How To Write OVERPOWERED / OP CHARACTERS In Your Manga Series
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- čas přidán 29. 06. 2024
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In today's video we will be going over how to create OVERPOWERED CHARACTERS/OP CHARACTERS in comics, manga, and webtoons. We will analyze the success of POPULAR OVERPOWERED anime/manga series such as Sword Art Online, Dragonball Z, One Punch Man, Mob Psycho 100, and That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime
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0:00 Introduction
0:45 Skillshare
2:09 What Is An Overpowered Character?
2:43 Nerfs Vs. Buffs
2:59 Implications Of OP Characters
3:16 Rising Popularity Of OP Characters
3:42 Common Problems With OP Characters
3:54 What Is A Mary Sue Character?
4:53 Turn Your Brain Off Stories
5:12 5 Consequences For OP Characters
5:16 1: Lack Of Authority & Order
5:56 2. Marginalizing Weaker Characters
7:24 3. Inconsistent Storytelling
8:04 4. Losing Relatability
9:43 5. Less Tension In Story
10:47 Potential Fixes For OP Characters
10:51 Fix 1: Character Flaws
11:32 Fix 2: Turning To The Dark Side
12:24 Fix 3: Stronger Antagonist
13:37 Success Of: One Punch Man
15:05 Success Of: Mob Psycho 100
16:39 Success Of: That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime
17:50 Closing Thoughts
18:15 SaturdayCon
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I plan on q overpowered antagonist who's always messing with and getting in the way of the protagonist of the story but not the main antagonist. It's about a team of some sort.
@@1cub106 Sounds cool!
@@MonitorComics I love that dbz is such a great learning tool for comic/manga writers. It has so many great examples for what to do right and wrong
Deathnote's Light Yagami is an interesting look on an OP character. Through the deathnote's rules and the laws of the world Light lives in, I think the story does a great job at giving him believable obstacles that create awesome tension throughout the series! I guess in the end, it's the deathnote itself that is overpowered. Combined with light's own abilities (and weaknesses), it makes for a wicked combination. Great video!
Very true!! Thanks for taking the time to share all of that Peach!
@@MonitorComics i have two other tips for making a overpowered character
1 : give some kind of a mental challenge or illness
2 : his/her enemies should be as strong if not more strong
Edit : give him/her limits. For example Superman, he is retardedly overpowered but he holds back or struggles sometimes
My main issue with Death Note is that Yagami is so frigging stupid. If I had a DN, I would:
- Always write random cause of death just so it can't be linked
- Only use the default cause of heart attack for people where it makes sense (elderly, the obese, heavy smokers, etc.) and even then would always note different time of death.
- Keep the DN somewhere where only I can access it, such as storage box, some sort of a hidden structure, etc. It may delay the "justice" slightly, but I could remember name/face until I can get to the DN place.
And I wouldn't:
- Kill some guy on TV just because he taunted me - if they have to do such tricks instead of literally being on my doorstep in an "FBI, open up!" sort of way, it means they have nothing on me.
- Start my career from serving justice to someone local. Instead, I would choose some famous dictator whose death would be widely reported in the media.
- Kill investigators, unless they actually know who I am and what I can do, even then, I would make it look unrelated, such as due to a bank robbery nearby.
@@UltimatePerfectionfor the 1, 2 and 4 i totally agree
Light's biggest enemy was his Ego!! He would've won if he didn't have that trait
I feel like the most important thing when writing a story with OP main character, is having a great set of supporting characters. I feel like when the MC is uber juiced, a large chunk of responsibility for carrying the narrative falls on the supporting cast. Case and point being the OPM and Mob side characters, you're more invested in their challenges and how they overcome it rather than always waiting for Mob or Saitama to show up and kick the ass of whatever baddie they're facing.
Great points! Thanks for taking the time to add onto the discussion!
6:22
Makes sense, if Sasuke doesn't have his sword, then he is a tad bit weaker than if he did have it.
LOL TRUE
Generally the way to handle OP characters is to remove the core conflict from the area in which the character dominates. For example Accelerator in A Certain Magical Index is completely overpowered, to the point where any and all fights have a pre determined outcome. However, these fights are not the focus and instead Accelerator’s character arc is that of redemption, in which completely destroying his opponents runs counter to his goals
In other words overpowered characters can’t face a challenge from what they’re good at, instead villains should poke at their weaknesses, forcing character development
Very good points! Accelerator is a great example! Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts!
Hey Monitor. Just wanted to ask. Do you really think that Satoru Gojo a good overpowered character? Yes or no? Just curious!!!!!!👀🧐🤨@@MonitorComics
WOAH I'M SO GLAD YOU MADE THIS!!!
I've been thinking a lot about writing op characters as I am rewatching The Disastrous Life of Saiki K and have been thinking of why the series works with an over powered character, when so many other series fail.
From the few that I have found to work I think the key difference is that their powers don't directly tie into their ambitions and goals, and in many cases serve as an obstacle to them.
In most shonen series (the genre I am most familiar with) the character wants to be the very best like no one ever was and as such having them be over powered would detract from the tension as it would just make achieving the goal way easier. The stakes are also typically set so high that the protagonist has to eventually come out on top because otherwise they'll die so they almost always win every fight- also most protagonist's are too morally good to be corrupted and win by evil means (I'll expand below).
This can best be seen in the series School Judgment: Gakkyu Hotei, a series about high school lawyers. I initially liked the series for its concept and I am a massive fan of Obata's work, but the tension slowly died off and the debates felt repetitive (and this series had less than 20 chapters). The character has supposedly lost cases in the past but we never see it and starts to become predictable. I have seen other series do the same thing over and over and remain engaging, but most series can't pull this off.
