Ensemble Cast: Difference between revisions

 

{{examples}}

* ''[[Baccano!]]'', in the same way ''[[Pulp Fiction]]'' does it. There's no main character here either.

** [[Discussed]] in the beginning with Carol and the newspaper vice president in their debate about which of the characters is the main character.

* From the beginning, ''[[Soul Eater]]'' has been as much about the Black*Star/Tsubaki and Kid/Liz/Patti teams as it is about Maka and Soul.

* ''[[Legend of the Galactic Heroes]]''. Hardly surprising, given [[Loads and Loads of Characters|just how many characters]] there are that it essentially ''has'' to do this to give anyone screen time. The clue's in the title, too.

* ''[[Simoun]]'' collects over a dozen main characters with roughly equal screen time towards the end.

* ''[[Azumanga Daioh]]'' definitely is an example of this trope. It mainly centers on the antics of the main cast without straying too far into one another. Arguably there are more [[A Day in the Limelight|Sakaki stories]] than anyone else, but it doesn't get to the point of her being the main character.

 

 

* ''[[Honorable Hogwarts]]'' did this to the ''[[Harry Potter]]'' universe, giving [[Loads and Loads of Characters]] roughly equal focus and Simultaneous Arcs.

* ''[[Adult Stuck]]'', a [[Fan Sequel]] to the above mentioned ''[[Homestuck]]'', does this.

 

* ''[[Pulp Fiction]]'', considering all the protagonists follow their own plot and their ways only cross at random.

* ''[[Inglourious Basterds]]''. Despite the Basterds being in the title of the movie, it puts the same focus onto them, Col. Landa and Shosanna Dreyfus.

* The movie ''[[Crash (film)|Crash]]'' focused on several characters and the racial tensions between them.

* ''[[The Social Network]]'' is a glowing example, to the point where the most likable character in the movie isn't even the guy featured on the poster {{spoiler|(Eduardo Saverin)}}.

* Many of the films of [[Robert Altman]], especially ''[[Short Cuts]]'', ''[[Gosford Park]]'' and ''Nashville''

 

* ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'' has something like twenty-five viewpoint characters, and switches between them every chapter. [[Game of Thrones|The TV series]] does the same.

* The ''[[Animorphs]]'' series features six characters who swap first person narrations between books. While you can argue that Jake is the central most character, there really is no true main character.

* The first book of the ''[[Hyperion Cantos]]''. All the pilgrims have equal importance.

* ''[[Lonely Werewolf Girl]]'' and ''[[Curse of the Wolfgirl]]'', while Kalix is the titular charcter, all the rest of the cast have equally important and almost seperate storylines. Especially noticeable in Curse where Thrix, and Malveria's story arc have no contact at all with Kalix's.

 

* ''[[Stargate Universe]]'' doesn't really have a single main character either. Dr. Rush is usually presented as the protagonist, but this may have more to do with the fact that his actor is the biggest name among the cast. You could easily claim [[The Hero|Young]] or even [[Audience Surrogate|Eli]] is the main character.

* ''[[Lost]]'' is a borderline case. There is an Ensemble Cast, but Jack has a more central position than the rest (as was finally made clear in the last season). Just not enough to call him the "protagonist".

* ''[[Friends]]'' famously had six main characters, or two [[Power Trio]]s.

* ''[[Heartbeat]]'' originally focused on village bobby Nick Rowan, but as the cast changed and expanded, the show developed an Ensemble Cast.

* ''[[Casualty]]'': has a regular turnover of cast and no fixed stars so everyone gets a storyline.

* ''[[Community]]'', although the pilot introduces Jeff Winger as the protagonist and the episodes with [[Two Lines, No Waiting]] generally have Jeff working the A plot.

* At least on paper, Seamus O'Neill was the main character of ''[[Key West]]''. And in the credits, it might have seemed that way. The truth was something entirely different, as O'Neill was actually very rarely the central character in any given storyline.

* ''[[Parenthood (TV series)|Parenthood]]''

* ''[[The West Wing]]'' turned into this despite initially being thought of as being a show about Sam Seaborn. Led to a lot of cast/pay trouble.

* ''[[Glee]]'' started out focusing mostly on a few characters (mainly Rachel, Finn, and Mr. Shu), but as formerly minor characters were given subplots and [[Ascended Extra|background characters became actual characters]], the glee club, most of the teachers, and some students from other schools are arguably main characters.

* The ''[[CSI]]'' franchise shows are all described as ensemble casts.

* ''[[Criminal Minds]]'' rarely has ever had fewer than seven main characters. Notable exceptions were the episodes between Elle leaving and Prentiss joining, Gideon leaving and Rossi joining, and most of season six.

 

* ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'', though some members of the ensemble (Terra and Celes in particular) do get more screen time and Character Development than others.

* ''[[Super Smash Bros Brawl|The Subspace Emissary]]''. Ultimately, the "star characters" are whoever you prefer to play as. Although the game does seem to feature [[Kirby|Kirby, Dedede and Metaknight]] [[Spotlight-Stealing Squad|over the rest of the characters somewhat.]]

 

* [[Rumors of War]] combines an Ensemble Cast with [[Rotating Protagonist]] (plus [[Two Lines, No Waiting]] and regular [[Time Skip]]s) to create a Cast-Go-Round. The first and third [[Story Arc]]s mostly follow Elysia and Nenshe, while the second and (allegedly) fourth arcs follow Illyra and Occela. The characters also seem to spend a lot of time talking about things that happened in between the story arcs, with Obadai stepping in to [[Mentors|provide advice]] and [[Deadpan Snarker|commentary]].

* ''[[Homestuck]]'', thanks to its extremely large cast and tendency to switch between their points of view very rapidly. John is nominally the main character, but he is only the focus in the first, second, and fourth acts. The third (arguably) focuses on Jade, and John didn't even appear for the first part of Act Five.

* ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'' tends to focus on groups of two or more more of the main 8 characters and a few supporting characters at a time.

* ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]]''—While Bob is the main character (at the very least, because his [[Weirdness Magnet]] status drives everything else), the supporting cast gets a lot of screen time. Molly, Galatea, Roofus, Rocko, Jean, and Voluptua have each had story arcs focusing on them.

* ''[[Charby the Vampirate]]'' confuses some new readers because while the comic is named after Charby, he's only one of many main characters. The story tends to rotate focus through the [[Loads and Loads of Characters]].

 

* Every member of Team Kimba or Outcast Corner is a main character in the [[Whateley Universe]], with now at least half a dozen more main characters added in. Every one of these is a protagonist of his or her own storyline.

 

* Each of the three ''[[Total Drama Island|Total Drama]]'' seasons started out with several protagonists since the series is based on Reality Shows.

* The show ''[[Archer]]'', while titular protagonist Sterling Archer gets a fair amount of screentime, so do the rest of his co-workers at ISIS, often having their own plots.

* The ''[[Justice League (animation)|Justice League]]'' cartoon. Superman was sort of the "leader", or at least the League's public face, but he was never more or less likely to be an episode's main character than any of the original seven. Then the show went [[Heroes Unlimited]].

* The main six in ''[[Recess]]'' all get equal screentime. The creators said they wanted to do this to avoid the show becoming "The Gretchen Show", "The Gus Show", "The Spinelli Show", etc.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Series Tropes]]

[[Category:Ensembles]]