A question for the guys

[YumiOgawa]

Yup I'm a girl and I'm making a comic aaand I'm terrible at making characters that appeal to guys so I need some help

I wanna know what kinds of characters guys like, both for male and female characters.
You can give me some examples or write what kind of personality and appearence a cool character should have

Thanks :3

Originally Posted by YumiOgawa

It is a shonen-esque story. It's fantasy but still taking place in a modern city of some kind. Some people have magic powers and some have weapons and so on. It's humorous and random and I'll maybe add some more gore to it as it goes on.

[Don9aldo]

Expect many comments of "BEWBS!"...

My personal definition of "being cool" would be if a person is generally good at quite a few different things, is laidback in the good way (i.e. it seems like they have pretty much everything under control) and is easy to talk to, as well as friendly. I also prefer more laid back kinds of characters. like, say, Mr. Hanekoma from The world Ends With You:

That guy is the very definition of cool... he just does his own thing, all the time, has others interests at heart, runs his own coffee shop (Not because he likes coffee, but because he likes the smell of coffee beans), and is a great artist to boot.
Plus he rocks the relatively formal attire in a pretty casual way...

It helps if the character is good at something unconventional (Like running a coffee shop) too.
I'm into the dapper relaxed gangster look myself - suits are cool, hats like trilbies and fedoras are cool, and ties are out of the picture.

Some examples from anime of who I'd consider to be cool:

Male:
- Tatsumi Saiga (Speed Grapher)
- Spike Spiegel (Cowboy Bebop)
- Firo Prochainezo (Baccano)
- Ryuusuke Minami (BECK): Generally, playing any instrument is pretty cool; the more unorthodox the instrument the cooler it is (Harmonica for instance, when played well, is a lot cooler than guitar)

Female:
- Koko Hakmatyar (Jormungand)
- Kino (Kino's Journey)
- (The Real) Ami Kawashima (Toradora): She seems like a b**** at first, but then you realise how kind she is at heart.
- Reki (Haibane Renmei)

Notice that I've avoided the big typical shounen series here - cool characters are fairly self-explanatory to both genders in those I'd say (Dealing with insurmountable odds with a cool quip and a pop into the bag of power-ups).

P.S.: Evil characters can be cool too though I haven't listed any real examples of those - same qualities still stand (Apart from the caring for friends bit, with evil characters the easier it is for them to manipulate others the cooler they are), unless they take it to monstrous levels (Please see Johann (Monster)). Izaya Orihara is a good example for a cool evil character.

[BrainBlow]

A mature and balanced female character that doesn't appeal to gender stereotypes.
Alyx Vance is a good example. (though don't just make a rip-off)

[YumiOgawa]

Don9aldo: Thankyou for the nice and long answer :D
It was very inspiring
I'll go check the characters you listed further out and wait for more answers

Brainblow: I like such female chars a lot myself so that's good to hear ^^

[BrainBlow]

It'd be easier if you give a hint of what sort of story you're shooting for.
Doesn't exactly help to, say, describe the perfect romance male lead when you're making a shonen-esque story.

[YumiOgawa]

Oh okay it is a shonen-esque story. It's fantasy but still taking place in a modern city of some kind. Some people have magic powers and some have weapons and so on. It's humorous and random and I'll maybe add some more gore to it as it goes on.

[BrainBlow]

So it's DC universe online?

[sysmibmip]

I don't have the time to procure a 500 word analysis...
Pretty much I find myself more or less in agreement with Don9aldo. But I don't like Ami. : P

Originally Posted by Don9aldo

Expect many comments of "BEWBS!"...

Main reason I gave up on shounen but also the main reason shounen like shounen I guess.

[BrainBlow]

Read this webcomic.
Understand when it is only ridiculing machismo, and when it is portraying it in a positive light.
(reading author comments helps)
Then you'll get the gist of it. Especially helpful in that the author is female, but you wouldn't guess that based on the characters.
Also, it's like one of the most hilarious webcomics on the entire internetz.

[TheZippo]

For men:
a laid back guy figure but is actually really capable and knowlegdable is definitely a character that earns respect and is therefore seen as 'cool'. Childish idiots who always act and never think things through become a pain in the ass quickly. However a fool character is always necessary for the purpose of creating humor. The important thing is not to make them the main character. At the moment the best example of a male idiot character as protagonist would be Yuma from yugioh zeal. You end up wanting to kill him. On the other hand a character that in normal everyday situations acts like a fool, but acts all capable and intelligent when the situation turns serious ends up working well. Creating the paradox of the fool and the serious character(s) in a story is fulcrum to creating comedic situations. If the paradox in characterization is created in one person (such as Sagara Souske from Fullmetal Panic! who is so serious about everything that he looks stupid but is actually a very capable and intelligent person, or Luffy from One Piece who acts the brainless idiot 90% of the time but when necessary, becomes the most reliable person in the crew) a whole new level of characterization and depth is made. Interesting men are those who have an air of mystery - there's more to them that meets the eye, be it intelligence, knowledge or a special skill. Clothing should hint at the mystery of the character although it's not necessary. For this, I think characters from Durarara!! are good reference.

For Women:
An air of mystery is always a plus - comlpete airheadedness quickly gets annoying. Face, hair and breasts are what men look at as the first defining features of a female character. Naturally if all female characters have enormous breasts like in Freezing, the story and characters lose all sense of realism and therefore depth. Variation is key, I'm not a loli fan but there are those who are so they should be considered too. Female characters tend to follow a stereotypical characterization - mainly due to the fact that they are the first ones to fall in love and therefore start acting as such, which severly limits the variation in personality characterization you can do

For both men and women, in order to create an air of mystery around a character a loner like aspect to their personality needs to be present. Super sociable ppl aren't very good at hinding part of their nature...