Amusing or annoying anime clichés

[Izanagi009_v1legacy]

Fanservice pisses me to no end for it often makes characters that have no personality and agency other than being eye candy. It really reflects badly on anime in general as it's what a lot of people think of when anime comes to mind.

More a personal opinion but Slice of life just does not work for me. Most make me want to bash my head at how banal it is. I have one that may count but is really good: Wolf Children Ame no Yuki was really moving while following the life of a family and their trouble . Not sure if it's slice of life but that's just me

Over the Top anime fights make me go completely elated with joy. It feels different from the generic gun and fist fights of normal movies and makes me wish that I was one of those anime protagonist with the giant sword (for more extreme versions of this trope, check out RWBY, a Rooster Teeth project with Monty Oum as the main fight animator RWBY )

A character trope i really like is the stoic, emotionless, protagonist. It just fits into my ideals of control over emotions and logical thought. Favorites are Yu Narukami or Heero Yuy for a more tragic example.

 

[RADIALTHRONE1]

Not so much an anime cliche as it is a japanese cliche, but hair color. Any color there is is applicable to be a natural hair color. I can understand maybe 1 person having an odd color (genetical diversity and all that), but 5?

Take Bleach for example: Ichigo has orange hair, which everybody thinks is dyed, but nobody bats an eye at the other 2 orange, 4 white, 2 red, 2 purple, 2 pink, 1 green, or 1 blue haired people/person.

And don't even get me started on the Fire Emblem series.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

The lower the technology behind a weapon, the more effective the weapon is.

Oh man, this reminds me of another anime trope that annoys me to no end, the very japanese idea that a katana is the best weapon ever created, and that a swordsman armed with a katana can cut through anything, bullets, walls, cars, tanks, etc.

Ok Japan, we understand that your citizens don't know or understand anything about guns, but come the fuck on.

 

[Johanthemonster666]

LACK OF ADULTS.

Sweet jesus, is it really that hard to make a show where the protagonist is older than 20? I know there are some (and they are usually good, I've found), but by and large, I am fucking sick of teenager protagonists. Half the time it feels like a forced excuse to add a Highschool dynamic to a show that doesn't need it (Code Geass), or an excuse to push what is an acceptable dress code for said High School (again, Code Geass mini skirts on noodle people).

Bishies: Just, no. When the man looks like he is wearing more makeup than the woman, there's a problem.

The 'teenagers comprise of 90% of the seen population' always got to me even as a kid. I'd always wonder why token older siblings and elderly people (usually only one or two of them) were added in important subplots or filler episodes...but never any 18-60 age range characters.

Caution, mostly unsubstantiated conjecture ahead: It has something to do with wanting to appeal to teens I guess and honestly Japan's demographic landscape is predominately post-war, baby-boomers and not nearly as many middle-aged or young people. So I guess it makes sense in 'otaku escapism land' for most people to be mostly attractive, and young.

As for beautiful, androgynous men... it's been in style in J-pop culture since the 80s. It's just the stereotype for all that is hip, cool, sexy, modern and sophisticated about young men wearing the latest fashions, wearing their hair long, and being 'beautiful' in a way that bends gender presentation/roles from our perspective.

Funny enough, this (from my experience) is used on evil or comedic characters in the same way western cartoons/movies portray flamboyant or pretty men as mustache twirling, evil masterminds or just really 'weird' characters to make us laugh. Personally there existence in stories don't bother me, unless it's accompanied by some homophobic or trans* bashing element.

 

[Ranorak]

Exposition, exposition about EVERYTHING that happens.
You know what I mean.

"He used the power of the magic Coffee-mug to redirect the path of the evilbeam. Causing it to change polarity so that he can revive the princes" Usually followed by a flashback of some event that happened 10 seconds ago.

What I love is the second wind type of things.
You know, the hero is beaten down, out of energy/chi/chakara/bubblegum and the villian is gloating.
But do some berserk button or echoes of wisdom the hero gets a second wind.
The more Rock music that goes along with it, the better.

 

[zalithar]

I really have a problem with the "Screw Logic" idea. It can lead to some utterly hilarious scenarios, but can easily get over used. I still have no idea what in the hell happened in any episode form Pani Pony Dash.

Another one would be "Giant Robots for the Sake of Giant Robots." If your five episodes in and never alluded to giant robots don't drop one in and have it never be seen again.

