

For example, Issei in Highschool DxD isn't really the most popular guy,
without many other friends who are guys. Basara of Shinmai isn't shown with a
lot of his friends either. Oregairu's protagonist is the most lonesome
protagonist ever. Kirito of SAO does not have a social life outside of video
games. I'm sure you guys could think of some more examples.

Why does Japan's light novel industry think the most relatable character is a
social outcast? It's kind of a harsh commentary on their target audience, if
so, although possibly not completely wrong.


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What sparked the trend of slightly long dark-haired loner-ish protagonists in light novels?


I think the most applicable answer is relatablily, as you reference in your
question. I want to preface this answer by saying that not all anime consumers
or fans fit this mold.

The stereotype is that _otakus_ are social awkward and timid people. To make
their shows relatable, anime producers try to appeal to this aspect of their
target audience.

If you've ever been to Japan, much of the culture and merchandise surrounding
anime almost promotes staying inside and watching more anime. If a consumer
becomes obsessed with anime, they are more likely to stay inside and consume
more of it, which in turn makes the producer(s) more money. Thus, many
producers tend to exaggerate this fact to promote the idea that an anime
watcher is a social outcast, which in turn makes _otakus_ relate to their
shows more and watch them more often.

However, I think it is also important to realize that the target audience of
many, many anime and manga is high school aged students. As many of us can
attest to, high school can be an awkward time of transformation, when people
truly realize who they are and what they enjoy doing. Thus, it would make
sense that many of these shows create characters that are initially shy and
timid and then overcome their fears to accomplish something. Take Kirito from
[Sword Art Online](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sword_Art_Online), for
instance. Yes, on the surface, and from an outsider's perspective, he seems
like a social outcast. But as the viewers know him, he is a strong warrior of
SAO. I think this _hidden side_ of many anime protagonists appeals to a lot of
high school teenagers, many of whom are timid or shy, but each have specific
passions of their own. Similar parallels can be seen in the protagonists of
many other shows, such as [Parasyte](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parasyte)
and [Gurren Lagann](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurren_Lagann). Both
Shinichi and Simon are teenage boys who start out timid, but transform
throughout their respective shows to become accomplished and powerful.

I believe that the vast majority of anime consumers are not the stereotypical
_otakus_ , but we only hear about the _otakus_. If my friend Greg just likes
Attack on Titan, we don't hear much about him, but if my buddy Michael has
watched every single episode of One Piece, Bleach, DBZ, has tons of action
figures, and runs around spouting random phrases in Japanese, people are more
likely to notice and have opinions. Thus, the _otakus_ create the stereotype
for anime watchers, which anime producers then build upon with many of their
protagonists. [(source 1)](http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/2000121-anime-and-
manga-other-titles/66037764) [(source 2)](https://www.quora.com/Are-anime-
fans-socially-awkward)

As for the black/dark hair, I would guess that many protagonists have black
hair due to the majority of the Japanese (and Asian) population worldwide
having black hair, further making the protagonist more relatable.


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Let's analyze this using protagonist of some Japanese light novels. Let's
start with those you mentioned in the question. I'm excluding Basara of
Shinmai since I don't watch the anime nor read the LN. I don't know him enough
to talk about him. Also to be noted that I only write based on LNs that I have
read, and I write their names using the natural writing order, not the
Englished version.

Let me say beforehand, loner is not the same as social outcast.

## Analysis

**Example Cases**

  1. High School DxD - Hyoudo Issei

Even at the start of the LN, Hyoudo Issei was depicted not as a loner. He has
2 close friends, Matsuda and Motohama, who are both as perverted as he is.

  2. Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy ga Machigatteiru (Oregairu) - Hachigaya Hachiman

He started the story as a loner. But, it was later revealed that he actually
have 1 close (enough) friend, Zaimokuza Yoshiteru.

  3. Sword Art Online - Kirigaya Kazuto (Kirito)

At the start of the LN, no friends of Kirito was mentioned. The story started
with Kirito login in into the game, Sword Art Online where he met Klein and
then was trapped along with other 6,000 players in a death game.

  4. Oda Nobuna no Yabou - Sagara Yoshiharu

No friend of him was mentioned since he was sent into the other world
mysteriously. But in the other world, he quickly befriends old man Tokichiro.
He also befriends other characters as the story progress on.

  5. Tokyo Ravens - Tsuchimikado Harutora

Harutora has a childhood friend who is also his cousin, Tsuchimikado Natsumi.
He was also childhood friends with Kurahashi Kyouko, a distance relative. At
the start of the story he was friends with Hokuto and Ato Touji.

