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Tired Tropes in Anime


Cy~

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Everything is tropes. If a medium can be used to tell a story, then it can be reasonably certain that the writers will step into at least a half-dozen tropes over the course of their story. This doesn't actually bother me at all, because good writing is more than the sum of its parts. :angel:

 

However, there are some tropes that I have seen so many times that they can actually smack me right out of my suspension of disbelief when I see them for the tenth time in a row. Sometimes, the writing rises above this or actually manages to turn the trope inside out. Other times... :angry: It just doesn't happen.

 

I guess I'm really creating this topic to vent a tiny bit, and to invite others to do the same. :D I'm certain that I'm not the only one to feel this way on occasion. So, if you don't want to read my flailing rant, you should post your own tired trope now! Don't let my post be the only rant in here... :?

 

[spoiler=Reluctant Protagonist]

Look, I totally get that this is not particularly isolated to anime. (All tropes are kinda universal.) However, the way that it is executed in anime tends to make me grind my teeth. Seriously, how many episodes have to go by while a character wrings their hands over doing the right thing? One? Two? Three? The whole series? :meh:

 

When there is no character development at all, and a character stays conflicted over doing something despite an increasing pile of evidence that they should DO THE THING, it really starts to get on my nerves. When it's particularly poorly done, it just feels like the writers couldn't think of anything to do, so they just took one character trait and stretched it out to the breaking point.

 

A good example of this is a strangely prominent number of mecha anime. Omg, yes - I get that Evangelion milked this, but all the rest of you GET IN THE DAMN MECHS! That's right! GET IN THE MECH NOW! :crazy: That's right, why are you still reading this post and crying over your lost friends?! Go! Get in the mech!

 

*ahem*

 

The reason that I am exhausted with this trope is because there are often an overwhelming number of reasons given for the protagonist to do The Right Thing . Meanwhile, the writers tend to skimp out hard on reasons to not do The Right Thing . The outcome? At some point, I stop giving a fuck and really just want the villains to win so that the protagonist can be put out of their misery.

 

Look, this trope doesn't have to be shitty. Yona of the Dawn featured an extremely hesitant protagonist, but executed on a beautiful story arc in the anime -

  • Compelling reasons were given for Yona's hesitation to be a resistance leader
  • Over the course of the story, she has a slow but definitely present arc, moving her from her hesitation
  • This arc combines LOGICAL events and shades of grey to illustrate why she doesn't immediately become badass - there are real factors on both sides, pro and con

So, it can be done right. Shades of grey help. Not assuming that the audience is stupid can help as well. o3o

 

 

 

[spoiler=Queerbaiting]

For those that don't know, queerbaiting is the strange "sport" of including a possible LGBT relationship or character in a story line and then never actually clarifying a damn thing. It bugs me because it's weirdly prevalent.

 

Look, how hard would it really be to just say "yeah, these two characters are gay af?" See? I just said it? It's not actually that hard to just do that and get it out of the way. Instead, you often get a delicate dance of implications that somehow never manages to stray too far one way or another.

 

I've watched and enjoy a lot of shows because they included a romance that was seemingly not particularly straight. Probably, these are shows that I wouldn't have otherwise watched, so I guess it works? I just feel a little sour that I don't get to see mutual affection, one of the couple gets killed off, or the writers find some other way to OMGNOPE out of their own creation.

 

I don't even hate this trope anymore. I've kind of accepted it, but it just leaves me feeling a tiny bit tired every time I see it crop up, yet again. Yes, I get that there are cultural pressures in Japan that contribute to this, but I don't care. If you're going to go 60% of the way, why not just dive in for the added 40%? I don't think that the larger straight audience would complain, but wtf do I know!? :D

 

As a side note, if you want a really good example of this - Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans. After dozens of episodes that sort of danced around it, it turned out that Yamagi was gay and Shino was totally open to it. Within ONE EPISODE, Shino was dead. I am still utterly and completely irritated by this. Why bother if that's how it's going to go? :angry:

 

 

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Reluctant Protagonist

 

Queerbaiting

 

Can I just say that I fully and utterly agree with these? I was happy that Re:Creators had some fun at the expense of the former, tbh.

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I would say the kid that does not have good marks or reputation, but is a genius fighter and has a large harem would be something that bores me. How many of these do we need?

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I would say the kid that does not have good marks or reputation, but is a genius fighter and has a large harem would be something that bores me. How many of these do we need?

 

I agree with this, though I don't think that I would mind if it was a girl protagonist with a harem of guys or girls, since that would almost be trope subversion at this point - due to the different cultural perspective that the change in gender would bring.

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I agree with this, though I don't think that I would mind if it was a girl protagonist with a harem of guys or girls, since that would almost be trope subversion at this point - due to the different cultural perspective that the change in gender would bring.

 

I certainly agree. I do not care whether I get male or female protagonists, but males have been done to death in this trope, and I think your idea sounds more interesting.

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So many tropes from shounen anime that I would have to look them up and list them. I guess I'll try to name some:

 

Hot-Blooded, Idiot Hero, Big Eater

Look. Luffy is cute. Natsu is badass. And Goku is funny. But can we please stop churning these copies out? It got boring by the time Fairy Tail decided to create the next shouty big-ham hero with an appetite of all the starving African children combined. It's one of the biggest reasons why shounen anime is one of my least favorite anime, ever.