One I find just damn funny would be "The Perfect Worst Timing." When a character goes to do an action at the absolute worst time. Such as School Rumble Tskamato (I hope I spelled that right) chucks a broom out a door to distract I guy and hits the toughest thug in the anime in the face as he's walking by.

 

[Tiamattt]

Sorry if this is already said

Annoying -

"The totally in love but never does anything about it except constantly say the guy's name in rather creepy fashion"*exhales* girls. Yeah I'm sure we've all seen a girl fall heads over heels for a guy, is too chicken to do anything about but stare at him and say his name over and over again. Holy crap are these characters a waste of time, doesn't really help when it's usually their main purpose in that show. MAJOR bonus annoyance points if the guy is also in love with the girl and also doesn't do anything about it, thus creating a loop of pointlessness. OH and extra extra points if a 3rd person is involved, but can't get anywhere because the person he/she is interested doesn't care since they're too busy staring+chanting the name of someone else.


Amusing -

Punches solves everything. Guys have some serious unresolved issues with each other but they need to be friends for the story to work? No problem! Just have them beat whatever's bothering them out of each other. After a good thrashing those bruised and battered knuckleheads will somehow find everything hilarious and be best bros for life.

 

[PoolCleaningRobot]

Bizarrely, over complicated physics involved in fights typically amuses me for some reason. There was another thread about anime fights a while back, and in one of them 2 dudes clashed swords and the show had to pause to explain that they hit so hard, the air was blown away creating a vacuum between them causing the bad guy to get distracted as he was pulled towards the hero. It was so weird, yet strangely awesome

 

[Silvianoshei]

The lower the technology behind a weapon, the more effective the weapon is.

Oh man, this reminds me of another anime trope that annoys me to no end, the very japanese idea that a katana is the best weapon ever created, and that a swordsman armed with a katana can cut through anything, bullets, walls, cars, tanks, etc.

Ok Japan, we understand that your citizens don't know or understand anything about guns, but come the fuck on.

The samurai were all slaughtered...but they've always been a bit enamored with their own history.

Anyway, OT:

1. I think this was echoed earlier, but a distinct lack of Sienen (Male 20+) anime. Everything is all high school all the time...which get's old. I'm sorry, I can't relate to your childish notions of what's important or empathize with your stupid existential crises. I'm not 16 anymore. That shit was dumb then...and is still dumb now. I mean Usagi Drop was awesome, why can't we have more of that?

2. Fanservice! A small amount here and there I can ignore, but if it's the selling point of the series, then it can fuck off. I like good characters and an interesting story. If you want to be porn, then be porn. Don't waste my time with this garbage.

3. Pure (unironic) shounen. For the most part I can't watch this stuff anymore. If it wasn't for nostalgia I couldn't even watch DBZ. Every single shonen trope, from training and rivals to ultimate evil bad guys who stare down and laugh disdainfully at the main character...I just can't take it any more.

Stuff I love:

1. Tsukkomi/Boke. I love Japanese straight man/funny man humor. It's fantastic, and it often has a great sense of timing.

2. Main characters who do not fall into (m)any typical tropes. They aren't over the top ridiculous or emasculated...they are interesting and quirky; not shallow, boring, and simple.

3. Completely over the top (ironic) shounen. This stuff, like TTGL, is so good. It's so insane and wild that I'll spend entire episodes gasping for air as I try to stop laughing.

4. Stuff with unique art styles or directing. Examples are Durarara!!! and Bakemonogatari. This also includes stuff with freaking amazing action sequences and stylish animation like Soul Eater. GOD it's so good.

 

[Plasmadamage]

Not so much an anime cliche as it is a japanese cliche, but hair color. Any color there is is applicable to be a natural hair color. I can understand maybe 1 person having an odd color (genetical diversity and all that), but 5?

Take Bleach for example: Ichigo has orange hair, which everybody thinks is dyed, but nobody bats an eye at the other 2 orange, 4 white, 2 red, 2 purple, 2 pink, 1 green, or 1 blue haired people/person.

And don't even get me started on the Fire Emblem series.

The weirdest part is that there is a ton of references to both Ichigo and Rangiku (same hair colour), being blond. Ichigo even get's called "blondie" a few times.

