History Main / EnsembleCast

* ''Manga/AzumangaDaioh'' mainly centers on the antics of the main cast (comprised of six schoolgirls and two of their teachers) without straying too far into one another. While Chiyo is the closest the series has to a "central viewpoint" character and Sakaki gets the most CharacterDevelopment, neither of them truly overshadow the other characters in terms of focus.

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': While the show first started its focus on the four main boys, as time passed by it expanded its focus to other residents from the titular town. They range from other children aside from the four boys to even the adults of South Park, including the parents of the four boys.

* While the first half of ''Manga/LuckyStar'' focuses on the main FourGirlEnsemble, the late half of the series also focus on the other FourGirlEnsemble, thus fitting into this trope well.

* ''Manga/AzumangaDaioh'' definitely is an example of this trope. It mainly centers on the antics of the main cast without straying too far into one another. Arguably there are more [[ADayInTheLimelight Sakaki stories]] than anyone else, but it doesn't get to the point of her being the main character.

** In ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', although Twilight Sparkle is clearly the main protagonist, all of the [[FanNickname Mane Six]] get a roughly equal amount of screen time and episodes dedicated to them. Especially during season two, where Twilight [[AbsenteeActor actually doesn't appear at all in a couple of episodes]], or when she does, [[TheCameo only delivers a line or two]]. The Cutie Mark Crusaders get the spotlight with a good amount of regularity and of them Apple Bloom has gotten her own episode, Scootaloo's got hers too (with [[AndStarring guest star]] Princess Luna), and Sweetie Belle shared one with her sister.

%%* ''Theatre/IntoTheWoods''

%%* ''Theatre/{{Rent}}''

%%* Quite a few of Shakespeare's plays are this, most notably ''Theatre/AMidsummerNightsDream'' and ''Theatre/MuchAdoAboutNothing''.

%%* ''Theatre/YouCantTakeItWithYou''

* ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'': ''Subspace Emissary'': Ultimately, the "star characters" are whoever you prefer to play as, since there's no real arc or characterization. Although the game does seem to feature [[Franchise/{{Kirby}} Kirby, Dedede and Meta Knight]] [[SpotlightStealingSquad over the rest of the characters]], especially given that the creator of ''Super Smash Bros.'', Creator/MasahiroSakurai, is also the creator of the ''Kirby'' series.

* ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'': ''Subspace Emissary'': Ultimately, the "star characters" are whoever you prefer to play as, since there's no real arc or characterization. Although the game does seem to feature [[Franchise/{{Kirby}} Kirby, Dedede and Metaknight]] [[SpotlightStealingSquad over the rest of the characters]], especially given that the creator of ''Super Smash Bros.'', Creator/MasahiroSakurai, is also the creator of the ''Kirby'' series.

* ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'': ''Subspace Emissary'': Ultimately, the "star characters" are whoever you prefer to play as, since there's no real arc or characterization. Although the game does seem to feature [[Franchise/{{Kirby}} Kirby, Dedede and Metaknight]] [[SpotlightStealingSquad over the rest of the characters]].

* ''HomicideLifeOnTheStreet'' focused on a unit of homicide detectives, and gave each of them an equal amount of focus; each episode would generally have multiple plots, each following a different detective trying to solve a different case. Even in later seasons, when a lot of the focus was put on BreakoutCharacter Frank Pembleton, the other cast members got just as much prominence as he did.

RotatingProtagonist is a subtrope of this. See also AllStarCast for instances where putting a bunch of stars in the work leads to no one star getting the bulk of the focus.

