Top 25 Most Annoying Anime Cliches

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I don't hate ALL anime, but the ones I've watches really turned me off to this genre. Granted, I adore Studio Ghibli, Akira, Cowboy Bebop, Makato Shinkai, Satoshi Kon, among a few other outstanding Japanese animations. Still, some of my friends recommended me to shows that made me sorta despise this style of animation, so I decided to make a list of annoying anime clichés. If this offends anime fans out there, I do apologize. I guess these little nitpicky things are just not my cup of tea. ^^;

 

1. Blushing Cheeks

 
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This trope bugs me for some reason because it's over-used.

 

I like when the edges are softer like this:

Tumblr m4itgqEDCZ1rpyhb4o1 r1 500 by on-the-jasmine-wind


2. Smiling and talking with eyes closed

 

Idk this just bugs me…

Cropped Chiyo by on-the-jasmine-wind


3. Nose bleeding over big boobs and hot chicks

 

No offense but who does this in real life?

Harry Potter Nose Bleed by Glee chan by on-the-jasmine-wind


 

4. Big Breasted Girls

 

Girls with tits bigger than their heads… God, just stop!

Kirkika by on-the-jasmine-wind


 

5. Alien Schoolgirls

 

I can make an exception for The World of Narue and DEARS— both of those shows are kinda cute, but the rest I've seen are dumb or rip-offs of other shows. Anime tropes just seem to copy and paste from all sorts of material. Nothing is original anymore.

Strikewitches1 by on-the-jasmine-wind


 

6. Arms over the head

 

I've never seen anyone walk like that…It's not necessarily putting the arms over the head, it's just when anime characters walk around like that.

Niwa.Daisuke.full.38727 by on-the-jasmine-wind


 

7. The wise guy— usually a stereotype

 

Dark-skinned dudes with squinty eyes that spit out ''wise'' advice—sometimes they're seen in cloaks and straw hats. i.e. Takeshi (English: Brock) from Pokemon and Maruo from The World of Narue.

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8. Underwear

 

Supposedly innocent girls, usually schoolgirls, flashing their panties and pretending to be unaware of it.

The-world-of-narue 2 by on-the-jasmine-wind



 

9. The constant gasps

 

Every time anime characters take a breath they HAVE to make some sort of noise: ''Uh''; ''eh''; ''Hm''.

 

10. Thumbs up

 

So much of it…

520941-ryosuke Thumbs Up by on-the-jasmine-wind

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11. Very little movement

 

There will be entire scenes in anime where they're all frozen… like WTF? (The very ending of the GIF below for example... couldn't find a better one)

 
Chobits-o by on-the-jasmine-wind


I can handle a little slo-mo, but too much is too much.

 

I guess I'm just used to Western styles such as Ed Edd n' Eddy where the characters are ALWAYS moving even when they're still.

 

12. Saying thoughts out loud in their head

 

Man… this is the MOST annoying thing… anime characters walk around saying their thoughts out loud in V.O. … seriously. It's over-used exposition and very poor writing.

 

13. Stating everything they're going to do to the audience

 

Yu-Gi-Oh! does this a lot, especially with over the top villains. They must have been inspired by Iago from Shakespeare's Othello, but it is rather poor use of dramatic irony. Anime characters will literally yell to the audience what they're about to do. ''This is my diabolical plan and no one can stop me BWAHAHA!''

 

14. Anime characters ALWAYS complain about being hungry

 

A common anime cliché is that the cast of characters will be on long journeys, 'cept they're all too stupid to pack any snacks with them so they're constantly complaining how ''starved'' they are for half of the episode rather than being worried about more important things. I mean, what idiot embarks on a long journey without packing any long-lasting imperishable food? Ever head of beef jerky, trail-mix, something??? I mean do they just assume there will be a gas station or a McDonald's or a fancy hot springs/restaurant every 2 miles? Sheesh, come prepared yo.

 

One of the main reasons why Takeshi is one of my fave anime characters is because he ALWAYS brings pots and pans to cook his friends some nice hearty meals. What a bad-ass guy.

 
tumblr mf50v9mwHl1r8suc9o1 500 by on-the-jasmine-wind

Who's hungry?

