Sorry Jinwoo, but These Two Anime Characters Were the Year’s Best

In this year’s Crunchyroll Awards, Sung Jinwoo, the protagonist of the super popular Solo Leveling, took home the award for Best Main Character, continuing the series’ dominance at the award ceremony. While the series did deserve Best Action of the Year, the awards unleashed controversy regarding how the winners are selected and why Solo Leveling did not deserve most of them. One of the most contentious ones was the Best Main Character award, and while Jinwoo certainly has a large fanbase, these two characters were very clearly much more deserving of the title.

Ever since Season 2 began, there has been a lot more criticism of the series, especially for the character of Sung Jinwoo. While his conflict regarding his mother’s health was good, the character has devolved into an almost empty shell that prioritizes cool moments and fights rather than well-written interactions, dynamics, and conflicts. The series focuses almost entirely on him, and having him save or humiliate other characters certainly does not help. Between the fact that he always wins no matter what and his lack of character progression, many fans feel that Jinwoo did not deserve this award at all. Furthermore, the fact that he won over Maomao and Frieren made fans that much angrier.

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Either Frieren or Maomao Should Have Won the Best Main Character Award

Frieren, the laid-back thousand-year-old elf, quickly stole the hearts of fans with her theme of appreciating the people you meet. Her relationship with Himmel and Fern, her extremely cool moments of slaying Aura and dominating the exams, the flashbacks to her times with her original party and her development to understanding humans more make her a very impactful and deeply emotionally resonating character. Maomao, on the other hand, has an unbelievably charming personality, and as the series goes on, fans find out her very well-done characterization, such as her love for her father and friends from the brothel, and her romantic dynamic with Jinshi. Her passion for medicine and razor-sharp intelligence catapulted her to one of the most beloved characters in recent years.

While Laios of Delicious In Dungeon doesn’t nearly get the same focus as these other two, he is also a great choice and very deserving. Over the years, the award has gone to great choices such as Monkey D. Luffy, Eren Yeager, and more, which makes it all the more disappointing when a character such as Jinwoo takes such an award. It is no secret that the Crunchyroll Award winners are dominated by the popular vote, and Jinwoo certainly has his fans but this time, there were much better options.