If we look at some well written OP characters- I will be using Mob from Mob Psycho 100, Saiki Kusou from Saiki K and John Doe from UnOrdinary (I swear I talk about him every comment).
Mob wants friends and to be the best person he can be. He admires Ritsu for his intelligence and charisma as he lacks these qualities himself. His powers have actively worked against him in his quest for connecting with other's as suppressing his emotions makes him unrelatable to those around him and he's often assumed to be disengaged or bored. Mob being the most powerful esper doesn't actively contribute to his character's wants and needs and thus him being so powerful doesn't make the story boring or too repetitive. Also the thematic connection of super powers not making you inherently special helps to create a unique narrative and shifts the focus away from the fact he is so over powered. If you want to have a character that can end a fight in two seconds with their mind then you can't have the series focused on the fighting.
Also, his fight with Teru is brilliant as Mob wins the fight but still 'loses' as he broke his own ideals to do so. This is rarely done in Shonen as the protagonist typically has the moral high ground and is too morally pure to go too far and achieve victory in a way that they regret later on. Most antagonists the protagonist will fight are evil and very few protagonists try to hold their powers back. Another example of a character winning but taking it too far would be Yugi V Weevil in the famous DRAW MONSTA CARDO duel, but as a general rule the protagonist has no guilt for beating the day lights out of some evil dudes.
Next we have Saiki K, a character very similar to Mob as he is also an overpowered psychic. What makes Saiki K work is that his powers are something he actively wants to get rid of as it has stopped him from experiencing things other people have. The series is also an episodic comedy, which means tension can be built up and released quickly and isn't expected to be drawn out, which plays in well with a character who can resolve issues so quickly. He also has to actively work against his strength to resolve problems as he has become impractically powerful and he wants to avoid standing out and being noticed. All the issues his powers create him stops the character from becoming boring as the powers are an obstacle, rather than a solution.
And finally John Doe (slight spoilers for season 2 and sort of 3). John was a character who became overpowered later in life, and thus he had a lot of desire for revenge on those who had taken advantage of his weaker self. This pent up rage led him to become brutally violent and his victories in battle stopped feeling like victories. He would win a fight but instead of stopping once they were down he keep going until they were beaten to a pulp. This violent tendency gives him a critical flaw and causes him a lot of internal struggle as he grows to regret his actions and is fearful to use his powers to help other for fear he will take things too far. The power serves as something that he has to learn to manage as suppressing himself is not an option.
Thanks so much for reading, sorry for the essay lol. I spend way too much time overanalysing manga and anime when I should be doing homework and study. I hope you found something valuable and feel free to add anything I've missed. :>
For more essays go watch all of Monitor's videos and just try and find my rants in the comments lol
LOL Thanks for taking the time to write all of that Yazmin! You make some great points! It's always fun to hear you go on about UnOrdinary as I am not too well versed in the Webtoon space! You always add a lot of value to the discussion so no need to apologize for writing an entire college level thesis LOL
What’s your work?:) or Instagram
@@Mogg_king Are you referring to monitor or to myself?
I think MHA's solution to OP characters might be my favorite as it makes it clear that every power has a downside. The MC Deku can use OFA for immense power he has to limit himself otherwise it severely injures that part of the body. Aizawa can effectively render most characters near helpless by blocking out their quirk, but can only do so when looking at them. This is also how a lot of the stands in JoJo work too, power countered by limitation or consequence. It's what I have in mind when I create my characters and their abilities which revolve around telekinetic manipulation. One character may have control over a fundamental aspect of reality but lack the area of effect to actually control anything besides their body and anything in direct contact. And another may have an ability so powerful that it almost kills them just by activating it. I think that's how a series like JoJo continues to be relevant and exciting, because it focuses less on raw power and more on outsmarting your opponent by using what you have.
Every power already has a downside if you don't want it or can't turn it off. Super strenght would be a pain in the ass just means when you mess up the mess is bigger. Every immortal character seems to want to die. Magic often works by demons of cosmic beings giveing you power but they can ask for something in return. Intelligence makes you feel alienated because your smarter then everyone around you,
@@daraghokane4236 Yeah, that's what I'm saying. I think the best way to avoid the issue OP characters cause is to give them some weakness or negative side effect that causes them to either hate their abstain from using or limit their ability to apply said ability.
@@valerianperuser1615 Justice league cartoon did superman Right, Green arrow saying to superman you scare the crap out of me the government should built weapons to keep you in cheack and, superman latter saying people are right to be afraid of me. The problem people are scard of me because im strong im scard of me because im strong. I don't think there is a issue with Op chracaters thing you can make a show with god as a character only problem is if you act like there is tension for god in fights
yeah, I was thinking of a character who is op and his most powerful tool is telekinesis, however it can only be used remotely when he is experiencing extreme emotions, and even then it will damage his body due to the extreme power, so he can only use it for a brief moment or have to play around with it, while needing to have control over himself
A good op character is a character who has the ability to murder everyone but chooses not to just because why not.
An example of this is Netero, he has the ability to basically win any fight he wants, he just wants fun
From Hellsing, Alucard is my favorite overpowered anime character. He gives literally no shits when fighting other vampires and has multiple levels of power that he just unlocks whenever he felt like to screw with his opponents.
He starts off human looking which is more than a match for regular grunts. But with each level unlocked his demonic side shows more and more. He can regenerate from basically anything, like machine gun fire and rockets and instant heal. His most powerful forms are living shadows that destroy anything in his path.