While on the subject, whilst sudden powerups are kinda the shounen staple, Ichigo's final fight with Grimjoww simply pissed me off. (Can't spoilertag, but this happened years ago in both manga and anime, so I imagine if you care, you already know)

He's busily getting the crap pounded out of him, sword worthless, mask broken when cue Orihime with her desperate plea! Suddenly, he blocks Grimjoww with his bare hands, shatters his energy-claw-things, reforms his mask, makes the generic heroes speech, and obliterates Grimjoww in a single strike.

Now his later powerup, when he dies, resurrects and goes feral at least makes sense, ( from a manga point of view), because it's been established that the hollow is magnitudes more powerful than him, and its only Ichigo keeping him in check. But going super saiyan beacuse a girl asked you not to die, just. Pisses. Me. Off.

..... breathe, Plasma, breathe.

Anyway. Did not just spend 10 minutes ranting about Bleach. Did not.

On the other hand, shows like Gintama, that are technically shounen but only in name are my favorites now, mainly because they embrace every anime cliche for the sake of cliche,

 

[COMaestro]

I kind of get annoyed with fight scenes where the characters are "holding back their true power" or whatever. I understand you don't need to go all out in every combat, but when you are encountering the source of all your troubles, don't hold back your best moves until you are beat to hell. Just blow the crap out of your enemy and go home. This goes for both heroes and villians. Obvious example - Frieza would have owned Goku if he'd just gone full power to begin with instead of "toying" with everyone.

Captcha: this statement is false. But captcha, it's my opinion, you can't just say I'm wrong...

 

[PoolCleaningRobot]

Not so much an anime cliche as it is a japanese cliche, but hair color. Any color there is is applicable to be a natural hair color. I can understand maybe 1 person having an odd color (genetical diversity and all that), but 5?

Take Bleach for example: Ichigo has orange hair, which everybody thinks is dyed, but nobody bats an eye at the other 2 orange, 4 white, 2 red, 2 purple, 2 pink, 1 green, or 1 blue haired people/person.

And don't even get me started on the Fire Emblem series.

I learned about this culture class. We make the joke that all Asian people look the same but it is something Asian people are aware of. Japan has their very serious community driven culture so standing out is sometimes seen as a bad thing. Schools usually require underclassmen to have straight black hair and upperclassmen can dye their hair. So having fancy colored hair is like a sign of status. Sonic the Hedgehog was created on this idea (spikey blue hair)

 

[Senare]

I really dislike the aforementioned "accidental boob grab" combined with an undeserved slap. I find that it enforces an insultingly stupid picture of both genders involved - men being always perverts, and even if they are not it is ok to assault them without any repercussions and women being prudes who have to defend any perceived sexual affront against them at any cost. The trope communicates (at least to me) that men who are hit by women are being unmasculine, and thus deserve the punishment, while it is somehow even more unmasculine to take offence (a guy is supposed to shrug it off). It also communicates that it is supposed to be funny how women are prudes, while they still have to be because any sign towards sexual promiscuity somehow gives them lower status. The man has to take the punishment, the woman has to defend her sexual integrity. Ew. Just ew.

 

[SwimmingRock]

Tsunderes are the worst thing about anime. They always have the same reaction (get angry) and it always ends the same way. They literally do nothing other than halt the progression of the plot and force stagnation of character development. Cut a tsundere out of a show and it becomes half as long. Fucking bullshit padding is all it is and it gets on my nerves.

As for amusing, the vaguely homoerotic tension between male characters in fighting animes. JoJos Bizarre Adventure is the best at this (and everything else, for that matter), but most seem to have it in lieu of romances. I guess they're aiming for the demographic that still thinks girls are "icky" and need to give characters some form of emotional attachments to cause growth. Whatever the reason, it's good stuff.

 

[spartan231490]

I actually like most anime tropes in theory. Some anime employ them in a way that irritating or cliche, but for the most part they don't bother me. Similarly, I don't find any anime trope super-appealing. Tropes and cliches are just tools of the artist(generic meaning), it is their use that is good or bad, not the tool itself.

That said, I'm getting really sick of poorly excecuted tsundere characters. I love a good tsundere, it's a pretty realistic way to portray many different people, but so many times they just go way way way over the top with it.

 

[ninjapenguin1414]

Annoying--
It's OK for a girl to physically abuse a guy for a perceived grope/peek when the incident was *clearly* an accident. You fell on *him* dearie, and his presence may well have kept you from being injured. Please stop hitting him now.

