I wish they came up with more interesting personalities for bad guys. We've got the clearly more powerful leader guy. We've got the quiet and controlled guy. And we've got the ever boring "I'm CRAZY for MURDER" guy.
The reincarnated sword saint wants to live freely and take iteasy. How do he do it? by joining military of course, because military always associated with living freely and easy.... ... ...
@RedRaptor
I agree and disagree with you. Bad guys don't have to be so 1-dimensional, give a bad guy just as much character as you give your main characters. Make readers unsure of who they actually want to see win, and you'll make a hell of an interesting conflict.
Where I don't agree is the "ever boring 'crazy for murder' guy" part. Characters aren't boring because their traits, they are boring because how those traits are executed. One of my favorite characters of all time can be boiled down to "crazy for murder" but she actually has an agenda and don't kill thoughtlessly, has a soft side, has been the main support when the MC needed it multiple times and overall the most interesting character in that series.
I mean traits do play a big part in the idea that the character type is constantly reused. It's like a checklist for "crazy for murder" character. Weird crazy smiley face while talking about killing? Check. Hyper aggressive and impatient? Check. Overconfident in their ability to kill? Check. Immediately wanting to fight people including their partners because...reasons? Check.
I don't deny that there are characters like this that can be done well. I don't know who your example is but one that comes to mind is Ladd Russo from Baccano. He loves violence but has a sense of order and actual personality. When they actually put substance in then yeah it's not bad. But they could also just introduce a bloodthirsty character in a different way rather than something so repetitive in anime/manga.
With how the edgy boy's sword was basically Byleth's sword whip, I'm gonna guess that the other character's sword is just gonna be super-super-thin. Almost invisible. That's my prediction. Yep. Sharp and thin.