His only limit is him answering only to his human master, Integra Hellsing. He goes on a rampage should she give the order, which she does without hesitation.
Alucard is overpowered done without restraint and is amazing
I always enjoy to see your videos when they come out!
In an isekai magical girl/boy idea of mine I do have one character who I guess is op. She's the leader for a rebellion and have incredible strength in order to use her weapon to the best effect. I'm still writing it and the idea of a stronger villain to battle her does come in mind, but not sure yet.
And later in the story I want one of the protagonists to turn to the other side; in the beginning she isn't a fighter and doesn't want to injure other people, no matter who it is. So she only fights enough to protect and defend against the villains. But when she turns she's no longer afraid to cause harm and let's her weapon and magic enabled strength run loose. I thought it'd be fun to see that as her arc and how the others will change her back. Hey maybe she'll be the one to fight the previous character. I'd like to hear your opinion on this if you have any. 😊
After watching your video I realized quite a few of my main characters are OP. A couple of them are OP on purpose and the others just ended up like that. I think it mainly depends on the story you write for those characters but also having a good reason why they are OP.
One of my OP charatcers on purpose is an alien that got stranded on earth. His species looks like humans but are far stronger. Compared to a human, he is basically a super soldier that can lift cars. But compared to his own species he is weak because he is still a child and has not reached his full potential yet. While on earth he has learned things that no one of his species knew they could do but he can still be defeated in a fight. This is going to be shown by the enemy of his species landing on earth and he is almost killed fighting them. So my character is only OP when it comes to humans. And his main goal is to get off the planet to return to his people.
My other story that has two OP main characters mainly deals with magic. These two characters were once powerful rulers that died in battle to prevent the end of the world, an event that happens every thousand years. They reincarnated into new lives but they still have their full magic power and memories from their previous lives. As they got older their magic power increases and they are two of the strongest mages in the world. There are others but they come in later in the story. The conflict for them is dealing with the royal and noble class of the nation who don't like peasants disobeying them. The royals and nobles are trying to get them to fall in line or disappear while the main characters are trying to prepare everyone for the up coming war. But no one believes them because they all think that event was stopped a thousand year ago. They manage to stop the previous event but failed to prevent it from happening again. So they are the only ones who know that the end of the world is going to happen again and they are on a time limit to prepare everyone for it. These two characters are strong but can't fight an entire war on there own.
So I think it mainly deals with the story you are creating for these characters. Have a reason why the character is OP, give them a conflict or goal to achieve, and like you said in your video possibly have them go up against a stronger antagonist.
The first story sounds interesting. Can I read them somewhere?
@@fantasyfirewolf Sorry but I don't have any of my stories made right now. I am currently working on my skills in 3D animation and working full time. I want to get them made but right now I am more focused on getting a job in 3D animation. I might make them into a show in the future if I am able to.
Stray Hats have the crew do amazing things, not only the monster trio
My girl Medaka and My boi Izayoi Sakamaki getting recognition you love to see it
Yessir!
Great advise, I hope I can use this very well with my ideas
I learned so much. Thanks man and my favorite overpowered character is Spawn
Epic video , you deserve more subscribers
I like how this channel touches on writing, manga, and comics.
Thank you!
Back at it I'll talk about my writing in my sci fi novel. So, one of my main characters, named Saltimbanque (french word because my story is in french), is an op character and he's a hero. He's presented as the strongest being at the start of the story and that's because in a world where some rare people have a power, in his case he has about 30 different powers. Some of them are strong and some of them have other utilities, such as diminishing the pain of others, making others fall asleep or sensing his area. The fact is, despite the fact he has powers making him physically strong, his power is more a result of a various set of abilities that grant him ways of resolving a wide variety of problems. Plus, many of his powers require a specific trigger to be activated such as sneezing, farting, feeling pain or feeling a shiver, so his power is also largely a product of his training and the clever, ingenious and strategic ways he utilizes his powers by triggering them and using his environment to his advantage. Also, he had to master them in order to not destroy everything around him like he did before, so he has to be very careful with how he uses his powers just like Mob or Superman. A moment where somebody else controls his body show that without his intense training, ingenuity and carefulness, using his powers only results in destruction of his surroundings and even destruction of himself, because yeah if not used carefuly his powers can even hurt him. The fact is that the variety of his powers lets him get through basically any situations and lets him overpower mainly any weapons, individuals, or phenomenon in the world. BUT, just like Saitama, he craves for challenge due to his overwhelming power and experience. So most of the time he challenges himself by saving other people of situations in which by himself he could escape or become victorious fairly easily. He has the power to get through any situation, but not to rescue everyone from it, mainly because he can't be everywhere at once. So heroism is a way to challenge himself. Also, he will start to clash with some new characters with abilities that can challenge him in a fight without them being able to straight up overpower him. He can also have a great fight and challenge when 2 or 3 of those other strong characters team up to fight him. In fact, he can be hurt, and is not immortal or invincible, but he is so damn strong, clever and versatile with his powers that it's ni impossible to have a real win on him, the only way of maybe winning is by teaming up the 3 other stronger heroes against him. By the end, when he clashes with the main villain who obtain as many powers (but not the same ones) by unusual means, he finally finds an opponent at equal power with him. They brawl on some occasions and even if he wants to stop the villain from destroying the things he protects, he also has a weird attachment to the villain because he's the only one to give him a worthy challenge in a fight, reshaping his meaning of heroism by being tempted of let go of saving innocent people and only focus on his fight with the villain, which is a very fun game to them both and the ultimate challenge in their life.
