Whenever I evaluate an anime, particularly a character-driven one, I like to consider the topic of character development. Over the course of a show and during the reviewing process, I typically ask myself a number of questions that put me in the right frame of mind to evaluate characters. For example: Who is this show's main character? Does this character undergo any changes over the course of the show? Are these changes rational? Did they change because they felt they needed to or did an outside force like another character or the plot itself force that change in them? Truth be told, I find evaluating characters to be fairly difficult because I know there's a chance I might have missed some key aspect or label that could have defined that character in a better light. On average, I think I do a pretty good job though which is what brings me to the matter at hand. As important as character development may be, all of my questions and considerations mean nothing when a show doesn't even bother to establish its characters.
With this season, in particular, I've noticed a strange and upsetting trend where shows seem to care more about moving their story along than actually focusing on the characters the story is about. Though I'll admit I dropped the show early on and might be missing some key character moments, the main perpetrator of this issue for me was a show called Just Because. Setting itself up with an interesting premise of highlighting that last semester in high school when the whole world is in flux. Truly, I found that concept interesting because it just never really gets addressed. Sure, there are tons of slice of life shows that throw drama in at the end because someone is graduating and might never be seen again but that one, specific moment in every young person's life hasn't really been properly explored as far as I've seen. It's a dramatic, traumatic, and anxiety-inducing experience that everyone can relate to. Here's the rub though: I could not be bothered to care because the show never gave me a reason to care.
At no point during the first four episodes of Just Because did I feel any kind of kinship to the show's cast of characters. Instead, it felt like the show was trying to evoke that deeper meaning I was talking about using a bunch of popsicle stick puppets who bitched and moaned their way through each and every episode, from start to finish, without giving me any reason to care why they were moaning in the first place. There was never a moment that delved into who these characters were and why they interacted with one another outside of the joke the name implies--Just Because. Now, it'd be one thing if these characters were meant to be emotional stand-ins for the audience and people they likely know, making the show far more personal, but I don't know a single person who would fall for someone over a dropped eraser or shout for joy because the person they confessed to said "I'll think about it." No one acts like these characters do, making it next to impossible to relate to them, let alone like them.
If you want to make a good drama, give me characters that I can empathize with so that the drama hits home for me. If you want to make a good action title, give me a likable main character that I want to root for. If you want to give me a mystery, give me some badass who will grant me some catharsis when they foil the villain's scheme. I said analyzing characters is hard, but I know for a fact that making them engaging isn't, so long as you put in the effort to establish who they are/were, what they want, and what they think is necessary/reasonable to see their desires realized. So, if a show can't be bothered to give life and meaning to its focal point, the characters, I see no reason why I should bother giving it the time of day.
What's most upsetting about this nonsense though is the fact that I had to wrestle with the decision to drop a couple of these shows or not. I mean, I love me my pretentious bullshit--I write reviews for fun after all--but I had never even considered the importance of this basic concept until now. So, let's just say writing my review for Hoseki no Kuni is going to be interesting, to say the least. Boy do I hope I don't find any more new benchmarks to consider in the coming seasons though.