I initially thought I was alone, but apparently there are quite a few other people who share in my sentiments with him. I really don't like Yuno. The thing is, the author made Yuno this way, because he wanted a rival - but instead, he had inadvertently created a "better protagonist"; the guy, who'd be the one this story "should" be about. They pretend the go-getting, excitable orphan type is the perfect protagonist, because they always are, but in the end, you do want to follow the one who always saves the day and moves the world. While Asta may be just the one, when it comes down to it, within the story, it grows increasingly frustrating, how Yuno just happens to be better or be perceived better at absolutely anything and everything. If that's how it's going to be, why not make this about him, why don't you? Now, what do I mean? I haven't yet read the newer chapters. I let them marinate for a loooong ass time to come back now. Therefore, I know just a bit beyond what the Anime showed (I also heard the Anime was brought back in the meantime as well, but I haven't checked if that was true yet). Anyway, I've missed out on a lot of things that you may know, as you read these words right now, but I'm going from what I've seen until then. Yuno gets everything, yet is put against Asta, as if they even had the right to compete. Sure, Yuno trains too; magic needs familiarizing, rather than "training" in that sense. We haven't really learned that magic power will go up if you keep exercising, on the contrary, I'm pretty sure I remember Magna having a relatively low magic power level. But if you familiarize yourself enough, you might unlock new spells and get better at controlling the ones you got. But even the "getting new ones"-part is rather fishy territory, because there was this one guy, as you may remember, who only had a single spell, and since he used no other - obviously - he can't have lacked in practice or proficiency. Sooo, that also seems kind of up to luck or "fate" - basically, what you were meant to be able to do from birth, without things added in, like spells retrieved from places like Dungeons, because that seemed like not such an outlandish thing to happen, back when Yuno picked up Sylph (or whatever generic ass wind spirit name she's got). We did see Yuno use his magic in the same way that others would use their magic in daily life, gaining his proficiency naturally. He also never had any controlling issues, like Noelle did. What do I want to say with that? Simple: The dude had literally nothing to overcome, outside of him being an orphan from the sticks. Well, since magic doesn't require a teacher in this world and seems to come to even the lowest of the low like swimming to newborns, the fact that they live in the sticks actually meant nothing either. The fact that he was accepted into the magic knights but Asta wasn't (originally, anyway - remember how he barely managed to get into Black Bull, because Yami thought of him as funny), despite him beating his opponent faster than shit, said it all. To add the icing on the cake, Yuno got offers from even the group that would normally only accept nobles, because of course he did. And surely, he must be the offspring of some noble, with his magic; and surely, why not foreign royalty, while we're at it? What really makes him so great? His magic? Given at birth. His training? Apparently not much more than your average farmer would do, except that his magic value was heaps and loads bigger than your average farmer's could ever hope to be. His Grimoire? Was literally handed to him. His Wind Spirit? He just picked it up and the spirit chose him for... I don't know, his magic? Again, he was born with it. His face? He was fucking born with that as well. Surely, it wasn't his bland ass personality. Every asshole could be put in his place. Given years of just using and trying his magic, without any crazy effort, they would do just as well as Yuno would. Yes, I said it. And I meant it. So, what about Asta? When Yuno was given a birthright to a Kingdom, a pretty face and crazy Magic, kid was given literal Anti-magic, which can't be measured, so he didn't even know he had THAT at least. If he hadn't tried to do the Mashle-esque trick of substituting magic with muscle power, he wouldn't have gotten anywhere with just that. Seriously, back when someone other than Asta - namely Julius - tried to wield his sword for the very first time, we finally get the information that the stupid thing could barely be lifted by any normal person. But the fact that he was indeed the one person capable of doing so easily does not mean it came to him as naturally and effortlessly as the wind spirit came to Yuno. Asta trained himself so rigorously, the boy could probably bench-press all seven gates on both sides up on Kukuru Mountain. Everyone tells him he's ugly - which I wouldn't call him, but that's the truth within the story, told by the other characters in it - he's loud, he's obviously dumb, and every time he gets a bit stronger, he's handed yet another handicap. At this point, as I said, why even have them compete, if the end goal will always have them barely catch up (with Yuno being in the lead) or Asta not catching up at all, despite his efforts and all the wins he gathers, because nobody acknowledges any of it, outside of a select few? Again: I surely missed out on more than a hundred chapters, maybe even two hundred, but why is it that I read comments, right off the bat, that tell me this fact still didn't change in the slightest?
Edit: I do want to add that this rivalry is likely a botched clone of Naruto and Sasuke, which was botched itself. But Naruto didn't make the mistake of keeping them as rivals. When Sasuke stated, at the end, that he would become the next Hokage, the village would have shit themselves in laughter collectively, had they heard him say it. By being the one drifting off into the wrong lane, they kept being rivals on odd ends, therefore they never competed on even grounds and since they barely met, it wasn't clear who was really the stronger one in the end and overcoming him, who went to the dark side to become more powerful, has a very different connotation; it is so much more considered. There you go, you got me to compliment Naruto for something relating to character work among the main cast.