* {{Exaggerated|Trope}} in a broad sense with ''Roleplay/NoPixel'', which has no "main" character to speak of, but is an amalgation of hundreds of different characters interacting at any given moment. Also a subversion in that the "main" character at the moment could be considered [[RotatingProtagonist whoever the viewer is watching at the time]].[[note]]As a nod to the spirit of this trope, it's considered good server etiquette to contribute to other characters' storylines as best as possible should an interaction occur.[[/note]]

* ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'' in the same way as ''Baccano''. They're based on books written by the same author. Although some readers mistake Mikado for the protagonist, since his arrival is what kickstart the plot and he is the first one to narrate the story and receive plot focus, the author has since stated that, if anyone is the protagonist, it's Celty.
* ''Manga/GohanNoOtomo'' follows the lives of a group of loosely-connected individuals who occasionally frequents Nobu's cafe or Kuma's bar. However, none of them can be considered the central protagonist, and most of the time, the series seem to focus on the ambience rather than the characters.

** Since ''QUEENS'' technically [[spoiler: has the same cast as ACES, minus the ones who died]], this trope is played pretty straight. Though, because as of the time of the writing of this example; QUEENS is still in progress, this may change in the forseeable future.
** ''Snow White Raising Project'' ambigiously had [[spoiler: Pythie Frederica]] as a VillainProtagonist who oversees the events of the short story.

** The main story already has [[ShellShockedVeteran Marcus]], though [[CloudCuckoolander Canon!Lyra]], [[BadassTeacher TCB!Cheerilee]], [[KnightInSourArmor TCB!Trixie]], Canon!Celestia, [[{{Troll}} Canon!Discord]], possibly the [[TrueCompanions Canon!Mane 6]], and [[AxCrazy Viktor Kraber]] (who gets enough screentime and [[TearJerker characterization]] to possibly serve as the tritagonist of the Battle of Boston) take up plenty of the spotlight as well.

* The movie ''Film/{{Crash}}'' focused on several characters and the racial tensions between them.

* ''Series/TheOfficeUS'' revolves around the entire staff of the Dunder Mifflin Scranton branch. Michael, Dwight, Jim, Pam, and Andy could be seen as the main characters but almost every character had at least one episode [[ADayInTheLimelight in the limelight]].

* ''Series/PartyOfFive'' splits its' focus evenly between its' four starring actors.

* This trope is a standard for the vast majority of [[TabletopRPG TabletopRPG's]], as they are expected to provide entertainment for all players, which usually includes giving all their characters similar ammount of spotlight. If it isn't in play, then either the game has a very atypical concept, or the GM is running it incorrectly.

* Disney's ''WesternAnimation/{{Winnie the Pooh|2011}}'' series started to lean into this vein later on, in that while Pooh was still the title character, several characters such as Tigger and Roo started getting leading roles in features, and for some even ''their own theatrical movies''.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThomasTheTankEngine'', despite the boost to title character for Thomas, narrated the stories from ''Literature/TheRailwaySeries'' rather accurately and thus several engines got near or equal spotlight as him. As the show separated itself from the novels however, more demand was made for Thomas focused stories (for both the show and the books), making him more the central character, though the other engines tend to still get lead roles on a frequent basis. There were even a few episodes where Thomas himself has little more than a cameo, sometimes not even appearing at all.

* ''Literature/TheRailwaySeries'' gave individual novels to many engines and even different railways, and while many appeared more so than others, there was never a definite lead character (or at least not until [[WesternAnimation/ThomasTheTankEngine the TV series]] was made...).

* ''Fanfic/PokemonTheOriginOfSpecies'' shares the role of primary character between three protagonists. They avoid typical PowerTrio interactions, with Leaf being the reporter who wants Pokemon to be treated with respect, Blue wanting to become League Champion and guide the continent to a safer future, and Red being the researcher who is looking into how Pokemon work and what's it all mean, anyway.

* ''Literature/TheDescendants'' fields seven core characters with the focus in a given issue going to the older PowerTrio or either Warrick or Cyn. The others get plenty of face time too, as do the supporting cast, guest stars and the occasional villain will snag a starring role for an issue.

* Creator/LMMontgomery's ''Literature/ATangledWeb'' goes through many stories of the family members in the year before it is revealed who will finally inherit the most prized antique that Aunt Becky owned.