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Anime cliches that need to die.
- Thread starter Megidolaon
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I'm not entirely sure, but what you described just seems like a tsukkomi archetype.
Tsundere has the distinction of denying having romantic feelings because for whatever dumb reason they don't want people to know about it. It's akin to the elementary school "bully who secretly likes the victim."
Admiral Woofington
Member
there's nothing to deal with, Avatar is not anime. Inspired =/= anime. Get your definitions right.
Things I learned from this thread:
1) Shounen and Shojio tropes are still as toxic as they were back in the day, even if there are some different ones now.
1b) Obviously, the new tropes are worse. Back in my day... Simpsons_grandpa.gif
2) they made Mushishi into an anime. Might need to watch.
On topic, I'm gonna vote for the ubiquitous "this all could have been resolved or avoided three years ago if two people just stopped being bumbling morons and actually talked to each other for two seconds".
It is by no means exclusive to Anime and actually widespread in western media as well, but by golly, it really annoys the ever-loving fuck out of me to see friends/family members/couples who are supposedly close to each other suddenly keep huge and dangerous secrets from each other for absolutely no reason at all (or because of harebrained reasons, which can possibly be worse). At least think up some plausible reasons why these idiots act like they do, dammit.
1) Shounen and Shojio tropes are still as toxic as they were back in the day, even if there are some different ones now.
1b) Obviously, the new tropes are worse. Back in my day... Simpsons_grandpa.gif
2) they made Mushishi into an anime. Might need to watch.
On topic, I'm gonna vote for the ubiquitous "this all could have been resolved or avoided three years ago if two people just stopped being bumbling morons and actually talked to each other for two seconds".
It is by no means exclusive to Anime and actually widespread in western media as well, but by golly, it really annoys the ever-loving fuck out of me to see friends/family members/couples who are supposedly close to each other suddenly keep huge and dangerous secrets from each other for absolutely no reason at all (or because of harebrained reasons, which can possibly be worse). At least think up some plausible reasons why these idiots act like they do, dammit.
Damon Bennet
Member
Its not good. I wanted to like it but no.
I liked Kokoro Connect exactly because of how it handled this kind of stuff. The main cast seemed like a functional group of generic high schoolers at first, but one by one bizarre events befell them (ie: body swaps, unleashing their subconcious desires and involuntarily hearing things the others were thinking) which forced them to admit their personal problems and insecurities, and then the rest of the group would try and come up with a way to help them make things better.
Chmpocalypse
Blizzard
Sure, if you're a fan of terrible writing...
Chmpocalypse
Blizzard
This. Such bad writing.
Still, bad writing isn't an anime-specific issue.
Something funny I noticed is that some shows that wanted to include some cheap semi-incestuous romance went for female cousins rather than sisters. As if that'd make things any better...
As for general characterization tropes, I hate when they're used to make superflat characters that never get any better, especially when they're supposed to get lots of screentime throughout the series. For example, I can't say I didn't find Mikuru funny at first, but she just being a well-endowed klutz 24/7 and always submitting to Haruhi's whims (which often included groping) got a bit stale as the show went on (heck, even Nagato got some character development!).
"She's my friend/childhood friend/cousin/neighbor, but she always calls me big brother"
no. fuck you
"Koyomi onii-chan!"
Still, we know how that particular one went...
and it was awesome.
Oh, talking about Nadeko and general moe tropes, that reminds me I don't get when a character talks by referring to themselves in third person all the time. I get that it's supposed to be something Japanese kids actually do when they're young, but it's a bit strange to think that a teenager would say that and, on top of that, that others would find it cute or endearing rather than just weird.
Crossing Eden
Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
The biggest issue. Due to the sheer amount of it that gets made anime suffers from the awfully repetitive use of cliches more than any other form of animation, while doing very little to subvert cliches other than occasionally pointing out "hey, we're using this very overused cliche, isn't that funny."
FO-totality
Poet Centuriate
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailor_Moon#Pretty_Guardian_Sailor_Moon_Crystal
It's not good, I hear.
Again, that isn't anime-only. For example, games also have sets of stupid cliches that get overdone to death, and "flavors of the month" that are regurgitated until the audience's downright sick of it (WhateverCraft, Flappy Whatever, the zombie craze, etcetera.). Games also have lots of cliches which get overdone and the audience expects nowadays, to the point that them being missing from a game somehow detracts from the player's enjoyment of it.
All forms of media have mass-produced crap, and for every thousand crappy works we get one or two that actually challenge the medium or attempt to tread new ground rather than go "follow the leader". By likening anime to another industry such as video games, I find it clearer why we keep getting moéblobs, onii-chans and crappy harems: Those would be like "core" games, geared towards people who consume the anime, figurines, OST CDs and all that encompasses the multimedia industry around anime/manga/light/visual novels.
Many people might look at stuff such as Sword Art Online and say "What the heck's up with this?!", but at the end of the day what matters is that SAO has sold heaps of merchandise, which means they will continue milking it (and other similar stories will get adapted trying to ride on SAO's popularity) until they're no longer viable. The same happened with "social" games and the whole free-to-play model, which seemed like the future of gaming at a time, but nowadays we look back in embarassment at the sole thought of that.
