Yea, even my wife (who just watches me play) hates Emil and thinks he is such a wuss. He gets better (at 20 hours myself) but he is still a pansy.
Although, marta gets better faster, and has a wicked awesome special arte (that thing where you hold B while doing a high/arcane arte)
Even Sheena's is pretty cool, and I haven't tried anyone elses.
but yea, so far emil is one of the worst lead characters I've ever played as.