Worst anime cliches

[rocklobster]

I saw this question on ANN's Hey Answerman section, so I thought why not post it here?
What is the most annoying anime cliche in your opinion?
For me, it's the long-winded heroic speech. Come on, just fight already! I think Sailor Moon and Naruto are the worst perpetrators of this one.

[ChristianKitsune]

The tendancy for SO many girls in dubbed anime to have IMPOSSIBLY high-pitched voices. Seriously who walks around talking like Orihime all day? I've NEVER heard a girl talk that high... it's a little old...

Magical girl anime/Shonen boy anime: I really can't watch these without rolling my eyes anymore.. XD

[ShiroiHikari]

Worst anime cliches...hmmm...

Probably the girls that look like they're a size 2 and yet wear a DD size bra. Could we please just get over the LOL BOOBIES thing already?

And hey, I like those speeches they give before attacking! Ai to seigi no sera fuku bishoujo senshi! Sailor Moon! Tsuki ni kawatte oshiyoki yo!

[EricTheFred]

[quote="ShiroiHikari (post: 1267307)And hey, I like those speeches they give before attacking! Ai to seigi no sera fuku bishoujo senshi! Sailor Moon! Tsuki ni kawatte oshiyoki yo![/QUOTE"]

Lyrical Tokarev, Kill Them All!

[Cap'n Nick]

Lifestyles with no consequence. I'm thinking specifically of rail-thin gluttons, warriors with non-existent (or impossibly photogenic) scars, super-athletic hikikomori and fourteen-year-olds with more wisdom and life experience than every Dickens character combined. The worse offenders are annoying young slobs abusing themselves constantly yet somehow ending up a fashion plate. "My super-power: being a good-looking otaku." I'm all for escapism, but at least raise the bar a little.

[Aleolus]

Whenever a group of characters go looking for an uberly powerful weapon, when they find said weapon, it will appear useless, and one character will refer to it as a 'Rusty old piece of junk'. That character will then turn out to be the only one who can use said weapon, and turn it INTO it's uberly powerful form at the right time, and in the right place. (referencing Tenchi Muyo and InuYasha)

[Shao Feng-Li]

Seems like girls and guys fall onto each other a lot. Especially in the shojo side of things. Harem animes are the same way I think, though harem seems to be another word for cliche... I dunno...

[ShiroiHikari]

Off-topic: The best anime cliche is when a bad guy becomes a good guy. It's been done a number of times but it is still cool every single time.

[animechica]

Off-topic: The best anime cliche is when a bad guy becomes a good guy. It's been done a number of times but it is still cool every single time.

Haha, I agree. ^_^

But, hmm, worst cliche... well, the falling on top of each other like Shao Feng-Li said is pretty annoying because it's usually done in the same way every time, and the falling usually seems pretty forced. XD But I'd say the random, pointless panty shots take the cake for this one. Or any fanservice where someone's body is right up in the camera. I really don't like being forced to look at that. XD

[Purplefire]

The cliche shower scene. I've seen far too many animes that toss in the shower scene for the fangirls/fanboys. It's annoying beyond comparison. Same goes for the overly endowed females.

[Raiden no Kishi]

Lifestyles with no consequence. I'm thinking specifically of rail-thin gluttons, warriors with non-existent (or impossibly photogenic) scars, super-athletic hikikomori and fourteen-year-olds with more wisdom and life experience than every Dickens character combined. The worse offenders are annoying young slobs abusing themselves constantly yet somehow ending up a fashion plate. "My super-power: being a good-looking otaku." I'm all for escapism, but at least raise the bar a little.

THIS. Just . . . THIS.

Also, all the characters (at least all the heroes) being rail-skinny, even the "power" characters. Sanosuke Sagara, Takashi Mornozuka, I'm looking at you. Don't think you're getting out of this either, Kurogane. If anyone's heavily-built, they're either very fat or tall and muscular. Is it too much to ask for characters that are normal height and muscular? Or strong characters with some muscle mass?

Also, characters with Japanese names who are UBER-WHITE with blond hair and bright blue eyes. Usagi Tsukino and Naruto Uzumaki, I'm looking at you. Is it too much to ask that the Japanese draw Japanese people that look like Japanese people?

Possibly the most odious, in my mind, is having the main character be the "gifted/chosen one" or ridiculously lucky, so everything goes their way. I want to see the main protagonist work for their results. I want to see them defeated, having to go and work to overcome a foe. I want to see them barely eke out victories. I want to see them win at great cost. This "I can do it 'cause I'm the hero" crap has got to go. Ichigo Kurosaki and pretty much every other shonen hero ever written, I'm calling you ALL the heck out.

NOTE: Examples listed are just the first that come to mind. There are far, far more - why else would they be cliches?