 

Freudian Excuse, Kill All Humans, Omnicidal Maniac

Inspired by Trigun of all anime. I hated the villain. But there are worse examples than Legato that are overused. If I have a penny everytime a supervillain wants to destroy the world, I could buy Trump Tower 10x over. And their excuses are so weak. Usually, it has to do with revenge or how someone wronged them in life. I mean, look, I get being a misfit and all - heck, I was one of the biggest misfits in class - but killing people and destroying the planet because people wronged you just doesn't make any sense, logically speaking. If anything, I'd rather just screw off and get off the planet, go live in solitude or something. Too much hassle destroying planets.

 

Moe. Just moe.

This needs to stop. I'm tired of seeing moe in my anime if I could be frank. :P Never saw the appeal of it.

 

I think I'll list these for now. There are a lot of troupes that I'd have to look through TVTropes to properly analyze this, but this will do for now. :D

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I wouldn't call them tropes, but I am tired of seeing/hearing them clear their throats before speaking, that "kawf" noise as well as clicking their tongue. I'm not a big fan of tsundere characters either. I'm game for everything else...besides weak male leads, they're usually the worst, sadly I have no examples off hand of a good weak male lead.

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Childhood friends relationships also common, regardless of whether they go anywhere. Also, everyone always fondles everyone else in the bath. The villain almost always has a fucked up explanation for why he is so bad, why not just have a pure evil guy for a change, like Hannibal, now that I'm not quitting tv anymore, I should watch the last season, I loved that show. Also, I'm sorry lolicons, but that shit is creepy, actually I'm not sorry, hear that sekky, I'm not sorry. Also obviously most women in anime have tits at least as big as Hitomi Tanaka's, I can't say I mind, but then again, that stopped doing it for me ages ago. It also makes it hard to take characters seriously when they have giant balloons on their chest. What else, ambiguously lesbian characters like Cy mentioned, you can't tell if they're all about that D or if they like V's instead. Why does having a beard make you old? Oh yeah, airheaded milf's too, that's another one.

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weak male leads, they're usually the worst, sadly I have no examples off hand of a good weak male lead

 

The guy with the name that I can't remember from Re:Creators is a good one, tbh. It isn't just that he's reluctant, it's just that he's painfully weak, curling up into a ball at the slightest hints of adversity.

 

not a big fan of tsundere characters

 

Omfg, yes - I'm so sick of tsunderes at this point, hahaha. I mean, we need new tropes. There should be more danderes and yanderes and other deres. Tsundere is badly overdone, which is particularly bad because the trope is hard to write for without making a character repetitive.

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I wonder if there could ever be a well-adjusted dere?

 

I think that there could be, but the personality would have to be subtle and extremely contained. I actually think that Shinku from Rozen Maiden was an excellent example of this. She was clearly tsundere, but she was also level-headed and could take command of a situation without losing her cool when necessary (frequently).

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These ones probably don't happen as much as they actually do, but I'm still annoyed when they come into play:

 

White knights

When a female is in trouble, there will always be that one male character who heroically swoops in to save her. The male character probably has a crush on the female character and/or becomes incredibly offended that anyone would attack a woman. He'll probably defend the woman's honor by lecturing the opposing party on how wrong and cowardly they are as he's beating the crap out of them.

 

Specifically in these types of scenarios, I actually find this SUPER cringeworthy tbh. My problem with this trope is that whether their intentions are pure or not for wanting to save the female, animes seem like they try way too hard in painting the male character to look like this morally self-righteous hero, especially in front of the female. It's there to show how cool the character is in everyone's view, but the character still ends up coming across as a massive SJW.

 

Age Illusion

Not sure what to call this one, but I've noticed how some animes tend to have good-looking characters who are actually older than they should look. Female characters are especially victim to this. They could be in their mid to late 40's, maybe even 50s, yet it looks like they barely aged past 30. Smooth creamy skin, physically attractive, physically fit... can't help but think it's done just to add another hot character in the mix.

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Not sure what to call this one, but I've noticed how some animes tend to have good-looking characters who are actually older than they should look. Female characters are especially victim to this. They could be in their mid to late 40's, maybe even 50s, yet it looks like they barely aged past 30. Smooth creamy skin, physically attractive, physically fit... can't help but think it's done just to add another hot character in the mix.

 

This is probably not only pandering to the otaku audience, but I think it could also be that Japanese women are said to look great until about age or 60 or so, but yeah it can be annoying.

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Pretending to kill a character

 

I saw this one anime that had a character be fatally wounded and then die, even degenerate from existence, then they had a "in memoriam" as the credits rolled. But, to no one's surprised, the character was alive and well the next episode because that's just one of their abilities, but I was still ticked the heck off! I mean, why even have a "in memoriam" at all, if not just to slap your audience in face!?

It's not that I want characters to die, but if you're going to make it seem like they're going to die, at least have the guts to kill them!!

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Oh yeah, since Mars Terra brought up that cliche, it reminds me...

