What's in a 'Stu'?

These days everywhere you can find one of them Gary Stu's lurking about in the wings of anime, waiting for the day the harem is complete. Yet, is every character accused of being one of these creatures actually fall into this category?In my opinion, a Gary Stu must be someone with either skill or power that they haven't paid a price for. These characters also must not have many redeeming character traits that aren't carbon copied from the protagonist template (eg. kindness) or character development.Many's first jump to Gary Stu'dum is Kirito from Sword Art Online. I can see why people think of him this way, and although his abilities are a bit absurd by the end of the series, they have a reason for being so strong. Being trapped inside a death game for two years and being a solo player bent on staying this way would be a crucible by fire for him. He would be forced to be stronger and faster than most as if he didn't he would die alone and be forgotten. Although his personality leaves much to be desired he is consistent throughout the series as he's never particularly nice and doesn't socialize with strangers unless he has to. He usually never goes out of his way to help others and he's at least not stupid enough to not realize the affections of the other girls. In the same vein is Tatsuya Shiba from Irregular at Magic Highschool. This man is so absurdly powerful it's humorous. Yet he had paid a price for those powers as he is, originally as a child, unable to use all normal magic, which in that society makes him a failure. Not to mention most of his emotions are either completely dead or so muted it really doesn't matter unless they involve his sister Miyuki. This will severely limit his ability to enact socially as an adult and to empathize with others on a deeper level. This makes him little more than an intelligent weapon.To me, a great example of a Gary Stu in anime is Ayato Amagiri from Asterisk War. The man is always as powerful as he needs to be and will thus never have difficulty with a fight, has the personality of an awkward sixteen year old half the time, yet somehow can't manage to see the feelings of the girls surrounding him. When it comes to his power it is never fully explained any price he payed to obtain the power, or to keep it, and the only drawback to using it is the seal placed on him by his sister. As a protagonist I find him boring and so generic it's painful, and that's saying a lot considering the plethora of shows I devour in my spare time.That is my two cents on the Gary Stu trope and my opinion on it's application to characters. I'm interested if ya'll think the same way, think I'm wrong perhaps, or if you have other protagonists that would fall under my definition. http://ift.tt/1Un7Y1O