The Anime Cliche Thread

[HellCat]

Don't think one of these has been done in a while, let's see how many we can list. If you're going to provide any specific, spoilerish examples, please use spoiler code. Thanks.

Awesome thing X- (Name coined by Neo-Era) Amazing everyone, the title character at an early point in the story pulls off some amazing display that everyone believes should be impossible for them, if not anyone.

I am you, you are me- Noble hearted hero discovers recurring villain who has always fought him/her to a draw is in fact the split evil side of the hero.

Fussssioooonnn-HA!- A fun one.After the powers of individual characters prove not to be strong enough, cast will learn how they can combine togethor in some form.

Hot springs- The episode more and more shows are seemingly required to have, even if it extends to unlogically putting one on a battleship (SEED Destiny).

[GWOtaku]

Double-edged sword: As often as not, really amazing powers or techniques have some sort of handicap or restriction. Depending on the hero, genre, or show these can sometimes be overcome, making said ability even more amazing.

The serious laugher: A protagonist that acts silly, happy-go-lucky, careless, clumsy, innocent, weak, etc, but becomes super serious when a dangerous situation occurs. This usually goes hand in hand with "Awesome thing X," as said person generally has some amazing skill or trait.

The power of rage: A character's power is often proportional to the amount of anger he has at a given time. Villian downfall #1: say something to shock or anger a main character the extent that he or she completely loses it. Ironically villans often do this on purpose because of some twisted desire to have hero fight at their level, or they just enjoy watching suffering in the first place. This almost always results in said villain getting dominated.
--The stupidity clause: The power of rage can backfire if the person in question is hopelessy inexperienced or is fighting an enemy for the first time, charging uselessly without knowing the first thing about him.

Second time's the charm: A hero or main character suffering a major defeat is practically guaranteed to do a rematch with the one responsible for it and do a hell of a lot better than before, regardless of whether or not he actually succeeds.

"It's the new model!" The newest robot is always the best one and is likely to dominate the others until the next big thing comes along. This cliche/law can be overridden by Awesome thing X or the power of rage, depending on the circumstances.
--The Gundam clause: In a fight of the latest Gundam against the most powerful robot/mobile armor/state-of-the-art moving weapon of doom, the Gundam always wins.


Nature Over Tech: Using technology to enhance or override a naturally existing skill or trait is almost always a bad idea and very likely to create an inferior version of it or otherwise backfire. See: artificial newtypes (Zeta Gundam), ZERO System (Gundam Wing), engineered humans (Seed Destiny).

This also applies in a broader sense. Miyazaki's movies often highlight and praise the beauty of nature over industralization. I'm fairly convinced that there is no such thing as an anime that values industrial progress over natural beauty.

[Zeonic Freak]

Nature Over Tech: Using technology to enhance or override an existing naturally existing skill or trait is almost always a bad idea and very likely to create an inferior version of it or otherwise backfire. See: artificial newtypes (Zeta Gundam), ZERO System (Gundam Wing), engineered humans (Seed Destiny).

This also applies in a broader sense. Miyazaki's movies often highlight and praise the beauty of nature over industralization. I'm fairly convinced that there is no such thing as an anime that values industrial progress over natural beauty.

For example, Four Murasme and Kamilles sis right? i havent gotten to the end of Zeta yet.

And the only anime that would be industrial over nature is a cyberpunk anime/film or something like metropolis, Miyazaki movies are a great example of nature over industrial, my bro watched Princess Mononoke last night and i think he liked it.

[OverMaster]

Swimsuit episode.

Recap episode reusing as much animation as possible.

Absurd, confusing episode with metaphysic context that has nothing to do with the rest of the series, but otaku will still swallow it because, well, it's supposed to be deep and stuff.

People who is open with their feelings don't get any, ever. However, the most emotionally autistic you are, the most suitors you will get.

[Jave]

Every anime I've seen has at least one hot springs/hot tub bath scene in it.

EVERY. SINGLE. ONE.

[GWOtaku]

Every anime I've seen has at least one hot springs/hot tub bath scene in it.

EVERY. SINGLE. ONE.

You need to watch more stuff.

More additions...

The Shy One: A given character loves someone else but has a ridiculously hard time admitting it, to the extent that its made obvious to everyone else--except, of course, the object of the affection. This is especially frequent with quiet, nervous girl types, although this isn't restricted to "harem" type shows or even to women.

Waiting to attack: Heroes and villans alike often have a bad habit of waiting through a transformation sequence, recovery, or monologue before engaging his or her enemy. The likelihood of this increases proportionally to the success of the attack they just performed. This perfectly honorable and/or confident of them. It also doesn't make any sense.
--GaoGaiGar clause: Hot blooded heroes, operating on the power of rage law, have no problems with smashing an enemy in the face even while its using deus ex machina powers to revive itself. Kickass.

[Batmex]

Super Robot pilot helmet: Its purpuse is just to make you look cool, you're still getting a cut on your forehead, and in most cases the freaking thing itself isn't even scratched.

[GWOtaku]

posted by Batmex:
<snip>

Oh man, awesome one. I laughed.

[purplehairedwonder]

The staredown: Before a big fight between the protagonist and antagonist, there is inevitably a monologue from the villain, a monolouge from the hero wanting the villain to change their ways, and then five minutes of panning between the two as they watch each other before the clash begins.

[Nin-Nin69]

I'm too cool for a glasses strap:

There is one person in every series who acts like they're too cool for everyone. Yet they have a pair of glasses and they love to adjust them after everything they say.

[rubberchicken]

Reaction shots are fun: Whenever anything remotely unexpected happens, the camera cuts to the identical awestruck faces of each individual person within a fifty-mile radius (Naruto being the worst offender I've seen thus far.)

