10 overused cliches in Anime

[Demongod86]

Originally Posted by Xellos-_^

Have anyone mention this one yet.

A girl and boy meet when they were young. And the boy was really nice to her. The girl remembers and 10 years later she is still in love with him.

I can't even remember the names of most of classmates in High school let alone elementry school.

Actually in High School the first girl I had a crush on was a girl I really liked in elementary school. And another girl that I really think is OMG WTF HOTT is a girl that was my classmate in preschool. She is very beautiful now, and I never forgot her.

As for sex before marriage, well, while I personally don't believe in it, two beautiful girls just because is never something to object to. That said, can I has RiderSaberCaster doujin? Kthx.

Other anime cliches? WHY IS IT ALWAYS AN ANGSTY TEEN THAT SOMEHOW HAPPENS TO LEARN MORE ON THE FIRST DAY THAN ALL OF THE ACES DO?!

Oh, and in Gundam SEED Destiny, the guy that saved the world was actually a legal adult. And so was the goddess behind him. And Ah My Goddess is not a harem. Urd does not like K1, nor does Skuld (except when she turned big), and Peorth was just WTF...oh, and Urd's mom doesn't either...she just wants Belldandy (the only one that likes K1) to do something mean.

[Ending]

Urd does not like K1, nor does Skuld (except when she turned big), and Peorth was just WTF

I beg to disagree

Overused cliché: 15-year old girls beating up trained military professionals, preferably with weapons bigger than their bodies. Alternatively, they miraclously shapeshift to house-sized robots and go like boom-shaka-lam. All enemies destroyed in one shot.

[Diaboso]

Originally Posted by KirbyMorph

Your a typical American, that's for sure. Go watch Fox or something for 5 minutes. Tell me how much non-American history / culture is showed. None. American television is lucky enough to have the token 'black guy' show up for an episode of a show let alone display another culture. Take Friends. All white people in New York doing American things. Look at the Justice League cartoon. Green Lantern is a black guy because they thought having an all white Justice League would be racist and bad publicity. (GL is Kyle Raynor, a white guy in the comics, at least at the time of the JL cartoon being launched). There are no Asians on the team or even Europeans for reference. Ever watch Ninja Turtles? Ya, they were ninjas. Thats all the influence from Japan they needed. The rest was American cliches like Cowabunga and it was set in New York. Not once did they ever leave NY.

are we talking about making shows about our own coutrys or bing racist, their is a diferance

You talk about the tough looking Japanese gang kids. Have you ever watched an American teenage drama set in school? Ever see the nerds getting beat up by the jocks? Wow, not cliched at all.

well the nerds geting beat up by the jocks isent realy true these days, just like japans kid gang wars

What history does America learn in school besides US history? None. What books do they read in literature classes that arent American in origin (Shakespeare doesnt count)? None. Finally, what television shows have anything but American pop culture references or history in them? You dont like the fact Japan might want to teach their people/children about their history through media? Then why the hell does America have like 800 'epic' war movies ranging from their utter defeat in Vietnam (which every movie pretty much makes out like they won it) and the WW2 movies that makes America look great when they were the ones who sat on the sidelines and didnt bother helping until they themselves got attacked. Bravo on 'teaching' with those movies. Lets go watch the Patriot for another historical 'epic'. Where does Japan get off making Samurai stuff anyways? Its not like it was part of their culture until the 19th century or anything.

its called world history, not American history even if we get 1/4 of the book we still learned all about the Huns before Americans came along. also in English I read many story's by none americans. and right now im reading a manga

You think its weird they have Japan as the surviving country or world leader or whatever in their shows? Ever watch any movies in America? Lets go with something like Independencce Day. Wow, the US just happens to be the leader of the world. They are the only ones with half a clue to take down the enemies and basically save everyones ass. Right. Armegeddon is pretty much the same way. Oh the drama. Im not even gonna bother listing the countless other examples of America being the most dominant force on the planet in movies.

just got done playing EDF on Xbox gess who survived? Japan. now every one know that they want their country to survive so its not realy a topic to argue over

So, it's just like America in the past and present then? Maybe if you drop another nuke on the country, they might stop having this weird dislike for Americans.

Pearl harbor *cough* *cough*

[Chiibi]

Originally Posted by Kaioshin_Sama

Also to whoever gave me the neg rep, the guy clearly mentions Fujioka Haruhi AND Suzumiya Haruhi, so either you haven't read what the guy posted or you don't care as it's the glorious Haruhi-Sama or whatever. In which case why not just post about it as it's nothing to get all bent out of shape over and clearly has nothing to do with my status as a user, I mean it's not like I flamed the guy. Not complaining, but make no mistake, the person I quoted said what they said.