On another note, continue the great work man, your analysis and tips are good content. I'll go read your manga. :-)
The fact i really liked how you thought of your character . It's totally different than the main character i want to create but lol that was great.
"Here's how to write good overpowered Protagonists-"
*Sung Jin Woo had entered the chat
TRUE! I have heard Solo Leveling is a great example of an OP character done well. Unfortunately I am not too well versed in Webtoon series, so I don't include them in these videos. I plan to check out a bunch of them this summer though, so you may see Sung Jin Woo appear in a future video!
@@MonitorComics it’s a webcomic not a webtoon
There’s a difference
@@BroskI665what is the difference
@@peet-janissen5838 forgot, sorry it’s been a while
The fundamental lynchpin in ensuring that an overpowered character works is substance. All the best examples of this like Saitama, Vash the Stampede or my all time favourite Saiki is what consequences they suffer because of their status. Saitama's depression is the most popular and for good reason too as his existential crisis melds with a lot of people. His aimlessness is portrayed perfectly and the uplifting message of finding solace in the more menial things in life is very human. Vash possesses such unfathomable skill and power yet the ultimate flaw to his character is his unbreakable ideals; that of his pacifism. It's a wonderful contrast to his notoriety throughout the planet Gunsmoke but it's also clearly a hinderance to him during conflicts. Conflicts that he could knowingly put an end to with ease but refuses to because of his moral compass. Furthermore, the story also challenges his morals and he they aren't seen as entirely plausible. Finally, Saiki is from my all time favourite anime of all time and I adore his character. Not because he has one psychic gimmick, he has them all and the series goes out of it's way to illustrate why it's a bad thing. How he can't enjoy simple day to day things that regular high school students his age can. The comedy that arises from his plethora of abilities is immaculate but most importantly, he still acts like a real person. He has selfish wants and needs but can afford to do a little good whenever possible. Hell, I'll even defend Kirito and say that he's a good character too. His method of being 'overpowered' doesn't do away with tension entirely, most of his victories attained by the skin of his teeth. He exploits the limited knowledge of the system to get an edge but he's really no closer to breaking out of his shell, moving past his trauma and making friends until Asuna came into his life. This extends even beyond the Aincrad arc, he's probably at his best in Alicization where he's at his most vulnerable. I'd be remiss in not mentioning the trauma he struggles with in his series, whether that be killing a man in self-defence or losing one of those closest to you. These are all expert examples of how to do it right (even if the last one is an unpopular opinion) but the version of overpowered that I hate most is like the dragons from Dragon Maid. One's that break their world with seemingly no downside and no deeper thematic connection. But hey, that's just my opinion. Great vid and sorry for the long comment
My advice on how to make an overpowered character the right way is to balance out their strengths with their weaknesses like for example maybe the character's power is godly magic that allows them to do anything imaginable but with the cost of a limited supply and aren't exactly the brightest when it comes to using it sparingly and a clever opponent could come with a plan to drain them of all their mana. Maybe the character gains their powers from a specific source (i.e specific environment, the sun, evil energy, a supernatural entity etc) and if separated from the said source/entity will render their powers useless. Maybe they have the ability to copy any type of powers and abilities without limit at the cost of retaining all of the opponents weaknesses. Maybe the character has the ability to evolve their powers to the absolute maximum level and can even overcome their weaknesses but at the cost of gaining new weaknesses etc.
Simply put to a character can be super overpowered but can also have a number of fatal weaknesses that can cost them the fight. If a character is able to blitz through every obstacle in a story it becomes dull and repetitive.
An example of this would be Rimuru Tempest from That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime.
Rimuru is a slime who was a former 37 year old businessman who died from severe stab wounds from a sacrificing his life to save someone from a criminal.
Despite looking like a silly blue little slime Rimuru is able to copy and use the powers of any individual by devouring them and gains all of their abilities. He can manipulate reality on a high multiversal level scale, can bypass many defensive properties and cannot be harmed by any physical damage or be permanently erased from existence. Essentially making him unbeatable which is why he's by far one of my least favorite protagonists of all anime but the reason i watch his series is not for him but for the comedy aspect and for the smoking hot anime girls.
Bruhh this channel looks awesome! Original and super interesting contents >:3
Thank you so much I really appreciate it!!
Thank you, you make it easy to understand, now I can write an OP character the right way
TDK writers needs to see this
I absolutely love how much information is in this video. It is an awesome all in one for the advice I was looking for, but I have a couple of small questions.
The first one is how many flaws should an OP character have, like is it proportional to the power, or should another factor influence it?
The second one is how should these flaws develop and change, or should more flaws be added as the story progresses?
The third and final one is probably the dumbest, but how do you go about introducing an OP character? Like do you display their power right away, or do you keep it a surprise?
I'm really glad you enjoyed the video!
All of your questions are pretty subjective and are a case by case situation. There is no "right answer" like an op character must have 4 flaws
Character flaws exist in stories to limit characters. If they were op and perfect there would be no story, this term is usually called a "mary sue"
As far as introducing an OP character that is also subjective, i've seen both types you've described before
Except of doing both, why don't you show Thier prospective of life and problems they are facing . Maybe they are high-school student who lacks focus in studies coz of his overpowered power that no one else has
This is very very useful for me. A lot of my characters are said (by me) to be capable of destroying the 99% of the True Omniverse (all of fiction). So, yeah, probably needed.
