One of the best parts of any anime is watching the characters develop. As the story progresses, they grow and learn from everything they experience. For better or worse, they become a new version of themselves. Unfortunately, not all characters get to experience great development like this. For whatever reason, they always stay the same no matter what happens to them.
While this isn't always a problem, these characters often become dull and bring little to the series. They make no progress and never seem to learn, frustrating fans and leaving them bored. Whether they're a side character with little screentime or a poorly written protagonist, characters with no development leave much to be desired.
10 Haruka Nanase Barely Changes Throughout The Series (Free!)
From the start, Free! has been a global phenomenon, gaining many loyal fans upon its release. Every main guy in the series is adored, each with his own vibrant personality that stands out from the rest. That is, other than Haruka Nanase. While he is a good character in his own right, there is little to Haru in personality and backstory.
At the series beginning, his main character traits are his obsession with the water and his need to be "free". That makes up the sum of his character for most of the series. His static goals and convictions, coupled with his muted personality, make him shine the least out of the boys.
9 Shinji Ikari Is A Disappointing Protagonist (Neon Genesis Evangelion)
Whether they've seen it or not, everyone has heard of Neon Genesis Evangelion and its wimpy protagonist Shinji Ikari. Fans have much to say about Shinji, and it's usually nothing positive. Throughout the entire series, he spends most of his time whining and feeling sorry for himself. He is nothing like the typical anime hero that fans love.
He is cowardly, weak, and usually a lot less helpful than everyone around. While he pushes through a lot of his fears and tries to do his best, it always ends the same. No matter what happens, he's the same cry-baby wimp he was from the start.
8 Ryou Fujibayashi's Character Arc Gets Skipped (Clannad)
Throughout the series, Clannad, every girl gets an arc dedicated to her. These arcs allow fans to get to know the girls better and connect with them emotionally. Unfortunately, the anime skips Ryou Fujibayshi's arc completely and focuses solely on her initial crush on Tomoya Okazaki.
Because Ryou's arc gets overlooked, she settles into more of a supporting role despite being part of the main cast. In the original visual novel, the audience learns much more about her. She even finds a new love named Kappei. However, since the anime leaves out her arc, fans never get to know Ryou and she becomes the least interesting of the girls.
7 Téa Gardner Never Becomes More Than A Cheerleader (Yu-Gi-Oh)
Téa Gardner is a supporting character and part of the main cast in Yu-Gi-Oh. She starts as a strong and capable female but barely develops as the series progresses. She and Tristan Taylor get sidelined as cheerleaders through most of the show. While she proves at times to be a capable duelist herself, she almost never competes, and when she does, her wins tend to be through sheer luck.
Throughout the series run, she never becomes stronger, her role staying the same. Many argue her presence is hardly even necessary. While he's even less of a duelist than Téa, even Tristan tends to see more development than the show's main girl.
6 Orihime Inoue Stays Weak The Entire Time (Bleach)
Fans had high hopes for Orihime Inoue. However, throughout the series Bleach, she sees little to no changes or development. From the start, she is one of the weakest characters and constantly in need of saving. She lacks agency and takes little responsibility. While she has the potential to become a powerful ally, she instead allows others to fight in her place.
Other than her weakness and refusal to fight, her personality tends to center around her feelings for Ichigo. While everyone around her develops and becomes stronger, Orihime holds herself back from becoming a truly great character.
5 Kagura Sohma's Personality Revolves Around Her Love For Kyo (Fruits Basket)
When Kagura Sohma first appears in Fruits Basket, she makes her love for Kyo clear. In fact, her feelings seem to be her most prominent personality trait, other than her sudden violent outbursts.
Despite Kyo seeming annoyed and rather uncomfortable by her advances, she still persists throughout the series. While she does let up at the end, barely anything changes about her. Viewers do discover the reason behind her attachment to Kyo, but even then, little else is revealed about her.
4 Tenten Changes The Least Out Of The Konoha 11 (Naruto)
There are many amazing and well-written characters in the Naruto franchise. Unfortunately, Tenten is not one of them. From the start, she is the weakest link out of the genin.
While everyone else improves drastically and gains huge power-ups, Tenten's abilities stay relatively the same. Apart from that, her personality never grows and fans see little to no depth in her character. Even Sakura, the female many fans say is the most poorly-written, has much more development from Naruto to Naruto Shippuden than Tenten ever does the whole series run.
3 Ash Ketchum Is No Closer To Becoming A Pokémon Master Than When He Started (Pokémon)
Like Pikachu, Ash Ketchum is practically the face of Pokémon. Fans have followed him since the very beginning when he left Pallet Town to achieve his dreams. However, Ash has made little progress over the decades-long series run. He loses just about every Pokémon League he enters, only managing to come out on top once so far.
Not only that, in the years the series has been airing, Ash's personality has hardly changed. He's pretty much the same exact person he was from episode one. While fans can be glad at least that his character hasn't gone downhill, the fact that he never changes or matures can get stale fast.
2 Goku Is All About Training And Fighting And That's It (Dragon Ball)
Goku is a legendary name among anime fans, with Dragon Ball being one of the most well-known franchises in history. Despite his fame and notoriety, Goku himself is a pretty boring guy. Make no mistake, his power is unmatchable and many fans love him for that alone. However, his personality definitely leaves something to be desired.
While he does mature throughout the series somewhat, he remains overall childish into adulthood. His biggest priorities are training, becoming stronger, and fighting, and that's about it. These things even take priority over his own family. With such a powerful, god-like character, one would expect him to become wiser as he ages. With Goku, however, wise has nothing to do with it.
1 Kirito Is Automatically Great At Everything He Does (Sword Art Online)
Sword Art Online is a series that many people either love or despise completely. The same can be said about the story's protagonist, Kirigaya Kazuto, otherwise known as Kirito. Because he lands the beta spot at the start, he gains the upper hand over other players, which is understandable. But ever since then, he's automatically skilled at any new game he enters. He may have had to grind to get where is now, but that seems to be the only time he's ever had to work hard for his strength.
As for his personality, from start to finish, Kirito remains a basic, blank slate character and barely ever changes. Though many fans love him for his strength, others wish the series had a more fleshed-out protagonist.