Shows carried by a single character

Zed

Database Moderator
The opposite of the other thread, when a single character is able to hijack the screen every time he appears, he would have a strong presence and is able to turn a slog show into ham cheese, and when he disappears the show once again turns into a boring slog until the next time he appears to ham it again.

From a recent example we have Pantsu Onii-chan, who everytime he gets some screen time he would be rubbing his balls in the face of everyone around while hamming it as much as possible.

HxH isn't exactly a bad show, in fact it's far from it, but Hisoka the psycho pedophiliac clown, it doesn't even matter what he's doing, whatever it is it would be awesome.
 
The man, the myth, the love of the titty. I'm talking bout Lord Mie.
hatomune-mie-36943.jpg


Hard to believe in a show literally about big tits being a sign of power and status, the best and most memorable character was a dude.
 
Fucking Orihara Izaya, what's not to love about an information broker that trolls people and is willing to pay money to make kids miserable. Most of the show's cast are great, especially Shizuo, but they've got nothing on that sexy hiroshi voiced asshole.

We also all know the best Juni Taisen character is, but normally that wouldn't be an achievement considering every single one of them sucks. But still, he just grabs the screen every time
Even when he's an undead corpse killed by his own stupidity.
 
Hot take: The only good thing about Love Live! Sunshine!! was Dia, everyone else was boring and generic (so was Dia, but she was the least boring and generic out of everyone).

Also, Ryuuji is the only reason I gave a shit about B-PROJECT. And I basically gave up on Shokugeki no Souma because I only really cared about Takumi and he's hardly in it, lol.
 
This might not quite be what you mean by "carried by a single character", but in terms of shows that are driven primarily by a strong central character, Cross Ange is the first one that comes to mind.
 
Chances are if the only thing good about a show is a single character I've probably already abandoned ship and moved on to something else.
 
Hot Take: DARLING in the FRANXX with Zero Two

Not necessarily for her deep and complex character, but the one semblance of nuance and a good character design in a sea of cardboard cut-outs can't help but stand out.
 
I wouldn't necessarily say "carried" but...

*monogatari (series)
Hitagi's mere presence makes that anime so much more enjoyable.

I still like it even without her, but she's the best!
 
I wouldn't necessarily say "carried" but...

*monogatari (series)
Hitagi's mere presence makes that anime so much more enjoyable.

I still like it even without her, but she's the best!

flat,800x800,075,f.u1.jpg

Someone wanted to please me and it was a successful attempt!

In al honesty though, as much as Hitagi help the shows a lot, it can't measure with Araragi obviously. Try to erase him from the show and what you have? This was in particular visible in Hanamonogatari, where for more than half of the OVA Kanbaru is the narrator, Araragi is absent and that part is utterly boring.
 
Assuming that "carry" also implies being a central pillar to the identity of a series, and not meaning that it has to be a character so crucial that the series would be dogshit without them... I'm also discounting series where said character is titular, and shows where there's like no other main characters. (so that disqualifies Ginko and Kaiji, for example)

Kazuma is pretty much the glue that binds Konosuba together. I love all the characters, but oh boy would it slide into generic real fast without him specifically to balance things. It just wouldn't work, which is why I'm not really hyped about any of the novel and manga spin-offs that don't really contain him.

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Shirou Ashiya, in the end, single-handedly carried Hataraku Maou-sama! while it was still fun. You can pretty much directly draw a link between the show's enormous drop in comedic value and endearment with how the show started to find any excuse to not have him on-screen most of the time after the halfway point of the series.
Seriously, I have no idea why it just thought up any excuse to give him no screen time. More concerned with high school girl romance teasing and tripping in all the loose plot threads that had destroyed the central tension of the story.
To date, I think this was one of Yuuki Ono's best performances.
 
Remember Norio Wakamoto's character in Dances with the Dragons? He didn't so much carry it as be the only thing in the show worth watching.

He did carry the two episodes he was in. The episode where they battled him was so ham because of his performance.
 
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