 

Deus ex Machina

One of the oldest and most overused tropes of all time. Whenever there's an important character that's about to be killed, at the VERY last minute, he's rescued by a very convenient plot-device that popped outta nowhere. What a cheap way to save someone. Oh yeah, and surprisingly, the one anime that committed this sin was Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. Imagine that.

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Not sure if this counts...

 

All-female cast

Look, I like cute girls as much as the next guy, but seriously? Seriously?

There's already a lack of male characters I can relate to enough as it is. I would say that one male character would be enough, but that'd inevitably turned into a harem. In School Idol Project, I just kind of assumed that Honoka's father was dead because they didn't have any male characters up until the point he made a brief cameo. And then in Sunshine!!, there weren't even any guys in the background.

I feel like we need some all-male cast anime to counter-balance...and then stop this non-sense altogether.

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Festival Episode

The Festival Episode pops up much more often than the similar obligatory Beach Episode cliche. This is more due to Japanese culture being a significant part of anime, but it's still so annoying whenever I see one because they rarely have anything meaningful to add to the story. You could practically switch the festival with any holiday and it wouldn't make much difference to the story.

 

The Power of Friendship

Much like the aforementioned Deus ex Machina, this cliche appears in more than just anime, but that only goes to show how overused this tired trope is. Most sinners are of the shounen anime variety like Naruto, Fairy Tail, One Piece, etc. The power of friendship will magically solve any obstacle the heroes face. Forget about actual strategies or realistic solutions - friendship will solve anything.

 

Antihero with Dark and Troubled Past

Basically more than half of your shounen leads. This isn't as bad as the "Idiot Hero" cliche, but it's just as prevalent. The typical edgy antihero character has been one of the oldest cliches in the book, and while I do admit that they have the potential for greater depth in character, it's treading self-parody territory, if it hasn't already decades ago.

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Incest

The type of family relationship that makes you want to wash yourself. It may look cute, but it's creepy as hell.

 

...like Hannibal, now that I'm not quitting tv anymore, I should watch the last season, I loved that show

 

Bruh that last season is lit, finish it! Afterwards, maybe check out American Gods, Bryan Fuller's recent show

 

 

 

 

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Beauty Equals Good

This is one that spans across all mediums. A person's looks, however, has nothing to do with the type of person they are. I think that there should be more unattractive protagonists and main characters. Furthermore, they should have the personalities that people have grown to love. And that, of course, includes both genders.

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I've gotten pretty sick of the lack of variety of voices in Japanese anime voice acting. I know I've brought it up before, and it is kind of hard to call it a trope, but seriously, what else would you consider the same 12 voices for 30 years? Give me more characters with voices like Natsu and Maka, although maybe less roles like their's because those have gotten pretty tired as well, and I'll be elated. I can only hear the same line spouted by the same voice despite it being a different actor so many times, and throwing in lingo that's only relevant to that world doesn't help either. I can watch most anime, especially in the Shounen genre's first two or three episodes and know exactly what's going on without subs because it's the same tired lines. Japan needs to get to the point where they move on enough from these sorts of things enough that they can make fun of them, like they do with some anime making fun of old Japanese Samurai films.

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The kid or young teenager who surpasses all his elders just because he's the main character.

An indecisive female character who manipulates the guys. NANA. Vampire Knight.

Every guy who's just a pervert and that's all there is to his character.

The female fighter/warrior with a double D chest.

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The female fighter/warrior with a double D chest.

 

You know, I totally forgot about this particular trope. I'm so used to seeing it in anime that I've learned how to tune it out. Lmfao.

 

I've never actually understood it, since, you know, there are some serious disadvantages towards moving quickly when you have these things that have their own sense of momentum and direction.

 

It's always weird watching the fight scenes animate with these characters. I guess it's supposed to be "fan service", but I usually just end up pausing and going like, "WTF IS THIS!?!?!" lol

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You know, I totally forgot about this particular trope. I'm so used to seeing it in anime that I've learned how to tune it out. Lmfao..

 

My biggest issue is when I like the character's personality and then the animators have to remind me that she has the biggest chest in the show every two minutes. Rangiku (Bleach) is a perfect example. Sure she's funny sometimes, but when the emotional bits come into play I can't take her seriously at all

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The kid or young teenager who surpasses all his elders just because he's the main character.

An indecisive female character who manipulates the guys. NANA. Vampire Knight.

Every guy who's just a pervert and that's all there is to his character.

The female fighter/warrior with a double D chest.

 

As an extension to the idea of a teenager surpassing all his or her elders, why not have more anime where teens aren't the main focus all the time. That's too few and far between. It's like the one thing that people haven't been borrowing from Dragon Ball Z since it grew to be popular. Anime fans have grown up, and while there's always new fans coming hopefully in droves to keep the medium of anime entertainment afloat, anime in this particular sense hasn't aged it's characters up to match it's aging audience. I can't keep buying into a 15 to 17 year old handling a though situation better than I would because that's not realistic, and anime that take place in the real world should take note of that. Movies, comics, games, books, and all other forms of media have at least attempted to age with their audiences to some degree where anime rarely does.

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