 

15. Generic, bland, forgettable male leads

 

i.e. Yugi from Yu-Gi-Oh!; Satoshi (English: Ash) from Pokemon; Naruto from Naruto, etc. In all the seasons of these T.V. shows, these characters' motives NEVER change. In English class, the definition of a protagonist is someone who EVOLVES and CHANGES throughout the story. But in anime the secondary characters are usually more interesting and 2-dimensional than the main characters.

 

16. Contrived Ecchi scenes/over the top ecchi physics

 

There's times when it's ok, and then there's times were it just gets so over the top that it completely ruins the anime. High School of the Dead, I'm looking at you. A small amount here and there I can ignore, but if it's the selling point of the series, then it can fuck off. I like good characters and an interesting story. If you want to be porn, then be porn. Don't waste my time with this garbage.

 
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I know the anime industry has a habit of cranking out hundreds of assembly-line, copy-paste/mix&match popular tropes/plots from other shows type shit every few years..but these days it's absolutely unforgivable.

 

I watched the entirety of Love Hina for whatever reason and every episode up to the last one has the joke of the main character bumbling into girls in bathrobes, having them go after him and making him blush, or being pushed up against some boobies, and then getting just blasted through the wall and into the sky Team Rocket style by a punch, while being called a pervert.

 

It got old fast.

 

Fanservice pisses me off to no end for it often makes characters that have no personality and agency other than being eye candy. It really reflects badly on anime in general as it's what a lot of people think of when anime comes to mind.

 

17. Exposition Exposition Exposition

 

Exposition, exposition about EVERYTHING that happens.


You know what I mean.

"He used the power of the magic Coffee-mug to redirect the path of the evilbeam. Causing it to change polarity so that he can revive the princes" Usually followed by a flashback of some event that happened 10 seconds ago.

 

18. Over-abusive female characters/ ear pulling

 

It's OK for a girl to physically abuse a guy for a perceived grope/peek when the incident was *clearly* an accident. You fell on *him* dearie, and his presence may well have kept you from being injured. Please stop hitting him now.

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19. Giant Robots for the Sake of Giant Robots

 

I can excuse EVA but if you're five episodes in and never alluded to giant robots, then please don't drop one in and have it never be seen again.

 

20. Cutsey anime phrases

 

Idk some of them get on my nerves.

 

21. Average guy tumbles down the Rabbit Hole

 

Average guy from the normal world is transported to another dimension/universe/planet/etc, where he is tasked with saving said dimension/universe/planet/etc. I hate it and I think it's fucking stupid. No no, we can't kill these demons on our own, we need the get the help of some guy who knows nothing about anything in this universe, nor knows anything useful whatsoever, and he'll obviously triumph over the evil because reasons.

 

22. Ridiculous hairstyles

 

Yu-Gi-Oh! I'm looking at you.

 
Yugioh 3d Bonds Beyond Time Yugi Yusei Jaden by on-the-jasmine-wind


23. Foreigner Stereotypes

 

A BIG ONE! Japanese seem to be racist against Chinese, Africans, Americans….

tumblr inline mucaaaRZKO1ro0fob by on-the-jasmine-wind

Weirdjoco by on-the-jasmine-wind



24. Too many characters to follow

 

What is this? Downton Abbey?

Zdowfaixgsecewtiro8q by on-the-jasmine-wind

Sailor-moon-wedding-bride by on-the-jasmine-wind



25. Everyone's hot

 

Very few anime shows are made up of unattractive main cast members. Maybe there's one or two ugly side characters. Mostly men or old women.

 

 

So do you guys have any? =_=


EDIT: *MOST* of this journal is sarcastic. The list of anime tropes are ridiculously exaggerated. Don't take it too seriously.
It's a joke post meant to poke fun at anime. 

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Ok so one of mine is when someone harrasses a female and she just doesn't fight back-

Like Elizabeth in seven deadly sins (dope anime) she HAS the power to fight back but she just doesn't defend herself 💀

Edit: idk why it bothers me that much but like in some anime's they make harrasser's overweight/old and overweight men 😀 and it bothers me the most when it's an anime full of like attractive guys and they make the harrasser look as horrid as possible 💀