Webtoon Spotlight

Spotlight#57: My Favorite Webtoon Protags

As I've said before in my last spotlight, I have many favorites, especially when it comes to webtoon. It's given me dozens of characters that I love and respect, probably a little too much, but I'll leave that for another day. But as I watch more and more anime, I tend to see that we don't talk about the main character too much, which sometimes aggravates me. So today might as well give a spotlight to my five favorite main characters of the webtoon.

Note

Once again, this isn't a top 5 since having favorite characters in a series, and with the top 10, my lists and feelings can now be more diverse. Also, besides certain exceptions, I'm only talking about the main characters of a webtoon with no webtoons that I've talked about in my top 5 webtoons. A great example is saying that even though Gohan was a protag of Dbz, Goku would be on this list instead. So, with that all out of the way, let's get right into this. Also, spoilers are ahead.

Rai

I might as well start with the only manhwa of the big three that wasn't in my top 5. After finishing Noblesse, though, I was surprised at how attached I became with Rai. Because he truly does fit the title of the Noblesse. Rai remains steadfast in never putting his life above anyone else despite many genetic advantages and great intelligence. 

He despises when people practice this, not even thinking they are worthy of breathing in his presence. However, his lack of words does a great job of making his lines even more impactful as we see him give his very lifeblood all for those under his care. It was only then I started to get him.

Across his long life, Rai had to put down against some of his best friends even when it hurts him. It was pretty apparent that he would die alone and scared from this. But after his reawakening, Rai finally got to release himself from the role of the Noblesse and be a normal person amongst friends. 

He made allies for himself and is content with it fully. He may be a character that has few words, but his charisma and actions are already ringing. Unfortunately, I just wish we got to see more interactions with his knights, though.

Gray Yeon

Despite being the newest kid on the block list-wise, I fell for Gray and Weak hero very hard and fast. Gray feels kind of like a mix of both John from unordinary and Hardcore Leveling Warrior. Growing up as an empty husk, Gray sought some kind of meaning beyond cold hard fact. But he instead found that husk when Stephen Ahn entered his life. However, after seeing the cold hard world beat the only warm light in Gray's empty life, he decided to get revenge.

From then on, Gray became obsessed with cold hard facts as he spent his days duking out against any kid that threatened him. Honestly, I like this approach mainly because it makes Gray a far more tactical character that is far more realistic in his choices.

 Yet even with his intense cruelty, we see that it starts to break Gray on the inside because he doesn't want to do this but feels like he must not repeat what Stephen dSo he. He never even fully recovered from the trauma as he kept pushing people away. 

Over time, though, Gray makes legitimate friends he cares for and wants to recover and move on. This humanity, combined with Gray's cold-ass cruelty, creates a conflict that feels so real and raw to me that I just can't help but love him.