So, following the last episode of The Amazing Digital Circus, I noticed a lot of posts going around shaming people for hating on Ragatha. I'm not deep enough into the fandom to have noticed much Raggie hate while it was going on, but the notion that she WAS hated was compelling to me. Why would people dislike the selfless character who always puts others before herself?
I think it has something to do with the show's writing. TADC has a very "tell, don't show" style of character writing. I've noticed this trend in a lot of indie animated projects recently; Hazbin Hotel, The Gaslight District, and most egregiously in a lesser-known pilot called The Art of Murder. All made by people who can animate extremely well, but appear to have underdeveloped character writing skill.
This style of writing winds up being very expository. Characters verbally explain how they act, why they do what they do, what they think. They spend a LOT of time talking about themselves as a matter of necessity, because they can't otherwise get their characters across.
Every character suffers as a result of this, but it's most damaging to a selfless character who's supposed to spend all her time thinking about other people. Ragatha spends a lot of screen time talking about herself; and somebody who talks mostly about what a kind and selfless person they are, how they're always putting other people before themselves, comes off as a little hypcritical. Like, "I'm the most understanding and empathetic person I know!" Seems a little self-obsessed, even though it's supposed to be the truth.
