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A lot of male protagonists in anime and manga are drawn in a way that’s not meant to be conventionally attractive. Some of them look wild and outlandish, while others look unkempt and nerdy. Having so many male protagonists drawn to look in such different ways gives a strong sense of variety, with leading men who are short or tall, fat or skinny, or just plain nondescript. However, it’s very rare for female protagonists to be designed to not look conventionally attractive.
This is why female protagonists like Heroines Run the Show's Hiyori are such a breath of fresh air. She’s short, messy, and has huge bushy eyebrows. She's a character that a lot of young girls are sure to see themselves in: somewhat awkward, but passionate and lovable in all the right ways. Here's a breakdown of what makes Hiyori such a unique heroine.
There are a lot of imperfections to Hiyori's physical appearance. Her hair's perpetually messy, her eyebrows are big and hairy, and her figure is average at best. She's not much better in the fashion department, favoring tracksuits over cute dresses and skirts. There's nothing inherently wrong with this -- in fact, these very traits are what make Hiyori so charming. She's not supposed to be attractive, and that's the point.
So when other characters develop friendships or romantic feelings for her, it's made crystal clear that the attraction is due to her personality rather than physical appearance. This is especially refreshing for a series that's marketed toward young girls, as many shojo anime tend to simply highlight the heroine's attractiveness.
By contrast, Kiss Him, Not Me!'s main character is also initially drawn to look unattractive. She's short, stout and has tiny beady eyes in place of the big doe-like eyes the genre is known for. Most of the male characters she encounters when she still looks like this treat her with basic niceties at best, or are completely dismissive of her at worst. They only start to develop a romantic interest in her after she's lost weight and transformed into a much more attractive woman. Thankfully, this is not the case with Heroines Run the Show.
Heroines Run the Show's two male leads are also initially dismissive of Hiyori, but they're like this with a lot of people, even fellow celebrities. They're even hostile to each other despite having worked together for some time prior to the start of the series. When they do eventually warm up to Hiyori, nothing about her physical appearance has changed. This makes the budding friendship that forms between the trio feel much more earned and believable.
Later in the series, when the two boys step up to defend Hiyori from a two-faced model who becomes jealous of her closeness to them, it feels especially heartwarming and does a good job of establishing how much the boys have come to care for her.
More anime in general, not just shojo titles, would benefit from having protagonists like Hiyori. She's a rarity among heroines -- a rarity that will hopefully become more common in the future. Heroines Run the Show is currently streaming on Crunchyroll on Thursdays, with English dubbed episodes releasing every Saturday.