Honestly the easiest way to handle an OP character is to make their goals something their OP abilities can’t handle - think Saitama or Ains Ooal Gown, both characters are OP but even Ains’ abilities will not easily get him access to his goal - finding other players. His personal goal is something he can’t even know if there are other players from the game he once played in this world. (Now I do wish that was focused on a bit more but I guess focusing on his minion’s plan to make Ains the most powerful person in the world works too I guess)
I really like Vegeta from Dragon Ball Z or Sei from The Saint's Magic Power is Omnipotent as overpowered characters! Thanks for the video, you given me a lot to think about!
Of course! I'm glad it could help!
My favorite version of an overpowered protagonist is Gojo satoru from jujutsu kaisen
He’s initially seen as op but his abilities have a good explanation behind them. Whenever he’s absent from the story the characters have time to shine
wdym good explanation you mean infinite curse power and techniques that can one shot nearly everything just cuz yes
If you read the manga and read the gojo’s past arc it goes in depth of his abilities
He doesn’t have infinite cursed energy he just has the ability to use the bare minimum of it.
And his moves are explained as well.
@@IlyTranq Just because something has an explanation doesn't mean it's good story-wise. Kirito has an explanation for his OPness and everyone knows he's still a BS character. By the way, I'm not shitting on Gojo. He is a side character with the mentor role. Mentors in stories normally have OPness, and that's just fine.
It's the main character being OP that's usually the problem.
A fix for OP character I am thinking of (not sure if it came up in the video as I am only 3/4 in) is a character that is unwilling to use his full power for whatever reason. That reason might be to make fights more fun (like in One Punch Man), avoiding destroying the environment ("if I go all out here, half of the city will be destroyed") or simply refusing to fight because the protagonist feels insulted by someone and as such the other characters need to pick up the slack.
This is so cool! And helpful thank you! I was just wondering, how to write a boundless or unimaginable character that has its orginability
Hey, Monitor! I know this might be a bit of a difficult request, but could you maybe describe the elements in creating story arcs?
Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment! Unfortunately I don't have the time to type all of that, it could be an upcoming video! I did find an article outlining different types of story arcs though! Hopefully this can help! I will most likely refer to this if I end up making a video around that topic! thewritepractice.com/story-arcs/
I wanna hear your opinion on jjk, Sukuna overall. He was built up from the beginning of the story (like madara in Naruto) finally is revived, fights the op character, wins, says he didn't even go all out, and then fights the supporting cast as the power creep upwards to match and wear him down over a lot of battles. I feel like the author fumbled the story, powering up the villian to beat the op character making the rest of the story unbelievable as the rest of the cast takes him on.
Gojo Satoru with enemies creating counter plans just to get rid of him
Can you make a video on how to make good arcs or training arcs?
My over powered character is the main characters gramps and teacher, I got a hug battle planned where he shows up at the end
Can you make a video about writing character backstories or motivations
I can add it to my list of upcoming topics! Thank you for taking the time to leave a video suggestion!
My character was so OP compared to the majority of the characters, I had to make him unable to tap in his full power due to the insane speed he was going up against when landing to planet Earth (in a space ship made by a powerful witch that traveled 1.2 billion light years in 7 minutes and 35 seconds) causing severe strain on his body.
His name is Manny.
WEBTOON's Teenage Mercenary's protagonist, a extremely skilled former mercenary who was trained in a mercenary camp since his first few years alive untill his teenage years after his parents died in a plane crash, where he then regains his memories and goes back home to live with his sister and grandfather. Conveniently, he constantly gets himself into trouble, willingly or not like the local gang, a big gang, former mercenaries, and giant businesses which he succeeds in winning every one of them. However, he mostly tries to live s normal teenage life like gaming with the bullies you befriended, working in a security team while in highschool, and caring for your two last living relatives. Really enjoyable
Enel from One Piece is an exception I believe as liffy was the perfect opponent for him....otherwise he'd nerf everyone else
You should do a video on how to make a good cover art for your comics/manga
Thank you for the video suggestion! This has been a popular request so I will definitely add it to the list!
@@MonitorComics
Arigato.
You are tooo good explainer....you are the best..I am from India and I have to became a manga artist...thanks for the video.....
Of course! I'm glad it could help! Thanks for taking the time to watch!
Dude, you just mentioned medaka here and I remember reading the manga and loving the character, after this video I re-read the whole manga series and it's indeed great, she's a very nice character who, despite being overpowered, is not something like Kirito, in fact, all overpowered characters in medaka box are great! I hope you make a video about that series one day
LOVE MEDAKA BOX! Super underrated! I will definitely try to incorporate it in sometime!
@@MonitorComics Thanks a lot, I your video got me to re read it, and it once again brought me so much joy while reading, the characters are also ridiculously interesting, like Najime, I find it a bit ambiguous if she is aware that they're in a manga, or if she's just delusional on her own universe, or kumagawa's inferiority complex, and medakas tendencies to be a people pleaser, those are overpowered characters that still struggle, they aren't just unbeatable like, once again, character's like Kirito, who we know will just win at the end for some bullshit reason, for once, I wasn't even expecting Najime to actually die against Ihiko, or kumagawa finally win at the end, this series is definitely amazing.
@@justarandomboy925 YESSS, I remember being a bit worried when it was ongoing and it suddenly shifted from a slice of life manga into a battle manga, but they handled it really well!
@@MonitorComics Yeah, the Unzen battle completely shifted the manga, and it was immediately followed by the flask plan arc, it went from your usual slice of life and Ecchi to a hecking battle manga, but the change was welcome, otherwise we probably wouldn't have had the kumagawa arc and presidential election arc, which ate honestly fantastic
I just LOVE when after every script paragraph a self-advertisement for another video is shoved up my face
yessir that's show biz
Bro I was thinking about this like 5 mins ago then this shows up in my feed.