.rai//

[Shao Feng-Li]

Haha, I agree. ^_^

But, hmm, worst cliche... well, the falling on top of each other like Shao Feng-Li said is pretty annoying because it's usually done in the same way every time, and the falling usually seems pretty forced. XD But I'd say the random, pointless panty shots take the cake for this one. Or any fanservice where someone's body is right up in the camera. I really don't like being forced to look at that. XD

I know. Usually it happens at the wrong moments. "Someone's coming in the room! Don't accidentally fall me!"

I think it was DNAngel volume 4. The two kids were just standing there and managed to fall when the sister comes in.

[minakichan]

Also, characters with Japanese names who are UBER-WHITE with blond hair and bright blue eyes. Usagi Tsukino and Naruto Uzumaki, I'm looking at you. Is it too much to ask that the Japanese draw Japanese people that look like Japanese people?

Read <a href="http://www.matt-thorn.com/mangagaku/faceoftheother.html">Face of the Other</a> by manga scholar Matt Thorn. People are under the assumption that Japanese people draw anime characters with strange coloring because they want to look more Caucasian or they even hate their faces. It's no more true that assuming that American cartoonists want to be furries or have caricatured body proportions. If you draw a happy face with an unfilled circle, two dots, and a curve, it is not white, and shading it in does not make it black.

At the very least, no, Japanese people are not Western-worshippers who are ashamed to be Asian. Absolutely not.

[chibiphonebooth]

i hate hate hate hate the well endowed 'innocent' girls in anime.

'oh hehehehehe i have size DOUBLE G BOOBS but i'm so cute and innocent! oh i have boobs? oh my! let me go and bend over and pick up this stick and act like i have no idea what i'm doing and how this effects others."

i also hate it when characters where really flimsy outfits and go somewhere where it is cold and they are not effected by the weather.

[Raiden no Kishi]

Read <a href="http://www.matt-thorn.com/mangagaku/faceoftheother.html">Face of the Other</a> by manga scholar Matt Thorn. People are under the assumption that Japanese people draw anime characters with strange coloring because they want to look more Caucasian or they even hate their faces. It's no more true that assuming that American cartoonists want to be furries or have caricatured body proportions. If you draw a happy face with an unfilled circle, two dots, and a curve, it is not white, and shading it in does not make it black.

At the very least, no, Japanese people are not Western-worshippers who are ashamed to be Asian. Absolutely not.

. . . um . . . I was never insinuating that. All I'm saying is that characters with Japanese names (indicating Japanese lineage) with BRIGHT BLONDE hair and BRIGHT BLUE eyes is utterly ridiculous and silly, and such characters do not look Japanese (which is pretty obvious). I don't get how your reply applies to what I said. And yeah, I read the article.

.rai//

[ShiroiHikari]

I don't have a problem with Japanese characters having non-Japanese physical characteristics. Why? Because if they drew all the Japanese characters to look like Japanese people, it would be really difficult to tell them apart, since virtually all Japanese people have dark hair and eyes. Also, the wacky colors are really fun. XD

Also, Usagi isn't really Japanese; she's the moon princess reborn on Earth. Same with the other Senshi. (That still doesn't explain why nobody seems to notice how different they look though. XD)

[Cognitive Gear]

Screaming each other's name while executing some huge attack. It worked once, but that time has passed.

[ADXC]

I guess Id say all of these harem anime are some of the worst cliched. You know the story, some innocent guy gets mixed up with a lot of beautiful women. He tries to get them away they pursue. I just don't watch them. Id guess the only one Id watch is Tenchi Universe, but that's it.

@ Shao-Feng Li- Yeah it was in volume 5, I believe.

[sharien chan]

The hero flail! When during said longwinded, epic speech they move around and flail their arms. Though its' not really an anime, but Sora from Kingdom Hearts does this all the time.

[Purplefire]

But, but, the hero must flail about their arms or they lose track of their thoughts!!

[blkmage]

Anyone know about the Laws of Anime? I remember it being posted a lot at some boards I used to hang out at a few years ago.

http://www.lawsofanime.com/

My favourite continues to be law 11, the Law of Inherent Combustibility, which states simply "Everything explodes. Everything."

[Shao Feng-Li]

#17 - Law of Transient Romantic Unreliability

Minmei is a bimbo.

Lawl.

[Nate]

I want to see the main protagonist work for their results. I want to see them defeated, having to go and work to overcome a foe. I want to see them barely eke out victories. I want to see them win at great cost.

You're talking about Rock Lee there. Unfortunately he's brushed to the side for the "Super-Saiyan clone" stuff. Rock Lee is like the Krillin of Naruto, which is why he's so awesome.

This "I can do it 'cause I'm the hero" crap has got to go.

Actually I kind of like that, if the "I can do it because I'm the hero" stuff went, the a lot of manga would end with the bad guy winning. And that's not very satisfying.

