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Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Difference between revisions

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** Sasuke seems to be meant to be seen as a morally gray character being led down the wrong path by his obsession with revenge, but to a number of fans his [[Chronic Backstabbing Disorder]], recent descent into mass murder of Samurai he could have easily defeated non-lethally, and callous disregard for how many people have to suffer for his own emotional satisfaction has caused a number of fans to consider him a [[Complete Monster]] that does not deserve Naruto's goodwill.
** Similarly, the [[Belated Backstory]] of the legendary "Salamander" Hanzo, the ninja against whom the Sannin won their titles by ''surviving'' a battle with him sets Hanzo up as a [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]] who lost sight of his goals but is honored in defeat by his rival as a man who strove for peace. [[You Keep Using That Word|By starting a lot of wars and turning his homeland into an unlivable hellhole that produced the most psychologically broken, defeated human beings in the series, just because he was arrogant enough to think his strength could unite the world.]] Most fans still consider Hanzo an utterly unsympathetic character whose violent death at Pain's hands was richly deserved, as his claim of good intentions didn't make him any less of a paranoid warmongering dictator.
* The early ''[[Pokémon]]'' episode "Challenge of the Samurai!" has the [[Character of the Day]] Samurai constantly shame and browbeat Ash for not taking responsibility for his blunders, such as failing to catch a Weedle and allowing that Weedle to rile up a swarm of Beedrill that end up kidnapping his Metapod. The problem is, Ash's "blunders" are mistakes ''Samurai'' made in the first place. ''He'' stopped Ash from catching the Weedle by getting in the way, making it his fault that an angry Beedrill swarm are attacking them. But the episode expects you to sympathize with him, and the major conflict of the episode revolves around Ash having to take responsibilty for a screwup that wasn't his fault, making him [[Unintentionally Sympathetic]] in return.
 
== Comic Books ==
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* Anthony from ''[[For Better or For Worse]]'', so very very much. You're supposed to feel sympathy for him because his wife doesn't want their baby and he "doesn't have a home," but not only is it irritating, it rubs in the fact that he harassed her into having a child she didn't want in the first place. He lost even more ground when it came to light that he even ''promised'' that ''he'' would stay home with the kid, but had ''no intention'' of keeping that promise because he expected the magic of motherhood to kick in and somehow make his wife want to quit her job (which was heavily implied to make more than his did) and raise the kid anyways. But she's supposed to be the bad guy for wanting him to keep his promise and because she's not maternal.
** Toward the end of its run, '''everyone''' in the strip has begun to qualify. They're bitchy, selfish, and utterly unlikable.
 
== Video Games ==
* {{spoiler|Chairman Rose}} from ''[[Pokémon Sword and Shield]]'' is ''supposed'' to be a sympathetic [[Anti-Villain]] feeling forced to take extreme measures to protect the Galar region from an impending energy crisis. But any attempts at making him sympathetic fall short, not because he's too evil to sympathize with... but rather, too ''stupid''. {{spoiler|Galar's energy crisis isn't going to be a problem for '''thousands of years''', yet he's so impatient and eager to use the dangerous and vicious Eternatus as an energy source that he can't wait ''a single day'' to execute his master plan in a way that ''won't'' endanger an entire stadium of innocent civilians despite Leon's warnings}}. The fact that he ''is'' deeply remorseful for what he's done to the point of turning himself in to the police takes the edge off a bit, but a lot of players still feel that he comes off looking like an impatient dumbass instead of the noble [[Tragic Villain]] the game paints him as.
* Rocket Raccoon from ''[[Guardians of the Galaxy (2021 video game)|Guardians of the Galaxy]]'' is supposed to be a [[Jerk With a Heart of Gold|lovable asshole]] whose heart is in the right place, but he tends to come off as [[Jerkass|purely an asshole]]. He constantly whines, bitches, and complains about everything Star Lord does and throws tantrums that compromise the team's missions, but he blames all of the team's problems on him before {{spoiler|eventually ''ditching them'' for a bit in the middle of an important mission}}. While Star Lord can call him out for his behavior, he simply argues back and never genuinely apologizes for all his screwups, making him feel like the manchild the narrative and characters accuse Star Lord of being.
 
== Western Animation ==
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