The worst Anime cliches.

[Croyles]

What are the worst anime cliches?
Ive got a whole list of my personal favourite:

Opponents trash talk a billion times more than they actually fight.

Someone dies, then comes up a couple of seconds later after some flashbacks, twice as strong. He cuts the other guy down. He has some flashbacks, comes back twice as strong. One or both of them may make a speech about how their childhood was so difficult, coming to a conclusion of why they cannot lose, or something like that, subsequently unleashing an enormous attack (they have to say them out loud in order to warn their opponent and also to looks retarted) with flashes and buildings crashing down and the like.

This is something my little cousin once surprisingly asked me "Those guys were like 10 feet away from each other, how come he's still running at him? He's been running at him for like 2 episodes!" :bigsmile: Telling him that anime pwns gravity wasnt enough for him, I think.

The creators were probably told this by the publishers: Use the same animation over and over again and have close ups of faces only, to save money. This will also insure that you dont actually see ANYTHING from the battle, because that would suck now wouldnt it. Then if they actually come to any combat at some point, make it last like 10 seconds and then go back to trash talking!

Anime is sooooooo funny isnt it? They all have comedy! It usually involves normal characters suddenly having cutsie faces, background blurred out while someone gets punched in the face for saying something perverted, leading to an extreme nose bleed and a fist, angrily being shaken back. Meanwhile some spectators are leaking big sweat drops.

So what are your personal favourite (or most irritating) anime cliches?

[daggertrepe]

The romance is always VERY cliche, and you know what I mean...

[belkor_teh_magnificent]

Eye beams.

[Araciel]

What are the worst anime cliches?
Ive got a whole list of my personal favourite:

Opponents trash talk a billion times more than they actually fight.

Someone dies, then comes up a couple of seconds later after some flashbacks, twice as strong. He cuts the other guy down. He has some flashbacks, comes back twice as strong. One or both of them may make a speech about how their childhood was so difficult, coming to a conclusion of why they cannot lose, or something like that, subsequently unleashing an enormous attack (they have to say them out loud in order to warn their opponent and also to looks retarted) with flashes and buildings crashing down and the like.

This is something my little cousin once surprisingly asked me "Those guys were like 10 feet away from each other, how come he's still running at him? He's been running at him for like 2 episodes!" :bigsmile: Telling him that anime pwns gravity wasnt enough for him, I think.

The creators were probably told this by the publishers: Use the same animation over and over again and have close ups of faces only, to save money. This will also insure that you dont actually see ANYTHING from the battle, because that would suck now wouldnt it. Then if they actually come to any combat at some point, make it last like 10 seconds and then go back to trash talking!

Anime is sooooooo funny isnt it? They all have comedy! It usually involves normal characters suddenly having cutsie faces, background blurred out while someone gets punched in the face for saying something perverted, leading to an extreme nose bleed and a fist, angrily being shaken back. Meanwhile some spectators are leaking big sweat drops.

So what are your personal favourite (or most irritating) anime cliches?

sounds more like you watched DBZ and thought it was the only anime.

[Croyles]

sounds more like you watched DBZ and thought it was the only anime.

Ive watched many more, so theres no need for that typical "someone who has no clue of anime has just insulted it" type of conversation, please.
This is for talking about all the cliches you find funny or irritating in anime.

[Araciel]

sounds more like you watched DBZ and thought it was the only anime.

Ive watched many more, so theres no need for that typical "someone who has no clue of anime has just insulted it" type of conversation, please.
This is for talking about all the cliches you find funny or irritating in anime.

that's not what it was.

[Croyles]

You just edited your whole post...

This thread is a failure already. :rolleyes2 Thats a record for me I think!
:sweatdrop

[Araciel]

don' be sad dude!

here

i also think that the multitude of weird hair colours is funny, and somewhat annoying...sure it helps you differentiate the characters...but should it really be that hard?

the japanese V for Victory that looks like a peace sign and doesn't make sense unless you find out what it means to them....

uhmm...japanese food in the anime that makes people who watch it think japanese food is far superior to our own

[ShunNakamura]

<span style="color:#FFCCFF">
I never really thought of the sweat drops as cliches. However, I certainly don't mind it at all.

Lets see... the face drop is interesting and doesn't both most of the time. But it can easily be over used.

I don't see too much of the opponent trash talking rather than actually fighting. I think DBZ is one the few that I have seen that actually does that.

Slayers was fun to watch at least partially how it did the cliches.
</span>

[Old Manus]

Huge hair
Being 7ft tall is commonplace
Normal coloured hair is against the rules
Protagonist's family must be dead
Protagonist always wants revenge because his family is dead
Protagonist is always a guy
With stupid hair
Guns aren't allowed, swords only
Must feature a character who doesn't talk, and when he does it has deep meaning
Flashbacks are essential, preferably 2-3 per episode
A friend must be featured for comic relief
Comic relief is usually not very comic
TEAM ROCKET'S BLASTING OFF AGAIN
Only one set of clothes please
Battle scenes must have short parts where they stare at each other and an unseen wind blows at their unpractical clothes and hair
The bad guy is like some sort of God, but goes down easily when his weak point is discovered
It must end on a cliffhanger
Preferably the whole series is a flashback

[Mirage]

What he said.

[Fuzakeru]

If everyone was a special snowflake then we wouldn't know when to appreciate something creatively spectacular.

