CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

Anime Observations 101

Attack Phrases:
In classic Giant Robot, Magical Girl, Hero Team, and Martial Arts anime, the characters will name each of their main attacks or spells and shout them out as they do it. “Ultimate Omega Photon Beam Attack!â€

Giant Robots

Massive explosions

Powering up for larger attacks

(i'm going to be blunt on this one) unnecessarily voluptuous females

main character with crazy but awesome looking hair

some kind of animal/robot comic relief mini-character with own side story

A ton of really pretty girls all going after one guy

Giant Robots Being transported underground (Big O, G Gundam, etc)

people getting hit for comic effect
dramatic pauses (with close ups on eyes for extra effect )
those lovely anime expressions (oro, giant streams of tears, mouths or eyebrows or noses falling off their respective faces, ect.)... priceless
i also notice that alot of anime seems to be made in japan, how odd

More Obersevations.

Dying Speeches:
In anime, even important characters die, this awareness of mortality is one thing that separates it from Western cartoons and Television.
Dead anime hero’s rarely return from the grave (villains are another matter…), so to make up for it, a character will often deliver a lengthy “Dying Speech.â€

PLOT-HOLES!!! lol especially in very long series or ones based off manga

Strange physics type things. For instance in Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne she is able to jump from across building tops (from a lower skyscraper to a higher one) but is unable to jump down one story in an airport and instead races against Sinbad to get down the stairs O_o?

Bad fillers (if the anime is based off a manga) *coughrecentinuyashafillerscoughcough*

Weird pronunciations in the dubs and strange voice tempo as they struggle to lip synch with the Japanese moving animation (this cracks me up and seriously annoys me. especially when they change the script to do it)

Me and my friend have noticed the many eye shots also, mikas, and we both think its funny

More Observations.

Kitsune:
A fox. Magical fox spirits with the abilities to assume human shape or posses people are a common element in Japanese Folklore. Magical foxes often have multiple tails.
Like nekojin, kitsune often appear in anime, either as spirits or simply as a non-human race with fox ears and one or more bushy tails.

Main Gun:
A classic ability of many space ships and a few mecha is the “Main Gunâ€

The Female lead with the Magic Pendant who must be saved by the male lead. I've seen that one 5 or 6 times, but strangely, it never gets old.

Any ship that is made up of a crew of complete misfits, and sent to some far corner of the galaxy just to get it out of the way, will inevitably save the entire universe from destruction.

It is impossible to reach the ultimate level in any martial art until your arch-nemesis either threatens to, or actually does, kill your best-friend, master, or romantic interest.

Hyper-Dimensional Hammer:
In Comedy Anime shows, a common sight gag is for a jealous character, usually female, who has been offended by one of her companions being rude or lecherous, to suddenly materialize a huge mallet and whack him.

This is also known as the "baka-hammer" and is distantly related to the"paper-fan-for-smacking-the-back-of-comanion's-hed."

OHMYGOODNESS!!! I'm experiencing a hallmark anime recurrence. I do the hyperdimensional hammer!!! Well, I dont' ACTUALLY materialize the hammer, but I do an invisible hammer and I make sound effects. Yep, I can't get away from anime now. It's like-- ingrained in my being or something.

The body of the average anime character contains approximately 10 gallons of blood, and even the slightest paper-cut can send it all gushing out at once.

*snickers at CDLviking's post* So true... so true...

One other thing I think hasn't been mentioned is the 'freeze time' syndrome where characters and can say/think A LOT while in mid-action regardless of the laws of physics. One of the most recent ones I can think of is Sasuke's and Rock Lee's first fight. I'm sure the kagebuyo (shadow dancing leaf technique) shouldn't make two people air-borne long enough to have given Rock Lee the time for a 3 page explanation.

Important fight moves are shown still three times before the character actually uses it in real time. This has been happening in a lot of American-made cartoons recently, too, no doubt influenced by anime.

That one has always been annoying... Reboot used it a lot in the first two seasons in particular...

