Worst anime cliches

[Garjzla]

i hate the classic

oh no the attack did not work i should do it again, and again, and again, and in the end it somehow works.....o_O

[Fantasy Dreamer]

Not sure if this has been mentioned somewhere before, but an anime cliche would have to be the whole revenge thing. Ether the main character, the evil character, or a side character on either good or bad side have this huge revenge thing they want to exact on someone who killed their so-and-so relative. Not in every anime, but there in quite a few of them.

[ChristianKitsune]

Here's one that kind of annoys me...

When the wind seems to blow so that it causes whatever characters are wearing ribbons to have them untied and they just float gently away... Ugh it just seems so cheesy whenever that happens and I'm liek "What was the point in that? I mean I live in Kansas where the wind is ALWAYS blowing at least 15-20 mph...and I NEVER have seen the wind untie a ribbon/ponytail so elequently before XD...

[animeantics]

In a nutshell?

Orihime and the like. (Sorry if I offend anyone Orihime fans--me and my roommate can't stand her! xD)



Anyways (some of these aren't what I hate, just what I happened to notice):

--The main character practicing Kendo.

--characters with endless appetites and bad table manners

--14-year-olds that look like they're in their 20s

--the bow and collar on the button-up shirt along with the plaited mini-skirt (popular school uniform, I guess?)

--the inordinate amounts of time spent by opposing characters glaring at each other. Yes, like DBZ xD

--overreacting with rage

--Flaming ball of doom heading towards character. Character too stunned to move! Friend miraculously jumps in front just in time to block the attack. Freind dies.

--"insert name here...." *dies*

--spikey, aerodynamic bad hair day.

--Them tattoos under the eyes

--angsty dudes with wise words every once in a while, or who save the main character's butt quite too often, but hates them with a passion.

--giant swords with micro-hilts

--Air-battles (as in floating in midair while fighting)

--mechs

--love and bubbles background when someone is in awe/love

--bishounen who are angsty or overly serious (I like that though ^^)

--main character is a newbie at his respective power and he manages to pwn a dude who's been practicing this trade for years.

--that really-evil, really freaky, distorted face the evil guy makes when he's having a fit of laughter

--the name "Sakura"

--cute, talking stuffed-animal looking things

--kids fighting battles when healthy adults are present



I apologize if some of this was mentioned earlier.

Bwahahahhahaa! NICE. I'm also annoyed that it seems that near every female anime character's name is "Sakura" I mean I love the name, but there's just so many of them.....

[ShiroiHikari]

Aw come on, no giant robots? ._.

Oh, and the sailor outfit is a pretty standard Japanese school uniform for girls.

[animeantics]

Yes, that's true.

[Saj]

In a nutshell?

Orihime and the like. (Sorry if I offend anyone Orihime fans--me and my roommate can't stand her! xD)



Anyways (some of these aren't what I hate, just what I happened to notice):

--The main character practicing Kendo.

--characters with endless appetites and bad table manners

--14-year-olds that look like they're in their 20s

--the bow and collar on the button-up shirt along with the plaited mini-skirt (popular school uniform, I guess?)

--the inordinate amounts of time spent by opposing characters glaring at each other. Yes, like DBZ xD

--overreacting with rage

--Flaming ball of doom heading towards character. Character too stunned to move! Friend miraculously jumps in front just in time to block the attack. Freind dies.

--"insert name here...." *dies*

--spikey, aerodynamic bad hair day.

--Them tattoos under the eyes

--angsty dudes with wise words every once in a while, or who save the main character's butt quite too often, but hates them with a passion.

--giant swords with micro-hilts

--Air-battles (as in floating in midair while fighting)

--mechs

--love and bubbles background when someone is in awe/love

--bishounen who are angsty or overly serious (I like that though ^^)

--main character is a newbie at his respective power and he manages to pwn a dude who's been practicing this trade for years.

--that really-evil, really freaky, distorted face the evil guy makes when he's having a fit of laughter

--the name "Sakura"

--cute, talking stuffed-animal looking things

--kids fighting battles when healthy adults are present



I apologize if some of this was mentioned earlier.

You know.... you just described every anime ive ever seen.

[animeantics]

You know.... you just described every anime ive ever seen.

Same here.

[Midori]

You know.... you just described every anime ive ever seen.