I initially thought I was alone, but apparently there are quite a few other people who share in my sentiments with him. I really don't like Yuno.
The thing is, the author made Yuno this way, because he wanted a rival - but instead, he had inadvertently created a "better protagonist"; the guy, who'd be the one this story "should" be about. They pretend the go-getting, excitable orphan type is the perfect protagonist, because they always are, but in the end, you do want to follow the one who always saves the day and moves the world. While Asta may be just the one, when it comes down to it, within the story, it grows increasingly frustrating, how Yuno just happens to be better or be perceived better at absolutely anything and everything. If that's how it's going to be, why not make this about him, why don't you?
Now, what do I mean? I haven't yet read the newer chapters. I let them marinate for a loooong ass time to come back now. Therefore, I know just a bit beyond what the Anime showed (I also heard the Anime was brought back in the meantime as well, but I haven't checked if that was true yet). Anyway, I've missed out on a lot of things that you may know, as you read these words right now, but I'm going from what I've seen until then.
Yuno gets everything, yet is put against Asta, as if they even had the right to compete. Sure, Yuno trains too; magic needs familiarizing, rather than "training" in that sense. We haven't really learned that magic power will go up if you keep exercising, on the contrary, I'm pretty sure I remember Magna having a relatively low magic power level. But if you familiarize yourself enough, you might unlock new spells and get better at controlling the ones you got. But even the "getting new ones"-part is rather fishy territory, because there was this one guy, as you may remember, who only had a single spell, and since he used no other - obviously - he can't have lacked in practice or proficiency. Sooo, that also seems kind of up to luck or "fate" - basically, what you were meant to be able to do from birth, without things added in, like spells retrieved from places like Dungeons, because that seemed like not such an outlandish thing to happen, back when Yuno picked up Sylph (or whatever generic ass wind spirit name she's got). We did see Yuno use his magic in the same way that others would use their magic in daily life, gaining his proficiency naturally. He also never had any controlling issues, like Noelle did.
What do I want to say with that? Simple: The dude had literally nothing to overcome, outside of him being an orphan from the sticks. Well, since magic doesn't require a teacher in this world and seems to come to even the lowest of the low like swimming to newborns, the fact that they live in the sticks actually meant nothing either. The fact that he was accepted into the magic knights but Asta wasn't (originally, anyway - remember how he barely managed to get into Black Bull, because Yami thought of him as funny), despite him beating his opponent faster than shit, said it all. To add the icing on the cake, Yuno got offers from even the group that would normally only accept nobles, because of course he did. And surely, he must be the offspring of some noble, with his magic; and surely, why not foreign royalty, while we're at it?
What really makes him so great?
His magic? Given at birth.
His training? Apparently not much more than your average farmer would do, except that his magic value was heaps and loads bigger than your average farmer's could ever hope to be.
His Grimoire? Was literally handed to him.
His Wind Spirit? He just picked it up and the spirit chose him for... I don't know, his magic? Again, he was born with it. His face? He was fucking born with that as well. Surely, it wasn't his bland ass personality.
Every asshole could be put in his place. Given years of just using and trying his magic, without any crazy effort, they would do just as well as Yuno would. Yes, I said it. And I meant it.
So, what about Asta? When Yuno was given a birthright to a Kingdom, a pretty face and crazy Magic, kid was given literal Anti-magic, which can't be measured, so he didn't even know he had THAT at least. If he hadn't tried to do the Mashle-esque trick of substituting magic with muscle power, he wouldn't have gotten anywhere with just that.
Seriously, back when someone other than Asta - namely Julius - tried to wield his sword for the very first time, we finally get the information that the stupid thing could barely be lifted by any normal person. But the fact that he was indeed the one person capable of doing so easily does not mean it came to him as naturally and effortlessly as the wind spirit came to Yuno. Asta trained himself so rigorously, the boy could probably bench-press all seven gates on both sides up on Kukuru Mountain. Everyone tells him he's ugly - which I wouldn't call him, but that's the truth within the story, told by the other characters in it - he's loud, he's obviously dumb, and every time he gets a bit stronger, he's handed yet another handicap. At this point, as I said, why even have them compete, if the end goal will always have them barely catch up (with Yuno being in the lead) or Asta not catching up at all, despite his efforts and all the wins he gathers, because nobody acknowledges any of it, outside of a select few?
Again: I surely missed out on more than a hundred chapters, maybe even two hundred, but why is it that I read comments, right off the bat, that tell me this fact still didn't change in the slightest?
Edit: I do want to add that this rivalry is likely a botched clone of Naruto and Sasuke, which was botched itself. But Naruto didn't make the mistake of keeping them as rivals. When Sasuke stated, at the end, that he would become the next Hokage, the village would have shit themselves in laughter collectively, had they heard him say it. By being the one drifting off into the wrong lane, they kept being rivals on odd ends, therefore they never competed on even grounds and since they barely met, it wasn't clear who was really the stronger one in the end and overcoming him, who went to the dark side to become more powerful, has a very different connotation; it is so much more considered. There you go, you got me to compliment Naruto for something relating to character work among the main cast.