I believe there is a moment in Guilty Crown where the main character is getting out of the shower and walks across the room naked, random fanservice girl #3 (who is in a wheelchair btw) opens the door without knocking then calls the guy a pervert and somehow magically transports across the room just to slap him. It was so stupid it made me stop watching the show. Not that it was the shows only problem but it was just such a poorly planned and executed scene that I'm pretty sure a part of me died seeing it.

OT: When the male lead in a harem show with superpowered girls needs to protect the girls for no good reason. Sekerei, Hyakka Ryouran: SG, To Love Ru, Maken-Ki (the main one that bothered me, where the main character throws himself in front of some magical attack to protect a girl he never me before who was clearly capable of defending herself), Rosario to Vampire (not as bad as the others cause the main character becomes kinda cool), Highschool DxD (also not as bad as the others), and many more I can't think of right now.

 

[spartan231490]

]

- Characters who speak in third person. I don't know if it's the translator's fault or not, but it just sounds too childish. Hell, children don't even talk like that. It just sounds barbaric, like cavemen talk.

What? Third person is a natural story-telling voice. Look at movies or books, very few of them directed at adults use first person narrative, first person is a distinct trope of YA, and even in YA it draws some attention to itself. Do you mean when they are actually speaking, as in the dialogue? That would make more sense, but I can't recall ever seeing it in an anime.

High school of the Dead was an abomination from the first 10 minutes onward.

Honestly, I loved it. I couldn't stop laughing. If you stop taking it seriously all the over-the-topness just makes it funnier and funnier. I don't know if that's what they intended, but I see so many people who try to take that anime seriously when it's sooooo enjoyable if you don't.

I watched the entirety of Love Hina for whatever reason and every episode up to the last one has the joke of the main character bumbling into girls in bathrobes, having them go after him and making him blush, or being pushed up against some boobies, and then getting just blasted through the wall and into the sky team rocket style by a punch, while being called a pervert.

It got old fast.

Luckily I re-watched Code Geass afterwards which harbors no anime cliches I'm aware of, or care about.

Thank you. So many people recommend Love Hina and I couldn't make it past ep 4, and I had to push myself to get that far. So many people had recommended it I kept expecting it to get better, until I saw it was only 12 eps or something. Is repetitive abuse of a bumbling character for no reason really funny? I also love Code Geass, it has some tropes, notably the abundance of females with abnormally large breasts, but they don't interfere with the story the way they do in some anime. And the ending, blows my mind to this day.

[

The weirdest part is that there is a ton of references to both Ichigo and Rangiku (same hair colour), being blond. Ichigo even get's called "blondie" a few times.

I asked someone about this years ago, as I recall, it's a translation issue. I believe the word is used to refer to anyone with light-colored hair, but since we don't have an analogous term they used blonde/blondie. Don't take my word for it, but that's what I remember.

 

[[Kira Must Die]]

]

- Characters who speak in third person. I don't know if it's the translator's fault or not, but it just sounds too childish. Hell, children don't even talk like that. It just sounds barbaric, like cavemen talk.

What? Third person is a natural story-telling voice. Look at movies or books, very few of them directed at adults use first person narrative, first person is a distinct trope of YA, and even in YA it draws some attention to itself. Do you mean when they are actually speaking, as in the dialogue? That would make more sense, but I can't recall ever seeing it in an anime.

I'm talking about when the character is actually referring to themselves in third person in their dialogue. I don't think I recall it being used in dubs, but I see it a lot in some subs, and it confuses me because I can't tell if it's really the character speaking like that or if it's the translator's fault.

 

[spartan231490]

]

]

- Characters who speak in third person. I don't know if it's the translator's fault or not, but it just sounds too childish. Hell, children don't even talk like that. It just sounds barbaric, like cavemen talk.

What? Third person is a natural story-telling voice. Look at movies or books, very few of them directed at adults use first person narrative, first person is a distinct trope of YA, and even in YA it draws some attention to itself. Do you mean when they are actually speaking, as in the dialogue? That would make more sense, but I can't recall ever seeing it in an anime.

I'm talking about when the character is actually referring to themselves in third person in their dialogue. I don't think I recall it being used in dubs, but I see it a lot in some subs, and it confuses me because I can't tell if it's really the character speaking like that or if it's the translator's fault.

Where do you get your subs? I watch a lot of both, and I can't recall ever seeing this, but yeah, that would be annoying as hell.