LOL The internet do be scary like that sometimes...
Please make a video on how to write battle arcs in manga
I have a major OP MC that could defeat every monster and demon he faces, but his powers are restricted due to having to conceal his presence/aura and identity, lest the main villain find him for betraying the villain thousands of years in the past, being that theyre both also immortal. The villain is the only one the MC is afraid to face, as if he were found, it would mean the end of all life on Earth, and the death of every God and Goddess known to Man. His true identity is finally revealed near the end of the story, and he has no choice but to face his greatest enemy in a battle to save every form of life on Earth. Side note, the MC also hates Humanity for the many atrocities theyve committed, including the nuclear war that wiped out 3/4ths of the Human Race and other beings, but ends up defending whats left of Humanity anyway after experiencing true kindness and kinship shown through the main deutoragonist (secondary character), and other humans the MC meets throughout his journey to find the one weapon that can defeat the main villain. Of course Humanity can be cruel, so it's a struggle for the MC to care about humans as a whole, due to his own long past and experiences. Its a wild ride, and hope to get everything published by next year (2024).
Hey monitor I have a video idea, maybe you could do a vid on how to write a supervillain team or hero
Thank you for the video suggestion Requiem! I will add it to my list of upcoming videos!
Thanks and nice vid btw big fan of your manga and comic series
I'm writing a comic book where the entire team could technically be considered overpowered but it mostly based off various conditions such as the powerset of a character each of them faces, type of environment or using the full totality of their powers which does comes with certain caveats which could end up making things worst, couple examples is on of my characters when submerged in water becomes stronger over time but they also become equally as violent and uncaring as a storm or another who is pretty much the perfect counter to any magic based character but is also almost useless against characters immune to magic, and I did personally designed them that way because conceptually that's kinda how they have to because of what they are.
Sounds awesome! Thanks for taking the time to share! Best of luck with your comic!
Can you make How To Write Phantom Thief in Manga and Comics?
please give advice of how to end manga
it's very hard to give perfect ending without disappointing your readers
Would giving my character ptsd from an incident involving their op powers giving them subconscious mental limiters that won't be revealed until late in the series be a good way of dealing with the characters opness
Enjoyed the video and your content. I just wanted to ask can u look at, "Yakuza Reincarnation", it's Isekai that I think is really good and the MC is definitely one of the best I've seen. Lastly, my favorite OP character is Saitama.
I will definitely add it to my list! Thank you for the suggestion!
@@MonitorComics nah thank u man
My characters are aliens on a distant planet with 'Elemental' powers with a small side of a mix of the magical and realistic traits (Like, an earth user has an extensive knowledge of minerals, plants and metals and how they behave), their power is pretty I'd say... *Visceral*, it literally runs through their blood, it consumes energy in their body they have to replenish, the catch is that they can't just wipe out their powers as they desire, they have to build up an immunity to them through their lives, strenghten their body to withstand it, say a novice fire user can't create flames at the rate of a master bc they'll literally just cook themselves alive, same way an earth user will calcify themselves if they go overboard, so on and so forth. I also have 'Overpowered' abilities, there's the power baseline of the population on one side and the minority called 'Abnormalities', rare generational mutations that gives them a significantelly higher boost in their powers but at the price of their health bc they have to WORK HARDER to even be able to use them let alone master them, I wanted to make their power feel EARNED (The overpowered protagonist that plagues isekais is the blight of my existence) (Also I can get as creative as I want, I'm a huge nerd) I get a pretty straightforward powerscale too, prevents me from going insane XDDD
Basically the greater the power the higher the price (That's how my main villain is born >;3)
I think a good way to "nerf" an OP character is for them to be under some type of authority which like you said leaves them unable to fully control their abilities or access to their powers.
Inferiority complex definetly a great narative nerf for op characters
I won't say which character is this about (obviously, bc it would be a spoiler) but there is also one OP character that I really like and I think this character is well written and not a Mary Sue bc: first we see in a bunch of fights that this character is so OP that nobody can stop them, so we easily learn to believe that they will always win - but then there comes a situation when we finally see that even their perfect powers have some weaknesses and villains can take advantage of them under special circumstances, plus - we learn that this OP character has an emotional weakness caused by some relationship with other villainsous character and this detail plays out in such a way that it finally helps the villains win and overpower the OP character. So there's suddenly a situation when an OP hero becomes helpless and a bunch of much less powerful characters have to rescue them. I guess in this way we can still feel worried about this OP character's future and even their life bc just having incredible powers is not enough when i.e. someone can still trick you and use your confusion against you.
That's why i.e. Mob is great too bc even tho he's OP, he's also very naive and not experienced in fighting so these emotional and mental weaknesses make him very relatable and this convinces us that he won't win everytime.
thankssssssss
Thank you for checking this video out and leaving a comment!
I actually really like the daily life of the immortal king. Wang Ling is probably one of the strongest characters ever written, but he just wants to eat his crispy noodles in peace. 😅
hey monitor, can you talk about flashbacks in manga and how to make them right? because i know in writing flashbacks are kinda disliked
also, thanks for the 1 month free skillshare
Writing a book about more than one OP character. Its like a lineage of them but with other characters around them that also have the potential to become OP. Like you said they become OP by the end BUT they sure as heck didn't start off that way. In my book everyone starts off weak but they all have limitations once they get stronger even if they can technically get out of any situation if they practice stuff enough. This is all based off of elemental and kinetic abilities. But they can access other elemental abilities and sub abilities based on their understanding and precision of that element for instance water can manipulate ice and vice versa. The only true limitation really is scope of knowledge and how much they can focus to be precise. There is also an energy system they have to call upon and they have to have enough energy to pull it off but you get the point.