Crossing Eden
Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
I never stated that it was an anime only thing. In fact, I stated that it was more common in anime because anime is more mass produced than
-cartoons made in other parts of the world
-live action tv shows
-films
etc etc. and due to that, the amount of tripe is absolutely amplified, especially due to the repetitive nature of anime and the seeming refusal to accept criticisms from other places of the world. It's similar in the game world as well. While many games made in the west advertise "open world." The similarities become superficial. Meanwhile you think about JRPGs and the mass produced nature of them leads to the same repetitive feeling that you get from anime, the fact that 90% of jrpgs have an anime art style certainly doesn't help either.
Dice//
Banned
I feel this is made worse when the show "needs to kickass" so does the clumsy hero automatically forget they're clumsy
Chairmanchuck
Member
Doesnt it also have to do with what people are watching? I mean if moeblob and harem-anime are popular, thats what a lot of people will see and the clichés used in this. The shows I usually watch dont really have that much clichés anymore.
What I really hate though is, when the actual theme is a bit more mature or at least something you can make a more mature anime of, but the presentation doesnt fit with the theme in general. I watched some Akame ga Kill episodes because of what I read and though it could be really great because of some political themes and assassinations. The anime itself though is a standard shounen with superpowers with the only difference is that people die in maybe a bit more horrible ways than in the standard shounen.
Crash Station
Member
When taken as a whole and comparing it to other mediums, anime does indeed have a somewhat myopic focus. Of the 30+ anime series that begin airing each season, many are directly aimed at otaku and air at 2 AM. It's important to note that a lot (but definitely not all) of the criticism from other places in the world does come down to cultural differences (lack of therapy in a lot of anime, the nature of relationships, etc), so of course these series directly aimed at Japanese audience aren't going to cater to the rest of the world.
That being said, as you said, the sheer amount produced nowadays does mean there is far more variety than there ever has been from art style to premise, even if the actual good:bad ratio has veered toward the latter (Sturgeon's Law at work). There are generally at least a few shows per season that, if not having the overseas audience in mind (Space Dandy, possibly Tiger and Bunny), are the very least accessible to them (Parasyte, Attack on Titan, etc).
Of course it will never have as much variety as it's closest medium relative, manga, but that's just due to the backwards nature of the industry, preventing more seinen/josei/shoujo adaptations from getting greenlit outside of the pandery stuff.
I'm also not sure what point you're making in regards to JRPGs.
Chmpocalypse
Blizzard
Integral or not, it's bad storytelling.
Edsmells12345
Member
Cool it Sanchez or I'll give you a knuckle supper.
But don't mind that, and I'd say that Attack on Titan is more about despair and the weight of human loss v progress.
Maybe I forgive Attack on Titan more than I should, but after binge watching DBK (stopping when Buu appears) I can probably say the chosen one syndrome doesn't bother me.
rhophiehalul78
Member
Looping animations while talking while fighting
Lots of these tropes have already been mentioned, so I'll shove one in here.
Every. Single. Female. Character. Introduced. Through. Camera. Leeringly. Tilting. Up. Body.
Yes, these are her legs. Her panties. Her boobs.
OH AND LOOK HER FACE, YUP THIS IS A HEALTHY WOMAN SERVANT I WILL TAKE THIS ONE
Stop. Please. Even if the Ken Burns documentary technique makes it cheaper. Find some other way to introduce a woman. At least once in a show. For originality if nothing else.
Every. Single. Female. Character. Introduced. Through. Camera. Leeringly. Tilting. Up. Body.
Yes, these are her legs. Her panties. Her boobs.
OH AND LOOK HER FACE, YUP THIS IS A HEALTHY WOMAN SERVANT I WILL TAKE THIS ONE
Stop. Please. Even if the Ken Burns documentary technique makes it cheaper. Find some other way to introduce a woman. At least once in a show. For originality if nothing else.
So basically you need to stop watching shonen.
Unless your only metric for it being god awful is faithfulness to the source material, then that's just crazy talk.
There were many things in that story that annoyed the shit out of me, the "lol, we in GERMANY now!" ending was the last straw. Having the Homunculi be the result of failed human transmutation just kills the whole "the dead can never return" thing the manga conveyed. Not to mention the Homunculi like Wrath, who's claim to fame was being a whiny bratty little shit! How does being a little bitch have anything to do with Wrath? Sloth was no better. Only the very tip of the iceberg when it comes to shit that adaption fucked up, Brotherhood ain't perfect either but better than what came before.
I get that the manga was not finished at the time and all, but Bones almost always shits the bed when they try to write an ending to an adaptation. ( this goes for Soul Eater's "Courage Punch" ending as well.)
This more than anything else. Then the final episode is a dull payoff that is never worth the build up.