Maybe I'm weird. All I know is when I hear Sousuke on Go-Onger yelling that the fires of justice burn in his heart after he's gotten the smack-down from a Bankijyu, and he stands up after getting his butt kicked and proceeds to whup the tar out of it, I cheer. Because it's awesome.

And yeah I am tired of harem anime too. It's just so formulaic. At least Tenchi Muyo tried (and succeeded IMO) to make it different.

Also, "main character dies at end of series" anime make me angry. It was cool in Cowboy Bebop. It was cool in Magic Knight Rayearth (well okay that wasn't the MAIN character but still). It is not cool anymore.

And hey, I like those speeches they give before attacking!

I don't see how anyone can hate those honestly. They're rad. It would just be boring if the good guys showed up and just immediately started fighting.

Besides this isn't even really an anime cliche as they do it in American cartoons and comics too. Did anyone complain about Darkwing Duck saying "I am the terror that flaps in the night!" every time he fought a bad guy? Did people complain about Wolverine saying "I'm the best there is at what I do, bub!" when he faced off against an opponent?

Anyway how many long-winded speeches did Batman and the Joker go through in Dark Knight? There was more inane chatter between those two in that movie than in a 26 episode anime series.

[Tsukuyomi]

Hmmm, there really is too many to list, but the all seem to work ^__^; Like, there ALWAYS seem to be a summer vacation XD

[Shao Feng-Li]

"Did anyone complain about Darkwing Duck saying "I am the terror that flaps in the night!" every time he fought a bad guy?"

I never did watch Darkwing Duck...

[Raiden no Kishi]

You're talking about Rock Lee there. Unfortunately he's brushed to the side for the "Super-Saiyan clone" stuff. Rock Lee is like the Krillin of Naruto, which is why he's so awesome.

Darn straight I'm talking about Rock Lee. ^_^ Seriously, the series should have been about him instead of Naruto.

Actually I kind of like that, if the "I can do it because I'm the hero" stuff went, the a lot of manga would end with the bad guy winning. And that's not very satisfying.

I don't want the bad guy to win in the end. I'm just tired of the spontaneous power-ups or recharges and the hero being unbeatable. I'd rather see the hero, in their damaged state, find a way to win anyway or escape and recover, formulating a strategy to win the next time. It makes it easier to relate to them.

Maybe I'm weird. All I know is when I hear Sousuke on Go-Onger yelling that the fires of justice burn in his heart after he's gotten the smack-down from a Bankijyu, and he stands up after getting his butt kicked and proceeds to whup the tar out of it, I cheer. Because it's awesome.

Oh, I like heroes who go on through utter devotion to their cause, believe me. I just don't like that so often it seems to allow them to ignore all of the beating they just took or spontaneously unlock their true potential . . . for the eighty-fourth time. What I'm trying to say is that it could be handled with more thought and style.

And yeah I am tired of harem anime too. It's just so formulaic. At least Tenchi Muyo tried (and succeeded IMO) to make it different.

I haven't seen Tenchi Muyo in a long time. I should fix that.

Also, "main character dies at end of series" anime make me angry. It was cool in Cowboy Bebop. It was cool in Magic Knight Rayearth (well okay that wasn't the MAIN character but still). It is not cool anymore.

YES. My dad and I both hate this in any story (although he still watches gritty war movies where this happens a lot . . .). Happy endings are good.

I don't see how anyone can hate those honestly. They're rad. It would just be boring if the good guys showed up and just immediately started fighting.

Besides this isn't even really an anime cliche as they do it in American cartoons and comics too. Did anyone complain about Darkwing Duck saying "I am the terror that flaps in the night!" every time he fought a bad guy? Did people complain about Wolverine saying "I'm the best there is at what I do, bub!" when he faced off against an opponent?

Anyway how many long-winded speeches did Batman and the Joker go through in Dark Knight? There was more inane chatter between those two in that movie than in a 26 episode anime series.

Heroic speeches are made of win. Villain speeches are usually good too. I'm a sucker for good dialogue, witty lines, and passionate speeches.

.rai//

[sharien chan]

But, but, the hero must flail about their arms or they lose track of their thoughts!!

Ah yes you're right! XDDDDD

[eternalprincess]

Nosebleeds. Oh wait, was that manga? XDD

[GeneD]

Also, "main character dies at end of series" anime make me angry. It was cool in Cowboy Bebop. It was cool in Magic Knight Rayearth (well okay that wasn't the MAIN character but still). It is not cool anymore.

Agreed. It's also irritating when half or the entire cast dies in the end.

The falling-thing is very true. Anime characters can be very clumsy.

[rocklobster]

Agreed. It's also irritating when half or the entire cast dies in the end.

The falling-thing is very true. Anime characters can be very clumsy.

Geneshaft, Evangelion, Now and Then all have pretty high death totals.