Double: Shoutaro's lack of back story

Okay, so my friend and I have been wondering why Double has been lacking in Shoutaro back story. We've had information on just about everybody else, from Terui to Isaka to even Akiko's dad's friend who was around for two episodes. Why do you think the writer's have failed to give us back story on Shoutaro? Is it on purpose? Have they just forgotten? Do you think it will come later? Do you think Shroud constantly calling Shoutaro bad has something to do with it? My friend and I have come up with our own theories and I will gladly share them but they may seem out there so only if people are interested. I know I'm interested in what everyone else thinks.

I'm thinking that Shroud knows something about Shotaro's backstory, that will eventually be revealed towards the end of the show.

Could also be the way they are making the series. . .

If you notice, Shoutaro narrates every episode, so it's most of the time a 3rd Person "Shoutaro Point of View".

So unless someone in the series refers to it, it probably wont show up.

Is it really needed? Beyond his days with Narumi we don't need to know anymore. He's only considered "bad" by shroud because he was never meant to be the one to fuse with phillip. Being the bad ass he is he's proving her wrong every step of the way.

I don't think we'll be getting much information about Shoutarou's back story at all. He's probably the part I dislike about the show the most, at least a good majority of the time. I get the feeling that's supposed to portray the "eyes" of the viewer in that his connections to the whole Gaia Memory thing aren't as strong as Phillip or even Akiko, but because there's a lack of...well, any real reason to care about the guy, I find it hard to like him. Most of the time it just seems like he's "there" with the story happening to everyone but him, sure you have things like the Beast and Begins Night stuff, but that's just a small portion of the series.

It almost feels like there's something that they wanted to do with the character, but just never really got around to. He plays the detective, but...that's really it. Most of the time he's just investigating stuff, and there was a lot of promise in his character in the first five episodes or so, but after that he just became such a static character, which is fine at times, but the early episodes of the series gave me the impression that his outlook would change somewhat. Shroud calling him bad probably just means that she sees him as weak, and the reason he'll bring down Phillip is because he'll be holding him back, which, again, fine and dandy, but Shou is just such a boring character most of the time.

I'm pretty sure I went on a tangent there, but yeah, I don't see anything much deeper being revealed.

I'm thinking they left Shotaro's background intentionally because he's pretty much the "wildcard" of the series, which is probably why they hinted on it by giving him the Joker memory.

Shotaro's purpose in the series was to pretty much defy expectations, especially since people always underestimate him, treat him as a joke, and even try to put him in the bench.

Just like what Shroud pretty much does with him, and considering the theory that Shroud may have orchestrated everything for Philip and Ryu to be Double and fight Museum, it may seem logical for them to not cover Shotaro too much and just focus how he entered the whole conflict through Soukichi Narumi.

Shotaro is pretty much a normal everyday-person actually, unlike everyone else who have a lot of issues.

I still have to ask why does everyone need a back story? It's not a mandate for a good story. The main character already is how he is and a back story is usually used to reveal something of importance to the viewer. Shou may not have anything really interesting at all the tell. What matters is what he does in the present time.

Yep, I agree. As mentioned, the series revolves around what Shotaro sees and experiences, and since Shotaro is pretty much the most "normal" of them all, all the audience needs is to experience what he experiences, and pulling a backstory is risky because some people might not be able to relate at all anymore.

Shotaro was pretty much designed to disrupt all of the plans in the series, be it Ryubei's or Shroud's. He's the one that will pretty much end all of the conflict, and we can see that through arcs in which he is able to convince people to change their views.

Skiks said:

I still have to ask why does everyone need a back story? It's not a mandate for a good story. The main character already is how he is and a back story is usually used to reveal something of importance to the viewer. Shou may not have anything really interesting at all the tell. What matters is what he does in the present time.

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They don't always need a back story, but when you have a character as bland as Shoutarou, it helps. Shoutarou's story is that he was basically a cocky hot shot who ended up letting a client get hurt one night and that turned him into the half-boiled guy that he is today. It's an interesting one, but it doesn't really connect him to anyone else, it feels like such an outsider in the story, which can work at times, but not when you have someone like Shoutarou, who I want to be able to like with every episode, but he just seems so dull to me.

Wasn't Shoutaro just a high school student before all this happend therefore he needs no backstory?