I'M A GIRL. A GIRL, DAMMIT!! Why does everyone on this forum think I'm a GUY!? Just because I like seinen stuff almost as much as shoujo stuff!? See my title!? It says "Konata's blond twin SISTER!" I just like cute things! I have a wide variety of taste in anime and manga, okay!?

*goes off somewhere and cries*

Ah, for the record, to clear it up, yes, I LIKE Suzumiya Haruhi's haircut a lot. You can include me in with the Haruhists, because I've been completely sucked into the Haruhism and think everything about Suzumiya Haruhi is great, long hair or short. But I think the short hair suits her spunky "I'm-the-leader-take-charge" personality. True, Haruhi can do no wrong and even when she does do wrong, (like molesting Mikuru or blackmailing the computer club) it's too funny for me to care that it is wrong. There is just something about Haruhi that is so awesome.

Originally Posted by Wordplay

I beg to disagree

Overused cliché: 15-year old girls beating up trained military professionals, preferably with weapons bigger than their bodies. Alternatively, they miraclously shapeshift to house-sized robots and go like boom-shaka-lam. All enemies destroyed in one shot.

Chidori Kaname is SEVENTEEN though. But I don't see how that's overused. Isn't FMP the only anime to do that?

[Rotton the Wizard]

I really hate time stretching in anime with fighting scenes. The kind where there's 3 seconds left to attack someone before they kill "the one I must protect", but those 3 seconds actually last 5 minutes and are accompanied by lots of slow motion dashing and screaming with a colorful, fast-moving background. Maybe it's a budget thing, but it'd probably look much more fluid and a lot cooler to see these same fights without the exaggerated time stretching.

[Trail]

When people are in the middle of talking, wind blows.

When people finish talking, they look at the sky (pan-ups in SHnY episode "1" anyone?)

[rooboy]

Originally Posted by Chiibi

I'M A GIRL. A GIRL, DAMMIT!! Why does everyone on this forum think I'm a GUY!? Just because I like seinen stuff almost as much as shoujo stuff!? See my title!? It says "Konata's blond twin SISTER!" I just like cute things! I have a wide variety of taste in anime and manga, okay!?

Well, if it makes you feel better I know you're a girl. Probably not the universal affirmance you were looking for, but it's not everyone at least.

Originally Posted by Chiibi

Chidori Kaname is SEVENTEEN though. But I don't see how that's overused. Isn't FMP the only anime to do that?

I think he might have been referring more to things like Saikano, Gunslinger Girl and Burst Angel than Full Metal Panic.

[Matrim]

A girl and boy meet when they were young. And the boy was really nice to her. The girl remembers and 10 years later she is still in love with him.

This cliche is not exclusive to a boy-girl situation, it exists in yuri manga too.

YEAH! LONG HAIR FOR EVERYONE.....except Haruhi because finding a fault with Haruhi is just....horrible. Always find a way to leave Suzumiya Haruhi out of a broad sweeping criticism/rant kids.

LOL! Good one!

It's probably been posted already but just in case:

A very good list of anime tropes/cliches

[Diaboso]

I dont like how bullets eather kill people right off or they dont do crud. so they are a insta kill or they bounce off. the human body can live for a time after being shot (unless in heart, lungs, head) but on the other hand some times they have people get shot and keep going on like they just got off vacation.....

[Chiibi]

Originally Posted by rooboy

Well, if it makes you feel better I know you're a girl. Probably not the universal affirmance you were looking for, but it's not everyone at least. I think he might have been referring more to things like Saikano, Gunslinger Girl and Burst Angel than Full Metal Panic.

A bit, thanks. Oh....the girl in Saikano beats up her boyfriend? From the clips I've seen, she looks like the quiet type...

I dont like how bullets eather kill people right off or they dont do crud. so they are a insta kill or they bounce off.

Haha ever notice how the bad guys have horrible aim with bullets? Or as my guy friends say "piss-poor".

[Diaboso]

Hay chiibi I know your a girl. I never mixed it up (^^)

also yes I do notice how bad guys always miss with 2000 bullets but every good guy shot dose something

[rooboy]

Originally Posted by Chiibi

Oh....the girl in Saikano beats up her boyfriend? From the clips I've seen, she looks like the quiet type...

Unless I missed it he didn't say anything about them beating up their boyfriends, just about them beating up "trained military professionals". I assumed it was a reference to the girls-with-guns trope of having teenaged girls be ultimate weapons. Elfen Lied would be another one, I guess.