Jujutsu kaisen. That's jujutsu kaisen
for me its probably Gilgamesh from the fate series 🤩
Hey is Raizel from noblesse is good overpowered protagonist or not ?
Would a good “limiter” for my character be that he’s mirroring the bad guy? The protag of my story is like the reflection of the bad guy, and vice versus. So the main character doesn’t use his OP abilities because he feels he’d be acting just like the bad guy who is in character and motivation his evil counterpart. Is that a good limiter?
The one constant in good op protagonists story’s are good side characters
Also slime is good because of the city building
The best example of an overpowered character I know of is Pledd Hanbin from Latna Saga: Survival Of The Sword King, the story begins with him on millitry leave relaxing in his home when he's suddenly Isakaied to the world of Latna. He ended up with a fualty guideline being implanted in him by the main villain and was trapped in the training area for over 20 years before an admin noticed he was still there and forceably boosted him to level 5 so he could get rid of him. Hanbin ends up in Latna stuck at level 5 but he has overpowered stats as a result, because every time he tried to get to level 5 his level counter would always revert back level 1 and his stats roll over with him.
Through out the story he's show to be able to just brute through his way through most enemies but due to him being from Earth he has to hide his true identity from the others, als his low level prevents him from using almost every item in exsistance because you have to be the right level to use them. Hanbin finds that he can't get enough experience from killing monsters thus rendering him unable to level up at all, that and some monsters can't simply be beaten with brute force alone. Some characters tho are able to go toe to toe with him and after a recent arc there are now enemies that he simply cannot fight due to him having a guideline meaning another character has to help him fight said enemy.
I'd reccomend giving the series a good read and believe me it's funny when it want to be.
Spawn is another example of an overpowered character done right
Looking at you, Rey.
Can you make a video on how to write a yandere character? I want to make my own comic featuring a yandere as the MC.
The way he said "he attracted every girl in a 5ft radius, even his sister"
LOL
The most important aspect to an Op character in my opinion is the world. How they react, their actions and the OP's consequences.
When it comes to making them interesting.
1: Make them a girl. That's a joke but honestly I can't think of an anime protagonist whose One Punch Man levels of op and a girl.
2: Knowledge is power. It's in the background of most OP stories but villains scheming behind their back without their knowledge puts a strain on OP's ability when he doesn't know where to use them.
3: Politics. Or just conflicts. Take a world of good and evil. The protagonist wants coexistence. But of course people hate the monsters. And naturally, if OP is OP people fear him.
So he has to strategically use his BS powers while keeping the public in the dark while trying to negotiate more and more peace, which draws attention, and enemies. Stronger enemies.
4: Make the good guy the world's biggest nightmare. There's a manga I can't remember the name. But basically humans fights monsters, and one man can now transform into a super powerful monster. Naturally, nobody likes this at first and immediately attack him despite his first appearance being saving them.
It's one of the flaws you mentioned by giving the OP conflicting emotional weaknesses.
A suggestion for a future work. Make the main character the twist villain.
His motives are known, his ambitions clear. He and his gang grows and become strong but he's clearly the strongest.
Now make his morals and goals collide with the world and friends and now the gang is the main protagonist and the main guy is the villain.
Thanks, im going to reverse this information and use it to make a non op character in my manga to be balanced
Big brain moves! Thanks for taking the time to watch and leaving a comment!
@@MonitorComics yeah no problem man, your a big inspiration to continue my manga and ur vids help a loy
The term over powered
One of my characters: *i created that term*
12:21 I find it highly ironic you included Sayaka from Madoka Magica on a video of overpowered characters, since she's considered to be the weakest out of the Holy Quintet.
Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment! When I showed her in that bit I didn't mean for her to seem like an example for an "OP character," just a character who starts out good and becomes influenced by evil, in her case becoming a witch
@@MonitorComics No worries, thank you so much for the advice on your video! I liked it besides what my comment might suggest!
I just feel bad for the girls in Madoka than being horrified by the anime XD.
Satoru Gojo he’s cheeky, honest and sheepish
8:21 - 8:24 How I wish my life was for so long now.
When you are someone who as linkin park put it; "tried so hard and got so far, but in the end it doesn't even matter" in life, to the point where you gave up on putting effort due to how "weak" you can be when it comes to living standards, I wish I was OP in the same way as someone using cheat codes in a video game they are bad at.
I don't care about the endeavorous *journey* any more. I care about the *destination.*
Would I get bored? I wouldn't care.
Because not only are my ambitions bigger than myself.
And if I played the standard way of living while having OP abilities, I would only be painfully reminded on why I wished to be overpowered.
It's not like I'm some certain bald head who would use such power just to "fight strong guys".
One writes the best OP characters
Kiriko from HxH is a masterclass on writing an OP character
were can I read the literally notes??
Og Dragon ball did op kid goku so good to the point when goku went to world tournament he lost twice then lost to tambourine gets a zenkai an still loses to a old king picclo it was such a throw off we were so use to kid goku always winning then we seen him get batterd an it raised the stakes it was like wow guys we almost lost
I'm personally not a fan of THESE types of overpowered characters. I like it more when it's multiple abilities with extreme flaws instead of meteor sized punches, planet buster beams or something out of nowhere.