1. *Gorgeous as balls girl trips and falls*
*Nerdy-ass dude with absoultely no redeeming qualities helps her up because it's the normal, humane, and not-at-all-outstanding thing to do*
*Girl falls in love with him forever and ever because nobody was ever nice to her*
Fuck you. That's ridiculous in a thousand levels.
2. Harem girls who like the MC because..... because. Seriously, most of the times there's not a real reason. I'll take the childhood friends reason any day of the year.
3. Shonen manga / anime trope: "Holy shit I'm the MC, getting my ass kicked, on the brink of death. But wait, I just remembered my motivation! I'm not hurt anymore! And I'm stronger! And more serious, even!"
4. Somebody says something deep. MC goes "guh" in silent stoicness, or opens his/her eyes in a close-up shot.
Man, I dropped promising anime because they used so many tropes, and at this point in my life, I don't care for any of them...
*Nerdy-ass dude with absoultely no redeeming qualities helps her up because it's the normal, humane, and not-at-all-outstanding thing to do*
*Girl falls in love with him forever and ever because nobody was ever nice to her*
Fuck you. That's ridiculous in a thousand levels.
2. Harem girls who like the MC because..... because. Seriously, most of the times there's not a real reason. I'll take the childhood friends reason any day of the year.
3. Shonen manga / anime trope: "Holy shit I'm the MC, getting my ass kicked, on the brink of death. But wait, I just remembered my motivation! I'm not hurt anymore! And I'm stronger! And more serious, even!"
4. Somebody says something deep. MC goes "guh" in silent stoicness, or opens his/her eyes in a close-up shot.
Man, I dropped promising anime because they used so many tropes, and at this point in my life, I don't care for any of them...
Closest I ever saw was Sket Dance which at least acknowledged that the resident tsundere was a lonely miserable girl with no friends.
Then tropes came into play. She fell in love with the main character, she was built like a brick smokehouse so she had a fab club of Otaku behind her back, and the one time she didn't act like a tsundere half the guys in class wanted in. She was basically an attempt at parodying the trope.
Boss Doggie
all my loli wolf companions are so moe
I never understood this hatred for "onii-chan", it's literally a normal call and fetishizing it only exists within otaku circles.
Theonik
Member
Boss Doggie
all my loli wolf imoutous are so moe
my least favorite is when there's ridiculous nonsensical fan service at inappropriate moments
i'm not saying there should never be any focus on a character's "sexy" body ever
I'm saying maybe don't always focus the "camera" on a character's cleavage at random times
you know, maybe when a character's crying or having an emotional reunion, that's not the right time for a super tight shot of their ass
i'm not saying there should never be any focus on a character's "sexy" body ever
I'm saying maybe don't always focus the "camera" on a character's cleavage at random times
you know, maybe when a character's crying or having an emotional reunion, that's not the right time for a super tight shot of their ass
Talking about that, they always screw any sequel to their original animes. For example, Darker than Black or Eureka Seven.
Boss Doggie
all my loli wolf companions are so moe
Alex_Mexico
Member
Agreed. I stop watching SAO at the beginning of season 2 when the onii-chan bullshit started.
What if we changed it to a lollipop?
KirbYuuYuu
Member
Just thought of another one.
There are times were you have a character react to something. Then another character starts speaking, and the previous character does not change from how they reacted or even blink.
There are times were you have a character react to something. Then another character starts speaking, and the previous character does not change from how they reacted or even blink.
The Ready Player One of anime.
Watch Da Birdie
I buy cakes for myself on my birthday it's not weird lots of people do it I bet
Boss Doggie
all my loli wolf companions are so moe
I always thought "age" is a flimsy excuse.
Clueless idiot main protag. "He? Nani?" Like he was fucking born an hour ago. It's really a setup for exposition from some other observant or knowing character because the reality is that the show believes the viewer is just like the main character... A fucking clueless idiot.
BTW, that's the other trope I hate. Dry exposition delivered by dialogue that doesn't even attempt to sound natural. Because the show would rather tell than show. So it explains it to you like you're a baby with zero attention span.
BTW, that's the other trope I hate. Dry exposition delivered by dialogue that doesn't even attempt to sound natural. Because the show would rather tell than show. So it explains it to you like you're a baby with zero attention span.
but that's when they're sexiest. when they're crying or getting beaten up
this is sarcasm
Chairmanchuck
Member
Another anime that I noticed where the theme of it doesnt fit the presentation:
Mirai Nikki. I mean the beginning actually was kind of grimdark at certain times. Later it became a full on Shounen, where
.
Mirai Nikki. I mean the beginning actually was kind of grimdark at certain times. Later it became a full on Shounen, where
somehow Death isnt that important anymore and the power of love can even forgive a mass murderer
Aztechnology
Member
Not a cliche, but when the characters constantly explain scenes in detail. It drives me crazy when the characters always explain all of their moves, enemy movements etc. Is it really necessary to spell out every scene in detail as though the people watching are five years old?
This one.
Fuck this shit, I'm a woman and I dont need a male to take of myself and Saber from Fate Stay Night is filling King Arthur, so shove your shovinist shit up you ass Shiro.
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