A new season has a new protagonist.

[SailusGebel]

You read a Novel, a Manga, or watch an anime and the first season ends. Luckily for you, season two is already out, but there is one notable difference. The MC has changed for no apparent reason. There was no death, no passing of the torch, and the story of the previous MC didn't end either, but season two still has a new MC. All while the old one becomes a supporting character at max.

Personally, I hate this. Every time I saw this, it was terrible. I understand that this can be done well, and blah-blah. My personal experience with this was nothing but negative.

What do you all think? Do you like it or not?

 

[Zirrboy]

If a nuisance of a MC leaves and the fun parts about the story stay, I have little against it. "Shared universe" is a term I only know from world building heavy series and if it's continuous on a timeline, "part two" might feel like the more natural name.

But there's also one case where in retrospect I think the intention was to show the "actual" protagonist through the eyes of important people on their journey.
Pity that person was about the worst part of the work.

 

[TroubleFait]

They managed it well in Eden: It's an Endless World, the story is divided in multiple parts and the protagonist changes each time, but since the manga is about an overarching plot it works.
And it's not like the old protagonists become irrelevant.

 

[LilRora]

I'd say that it might be enjoyable, but it's impossibly hard to execute it well. It's just asking for trouble if you want to develop another character without putting the old protagonist to the side, and if you don't do that, you're disappointing majority of readers who want to read the continuation.

Multiple POVs can be annoying enough as is, and they only work if the story isn't focused on the protagonist as much as on the plot. In a case like you descibed, the requirements for it to work would be even higher.

I personally can't say I don't like it, but saying I like it would be even more of a lie. The few stories I know are rather interesting, but in the end it gets annoying when the character you've rooted for gets put to the side and some random dude takes their role.

Though one thing I'd like to note are stories where having another protagonist in another season is the very idea fueling the thing. Like Doctor Who, for example, though it isn't the exact thing you're talking about. But in that case it's quite interesting, if only because there are very few stories like that.

 

[TroubleFait]

Technically superhero stories do it all the time. The MCU, the Batfamily, The Watchmen... even if maybe that's grasping.

Also, some stories cannot focus on a single character, like Avatar: The Last Airbender.

 

[LilRora]

Another thing I only thought about now, it's nice if you have a story in the same universe as another where the main character from the other shows up briefly as some important figure, or just gives a helping hand to the protagonist in the new story. Like seeing the character you watched grow being actually grown up and doing good things.

 

[georgelee5786]

I don't really care for it, but there are some cases of it being done well. Jojo's Bizarre Adventure is an example of how it can be done amazingly well. Each protagonist is related to the previous season's protagonist in some way. Joseph was Jonathan's grandson. Jotaro was Joseph's grandson, Josuke is Jotaro's uncle, etc. They also pass the torch on pretty well, each season is related to the previous one in some way.

 

[longer]

Slightly off topic, but I adore this in survival games particularly zombie games. Say you die, now your corpse, animate or not, is a part of the world with loot on it. Just another unfortunate victim of the world who you might stumble upon as your next playable survivor.

 

[Silver_Sky]

I don't mind multiple protagonists, but and protag change isn't for me. It's like it takes away from the previous protag like he/she isn't really special in anyway just 'lucky' since it could've been anyone, and they were lucky enough to be it.
On another note I do like if there is a side character or something like one that has a op kinda power(not a system or time powers, but strength that comes from prolonged training and such like someone the protag can't reach with luck) someone like that and appears in the story. It reminds you that the protag isn't the only strong person in the story, and he can't run wild like some lame Isekai protag.

 

[Fox-Trot-9]

The only time I've ever seen this executed well was in the Metal Gear Solid game series when they introduced Naked Snake (aka, Big Boss) in Metal Gear Solid 3, but they didn't scrap the original protagonist Solid Snake. They just shelved him for a time after lackluster reviews in Metal Gear Solid 2.

 

[Ilikewaterkusa]

You read a Novel, a Manga, or watch an anime and the first season ends. Luckily for you, season two is already out, but there is one notable difference. The MC has changed for no apparent reason. There was no death, no passing of the torch, and the story of the previous MC didn't end either, but season two still has a new MC. All while the old one becomes a supporting character at max.

Personally, I hate this. Every time I saw this, it was terrible. I understand that this can be done well, and blah-blah. My personal experience with this was nothing but negative.

What do you all think? Do you like it or not?

Depends on how they do it.

 

[SailusGebel]

Depends on how they do it.

Carefully.

 

[JayDirex]

You read a Novel, a Manga, or watch an anime and the first season ends. Luckily for you, season two is already out, but there is one notable difference. The MC has changed for no apparent reason. There was no death, no passing of the torch, and the story of the previous MC didn't end either, but season two still has a new MC. All while the old one becomes a supporting character at max.

Personally, I hate this. Every time I saw this, it was terrible. I understand that this can be done well, and blah-blah. My personal experience with this was nothing but negative.

What do you all think? Do you like it or not?

I detest it!!! This is the tunnel vision of an author that believes it's time to tell this 'alt story' and probably will insist that it ties into the main story. When no! People are coming back for the same fix. Or at least a similar fix.

But hey, every once in a blue it works.

 

[Maze_Runner]

You read a Novel, a Manga, or watch an anime and the first season ends. Luckily for you, season two is already out, but there is one notable difference. The MC has changed for no apparent reason. There was no death, no passing of the torch, and the story of the previous MC didn't end either, but season two still has a new MC. All while the old one becomes a supporting character at max.

Personally, I hate this. Every time I saw this, it was terrible. I understand that this can be done well, and blah-blah. My personal experience with this was nothing but negative.

What do you all think? Do you like it or not?

I. Absolutely. Hate. This.
Its so annoying! What's the point to it?! To annoy your fans?

 

[K5Rakitan]

I hate it. I watch the show to see my favorite characters!

 

[PeacefulMyst]

You read a Novel, a Manga, or watch an anime and the first season ends. Luckily for you, season two is already out, but there is one notable difference. The MC has changed for no apparent reason. There was no death, no passing of the torch, and the story of the previous MC didn't end either, but season two still has a new MC. All while the old one becomes a supporting character at max.

Personally, I hate this. Every time I saw this, it was terrible. I understand that this can be done well, and blah-blah. My personal experience with this was nothing but negative.

What do you all think? Do you like it or not?

Lord of the mysteries did the same thing...

Well I guess the author at least finished the story of the og protagonist