Genji has appeared in two Archives events, two comics (four if you wanna count Junkenstein and Retribution) an animated short (plus the Retribution and Storm Rising cutscenes), and he has three heroes that could be argued are part of his “supporting cast” (Mercy, Hanzo and Zenyatta, but more so the latter two). I mean, I wouldn’t really have a problem with this if there weren’t heroes like Lúcio, Symmetra, and Zenyatta who have pretty much nothing to their own names. I feel like we don’t need any more Genji lore for a while. I’m not saying it’s bad to have so much Genji lore, I get it he is a fan favorite and all but it just seems so disproportionate when compared to most others…Or maybe it’s just me?
No, you are right, but the ninja attracts the children so they want to always cash that in.
Which is a shame. Plenty of heroes have a much more interesting story at this point
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Also I feel like his story is kind of… done for now? We’ve seen him go from wreckless playboy who got nearly killed to given a second chance at life to his service in Blackwatch and also Overwatch, we know he abandoned Overwatch during the infighting and wandered the world and then he found peace and enlightenment with Zenyatta and the Shambali, to where he has come back to tell Hanzo he forgave him and tries to get him to join Overwatch with him. We even get a hint of a romance with Mercy. I feel like this hero has literally every base covered, and it’s time to focus on others
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Genji is the lead writer favorite, so unfortunately, he made him a Gary Stu.
They say that one of their writing principles is to keep the character simple, but with Genji they broke that rule, they gave him the most complex story, with many of the main cast serving as support to his story. He was given all this attention and he isn’t a character necessary to move the main plot. It was just favoritism.
It’s sad because Genji’s character had a great potential, but the writer rushed everyting about him to make him the coolest in every situation.
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What comics has he been in that wheren’t slight cameos?
I think Tracer has more recognition than him but I see where you’re coming from and do agree
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That’s what it feels like! I understand the writer is bound to have a favorite, but it just would be an odd decision to keep piling on lore for the same hero when there are other heroes who sorely need some development.
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Tracer is the protagonist and poster hero of Overwatch so I’m not surprised she has so much lore centered around her. Genji is actually kind of a background hero in the wider context of the main plot… it’s odd that he’s been included in so much to the point where it feels forced in sometimes.
He hasn’t had a comic centered around him like Pharah, Symmetra, McCree, and a handful of other heroes have. But he’s appeared in so much else I feel a comic is hardly necessary for him y’know?
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Oh yeah, Genji has definitely gotten his fare share of love.
I’m surprised that out of all of the heroes it was him that went 16 months without an event skin!
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It’s just you. Genji doesn’t have much more lore than the other characters. He does have more than some characters that have none, but that’s really not saying much and there’s no reason to single him out for this. Soldier and Ana have more overall than Genji. Mercy and Tracer both appear in two archives events as well. Genji has only made cameo appearances in the comics. His animated short is actually more Hanzo’s short; Genji is the antagonist. So, like I keep asking, why Genji specifically?
The whining about imaginary Genji favoritism needs to stop. There’s no reason for it and hopefully Blizzard doesn’t get manipulated by it.
First off, Michael Chu has never said this and there’s no reason to think he’s playing favorites. Second, what about Genji makes him a “Gary Stu”? Beating Hanzo? Losing to Doomfist? Where is he particularly favored in terms of competence over the rest of the cast? This absolute nonsense.
You don’t get to dictate who is and isn’t necessary to move the plot forward. Tracer, Genji, Mercy, and Winston were Overwatch teammates and any one of them could be used to move the plot forward.
In what situations? He beat Hanzo, so what? Where is he shown to be significantly more capable than his teammates? You thinking Genji is cool is just the nature of his character. Anything that he does is going to seem cooler than what the other characters are doing a lot of times because he’s a cyborg ninja. That’s just how it is.
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Genji wasn’t in Junkenstein.
Overall, you can make the argument that main cast members/Overwatch heroes in the past and present, are in too much lore.
Tracer - Uprising (event), Uprising (comic), Storm Rising (cinematics), Storm Rising (event), Cinematic Trailer, Alive, Reflections, and an Origin Short.
Reaper - Uprising (comic), Uprising (event on comms), Retribution (comic), Retribution (cinematic), Retribution (event), Cinematic Trailer, Recall, Infiltration, Old Soldiers, Junkenstein, Masquerade
Ana (a post launch hero) - Bastet, an origin story, Uprising (event on comms), Legacy, Old Soldiers, Junkenstein
Sombra (another post launch) - The Sombra ARG, an origin story, Infiltration, Searching, Masquerade
Doomfist - The anime origin story, Masquerade, Storm Rising (cinematic, he was also the entire point of the mission), and Orisa exists entirely because of him, and her entire story arch was just setting up the return of Doomfist.
Genji isn’t the only hero with a disproporitonate amount of lore compared to others. McCree has 3-4 comics (only 1 page in Uprising), a short, and an supporting cast in Ashe and BOB. Reinhardt has 3 comics, a short, is in Uprising, and is the one who is narrating the story of Junkenstein.
Overall, Overwatch and Talon heroes have a large amount of lore appearances compared to non-Overwatch non-Talon characters. The ones who have disproportionate amounts are the non-Overwatch/Talon heroes with lots of lore (The Junkers have a lot, A Moment in Crime, The Plan, Going Legit, Wasted Land) and the Overwatch/Talon heroes that have very little (Sigma is a bit too new to use this excuse. Mei is not.)
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Don’t worry, they’re not gonna listen to a single forum post voicing my opinion that Genji has too much lore in a game where most heroes have next to none, your cyborg ninja is safe because he’s a popular character.