I'm not dead yet: There is no such thing as "mortally wounded." Either you're killed outright or you aren't. You can be lying on the ground with your arms ripped off and six gallons of your blood coloring the countryside, and yet still be able to get up and fight (or else be rushed to a hospital and saved, no matter how long it takes/how far away that hospital is.) The Bleach effect.

The Wonder Student: After getting his ass kicked by a new opponent, the hero will always be able to immediately run off and learn the unstoppable new technique specially tailored to counter this opponent and his/her weapons.
--- Fourth dimension clause: In extreme cases when the hero is getting his ass kicked by a new opponent, he can travel into an alternate realm or dimension and learn the technique there, returning to reality a few seconds later... just in time to dramatically block or evade the deathblow.
--- Faster, stronger clause: No matter how powerful these techniques become, there will always be another more powerful version for the hero to suddenly unlock just when it seems all is lost.

Faster than light: A truly skilled warrior will be able to move so quickly that the human eye cannot see him. Yet, for all this supposed speed, it still takes him hours or days to travel cross-country.

[Scirel]

aincient civilizations PWN JOO: If there was a lost civilization in the history of the planet the story takes place on, their technology and knowledge will always far suprass what humanity has achieved at the point in time of discovery.

Also:

Corollary to "New model is Best": Exceptions can be made if the "new" model or weapon is actually very old, left over from aforementioned civilizations.


the Lost ages: any people between the ages of 29 and 59 that look this age do not exist. People 60 and older, as well as people in this age group, can look either 1-29 or 60-on, but never middle aged. Exceptions only apply (sometimes) to parents of child charachters.

I'm not dead yet: There is no such thing as "mortally wounded." Either you're killed outright or you aren't. You can be lying on the ground with your arms ripped off and six gallons of your blood coloring the countryside, and yet still be able to get up and fight (or else be rushed to a hospital and saved, no matter how long it takes/how far away that hospital is.) The Bleach effect.

I`ll add to this one: All wounds sustained in battle, unless immediately fatal, are able to be fully healed in time.

[rubberchicken]

I can't believe nobody's mentioned this yet...

Kill 'em all: If you are a new character introduced to a mecha series, chances are you're going to meet your end in a horrible manner.
--- Romeo and Juliet clause: If you and your lover are enemy soldiers and meet the heroes, through a misunderstanding you will end up accidentally killing each other.
--- Hamlet clause: If you are a relative of the hero, he will be the one to kill you.

[Scirel]

I want the whole truth: Whenever there is a quest for a power or object of some kind involved, there will always be some detail or details that makes the use of this power immoral, and the hero will either or both try to find a way around this and/or stop others from using it with this knowledge. ultimately, the power will either be destroyed without anyone using it or simply used once to restore the status quo.

[megachao24]

Cute Monsters that can somehow beat Uber Badasses: The main character's army of harmless little pups can somehow gain uber powers to defeat super-powered enemies that they cannot even touch in the first place.

Bad Manga Adoptions: For some reason, a animation company does not follow the manga and mess up the show (with backlashes from fans, and lots of it.).

[rubberchicken]

Jumping Jovian Jubblies: The slightest motion causes a woman's breasts to bounce around as though in zero gravity. If a female character actually works in zero gravity, she is never issued special clothing to prevent this.

Xena, Warrior Hime: The more flesh a female character's fighting outfit displays, the safer that character is from harm. The outfit itself may take considerable damage, stretching, tearing, shredding, and ripping in the heat of action, but as this only bares more flesh the heroine actually becomes exponentially safer as a result.

[Ikwig]

The Magnitudinous Law of Turtle Time: the more important time is to an action which is occurring, in relation to how impressive the action actually is, the slower time will pass. Especially true in battle scenes. Watch the Namek arc of DBZ to see this law at it's mightiest!

Jumping Jovian Jubblies: The slightest motion causes a woman's breasts to bounce around as though in zero gravity. If a female character actually works in zero gravity, she is never issued special clothing to prevent this.

The addendum to this law is the "minds of their own" rule: the larger a woman's breasts, the less likely they are to work in tandem; something which might cause a slight jiggle in reality, will cause these breasts to bounce in different directions as if of their own accord.

[Anyone00]

Xena, Warrior Hime: The more flesh a female character's fighting outfit displays, the safer that character is from harm. The outfit itself may take considerable damage, stretching, tearing, shredding, and ripping in the heat of action, but as this only bares more flesh the heroine actually becomes exponentially safer as a result.

Actually this cliche is more native to the fantasy genre and not anime; it just so happens alot of anime is fantasy in the modern classic sense, science fantasy, science fiction in a world were the tech is so advance it might as well be magic, or the world it exist in if human character can do the things they do and/or the women look like they do it might as well be fantasy.

That one Go-Nagi heroine must be nigh invulnerable (No, not Cutie Honey; and if you don't know I'm not explaining it to you due to forum rules.)

Also:
Sword>Gun.
It doesn't matter how heavy your giant robot is: when walking down a street of a major city it virtually never bust through to the sewer, storm drain, or subway system.
Hotdogs even in America typically have lettuce on them.

[Golgo13]

Useless Icons: Most anime series have a mascot that does NOTHING and are almost always annoying. It's okay if people acknowledge him/her and it become part of the show, but if it just shows up and everyone ignores it, why bother? Like that stupid cat in Trigun. Why the hell is there a cat following them and how can it survive in the dessert?

[J'onn J'onzz]

Useless Icons: Most anime series have a mascot that does NOTHING and are almost always annoying. It's okay if people acknowledge him/her and it become part of the show, but if it just shows up and everyone ignores it, why bother? Like that stupid cat in Trigun. Why the hell is there a cat following them and how can it survive in the dessert?

Because the cat is adorable.