Anime has a wide share of protagonists and a majority of them tend to be well-liked by their peers; however, some contain individual quirks that make them harder to stand when working towards a common goal.  So I wanted to go over five main characters that would fall under that description.  There will be spoilers ahead but I will work to keep them as vague as possible.

5. Light Yagami from Deathnote

Light is a very unique case for this list because he is actually a very popular and well-liked individual and works well with others; however, in all of those circumstances, Light is presenting a front that masks his real characteristics.  The people that work with the real Light, whether they like him or not, are often the victims of incredible scrutiny and in many cases either death threats or actually being killed. Light puts on a front so that the public doesn’t know that he is secretly Kira the man who is able to kill criminals by only knowing a face and a name.  The people that help Light with this goal know the real Light Yagami who is a completely different person and one that keeps his inner circle on a tight leash and often not for an extended period of time.

4. Yusuke from Yu Yu Hakusho

Yusuke has wound up on a few of my lists including my top 10 trash-talkers one.  He has the best of intentions and is deep down a kind-hearted and gentle individual; however, he presents a very tough exterior that is very confrontational to the people around him. He is often seen insulting the very people he cares about and very frequently yells and talks smack to friend and foe alike.  Another problem people have is that Yusuke is a very blunt individual which to some is a tolerable trait but others it has been a deal-breaker.  At one point Yusuke is near a human and casually talks to demons about using human criminals as a food source acknowledging that even demons need to eat; however, speaking his mind so casually about the topic enraged the human so much that she refused to have anything more to do with Yusuke.

3. Goblin Slayer from Goblin Slayer

This marks the first time I’ve referenced this show on my blog and Goblin Slayer is a character that can be tricky to cooperate with.  He has a one-track mind and his one and only goal is simply to kill goblins.  He doesn’t care if you need his help to save the world or if there is a giant monster plaguing a village.  He only cares about ridding the world of goblins.  For that reason, any character that has any kind of desire for a goal other than that has a hard time cooperating with him.   On numerous occasions, other characters have tried to get him to pursue something other than goblin slaying; however, the only way they could even get him to consider anything was to help him slay a large number of them.

2. Seiya from Cautious Hero

Another first for my list is the Cautious Hero Seiya.  He really lives up to the name cautious as he takes just about any and every possibility into consideration before he makes a move.  For example, he was so paranoid regarding the people around him that he drenched them all in holy water to see if any of them were a demon, ironically one of them was in fact a demon in disguise.  When he buys armor he wants three sets so that he has a spare and his spare has a spare.  He also spends an enormous amount of time preparing for any situation where most people would have long since taken some sort of action.  This of course frustrates his companions who are less patient to act.

1. Naofumi from Rising of the Shield Hero

I have talked a bit about this show before in a review but this is the first time it made any of my lists. At the very beginning of the show Naofumi is a gentle individual; however, accusations of a horrible crime that he didn’t commit caused him to be ostracized by the people he was summoned to protect.  As a result, he became bitter and hateful towards everyone around him and it takes him a long time to soften up and actually speaks kindly to people.  Most of the time if someone even asks him for a favor he requests an immense sum of money before he will attempt anything.  In other cases, he feels like he has to be in a position where people are forced to work with him and that’s the only way he can trust them.  Overall his lack of trust to those around him warps how he conducts himself and for many it’s impossible to get past this cold exterior to find the kindhearted individual he was at the start of the series.