Who is the most pathetic protgonist character in anime?

I just finished my review on Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventures and it brought up a this question of the most pathetic character in anime. To elborate, I want to know out of every anime you haved viewed, who is the most pathetic protagonist in anime? I think it's Keitaro in Love Hina. Here's this early 20's guy who looks like a geek with the brain of a moron and ends up with the girl in the end. He starts of admitting he is a loser and in the rest of the series gets pummeled viciously by almost every girl in the all-girl apartment building. Even his own aunt slaps him upside his head now and then. If Love Hina didn't have the movie series, he still wouldn't have made it to college and hence never would see the girl who he promised to reunite at Tokyo U and still be the biggest loser in life.

But Urashima Keitarou knows what and whom he wants at a certain stage of this show. Keitarou cares for other people - he's the one to give Shinobu a new home, he helps Kaolla find her happiness, he saves Motoko at various occasions (watch Motoko grow during the series as she learns important lessons by the examples Keitarou gives her!), he shows a surprising development in Love Hina Again where he's already progressed further than Naru has. Being so weak at the start allows him to grow, and except for the horrible step backwards in the Love Hina Spring Special he makes full use of this. I suggest you read the manga (of which the anime covers about 60%) to learn how he and Naru develop even further after the anime has ended - and it's Naru who turns out to have a lot more problems to overcome than Keitarou, starting with the TV series arc from episode 21. Don't judge Keitarou by the slapstick presentation of his actions!

Instead, compare Keitarou to Manaka Junpei of Ichigo 100% TV who starts to date the "wrong girl" based on a stupid assumption (and an even more stupid reason - he wants to shoot a movie of that girls' pantsu!), then doesn't make up his mind between three girls for 12+7 anime episodes plus several years of school life (only to make a sudden decision in the final manga chapter), and runs away on at least two occasions where one of these girls offer their body to him. That's what I call pathetic (the strong characters in this series are the girls, most notably Nishino).

Btw KBanger1...Keitaro never made it to College. He broke his leg remember? He never made it as a student of Tokyo U. He became an employee of TU.

It is a difficult question to answer. When I think of a protagonist character, I have great difficulty (and considering the number of anime titles I've seen, I'd have to review the entire list). At first, I was thinking Nakajima-kun from You're Under Arrest chain of series, but he's the #3 male. And then I remembered Shinji from Shin Seiki Evangelion.

How about Sasaki Yukinari of Girls Bravo? This guy is so short and wimpy that he is regularly bullied by the girls of his school. It's absolutely painful to watch him getting regularly beaten up, always because of some idiotic misunderstanding. He's a nice guy at heart, but if only he'd develop a little backbone and stand up for himself...

Also, Shinji from EVA also occured to me, even before ANB mentioned him.

Shinji has a number of disadvantages right from the start: Being abandoned by both parents, facing the duty to pilot an EVA despite suffering from it, living / working together with persons whose minds are equally crippled. While failing to understand his own motivation for piloting the EVA, Shinji still shows the will to understand and even help other people, and he's severely hit by both Asuka and Rei being unable to accept the help he offers them (Asuka doesn't open up her heart, Rei II vanishes just when Shinji has formed a bond with her). He's not the prototypical hero but his poor performance isn't completely his own fault, therefore I feel urged to defend him in this discussion.

Yeah, the reason I chose Yukinari over Shinji is because Shinji has some very realistic problems that it's hard to blame him for, unlike the bizarre Gynophobia and "hives" Yukinari develops when around girls.

As I watch tons of Harems I am interested in this topic, I have lots of choices but none stand out. I do think Nakahija from YUA is pathetic but he isn't a protagonist. He's a side character, that's like saying the 2 Otaku from Comic Party are pathetic (and they are) but they only have bit parts.

Ok I have it. After checking some of my harems (Girls Bravo, Maburaho, Vandread) I finally came up with the most pathetic Character.

Takayaki from KGNE / Rumbling Hearts - What a useless dude, he caused more strife to the 2 girls because he was such an indecisive idiot.

While Keitaro seemed to be pathetic, he actually had 2 goals in mind. Dating Naru and getting into Toyko U. All the other problems he had were ALL misunderstandings. He wasn't a dirty pervert. He was just a normal boy. Naru wasn't worthy of him, she was a violent bitch.

Yes, Takayuki might be a good choice - drowning in his feelings of guilt, unable to even survive without the caring support by Mitsuki.