I'm trying to figure out how to write down my least favorite anime trope - the osananajimi relationship, but can't quite figure it out. It's hard to explain what exactly it is that I don't like about the way it's used, and it's also used a lot where the trope is subverted. Basically I think I dislike that in 95% of animes that feature a male/female osananajimi pair, I can always count on the female to have romantic feelings for the male. The chance of the male reciprocating said feelings is much smaller. And why is the female always over cooking at the male's house? How come she seems to always be waking him up in the morning? And how come no one finds this behavior odd within the show itself?

[SeijiSensei]

"osananajimi"

Sorry, rooboy, but I need a translation.

[Skyfall]

He means childhood friends

[Sheba]

Like Rin and Kaede?

[SeijiSensei]

There are some series where that relationship is handled with more realism. Both the Ai/Isami pair in Noein and the Fumie/Daichi pair in Dennou Coil are childhood friends who are slowly coming to realize they have deeper feelings for each other but don't yet know how to handle those emotions. Instead they end up harassing or fighting with each other since they're not yet mature enough to express their feelings in a more romantic way. If there's a cliche in these scenes, it's that the similarly-aged girlfriend of the girl in each pairing (Haruka, Yasako) can see through the surface conflict to the deeper feelings beneath.

[rooboy]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

There are some series where that relationship is handled with more realism. Both the Ai/Isami pair in Noein and the Fumie/Daichi pair in Dennou Coil are childhood friends who are slowly coming to realize they have deeper feelings for each other but don't yet know how to handle those emotions. Instead they end up harassing or fighting with each other since they're not yet mature enough to express their feelings in a more romantic way. If there's a cliche in these scenes, it's that the similarly-aged girlfriend of the girl in each pairing (Haruka, Yasako) can see through the surface conflict to the deeper feelings beneath.

Those series don't really qualify for what I'm talking about. As a matter of fact, I'm not sure that either of those pairs ever refers to the other as an osananajimi in the first place.

Even if they do, that doesn't really make a difference to the point I was making. I can come up with other counter examples besides the ones you mentioned, it's still over-used. Cliche-breaking shows are part of the 5%

While most people I'm sure are familiar with this concept from ero-game anime conversions, this particular convention actually pops up in lots of other places that I've noticed as well, particularly in mahou shoujo shows.

Finally, I think Rin and Kaede are a slightly weird case as they have aspects of the osananajimi trope (since they are childhood friends, that makes sense), but also incorporate aspects of the tropes that I normally associate with the "fake imouto". Also I can't really imagine it would be considered exceptionally odd for Kaede to be cooking for him since they live together.

EDIT: So, to clarify, it's not the concept of an osananajimi that I dislike, it's the execution that most shows use it for.

[Chiibi]

Ugh yeah....most of the osanajimi pairs I can think of are like REALLY annoying. :P

I'm also really sick of the main character's classmates treating him/her like utter CRAP just because he/she gets attention from the opposite sex. Especially the girls. Omg girl classmates in anime are RUTHLESS. Like when they lure out the innocent heroine and gang up on her and do terrible things to her.

[wizzlewiz]

I have to agree with a few others who already said this commonly used cliche.
The "enemy" waits as the Hero or Heroine do a transformation sequence (I have an example of this one, it was really bad, but I only vaguely remember is and i forgot the name) or do an attack shout or anything like this. But, the anime that is worst about things like this, Naruto. I mean, THIS IS A FREAKING EPIC BATTLE! ARE YOU GONNA SIT THERE AND CONVERSE FOR 5 MINUTES WITH THE VILLIAN WATCHING YOU? I am serious, at least five minutes, and the villian just sites and stares at them. <ost recent is in the recent episodes, Chiyo and Sakura just sit there, and Sakura's poison thing is working away at her health! C'Mon, C'mon! (As a side note I am not an avid watcher of Naruto, nor do I particularly like it, but it can be good at some points.)
Thats the only real bad cliche that really gets me bad.

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by wizzlewiz

I have to agree with a few others who already said this commonly used cliche.
The "enemy" waits as the Hero or Heroine do a transformation sequence (I have an example of this one, it was really bad, but I only vaguely remember is and i forgot the name) or do an attack shout or anything like this. But, the anime that is worst about things like this, Naruto. I mean, THIS IS A FREAKING EPIC BATTLE! ARE YOU GONNA SIT THERE AND CONVERSE FOR 5 MINUTES WITH THE VILLIAN WATCHING YOU? I am serious, at least five minutes, and the villian just sites and stares at them. <ost recent is in the recent episodes, Chiyo and Sakura just sit there, and Sakura's poison thing is working away at her health! C'Mon, C'mon! (As a side note I am not an avid watcher of Naruto, nor do I particularly like it, but it can be good at some points.)
Thats the only real bad cliche that really gets me bad.

This is sadly a staple in shounen fighting anime.

Anyone remember the infamous Freeza's "FIVE MINUTES LEFT!"?