Another one is where it will split the screen into 3 or more sections to show different people's faces... That is more tolerable, but still rather annoying...

I realized from anime that the middle finger doesn't hold the same meaning in Japan as it does in the US... (The mechanic guy from Nadesico wouldn't do that in the US unless he was meaning to insult someone.) They do know what the traditional "bird" means, but aren't as in tune to the creative variations...

Eyes: when a character's eyes are closed because they are smiling, laughing, or blushing, they appear as two upside-down U-shapes. When they are sad or asleep, the U-shapes are right-side-up.

Mouths.

As Strongbad so eloquently puts it: real tiny when it's close, ridiculously huge when it's open.

http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail57.html

Yeeeeeeeeeeeshhh...

^hehe...

Gray-purpley hair: In many animes set in modern day there seems to always be a character that has grayish hair, girl OR guy, and no one ever comments on how a Japanese kid has gray/purple hair!

Covering up the mouth: I've noticed in almost every single anime I've ever watched that the artists like to have strategically placed pieces of paper, hands, fans, etc. so that the character is talking, but we are unable to see their mouth move, so in fact, there is no motion in the scene!

Waving: I've noticed in several animes that when the characters wave 'good-bye,' they do so with their entire arm outstreched vertically...I've never actually seen a real person wave like that...it seems that it could get tiring after a while...

BobtheDuck: If my memory serves me correct, I think the middle finger in Japan--when held a certain way--means 'little brother' (or was it 'big brother'?) to an extent. I think you can see this in J-pop concerts with people waving around their middle fingers at the singers. Very amusing. XD XD Oh, if the hand is pointing down, THEN it means the same thing as it does in the West.

Thalia: I think I've actually seen that in some dorama (Japanese drama). Especially the 'genki' girls... probably because they're short XD XD LOL!!

Ah, and the 'short-skirt-that-never-reveals-much-unless-the-animators-intend-it-to'. Seen in Sailor Moon, Inuyasha, a multiple others... these girls can run, jump, spin, do whatever and the skirt mysteriously just FLUTTERS. Unless it's time for the dreaded 'panty-shot' will then the skirt act normally. *rolls eyes*

If there's a foreigner, they will have blond hair. See: Azumanga Daioh.

Long stretches of time with no music, which cause you to understand the anime more, yet become slightly confused. (Spirited Away is a textbook case for these!)

Mikas...anime is Japanese animation. Recently, though, they have 'anime' from Korea and such. It sucks compared to Japanese anime though.

Less than intelligent characters have the telekinetic ability to knock others over whenever they say something foolish.

Hair is exempt from the laws of gravity. (See any Dragon Ball series)

The ordinary schoolgirl who gets transported to some fantastic world where she has to go on a quest.

BrandonHeat, we generally disapprove of gravedigging here. Your post wasn't wrong in any way, just probably not worth bringing back a thread that is approaching two years old. I mean no offense and you aren't in any trouble, but I say it for future reference.

Meanwhile, I think it would be best if this thread drifted to the archives, but if something really has something hilarious to add, feel free.

Sry. Didn't notice that it was that old. I'll try not to necrolyze (sticking to my Gungrave theme) any more threads...

Long journeys tend to begin with a house/place of business being burned down. (see Fullmetal Alchemist, Samurai Champloo, Record of Lodoss War)

Meh.... don't forget the basic impossibility of umpteen-dozen bishonen (and are they ever!) after one girl. Not that I'd complain.

Is there any "feud between brothers" trend? I mean, Inuyasha and Sesshomaru, Vash and Knives, Yuki and Ayame (a much funnier one), etc. Any more of those?

Kanerou wrote:Is there any "feud between brothers" trend? I mean, Inuyasha and Sesshomaru, Vash and Knives, Yuki and Ayame (a much funnier one), etc. Any more of those?

Van & Folken.

Also, Sasuke & Itachi.

Tendency to milk anime and drag on plots.