DevilHex
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Random Poll #13 : Size of Main Cast
🕑 Added 2025-02-16 23:06:22 +0000 UTCThis poll won't have any impact on The Wind Calamity. It's mainly for my future works.
Hey guys 👋
This is one of the most common feedbacks/complaints I've received about the Wind Calamity. Can't say they're unjustified as I agree to a certain extent too 😅
The story entirely focuses on Fujin, following his life entirely. There are too few characters surrounding him. Though Hoka, Renjiro were around him for quite a long while, their appearance became rare once Fujin joined the Anbu.
Anyway, the reason behind this is simply a newbie mistake. When I planned the story, I was entirely focused on Fujin's journey. I wanted to show how his adventure through the ninja world will be. Even though I created a lot of new characters (and expanded upon several existing ones), they weren't my main focus while I was planning.
In my future books, I hope to improve upon this aspect. So, I'd like to know how big/small of a group do you like to see around the main character.
Important - The group need not be consisting of close friends. Could also be rivals/competitors/enemies being forced to work together due to circumstances.
Also, solo/small groups wouldn't mean no other characters would be important. I'll work to have several important characters every arc, it's just that they won't appear as frequently as the main cast.
1. Solo - MC travels alone and the story focuses almost entirely on him (basically what Fujin did before joining the Academy or post his retirement from Anbu up to Konoha Crush).
2. Solo, but with several capable rivals/enemies - MC will travel and train solo, but there will be several rivals/enemies who will frequently run into MC. Could fight or even cooperate with him depending on the situation. I guess an example can be Fang Yuan from Reverend Insanity.
3. Two - Can be a partner, close friend or a rival. The two travel and train together and will be present in most, if not all arcs. (I also consider whether an arch enemy could be considered here. He won't travel or train with MC, but the two will clash every arc. However, on thinking more deeply, I suppose that'll get repetitive and boring rather quickly).
4. Small Squad - 3-4 people. Kinda like Team 7, but need not necessarily be a squad. Could be assembled later on like how Taka was.
5. Slightly large group - Say 7-12 people. Kinda like Strawhats.
6. A Classroom - Say 20-30 characters. I can't go any larger than this 😅🤣 Not entirely sure if I can sustain this either, but may be doable if I focus just on a handful while the rest stay in background.
PS: Needless to say, no (long) story can be written by maintaining a constant size of the main cast. There will be instances where the MC will be alone or instances where he would have to ride alongside an army. In Wind Calamity, you've seen Fujin be solo for a year, then in the classroom for 4 years, followed by 4 years of small squads (with 1 solo mission in between) before he went solo again. He also had to lead armies recently. So, I just want to know what size of cast you'd prefer to see in most arcs in a story.
Comments
cory hawks
I think there are multiple "right" answers here. I think there is a time and place for most of these scenarios. Just depends on what kind of story you to tell.
Jonnylawz0
Damn thats a tight score
Devil Hex
👍
Devil Hex
🤣 Game of Thrones memories, lol
Devil Hex
👍
Devil Hex
Thanks :)
Devil Hex
Hmm, probably Obito (until Fujin marks the shit out of the Kamui dimension 🤣). As for your question, it's complicated. While Fujin goes on adventure, he'll mostly be accompanied only by his summons. So, Hoka, Renjiro won't appear frequently. That said, once the (official) timeskip is over, things will likely change again and they'll be back in focus.
Devil Hex
Alright :)
Devil Hex
👍
Devil Hex
They did kinda go on a few earlier. If you recall, Hiruzen took Fujin along for diplomatic missions. Anyway, Hiruzen (and even Tsunade) are unlikely to ever do normal missions again due to their posts (and Hiruzen's injuries). Only possible options are events like the 5 Kage Summit, assuming it happens or diplomatic missions. Missions with Jiraiya could be possible. As you know, they are supposed to hunt Orochimaru together once Jiraiya finds him.
Devil Hex
👍
Devil Hex
Hmm, there could be some occasions of this (though unlikely to be much in this story). Only thing I can promise is that they'll be very interesting if I do that. 😅
Devil Hex
Yeah, true.
Devil Hex
Cool :)
Devil Hex
👍
Devil Hex
Yup, tomorrow. One last poll today.
Yamir
Probably tomorrow
kiwwy
I'M SORRY BUT WILL THERE BE AN EPISODE TODAY? 🙏
Steven Thompsen
Personally I think anything with 3 to 4 people or less is preferable any larger and it becomes weird and then there's too many filler chapters showing what they do and no one cares lol as long as the main character stays the focus that's really the biggest thing imo
Gray
Sempre preferi quando o mc age solo mas a dinâmica entre o mc e um inimigo/rival também pode ser muito interessante se for bem escrita, eles podem não se gostar mas algo como respeito mútuo
Greedsmith
I like solo/small groups best. I also really didn’t mind Fujin being the main/only focus of the story, especially because it’s a fanfic and we know the other characters already.