Also, Dragons is definitely a Hanzo/Genji short. The “antagonist” of the short is Hanzo’s refusal to forgive himself. Have you actually watched it? Genji comes out more “hero-ish” by the end of it.
I can understand why Ana, Reaper Soldier and Tracer would have a lot of lore appearances; they are central to the game’s story. But Genji kind of… I don’t know, for all his appearances, it always feels like he’s just kind of there like a shiny toy. That’s my opinion of course, you are free to disagree.
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I’m sorry if I’m coming off as confrontational, but I just see this quite a bit and I really don’t get it. I guess you have point in that Genji is not the traditional Overwatch-born loyalist that those other characters are, but then, Genji is appropriately not the focus of these appearances as you mentioned. At most they touch on his personal struggles, but Retribution focused much more on McCree and Reyes with Genji and Moira as supporting characters.
For the numerous complaints about Genji favoritism, we haven’t actually had a story where the main focus is Genji. In Dragons, Genji does come out “Hero-ish” as you put it, but the majority of the short is from Hanzo’s perspective with Genji antagonizing him. It deals with Hanzo’s struggles and how he has been coping with Genji’s “death.” We only find out Genji wants to help Hanzo towards the end.
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I’m more than confident that Genji will get something that he is the center of in the future.
Actually, I personally would have preferred he get Something that he gets to be the star of that shows his character more, not just several little appearances here and there (like he has now) that are enough to make him feel like he is everywhere yet his character still feels kind of background-ish, I just worry a bit because there are so many heroes that don’t even have that. And I’m not necessary against Genji getting more lore, but rather him getting more while others get nothing.
Hopefully if the rumors that a PvE game mode is in the works are true, the other heroes can finally be expanded upon
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Okay yeah, I can respect all that. I’m also hoping they’re ambitious with this rumored game lore-wise so we don’t have to argue over who should get the next round of table scraps lmao.
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Overwatch's Michael Chu On Lore And Storytelling | Rock Paper Shotgun In this interview with the lead writer he affirms that is “kind of obvious” his favoritism to Genji and Hanzo’s story. He admits that his biography is much longer than of other characters because they wanted people to know more about him, and that they wanted more room to explore.
He’s the character with most voice lines, voice interactions, map specific interactions and special skin voice lines in the game, every event skin he got has special lines. He’s also has the most lines in his native language, even though there are other voice actors that are multilingual.
During the Uprising event, Genji would thank Mercy for reviving him when the one reviving was not her, and this bug was fixed with less then one week left of the event. (Overwatch Forums). But other voice lines that have been bugged/removed for more then two years. Just recently they’ve given one of Mercy voice lines back.
In Heroes of the Storm, Genji was the first one to get a full cinematic trailer for his announcement (Heroes of the Storm 2.0 – Hanamura Showdown - YouTube). Not even Tracer, Lucio, Zarya, Ana or Junkrat got one. D.va fans had to content with a little cameo at the end until she got her animated short.
What makes him a Gary Stu? Heck, it’s harder to list what doesn’t make him a Gary Stu. I’m just going to give some examples or else this post is going too extensive. But if you want I can write more after.
Everybody likes or respect him. From Overwatch members to Talon. He’s even the only one to out sass Moira, not even Ana or Widow do that.
Not only that, all his voice interactions paints him in a positive light. Even Hanzo’s interactions with Zen compares him to Genji.
He is funny, charismatic, cool, arrogant towards his enemy but humble with his friends, a playboy but also a nerd that likes video games, respectful, smart, wise and cunning. Had an identity crisis but is already over it. There is no flaw on his personality.
Look at his origin. He’s part of a japanese clan, that means he related to the japanese royal family. It also makes him a samurai because of his nobility, not to forget he is trained as a ninja. Genji was rich because his family is yakuza. His character also covers the asian monk stereotype, being is one of Zenyatta’s “brightest pupils” (voice line) and achieved a “higher humanity” (in game biography).
Not only he was part of the special people group that was overwatch, he was part of the selective secret team that was blackwatch, and the only character that was member of both. But most importantly, they somehow needed him to put down an old fashioned yakuza organization that thinks that killing his family member is a good strategic decision.
They go out of their way to make Genji special. Do I even need to talk about how they confirmed his “genjitals” are intact? Because a power fantasy can’t have any form of “castration”(I guess in the literal and figurative sense). How can you self insert in a character if you can’t imagine him self inserting in his dream girl, right?
I don’t dictate what is or isn’t necessary to move the plot forward. Good writing technique does. Objectively speaking, Genji isn’t important to the main story. Characters that hold the power to create conflict are. Genji is a side character that the writer dedicated more time giving him a bunch of details and interactions because of his bias.
In all of his interactions he is shown as the moral superior, or the one we should root for. Hanzo only did what was asked of him, and that ruined his life, but Genji not only defeated him(even though it’s said Hanzo is the superior fighter of the two), but proceed to morally lecture him.
He is liked/respected by people that should be against of all the stuff he has done.
Like I said before overwatch was an organization that saved humanity from super powerful A. I.s, yet they need him to beat some yakuza.
Him being a cyborg ninja is the last thing that makes him cool, because he is so derivative of other better designed cyborg ninjas from popular culture that only kids find this aspect of him appealing.
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Genji has 27 unlockable voice lines.
Ana, Lucio, Mercy, Orisa and Wrecking Ball also have 27.
Junkrat, Mei, Moira, Sombra, Symmetra, Tracer, Widowmaker and Winston have 28.
McCree, Pharah, Zarya and Zenyatta have 29.
Hanzo has the most with 30.
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When I said voice lines, I said in total. Not only unlockable.
The same can be said about McCree.
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No, his blackwatch or demon hunter doesn’t.
Blackwatch and Van Helsing both have skin-specific voice lines.
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