Why do we have so shitty dragon main characters?

[kunyka]

DISCLAIMER: Please don't leave hate comments and just ignore if you are not intrested or irritated by a topic. I won't be mad or sad if nobody leaves any comments.

It is a matter of taste though, but why none of authors ever made a proper dragon main character (cool, badass and very powerful one)?
Examples:
Dragon Goes House-Hunting; A Herbivorous Dragon of 5,000 Years Gets Unfairly Villainized - weak joke parody dragons.
Dragon Yashinatte Kudasai; Ryujin No Rinjin; Reincarnated as a Dragon Hatchling - dragons barely resemble dragons.
Goodbye, Dragon Life; Dragon System; Tensei Mae Wa Doragon Deshita - a dragon is not a dragon anymore due to reincarnating into a human, resulted by a dragon's death.
Carsearin - a dragon main character is both a cute trap and looks nice as a dragon, but the series ends with a literal genocide of dragons.
My Wife is a Half-Dragon; Dragon Rurie - a half-dragon main character, meaning no dragon form.
Starting as the Black Dragon Boss, I Am Invincible - stops being a dragon about 30 chapters later by making his dragon form his pet.
How to Survive as a Dragon with Time-Limit - despite of cute look and small size combined with reincarnation, still changes into a human most of times (too early, a dragon is too young, also it contradicts with the whole reincarnation idea) and we may never see him grown up.

 

[BestBoy]

Goodbye, Dragon Life

I thought he was able to transform into his old dragon self? Didn't that happen while he was fighting the big gross worm chimera monsters on that floating island?

 

[kunyka]

I thought he was able to transform into his old dragon self? Didn't that happen while he was fighting the big gross worm chimera monsters on that floating island?

Is it permanent?

 

[BestBoy]

Is it permanent?

No I don't think so

 

[kunyka]

No I don't think so

Then it still sucks.

 

[BestBoy]

Then it still sucks.

These requirements are quite demanding. I hope you find the dragon of your manga dreams.

Faraway Paladin had a good one, but he was a villain 🤷‍♂️

 

[kunyka]

These requirements are quite demanding. I hope you find the dragon of your manga dreams.

Faraway Paladin had a good one, but he was a villain 🤷‍♂️

1. NO DRAGONSLAYING please.
2. I mean main characters.

 

[BestBoy]

1. NO DRAGONSLAYING please.
2. I mean main characters.

He was definitely slain, but it was a cool fight.

 

[GipoScribantino]

Usually you can have your answers by checking the nature of a comic.
Is it an adptation? Is the light novel an adaptation? Was it originally something from e.g. syosetu?
If all the answers are yes, then you don't get badass dragons because the authors of the web novel cannot write them.
Syosetu is the deviantart of japanese writers and the only reason their work is published is to get a quick buck while something is trending.

Now that I'm done with the rant, a more serious answer.
Having a proper dragon as a main character is not interesting enough to keep the plot up. A proper dragon is wise, all powerful, and so on.
You can only go so far writing something where the protagonist is able to immediately devise a solution and be sure to enact it thanks to its infinite power, before even you as the author get bored.
It's why dragons are more often than not supporting characters, like in Eragon (yes, I'm using western work. Current-day manga dragons are from the west, anyway) or they have something "debuffing" them like in DragonHeart (the movie) where the dragon co-protagonist is goofy and all.
I'm not condoning the absolute infantilization japanese authors have performed on these majestic lizards, but more often than not you are forced to tone their omnipotence down in some way.

 

[kunyka]

He was definitely slain, but it was a cool fight.

No, it is a shitty manga because the only dragon in it was slain.

 

[kunyka]

Usually you can have your answers by checking the nature of a comic.
Is it an adptation? Is the light novel an adaptation? Was it originally something from e.g. syosetu?
If all the answers are yes, then you don't get badass dragons because the authors of the web novel cannot write them.
Syosetu is the deviantart of japanese writers and the only reason their work is published is to get a quick buck while something is trending.

Now that I'm done with the rant, a more serious answer.
Having a proper dragon as a main character is not interesting enough to keep the plot up. A proper dragon is wise, all powerful, and so on.
You can only go so far writing something where the protagonist is able to immediately devise a solution and be sure to enact it thanks to its infinite power, before even you as the author get bored.
It's why dragons are more often than not supporting characters, like in Eragon (yes, I'm using western work. Current-day manga dragons are from the west, anyway) or they have something "debuffing" them like in DragonHeart (the movie) where the dragon co-protagonist is goofy and all.
I'm not condoning the absolute infantilization japanese authors have performed on these majestic lizards, but more often than not you are forced to tone their omnipotence down in some way.

I talk about modern anime, manga and manhwa series. Not about Western 90s and 00s medias which is less in ammount.
I Want to see brutal badass dragons like in Yugioh or Bakugan.
If authors can do that with demon protagonists, then they should be able to do same with dragons.

 

[kunyka]

He was definitely slain, but it was a cool fight.

I disagree

 

[BestBoy]

I want ALIVE dragons. NOT slain ones.

Well, maybe keep an eye on Neko to Ryuu. Seems like it's gonna switch perspective between a dragon and a cat. Only 2 chapters from what I saw so far.

In your ideal dragon manga, what would the dragon do?

 

[kunyka]

Well, maybe keep an eye on Neko to Ryuu. Seems like it's gonna switch perspective between a dragon and a cat. Only 2 chapters from what I saw so far.

In your ideal dragon manga, what would the dragon do?

1. No overuse of a human form.
2. Strong and cool.
3. Well-designed.
4. Does not die.

 

[GipoScribantino]

I talk about modern anime, manga and manhwa series. Not about Western 90s and 00s medias which is less in ammount.
I Want to see brutal badass dragons like in Yugioh or Bakugan.
If authors can do that with demon protagonists, then they should be able to do same with dragons.

I don't know which YuGiOh specifically you are referring to, but the dragon in Bakugan was not as much a main character as you make it to be so I would say it doesn't count.
Demon protagonists are also plagued by the same issues you listed here, too.

 

[hazzack]

any time now this guy would rant about dragon's right or something.
maybe just go read eragon.
or this dragon egg isekai. main character is dragon, pretty badass

 

[panzerkampfwagyu]

Don't bother with him, he did that shit several times already.

 

[hazzack]

Don't bother with him, he did that shit several times already.

nu'uh i'll bother him all day thank you very much

 

[panzerkampfwagyu]

nu'uh i'll bother him all day thank you very much

Oh, bothering him is alright. Only advice is to not bother trying to help him.

 

[GipoScribantino]

Don't bother with him, he did that shit several times already.

Hah, I checked his profile and indeed all his posts are about dragons and dragon supremacy.
At least he's trying.