Glad to see this topic took off without a hitch. Now, onto the Keitaro/Tokyo U thing. In the Spring Movie, and stop me if I'm wrong, but didn't he pass the entrance exam that last time before going on that boat? If you want to talk about a physical sense, then yes, Keitaro did not physically enter Tokyo U or I should say took any classes or registered (whatever). As far as being an employee, he's more of an assistant to Seta than an actual employee. Keitaro asked for a leave of absense before he returned to TU. It is vague how TU was involved with his trip with Seta in the Spring Movie. But, besides all of that, his main objective was to go to TU to meet up with the mystery girl and then the storybook ending. It's not just misunderstandings within the series itself (like Forbin explained) but it was the fact that in the anime Keitaro explained in his monologue in episode one that he's a loser (indirectly, of course). Now, I'm just pointing this out on the anime. To bring in the manga to justify Keitaro's actions would really lose focus on what I'm pointing out in the anime (without the movies). I'm not saying, Forbin, that you're not justified about bringing up the manga Keitaro. I just wasn't doing a compare/contrast between the two mediums.

Now onto Shinji Akari (NGE) and Yukinari Sasaki (GB). I was thinking about Shinji being pathetic, but, he had some serious issues with not only his own family, but life in general. Yukinari, though, has major issues with women. Breaking out into hives from a woman's touch is bad, but to get crap beat out of you for misunderstandings by a girl is really sad. Plus, the fact that he was bullied throughout most of his life. He reminds me of Keitaro and Naru with those beatings. At least Kirie (GB) would apologize...sometimes.

The anime Keitaro and the Manga Keitaro are almost alike. The finish is that he becomes an employee of Tokyo U (which is only manga or on the CD of Love Hina Endless Pack - All DVDs), but he's a guy who is not all that smart but still tries for the gold (getting into TU).

I don't really consider Keitaro (Anime) pathetic. He gets caught looking at naked girls a lot (considering he's a manager for a girls dormitory?) and his ignorance makes him easy prey for Kitsune's tricks, but I still don't consider him pathetic. Most people would give up their dreams if faced with such impossible odds. (After failing the entrance exam 3 times?) If he leaves Hinata, he loses his dream. If any of the girls defeat him, he loses his dream. That's not the definition of pathetic, that's the definition of dedicated.

Shinji is a good example of Pathetic. He never 'grows' as the anime progresses, he infact regresses. If EVA wasn't such an OUTSTANDING anime, Shinji would've killed it. As he becomes more and more important, he doesn't 'rise' to the hero position, he goes under the desk to hide.

Takayuki (Thanks for the spelling DD) is my definition of pathetic. When his love returns, he abandon's his GF to become his love's slave, but his love cannot handle the fact that he is older, and his GF can't handle being abandoned. In fact Takayuki cannot handle it himself and then abandon's both of them. Now while Shinji destroyed the world, Takayuki basically abandoned his whole lifestyle. That's pathetic.

If Shinji hadn't be that pathetic, Evangelion would be one of those numerous super hero shows that are all the same. The very fact that both he and Asuka are pathetic (at least to a certain degree) makes NGE what it is: Unlike many other shows it isn't meant for the audience to identify themselves with the protagonists in any positive way - instead these protagonists serve as a warning what can become of a person if they hide behind their A. T. field at any cost: "You avoid contact of the first kind at all costs. Do you fear to feel other people? Being ignorant of others, you will never be betrayed or hurt, though you will never escape from feeling sadness. A person cannot erase sadness forever." (Kaworu)

And in the end, Shinji does grow - at least so much as to reject the illusion of a "perfect" world (without individuals) and let reality continue to exist as it is now, with all the pain and misunderstandings amongst people who "can never completely understand each other" (Kaji). This one time he didn't run away: "I hate myself. But, I might be able to love myself." (Shinji, final scene of TV episode 26)

As much as I agree, growth at the end of an anime, is not growth. That's resolution. He took 15 steps back during the anime. That's pathetic. (Though I remember the end as, kill asuka ending, and I didn't even think that was growth). That's why I use him as an example. Keitaro NEVER took a full step back. He faltered, but always ended up at the same point or a step forward.

In fact, so many people were so pissed at the ending of Eva, that they made another, and still didn't really resolve it.

Now KGNE is the darling of the drama animes, but that doesn't make Takayuki any less pathetic, but Takayuki CAUSED KGNE, Shinji did not cause EVA.

The "Kill Asuka" ending (where he didn't even manage to do that!) was in Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion.

Hehehe something I found on the school day's wiki

Throughout the story, he is indecisive and unable to decide between Sekai and Kotonoha. Between his indecisiveness and the ability to turn the choices of the gamer around and do the complete opposite, he has gained the dubious honour of being regarded as one of the most pathetic adult game protagonists ever, alongside the likes of Kimi ga Nozomu Eien's Narumi Takayuki and White Album's Fujii Touya.

See! He is the most pathetic.

Makoto Itou of School Days has my pick as worst anime protagonist. By episode 3 of the series, his personality takes a 180 from a young man struggling and willingly trying to kick start his relationship with Kotonoha to a sex-crazed loon who goes so far as to do 'it' with almost every attractive girl found in the series without any regard for the emotions of Kotonoha and Sakai.

Unfortunately, yes, Makoto of School Days takes the title of the worst. His playing around caused all of school days.