I meant empathize in title, sorry I'm dyslexic.

And what touched me especially hard is how he fakes being a normal guy. Perhaps I needed to mention that in OP.

already regret

>I know you here weaboos don't take kindly to violent characters.
I personally don't, but that anon from the homura thread might disagree -- in the ends justify the means sense.

At least to me, there is a distinction between characters that appeal to me, and those I resonate with. Both may be categorized under empathy, but with latter it's that their background overlaps with my own and I can "relate to" them in that sense. Whereas with the former they may be a character dual, possessing attributes and strengths that I lack. Or another perspective is that with latter the empathy arises from a shared experience, whereas with the former it's a touching sort of reflected emotional warmth.

Hoshikuzu Telepath provides both examples - as I mentioned in that subthread, I can directly relate with Raimon: her social withdrawal, hyper-fixation on topics, her avoidant personality, and maybe even parts of the self-sabotage. Her dual, Umika, is thus someone that really appeals to me. She might me the kindest, strongest Kirara character I've seen yet: christlike in her ability to overlook Mataki's former sins, undaunted by emotional or mental setbacks, and actively seeking to extend her hand to support others. She has her own issues of social anxiety I can relate to as well, and she of course is blessed with the genki Yuu-chan who helps her overcome those; but as Yuu said, like a lighthouse Umika can and does bring together everyone and show them a path forward out of their past troubles/worries, and that is a beautiful thing.

I don't empathize with personality traits so much as circumstances. Being an alienated shut-in with little to no social life is relatable to me, e.g Welcome to the NHK, Watamote, Bocchi.
Like >>38130 said, this is different from the types of characters I like the most. I actually dislike Watamote's mc.

Post edited on 24th May 2024, 2:37pm

>>38124
>Hei, also known as Li Shenshun, is the protagonist of the 2007 anime Darker than Black by Bones.

He's electrifying.

>>38136
He's one of the best characters out there. He doesn't impact in the same way as mc of nhk does, though. I see nhk mc as a fellow loser, that makes me really feel it, but at the end of the day, there's not much use for losers. Hei, on the other hand, is the strong character that holds reins in his hands. And he's charismatic. He reminds me of Spike from bebop. In a way, they are equally likeable for that trait of theirs. But Spike falls for a woman, which is highly unrelatabe for me and he also doesn't reek of death the same way Hei does.