AnimeSuki Forum - View Single Post - Anime/Manga Tropes in Current Cultural Context

Xion Valkyrie · 2011-12-08, 03:48

There's a lot of tropes in anime/manga that get used a lot, but some of them really don't seem to make sense either because of the cultural shift or because of western perspectives.

One really common trope is the inheritance of a substantial amount of debt upon a parent's death (or disappearance). A ton of shoujo manga use this to force the heroine into a rich family (who they owe debt to). A lot of comedy manga also uses this trope to get the main character into the rich female lead's house as a servant. Some gambling mangas use this to force the main characters to take on dangerous games in order to pay it back.

In most western countries, the children do not inherit a parent's debt, so these story tropes would be unusable. Does Japanese inheritance law force the remaining family to take on the debt of the deceased?

Another trope that's still currently used is the stashing of porn magazines inside of a male character's room. This would have made sense 10 years ago, but nowadays I'd think most people would just use their PCs. Do Japanese teens still use porn mags, or are most authors not really up to date culturally?

2011-12-08, 03:48	Link #1
Xion Valkyrie Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2007	Anime/Manga Tropes in Current Cultural Context There's a lot of tropes in anime/manga that get used a lot, but some of them really don't seem to make sense either because of the cultural shift or because of western perspectives. One really common trope is the inheritance of a substantial amount of debt upon a parent's death (or disappearance). A ton of shoujo manga use this to force the heroine into a rich family (who they owe debt to). A lot of comedy manga also uses this trope to get the main character into the rich female lead's house as a servant. Some gambling mangas use this to force the main characters to take on dangerous games in order to pay it back. In most western countries, the children do not inherit a parent's debt, so these story tropes would be unusable. Does Japanese inheritance law force the remaining family to take on the debt of the deceased? Another trope that's still currently used is the stashing of porn magazines inside of a male character's room. This would have made sense 10 years ago, but nowadays I'd think most people would just use their PCs. Do Japanese teens still use porn mags, or are most authors not really up to date culturally?