I think I can at least exclude Last Exile, Mushi-shi, Witch Hunter Robin, and Pumpkin Scissors (or what I've seen of it so far). But it is very difficult. I was stopped at least three times each by the "insert name here" *dies* and kids fighting parts. Oh wait, Witch Hunter Robin has an angsty serious bishounen, if you consider him one...

[Stanton21]

One of my biggest issues with anime is female characters. Very few of them are interesting and well-rounded (er...shut up, you know what I meant). Most of them are walking, talking, bouncing cliches.

Which isn't surprising since most of these anime characters were originally created to appeal to the average [lonely] male otaku viewer in Japan. Cute girls and moe is essentially a staple of otaku culture.

[Shadowfax]

I would say that, aside from most of what has already been mentioned on this thread, the art style is the worst cliche.

I understand the use of a little stylization, but some take it so far that it is actually distracting (Lucky Star, from what little I have seen of it, fits the bill). Apparently most animators are self-conscious about their brainpower because I can't think of any other reason for their characters to have such large craniums.

Just to throw this out there... Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo, is another culprit. But just like Lucky Star, some will like the extreme visual style, others won't.

Personally the visuals of both shows don't distract me-- not in a negative way. In fact, they usually end up getting my praise for being special and different.

[~darkelfgirl~]

You know.... you just described every anime ive ever seen.

XD. Well, I think I did some injustice by adding 'mechs' to that list.

[ShiroiHikari]

Giant robots. "Legs are far more efficient means of transportation than, say, treads or wheels or an aerofoil, because it stands to reason it's got to be easier to coordinate the simultaneous movement of a minimum of six seperate joints than to, you know, turn a wheel or something, and it's not like there are actually efficient rotary motors or jet engines. And don't worry about the fact that the joints are bound to be highly complicated and much more fragile than the rest of the structure, I'm sure they won't draw an inordinate amount of enemy fire. But here's the best part: we're not relying on outdated archaic weaponry like guns or bombs. OH no. We've got a SWORD."

This thread officially fails now.

[animeantics]

This thread officially fails now.

.....*dies*

[Raiden no Kishi]

Giant robots. "Legs are far more efficient means of transportation than, say, treads or wheels or an aerofoil, because it stands to reason it's got to be easier to coordinate the simultaneous movement of a minimum of six seperate joints than to, you know, turn a wheel or something, and it's not like there are actually efficient rotary motors or jet engines. And don't worry about the fact that the joints are bound to be highly complicated and much more fragile than the rest of the structure, I'm sure they won't draw an inordinate amount of enemy fire. But here's the best part: we're not relying on outdated archaic weaponry like guns or bombs. OH no. We've got a SWORD."

And this is not specific to anime, but the whole "they don't get along because they secretly like each other" bit.

: : hands you a Tom Clancy novel and goes off to watch Mobile Fighter G Gundam : :

And the second one is sometimes truth in television. I've seen it. In fact, my dad had to explain to me that X and Y insulted each other all the time because they really liked each other. I didn't get it, but I was 13.

.rai//

[uc pseudonym]

Robots aside, another cliché occurred to me while biking to work today:

The Comic Relief Trait: Too many characters have a single quirk that is repeatedly exploited for throwaway gags. This generally has nothing to do with their personality and becomes increasingly more obtrusive as the series and characters develop. It affects nothing and is only dragged out every time a lighter arc is introduced. Examples include Ed's height-consciousness from Fullmetal Alchemist and Natsu's motion sickness from Fairy Tail (notable for being an example of this trait done as horribly as possible).

[Lady Kenshin]

Robots aside, another cliché occurred to me while biking to work today:

The Comic Relief Trait: Too many characters have a single quirk that is repeatedly exploited for throwaway gags. This generally has nothing to do with their personality and becomes increasingly more obtrusive as the series and characters develop. It affects nothing and is only dragged out every time a lighter arc is introduced. Examples include Ed's height-consciousness from Fullmetal Alchemist and Natsu's motion sickness from Fairy Tail (notable for being an example of this trait done as horribly as possible).

Aw, but Ed's height issues are funny and highlight his insecurities.

[Danderson]

HOWEVER, sometimes stuff like that in other animes can get annoying, expecially if it happens ten times an episode, or if its one of those cheesy little catchphrases that the character in question simply MUST repeat every other sentence >.<

Believe it....