Greedsmith
Reborn as a Barrier Master fucked me up, I immediately stopped reading after “it” happened 😭 That was pretty long ago too, I just got into reading manga at that point
rain
Both are good options, since both are difficult to kill
Rubén López
I think sometimes it depends on the story you want to tell, for me 3 and 4 are ideal, because a dynamic is created that complements the characters, and at the same time you can play with the history of the characters and their group dynamics, but that makes them relegate to being tertiary characters, unless you have a great planning and it is an ambitious work. It is, for example, one of the things that can be criticized about the Original Naruto, in the end everything is relegated to at most 4 characters, and the rest were great characters that shone only once, or only one arc.
Rubén López
I thought the closest would be Kakuzu XD.
Rubén López
I can only imagine that scenario at the summit of the 5 kages, him being one of the most important figures accompanying Lady Tsunade and Shizune (because the sword of Konoha). With Jiraija if they want to face Pain, and have a backup in Fujin. For a retreat.
Gilberto Silva De Matoa
Meu único problema até agora é a morte da Mieko, achei que a morte dela seria de algum impacto para o Fujin. Principalmente quando se leva em consideração que o Obito tem o sharingan dela. Eu até achava no começo que ela seria um bom par romântico para o Fujin.
GodEye62
Just please don't change the POV too much. I hate it when there is no POV from MC for chapters.
Yamir
More than five , and the passing or character quality will need to be sacrificed. The same applies to solo characters, the law of marginal gains comes into play again. The more quality you give to a solo character, the less valuable it might be to spectators compared to distributing that quality among multiple characters.
Mat Hias
Small digression: Could u have Fujin go on some missions with Hiruzen when he heals. Maybe just the two on them. Same with Tsunade and Jiraiya. And later maybe with the strongest from other villages. I’d be cool to see.
Kwabena Kumi
Personal as many as u can maintain without losing control of story...I've seen the solo allthrough it does get stale...I've seen 3-4 up to 15 maintaining 20-30 consistantly is hard...unless u r using an academy base to go off of then maybe
HighSocks
I prefer solo. But I do not mind multiple perspectives as long as the multiple perspectives do not have you jumping back and forth between more than one narrative. I find it jarring it’s almost feels like a different story especially when the POVs are disconnected.
Burntliquid
Third option with a duo seems really interesting and nice but haven’t seen any stories that pull this off well with both mcs getting reasonable power ups and staying in contest with each other. However Hex, you are probably the author that has done the best job of making mc power ups feel earned out of all the books I’ve read so I’m sure your capable of pulling it off if you choose to do so.
rain
Ah, probably my second biggest complaint about Wind Calamity (which directly ties into the first) is the fact that we can go almost a hundred chapters without seeing another character lol. Despite it being 860 chapters long, the only characters I can say have been a mainstay in the fic are Hoka, Renjiro, Hiruzen, Shikaku, and Naruto. Will this change in the future/will you attach more importance to characters (and their relationship with Fujin) overtime? I'll vote for the 7-12 option, it's a solid balance. MHA tried to do the classroom and failed badly, Black Clover does the small group pretty well. Reverend Insanity is a great novel, and its clearly an inspiration for this fanfic, but I think its been leaning a little too hard into that inspiration post-Anbu. It's still Naruto after all. Edit: Also, I don't know who'd be a capable rival to Fujin at this point, I know this poll isn't for Wind Calamity, but I think it'd be cool if it was Sasori. They've already encountered each other twice.
Burntliquid
2nd option is definitely the best. The problem with having a larger cast that is friendly with the mc is that the other characters can’t keep up with the mcs growth and the author either gives them some bs power up that doesn’t line up with the story to keep them relevant or just makes them rely on the mc for everything and they end of being a weakness of the mc
Travis J Pfenning
Personally I think a small group is best it gives time to build up bonds and give some combat and interaction variety without bloating too much
Cesar GM
The jujutsu kaisen author method of dealing with the cast would be fun. by making the reader like a character to kill him when he leasts expects it
Travis J Pfenning
To be honest depends a lot on the story like a dungeon crawly type adventure a small group 3 to 4 with some support out side the combat parts is fine a romance journey usually works best with just 2 the couple with guest appearances then there are stories like fairy tale where you could say the whole guild is involved but they stick to a more core cast of normal