  6. Infinite Stratos - Orimura Ichika

No friends prior to him attending IS Academy was mentioned at the start of the
story. However, it was later revealed that he actually has one close friend,
Gotanda Dan. He also gets along with Dan's little sister, Gotanda Ran. He is
also friends with Huang Lingyin and Shinonono Houki prior to the start of the
story.

  7. Date a Live - Itsuka Shidou

Itsuka Shido has one close friend, Tonomachi Hiroto.

  8. Madan no Ou to Vanadis - Tigrevurmud Vorn

The only known friend of Tigre prior to the start of the story is his
childhood friend and maid, Titta.

  9. Rokka no Yuusha - Adlet Mayer

Adlet has no friends prior to the start of the story.

  10. Boku ha Tomodachi ga Sukunai (Haganai) - Hasegawa Kodaka

Kodaka has 1 close friend prior to the start of the story, Taka.

**Loner**

Okay, I think this much is enough for examples. Let's start analyzing them. Of
the ten examples I give there,

  * 2 person starts the story with 3 friends, Orimura Ichika, and Tsuchimikado Harutora.
  * 1 person starts the story with 2 friends, Hyoudo Issei.
  * 4 person starts the story with 1 friends, Hachigaya Hachiman, Itsuka Shidou, Tigrevurmud Vorn, and Hasegawa Kodaka
  * 3 person starts the story with 0 friends, Kirito, Sagara Yoshiharu, and Adlet Mayer.

I count Tsuchimikado Harutora as a person with 3 friends (Tsuchimikado
Natsumi, Ato Touji, and Hokuto) as Kurahashi Kyouko was no longer his friend
at the start of the story since he forget about her.

[Merriam Webster](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/loner) defined
loner as a person who is often alone or who likes to be alone.
[Dictionary.com](http://www.dictionary.com/browse/loner) defined it as a
person who is or prefers to be alone, especially one who avoids the company of
others. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loner) defined it as a
person who avoids or does not actively seek human interaction.

The only one who really fit the definitions above is Hachigaya Hachiman. The
other doesn't avoid company of others.

If we go with Merrriam Webster's first part of the definition, then Adlet,
Kirito, and Kodaka also can be called loner. However, there are circumstances
behind their _lonerism_.

Adlet was training in a secluded area where there are only him and his master.
It was shown in the story that Adlet doesn't avoid social interactions.

Kirito's school friends was not depicted in the story because they have no
relevance to the story. Kirito later was alone

> since he took the blame after the boss killed some of the front liners and
> was called Beater. he did this to protect the other Beta Testers.

There is a circumstance behind him being alone.

Kodaka doesn't avoid company of others, in fact he longed for the company of
others. It's just that his hair color makes him mistaken as being a
[yankee](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=yanki).

Orimura Ichika, Hyoudo Issei, Itsuka Shidou, and Tigrevurmud Vorn can't be
called loner since they clearly have friends and they also doesn't avoid
social interactions. While Sagara Yoshiharu doesn't start with friends, his
behavior doesn't suggest that he is a loner.

Out of the 10 examples, only 1 was a true loner, that is 10%.

**Social Outcast**

Does them being a loner also means that they are outcast? [Merriam
Webster](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/outcast) defined outcast as
someone who is not accepted by other people.
[Dictionary.com](http://www.dictionary.com/browse/outcast) defined it as a
person who is rejected or cast out, as from home or society.
[Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outcast_\(person\)) defined it as
someone who is rejected or 'cast out', as from home or society, or in some way
excluded, looked down upon, or ignored.

Hyoudo Issei can be called as outcast since the rest of the school perceived
him as insect due to his perversion. Hachiman was also avoided and looked down
upon due to his sarcastic behavior and dead fish eyes which makes people who
converse with him feel uncomfortable. Hasegawa was avoided since they are
scared of him as they think he is a yankee due to his blond hair which they
think was dyed.

The rest was not avoided or looked down upon. There was nothing in the anime
or light novel that suggests that they are a social outcast. Tigrevurmud Vorn
was looked down but only by noble of higher status (greater political and
military power) than him, Zion Thernadier. The rest, including Eleonora
Viltaria, which boast greater military and political power, much like Zion
Thernadier if not greater due to her status as a Vanadis, doesn't look down
upon him. Adlet was looked down upon by only by some, due to his background.
Most however, see him in good light since he is one of the chosen heroes.

