10 overused cliches in Anime

[GreyZone]

What I always found strange is, that in almost every kind of Anime/Manga (with conflicts), the main Protagonist is always "surprised" all the time by actions of villains (and/or the support characters). It is a real cliché, that most "plans" of the Protagonist fail because the villain "somehow saw through it" and all this just to create a plot twist... But at the same time the villain almost always succeeds at surprising the protagonist with a hidden trump.
And then it ALWAYS gets reversed by a spontanous action of the protagonist.

Also: Whenever a plan/idea/strategy is revealed to the audience before it was executed completly, then in 99% of cases it fails.
Seems authors consider it boring, when a plan/idea/strategy revealed to the audience just works normally... So only plans/ideas/strategies that are explained AFTER they were executed, have a good chance to work.

[destiny(kakeru)]

Originally Posted by molotov_sp

10. I'm hoping this ain't true but... Every third working salaryman in Japan can't possibly be a skirt lifting pervert!!!
Sure Porn is generally regaurded as a acceptable passtime in Japan, but isn't that supposed to make them less horny during the day? Obviously not according to anime. The only reason for hot chick to walk across the street or take the subway is so they can be accosted by another no name collared pervert and in turn to be rescued by some sort of teenage hero.
Greatest Culprit in recent memory: Tenshi na Konomiki (every 5th episode is another pervert)

I am totally with this. Before I went to Japan, I was kinda skeptical about the amount of ecchi, hentai references in many anime and manga, especially so for those that actually has a much younger readership (Weekly Shounen Magazine actually has a younger readership pool as compared to Shounen Jump, for example, and Negima, ridden with many ecchi fan services, is published in Weekly Shounen). I mean, are Japanese seriously that perverted?

During my school trip in Japan, I had confirmed with my eyes that it wasn't the case. In fact, I think the real perverts were probably we dudes who went there. It's true that there are Japanese girls who have extremely short skirts, and they ride bikes to school like that, some of them actually have a full view of the panties underneath, but shockingly the salarymen that walk past the girls don't even give a damn... (I'm trying to pretend not to see XD) Even when me and my schoolmates were cramped in the subway (well, to experience how Japanese subway feels like lol) none of the girls from our group actually experienced any form of sexual harassment.

Ok, it's just an observation. I'm not saying that I'm right, but there's always two sides to one situation. ^^; Whether it's Japan or anywhere else in the world, the people ain't just simply divided into perverts and non-perverts. Besides, perverts are everywhere in the world... *shrugs*

[Starshipw]

Originally Posted by Flawnalyst

There's a lot of high school shows in the U.S. That doesn't resemble high school one bit.

I understand that. But the use of the trope is so endemic and my ignorance of Japanese culture outside of what I see in anime or on the History Channel is so broad that I would really like to understand whether it is actually common for Japanese teenagers to move into their own apartment to attend a better high school or because their parents move.

[Flawfinder]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

Fair point. I like Haruhi myself, but I understand why this would bother you.

Well, I don't really hate Haruhi that much. She's just massively overrated and the author really doesn't know what to do with her when she improves her behavior.

[NoemiChan]

Originally Posted by destiny(kakeru)

During my school trip in Japan, I had confirmed with my eyes that it wasn't the case. In fact, I think the real perverts were probably we dudes who went there.

Yes, you were...*I'm jealous..

Originally Posted by destiny(kakeru)

It's true that there are Japanese girls who have extremely short skirts, and they ride bikes to school like that, some of them actually have a full view of the panties underneath, but shockingly the salarymen that walk past the girls don't even give a damn... (I'm trying to pretend not to see XD) Even when me and my schoolmates were cramped in the subway (well, to experience how Japanese subway feels like lol) none of the girls from our group actually experienced any form of sexual harassment.

You probably watch too much hentai.....

[SkyHejhogianMaestro]

What a surprising bump, but...
So I was searching for "Anime Cliches" on Google, found this forum, and discovered a wealth of discussion dating back to '04 nearly a decade ago when I barely knew what anime was.

With that out of the way, may I mention my own opinion on anime cliches? I'll try my best to avoid retreads, but this is 9 years/18 pages of materi��él. It's almost become a cliche to try to avoid cliches.

I- Calling Your Attacks. This was also irking to me. Sure it's cool, but what's the point?

II- Super forms/transformation states. It never relies on skill, talent, or training: all you need to do is transform to win the battle.

III- We already mentioned the shounen action hero's lack of parents... but what about their own lack of psychological depth? The pressure of being a 7-15 year old and being forced to save the world for some reason wouldn't make me angst for a moment and then will up to do what it takes; I'd be denying it all the way through, act maybe once half-heartedly, realize everyone's counting on me, perhaps win, then live the rest of my days scarred by the experience if I'm not rich and famous.

IV- On that topic... you save lives, property, the whole world and all you get is some recognition??? We turn brave warriors, generals, and leaders into presidents, kings, and dictators and much of the time they don't actually fight themselves; just lead. If a 12 year old saves the whole world, expect that kid to never have to worry about retirement!

V- What's with the rigid power tiers? Getting specific, because IMO Dragon Ball Z perfected it, take DBZ. You have a very concrete identification of the power structure by the end of the series. This character is the strongest, that character is the 2nd, that one is the third, and so one. And you'd better remember it.

VI- Magic vs. Technology. In the sho genres, it feels like magic is predisposed to come out victorious over technology.

VII- Flashbacks anyone? It's been mentioned and I just love it's used to make stories deeper, provide characters with some sort of motivation, or remind them of the POWER OF FRIENDSHIP.

VIII- The hair. Of course, it's a staple of the style and I'm not raging against it, but spikey hair is a must have eh? Though a lot of modern anime has turned towards realism in that department. As real as it can get at least.

IX- Those eyes... those eyes...

X- Chibis. What is the history behind chibis?

XI- The camera angles; why is it anime has such zooming, cinematic camera panning and angles?

XII- The limited animation. This is less of a cliche as much as it is a trend-become-status quo. Keep the best and most fluid animation for the action scenes, first, major, and last episodes. Otherwise, keyframes and jagged animation is commonplace; avoid character's talking on screen at which point their mouths flap more or less.

13- Someone conjures a magical beast/entity, and you fight it with your own. Yeah, it dates back thousands of years, but still it's not my favorite style. At least have some characters fight these beasts with their bare hands/weapon

14- Anyone not Asian/white/whatever race anime characters are is flanderized at best and stereotyped horribly at worst.

15- Fluctuating power levels. One minute, you can tear down your city with your fist. The next, you're being overpowered by a typical mugger. With no explanation given for this.

16- Kemonomimi by themselves are WTFery enough, but what I could never understand is: WHERE ARE THEIR EARS? THEIR HUMAN EARS?! It's not helped by the fact that you never see any with normal human ears because they just happen to have enough hair to hide the area their human ears would be.

17- Power changing your clothes. In order for raw energy to condense enough to become matter, it would take... well... a ton of energy!!

Of course, cliches transcend culture and medium so some of these are present in other forms of entertainment. Except catgirls having/not having human ears. Seriously, can someone get me a picture of a catgirl with short enough hair that we can see whether or not they have human ears?