......

[Raiden no Kishi]

I was thinking of one recently that bugs me: "freakish" characters who actually aren't freakish. If the character is supposed to be some sort of mad scientist's experiment, they shouldn't look like a model.

.rai//

[Ingemar]

Another thing, characters with Violent Alter-Egos slumbering just beneath the surface of their benign casual exterior. Usually heralded by a distinct change in eye color. I don't mind this one too much, but I'm tired of every assassin/agent who lives an otherwise normal life outside their dangerous hobbies just having a Kill Everything Mode, almost completely separate from their regular innocent self, instead of actual character depth and moral development/degradation.

Yeah, this one isn't so great. I liked the dynamic as portrayed in Rurouni Kenshin, because I felt they portrayed Kenshin's inner struggle properly. But it can be easy to abuse.

.rai//

I actually thought this was rather poorly done in Rurouni Kenshin. If you compare Hitokiri Battousai during the war and Kenshin's "Battousai spasms" as seen in his fights with Udou Jin-E and Saitou Hajime, you'll see that the former has the coolness and grim calculation of any professional killer, whilst the latter exhibits the "BLARRGGH I BE MURDERAN" psychosis and magic eye color change that Fish And Chips decries.

This makes absolutely no sense. Especially since 1). Kenshin at least had noble motives for fighting (and killing) and 2). Battousai during the war didn't have that overly-cliched magical eye color change at all.

[Chrysolite]

I'm joining in a little late here, so I'm sorry if I'm just repeating old posts.

One anime thing that both bothers me and makes me laugh is the old 'heart power' schpeal. You know, where the character(s) are going up against impossible odds and win after a pep-talk about how they can win with the power of love or some such nonsense. I mean, don't get me wrong; I'm a bona fide shojo with a heart made of candle wax, but lovey-dovey puff n' fluff has its place, and it's not on the battlefield! I suppose this sort of thing can be decently executed, but it isn't usually, in my opinion.

On a side note, doesn't this thread strike anyone as hypocritical, being that we're on an anime fan site? But then again, being that I came here and even posted, I guess saying so makes me a hypocrite, huh? ^-^

[Shadowfax]

I'm joining in a little late here, so I'm sorry if I'm just repeating old posts.

One anime thing that both bothers me and makes me laugh is the old 'heart power' schpeal. You know, where the character(s) are going up against impossible odds and win after a pep-talk about how they can win with the power of love or some such nonsense. I mean, don't get me wrong]can [/I]be decently executed, but it isn't usually, in my opinion.

On a side note, doesn't this thread strike anyone as hypocritical, being that we're on an anime fan site? But then again, being that I came here and even posted, I guess saying so makes me a hypocrite, huh? ^-^

Haha, you make an excellent point. Several Naruto episodes come to mind ("The Resurrected Beasts" *shivers*, Shippudden the Movie) where a pep talk or love miraculously saves the day. I'm sure our more veteran members have seen even more examples.

On a side note-- even if this is a thread about critiquing anime cliches, that doesn't mean we've stopped loving all these beautifully flawed series.

[Chrysolite]

LOL Indeed. Gotta love 'em! I didn't enjoy Puchi Puri Yucie any less for the uber corny conclusion to the only episode in the series that actually had some action. Although, all I can do is laugh at that saga in Naruto Shippuden where Gai's team is fighting their clones. It didn't take the Teen Titans that long to figure it out, and they came to a better conclusion! Oh, well. No anime's perfect, right?

Giant robots. "Legs are far more efficient means of transportation than, say, treads or wheels or an aerofoil, because it stands to reason it's got to be easier to coordinate the simultaneous movement of a minimum of six seperate joints than to, you know, turn a wheel or something, and it's not like there are actually efficient rotary motors or jet engines. And don't worry about the fact that the joints are bound to be highly complicated and much more fragile than the rest of the structure, I'm sure they won't draw an inordinate amount of enemy fire. But here's the best part: we're not relying on outdated archaic weaponry like guns or bombs. OH no. We've got a SWORD."

Ptorquemada, I must commend you on this paragraph. I haven't seen much mecha anime, so I can't agree or disagree with your point, but that bit was truly entertaining to read. I think I'll save that for future reference.