So, out of 10, we have 3 pure outcast, that is 30%. While this is not a
majority, it is quite a significant number. Why do we have this many social
outcast protagonists? In Issei's case, he is a social outcast due to his open
perversion, so his personality is the problem here. It is to be expected that
he is a social outcast since he is so perverted. Hachiman and Hasegawa are the
only ones looked down purely due to their looks. So it's really only 2 of 10
social outcast. Not that much considering the amount of samples.

Why do we have these social outcast protagonists? I think the main reason is
that because having a social outcast protagonist helps in making the reader
immersed in the story. Such protagonist invokes empathy from the reader,
regardless of whether the reader was a social outcast himself or not, but is
especially true if the reader was. An immersed reader will continue to read
the story as they want to find out what happens, thus such protagonist helps
making the book sells.

**Hair**

Of those 10, Orimura Ichika, Hyoudo Issei, Hachigaya Hachiman, Kirigaya
Kazuto, and Sagara Yoshiharu are the ones with _dark_ hairs. Dark as in black
or dark brown. Tigrevurmud Vorn, Itsuka Shidou, and Adlet Mayer has _light_
colored hair of red, blue and red respectively. Hasegawa Kodaka is in-between
since his hair is actually blond but a dark blond. Tsuchimikado Harutora's
hair is mainly light but he has black hair near his ears.

Of the 10 examples 5 has dark hair, that is 50% of the samples. Those who have
dark hairs are all of Japanese ethnicity. Of those 5, Orimura Ichika,
Hachigaya Hachiman, and Kirito are the ones with black hair. Hyoudo Issei and
Sagara Yoshiharu's hair are dark brown. [Dark brown hair is actually
quite](https://www.quora.com/Is-it-just-a-stereotype-that-all-Asians-have-
black-hair-and-if-so-do-some-of-them-have-brown-hair) common among Asians.

Tigrevurmud Vorn, and Adlet Mayer was not Japanese. Japan doesn't even exist
in their world. Itsuka Shidou, Tsuchimikado Harutora, and Hasegawa Kodaka are
Japanese with light colored hair. In the case of Hasegawa Kodaka, his dark
blond hair color is part of the plot. It was due to his father being a
Japanese (with black hair) and his mother being a western with blond hair as
he mentioned when he said that he is jealous of Kobato being born with pure
blond hair and that she doesn't look like a Japanese unlike him. Shidou and
Harutora has such hair color even when they were kids.

Blond however, is a color that people in real life also has. Shidou is the
only Japanese with unnatural hair color. So, out of the 8, 7 has hair color
that exists in real life. Only 2 has blond hair, which is not what most
Japanese was born with. Thus, we can say that most of the protagonist with
dark hair is because that is what most Japanese was born with.

**Other Media**

Now, let's analysis how western media protagonists are. I'll just mention
some.

Harry Potter of the Harry Potter series was a loner if we go by Merriam
Websters' first definition of loner. He was also an outcast since befriending
him means becoming enemy of the class bully, who happens to be his cousin,
Dudley Dursley.

Bella Swan of Twilight series was also has friends prior to the start of the
story, Angela Weber, and Jessica Stanley.

Batman is mostly a loner with his friend being Superman and that was after the
story start, not prior to the story. He is also in friendly relationship with
Robin, his sidekick.

Wolverine's friend before he joins the X-Men was his brother, Sabertooth. He
is outcast as far the the humans is concerned since they fear him for being a
mutant, that is if they found out about it.

Heathcliff of Wuthering Height was a loner and an outcast. He pretty much
dislikes the company of others with the exception of Catherine who he is in
love with. He is also an outcast due to his dark skin and origin.

I'm not saying that protagonist of western media are more loner and outcast
than Japanese LN protagonists since clearly I didn't give enough examples. My
point here is that this is not unique to Japanese LN protagonists. Such type
of protagonist exists even in the 19th century when Wuthering Heights was
published,

## Conclusion

We can't really say that there is a trend of loner main protagonist in light
novels. While we have quite a significant number of outcast main protagonists,
it is not the majority. Like I said in the beginning, loner is not the same as
social outcast. Only 10% of the example protagonists are loner, but 30%, that
is 3 times, are social outcast. Social outcast protagonist invokes empathy
from the reader which helps making them immersed in the story.

In comparison to other media, LN protagonists are actually not that unique.
Loner & outcast protagonist is not exclusive to LN since like the example I
give above, many protagonist of famous stories are loner and outcast.

In regards of hair color, it can be said that their dark hair color is due to
the fact that most of Japanese was born with that, thus giving a dark hair
color helps keeping it believable that the main character is a Japanese just
like their name suggests.


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