Which show has the best character development

[Wesley Junior]

Which show has the best character development? Buffy or Angel? And what makes the show's character development the best?

 

[Steven123]

Hard question, i would probably say Buffy as i'd say that through the whole show you see Buffy/Xander/Willow/Giles etc develope as the seasons go on, more so with with Buffy etc as they are growing up.

But i'd probably say that Angel might just edge it as i think that Angel/Cordy/Wesley developed quite a bit on AtS, especially Wesley lol.

Pretty even though.

 

[Lindsey McDonald]

Difficult question. Buffy had longer, so there was more space for gradual development. But then, I felt that the last few seasons had pretty inconsistent characterisations. Angel wasn't immune from that either, but I think I prefer its arcs of Cordelia, Lindsey, Angel and Faith overall. Angel seemed to retain a subtlety that got lost on Buffy.

 

[Hale Caesar]

Easily Angel. Cordelia and Wesley are two of the best Buffyverse characters, IMO. Buffy had terrible character development...because they stopped developing characters, Giles and Xander became stagnant and boring in the last 2 seasons

 

[Black Eye Guy]

I'd say Angel, because it had Cordelia and Wesley, who had the best character developments.

They obiviously wanted to change Cordy and Wes to suit Angel the Series, but didn't just change them when they came across they stayed true to their characters from Buffy and devloped over on Angel.

 

[ILLYRIAN]

I'd have to go with Buffy, it is easier to show a young person developing as they grow older. There were many young people in Buffy to 'play' with.
In Angel, most of the characters were already developed as a person.

 

[Lindsey McDonald]

I'd have to go with Buffy, it is easier to show a young person developing as they grow older. There were many young people in Buffy to 'play' with.
In Angel, most of the characters were already developed as a person.

I thought one of Angel's strengths was that it took the people who had "grown up" without finding themselves and showed them actually developing in the adult world, rather than High School. Cordelia, Wesley, Fred, Doyle, Faith, Angel... they were all lost and in flux when they came to Angel. I really liked that idea. The Scoobies found their purpose very early on. They obviously changed and grew as the years went on, but they knew who they were and what they believed in as early as Season 1. The AI team didn't have that luxury, and I tended to find that more interesting. They were the real outcasts.

 

[hazzard]

this is really difficult and i don't think i can pick--like people have said before me, buffy was able to develop its characters as they grew up--development was almost natural. really good, but natural. angel, on the other hand, took more adult, set-in-their-ways characters and developed them. i also tend to see angel as a much darker show, which in my opinion, lends itself to great character development. oddly, two of my favourite characters, spike and wesley, were on both shows, and both had some of the greatest characters arcs in all the whedonverse shows. brilliant.

 

[Gum Gnome33]

Well, certainly Buffy had the more convincing character development IMO. Cordy's "development" on Angel made absolutely no sense, and I didn't really see much development in anyone else, except of course for Wesley who had tremendous growth.

On Buffy, everyone grew, one way or another, and I thought it was all fairly consistent with what they went through, and the personalities within. I think we even got hints early on of Willow's drastic change to come and with the magic addiction her transformation into Dark Willow felt fairly organic, (even though the character itself was sort of cheesy). I'd say that the only exception to all this was Giles. It's as if they just gave up on him and let him become someone who early season Giles probably wouldn't have even bothered to grab a beer with.

And Spike's development on "Buffy" was epic, then they took him down a few notches on Angel...

 

[dexeded]

Angel. Both had character development, but overall, I prefer how the AtS characters developed. In BtVS, I dislike Willow's development (and Giles in S7). And Xander didn't really get much. Whereas in Angel, I only dislike Gunn, and love the others, especially Angel and Wesley.

 

[Dagenspear]

ANGEL. No question. Even the villains on there got more development than most of characters on BUFFY.

 

[Hale Caesar]

Well, certainly Buffy had the more convincing character development IMO. Cordy's "development" on Angel made absolutely no sense, and I didn't really see much development in anyone else, except of course for Wesley who had tremendous growth.

On Buffy, everyone grew, one way or another, and I thought it was all fairly consistent with what they went through, and the personalities within. I think we even got hints early on of Willow's drastic change to come and with the magic addiction her transformation into Dark Willow felt fairly organic, (even though the character itself was sort of cheesy). I'd say that the only exception to all this was Giles. It's as if they just gave up on him and let him become someone who early season Giles probably wouldn't have even bothered to grab a beer with.

And Spike's development on "Buffy" was epic, then they took him down a few notches on Angel...

Spike in Season 7 was basically...Angel. He started his relationship with Buffy and lost his edge, he stopped saying cool things and being funny, IMO.

What do you think about Xander in seasons 5-7? I feel he became equally as bad as Giles in seasons 6-7, Xander had nothing to do. Anya was the only thing keeping him relevant to the show, hell, all he really did was insult Spike for 2 seasons and then date Ashanti in season 7...

 

[Gum Gnome33]

Spike in Season 7 was basically...Angel. He started his relationship with Buffy and lost his edge, he stopped saying cool things and being funny, IMO.

I hate to admit it, but there were certainly an abundance of similarities. I think he was just still so grateful to be back "in the bosom" as he'd say, after the events of SR, that he was sort of walking on eggshells with Buffy, you know? At least that's how I see it. Now in season 9 I feel he's back to his old self, but calmer, with the soul.

What do you think about Xander in seasons 5-7? I feel he became equally as bad as Giles in seasons 6-7, Xander had nothing to do. Anya was the only thing keeping him relevant to the show, hell, all he really did was insult Spike for 2 seasons and then date Ashanti in season 7...

I wouldn't say he's as bad as absentee Giles or stab-you-in-the-back Giles, (seasons 6 and 7 respectively), but it's true that he loses a lot of what made him so much fun in earlier seasons. He's hypocritical and often non-important. It's a shame...

 

[Anca]

Buffy, because the characters develop from internal changes, opposite to Angel where various things are externally thrust upon them (like Cordy's visions)

 

[nightshade]

Angel. I think the development of Cordy, Weslay and Angel from when they were on Buffy is a bigger and better development then what Buffy, Xander and Willow went through in the same amount of time. Also the way Fred went from cave girl to science head was really good

 

[Selfless705]

Angel, I think the development of the characters was more because of the fact they seemed to focus mroe on developing the characters than in Buffy. Also I think you can see the difference between seasons in the characters more in Angel, for example Fred, Cordy and Wesley mainly.

 

[RogueDemonHunter]

Difficult question. Buffy had longer, so there was more space for gradual development. But then, I felt that the last few seasons had pretty inconsistent characterisations. Angel wasn't immune from that either, but I think I prefer its arcs of Cordelia, Lindsey, Angel and Faith overall. Angel seemed to retain a subtlety that got lost on Buffy.

I'm not gonna bother writing what I htink, because this sums it up for me.