s Pyrrha. Despite the two of them not
having much of a relationship, Pyrrha demonstrates that she is the most powerful student at Beacon,
and is also very friendly and has faults. She's the one they choose to be the new maiden;
her death is what makes Ruby snap out of the Mary Sue bubble and realize, “Oh wow, my perky
personality won't save me from Cinder's fists.” Besides that, Pyrrha also is that person, like
I said, that makes sure Ruby isn't so far above the other characters. I realize I sound like I’m
dragging Ruby as a character and I’m really trying not to because I love Ruby and I think this is
largely due to the fact they snuck in some flaws. If they gave Ruby Pyrrha’s personality and
ran with it, I’d be bored. But they made Ruby act childish, have issues with working as
part of a team, lack in hand-to-hand combat, and be a bit too idealistic. Sure, her constant
speeches can still get old and she has the “I'm special?” lines, but as the series
progressed, they didn't wrap the focus so much around Ruby. Other characters had more
development—and get ready for some controversial opinions—I think season four was really important
with this. In season four, each of the girls was the protagonist of their own story, having been
separated after the season three finale. This helps solidify that the show is about four girls,
not one, and it makes the moments that do focus on Ruby in later seasons feel less Mary Sue-ish and
more like a shining moment for her. Ruby has Mary Sue energy, but she doesn’t yet cross that line
because of the precautions that the writers take. Most protagonists are chosen ones to a
certain degree, but how they get to this point and how they react can save them from
being Mary Sues. Aang from Avatar: The Last Airbender is a great example of a show taking many
precautions in ensuring the line is not crossed. Like Naruto, Aang is met with multiple
people who are more powerful than he is. There are other people in the show
who are special for different reasons. Heck, most characters in the show are special.
Inventing metal bending, being a bloodbender, banished prince… um, yeah. Like in The Owl House,
Aang has to forge his own path as an avatar, not fitting into a destiny so much as making it
his own. Like in She-Ra, Aang is self-aware of being the chosen one, but in this case, he doesn’t
want to assume this identity. Like in RWBY, Aang is aware that while he has great powers, he's
not immune to failure. Okay, we're about to enter some niche territory. Have you ever heard of Blue
Spring Ride? It was one of my favorite anime/manga when I was in high school. Because, despite one
really, really bad scene, it subverted most tropes and focused on friendship above romance while
still being a simple shoujo. The main character, Futaba, falls into a slot that in a lot of
shoujo would leave her with this overly-desired, too-perfect, super-sweet, loved-by-all,
never-does-anything-wrong position. However, Futaba, out of almost any high school animation
I’ve ever seen, is the most normal high schooler. What I mean by this is she is the least-special
person out there. She gets medium grades, has an average amount of friends, makes mistakes,
owns up to them. She can come across as rude, but has good intentions. It’s clear from the start
that she’ll end up with Ko, but he genuinely isn’t into her from the start. When I said that in
RWBY, it's a show about four girls, not one, I think this anime has the same idea. This isn't
just a romance story, it's a story about the friendship between five teenagers, all with unique
personalities. Futaba doesn’t walk around with every other character having unrequited feelings
towards her. Sure, throughout the 40-something chapters, 2 dudes do end up liking Futaba. Ko,
clearly endgame, and then this guitar mans. But they don’t fall for Futaba as one does with
Mary Sues: upon first sight and without much reason. Both actually dislike her at first because
she has this thing where she accidentally offends people upon first meeting them, which is super
relatable. The romance story doesn't rely on the perfect nature of the protagonist or the Mary Sue
“love at first sight” occurrences that many high school romances do. Instead, the writer worked on
developing the friendships and relationships over time, which makes Futaba much more relatable than
the perfect, overly-kind, bland protagonist that many other stories have. I know my first time
hearing the term “Mary Sue” came from discourse surrounding Ouran Highschool Host Club. This isn't
really a fair jab for me to make because the whole show is satire regarding shoujo itself, and Haruhi
is a Mary Sue, which, yeah, is the literal point. But shows that do this in a non-ironic matter
that are usually ones I can't sit through. One thing I haven't watched in years—so
please take this with a grain of salt—is Fruits Basket. I remember caring so little
about Tohru, who wakes up and gives the old, “I miss my dead mom but I don't need to process
the emotions because having to process emotions would make me less perfect to the eyes of
the viewer” speech. Boo. Instead, she's happy literally all of the time. And once again, I don't
remember, but I'm taking the guess that at least two dudes were probably in love with her. Which,
okay that's fine, but her personality is so… ah… I need flaws. Writers need to realize
that having a character trip once in a while and be like, “Uh! I’m so clumsy” isn't a
character flaw. That's a cheap way out. Okay, now that I'm done bullying the mega-successful and
well-thought-out anime from my parents’ basement, I think that’s enough. In conclusion, there's a
difference between a character being special or powerful or the chosen one, and then them being a
Mary Sue. The writer just needs to understand how effortless the Mary Sue's spot in the universe
seems and find ways to subvert it. If the way they're special relates to their own character
flaws and shortcomings, that's even better.