Look at characters like Ben 10, Generator Rex and Max Steel, they are overpowered but all that power comes from their many abilities such as super strength, super speed, flight, lasers, elemental type powers, stealth and many many more. This can even be applied video game characters like Ratchet and Clank, Jak and Daxter, Samus Aran, Dante, Bayonetta Doom Slayer, and just about every character in any fantastical game (be it RPG or shooter) ofc the only thing stopping them from being overpowered is the player.
I like these characters because of what they can gain and learn, sometimes even needing to think outside the box at some points. These characters just feel so much more fun to watch and see how creative the can get through out the story
rimuru in tensura for me at least also works cuz he is not the only op character tho after spoiler turning into a true dragon he does indeed become the strongest like maybe veldanava has a chance but that is debatable since we didn't really see how strong he is in the light novel and lets not forget that he is the strongest cuz of ciel too doubt he would be so strong without getting great sage at start
Goku's power going brrrrr
Best I think are:
- comedic (one punch man)
- uncontrollable (Malloy, marvel)
- good, but mostly uninterfering (watcher, marvel)
- mysterious and rare (one above all, marvel)
Great picks!
Basically, even though they are powerful, they still have struggles
E-za-ku (Izuku) homie got me crying
That why gege hate Gojo 😂😂😅
How to name your story?
Thank you for the video suggestion! I will add it to my list of upcoming videos!
what if i make the main villain extremely op? will it still be boring?
Ainz Oul Gown from overlord doesn’t pull out dues ex machinas. He states that he knows hundreds of spells. There is no tension in his fights so it’s always expected for him to win.
Instead the story focuses on the world building and side characters when they compare to a god like entity like Ainz. Because we spend so much time with these side characters we begin to grapple and conflict with them and Ainz. Ainz is the bad guy so we shouldn’t cheer for him. The story also leans heavily on world building and politics. The strength is reacted to constantly by governments.
To simplify, Overlord is not a shounen and doesn’t follow that format. It’s a world building and political heavy power fantasy. His spells aren’t ass pulls because he is set to be at the top of the food chain and able to wine out countries. A 1v1 isn’t going to be very challenging. Until the light novel💀
when ever making an op character think of flaws first such as i thought of a character
that had great intellect strenght everything
but his team work sucked he could never go full power because of the governments system
since that would make him a criminal for not abiding by rules and the whole reason he became so good at everything was to be respected
Great point! Flaws help build a more interesting character!
@@MonitorComics i just keep in mind the rule that no matter how good you are at something at one point you will be surpassed by someone else
Dawg, ONE is the 🐐 at writing OP joke stories.
TRUE
You totally missed the oppurtunity to say something like "skillshare is how you get overpowered in real life."
TRUE
“Izagu medariah ” 💀
I think Kirito from SAO is "super powered character" not really "Over Powered". He has more ability than others but not enough to clear all the floors SOLO. Plus i think the series harem aspects work well with its underlining theme of psychological attachment trauma caused by the shared life treating experience they all shared. My personal OP formula is a rare one I've seen in the series "Mobile Suit Gundam 00". The Gundam start off extremely OP compared to everyone but their mere existence causing a arms race, forcing others to match them. Eventually forcing the Gundams themselves to evolve further beyond. A little bit of this formula can be seen in Dragon Ball and later in Z but as character completed their own Arcs, they stop evolving with the rest of the cast.
That gundam example is actually really interesting I'll have to check it out!
As for SAO, I do agree that during the first season, Krito's power scaling was more gradual and easier to digest. As soon as he moved to ALO though, he was one shotting everyone because he was able to bring his old account over
In GGO, it would have been more interesting for Kirito to be a noob and learn how to use the guns, but he was able to start with an OP rare account and still used his sword skills
In Alicization, i think it was written the best, but towards the end of the war he still got a "cop out" when he was magically able to turn into his Aincrad account again, the same thing happened in the Ordinal Scale movie
@@MonitorComics Agreed, that is a fair assessment of his progress with the current material. I feel like I'm one of the very few who also try to dive into the series underline themes, so most "cop outs" in scaling terms kinda pay off thematically. ALO is the best example of him being OP but him in GGO still feels superpowered, since i feel like in the world settings, other units could still take him out with the right gear and strategy. I surmise that the ALO arc is the real black eye on the series, as its more driven by the character romance plot to save Asuna, forcing it to take too many liberties in the setting and each following arc has been repair that damage. I really hope you do check out Gundam and see how they handle power scaling, with Gundam 00 being my favorite example. I'd love to hear others take on the subject.
Video idea: Creating a weak character in a story.
Have there hero say I never aksed or wanted this power and I feel I don't deserve it
the best one for me = Mob . And the worst one is that slime rimuru. and Reigen = Needs a neft
10:05 12:25
You can prevent creating OP characters by rolling dice for all their abilities, so some will be weak, and others will be average, exceptional, or superhuman. I make every supervillain a match for my superhero by basing their ability scores on the hero. Then, I roll the dice for the fight scenes. Both tend to miss a lot and cause collateral damage in a long fight sequence but the hero usually wins, anyway!
I love that approach! Reminds me of the times I'd play DnD with friends!
do you use a website for this?
I’m really struggling with manga publishing in England so can you explain
I currently live in the USA, so I am not entirely familiar with the publishing process in England, BUT i did make a video covering Publishing and Self Publishing that might be able to help! czcams.com/video/nW7Y_QtGPxM/video.html
@@MonitorComics thanks I knew you lived in the USA but I thought you might know 👍🏻but thanks anyway