-shrug- I don't mind cliche happenings in anime.

[MJN SEIFER]

When I everyone falls over for no real reason.

(Actually - I love it when they do that, but I mentioned it because it puts the "over" in "Overdone")

[Madame Adequate]

Complete and random fluctuations in power. Best example is DBZ - Vegeta can blow up a planet using a move he doesn't have to charge up when he has a power level of what was it, 6000? Something like that at least (Less than NINE THOUSAND for sure).

Skip ahead a long ways, and you've got people with power levels in the billions, who charge up moves for five minutes/thirteen episodes, and don't even blow up an island.

[Croyles]

Complete and random fluctuations in power. Best example is DBZ - Vegeta can blow up a planet using a move he doesn't have to charge up when he has a power level of what was it, 6000? Something like that at least (Less than NINE THOUSAND for sure).

Skip ahead a long ways, and you've got people with power levels in the billions, who charge up moves for five minutes/thirteen episodes, and don't even blow up an island.

Too true! Or like in Bleach when Ichigo beats Kenpachi (who is continously said to the strongest captain of the death gods) but then he has to be saved from the fight again Byakuya, who is supposed to be like 2nd or 3rd strongest... :eep:

[Griff]

Flashbacks are essential, preferably 2-3 per episode

Or a single flashback 2-3 episodes long

[Craig]

There is a certain cliche involving every anime, and that cliche is that they are terrible.

[Mirage]

That was so unfunny, I think you gave me cancer.

[Tavrobel]

Anime is full of lemon-y goodness.

[Hazzard]

When some guy does summin stupid, and everyone lands flat on the ground, with no pupils in their eye lids. They give some dopey, gay look to make it look effective.

[ShunNakamura]

<span style="color:#FFCCFF">
I remember one now that I like when it is well used. The Nosebleed! that can be entertaining and funny. That was quite fun in Karin.
</span>

[Mirage]

Nosebleed was never funny. Partially because I've never seen anyone getting nosebleed from watching a pair of boobs.

[LunarWeaver]

I've always wanted the infinite hammerspace (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammerspace) that all anime females possess.

Example: Boyfriend says something stupid, making girlfriend whip out bazooka from seemingly nowhere and shoot missile at him (which only makes him kind of black colored for one scene but otherwise he sustains no injury).

Why, with an anime hammerspace, I'd have all the gatling guns I could ever need :jess:.

Also, if Filler Arcs have been used enough to count as a cliche, then I will definitely list that under "annoyance."

[ShunNakamura]

<span style="color:#FFCCFF">
I can't believe I forgot about Hammerspace! That is so evident in so many different animes that I just must have become immune to it(immune to hammerspace.... that would be odd).
And it just isn't females that have it, males also posses it from time to time :D.


As for entertainment I think it is just fine for it to be of a kind that doesn't occur irl(such as hammerspace and the nosebleed).
</span>

[Craig]

That was so unfunny, I think you gave me cancer.

The truth hurts sometimes.

[Cookie]

I dunno if anyone's already said this because I cba to sift through all the other posts. Anyway. When characters make a statement, then another character will make a stupid statement or action then everybody goes DUUUH and there's a gong sound or something and everybody but the stupid guy fall on the floor with their limbs all stuck out at weird angles and stuff. Is that supposed to be something that happens in real life? I've never seen anybody do that before.

[Momiji]

I've always wanted the infinite hammerspace (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammerspace) that all anime females possess.

That would be the most awesome thing in the world.

[Mirage]

And it just isn't females that have it, males also posses it from time to time :D.
Only bishies.

I also played an RP where they had incorporated hammerspaces. As always, items taken from the hammerspace never inflicts damage.

[Tavrobel]

Anvils = love. Anvils from hammerspace = comedy.

[Madame Adequate]

1) Hammerspace is awesome.

2) Yeah, the people falling down with limbs at odd angles to symbolize their dismay, and the nosebleeds to show their arousal, are totally unrealistic and don't belong in any kind of show featuring any of (But not limited to) the following:

Giant robots
Giant space robots
Aliens
Vampires
Magic
Ninjas who can destroy fully armed military batallions/tanks/helicopters
Schoolgirls who can destroy fully armed military batallions/tanks/helicopters
Schoolgirls who can destroy continents/planets/galaxies/dimensions
Anthropomorphic animals
Anthropomorphic jellies

Because we all understand the cultural background of everything in a foreign show.

[Croyles]

Oh look he's running! Oh no wait those are just the pencil lines running past him!

[LunarWeaver]

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i29/LunarWeaver/Funny-BoobWhirlofDoom.gif

So, how about the illogical size of anime women's breasts? Some are large enough to have their own gravity. 4srly noj/k guyz.

[Discord]

This might have been said before (I didn't read all of this), but they are not cliches. They're conventions. Now, we have those everywhere. Worst example is the Stormtrooper effect - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principle_of_Evil_Marksmanship) in Rambo.

I can't really give any conventions for the anime genre as the whole. You obviously can't compare things like DBZ with Chobits or Elfen Lied. The only thing that sticks out are the huge eyes and very strong romance between the protagonists. But let's be fair, would we watch them if they resembled real life?

I liked this one though.:p


Schoolgirls who can destroy fully armed military batallions/tanks/helicopters

[Værn]

They never seem to realize that by doing this (http://youtube.com/watch?v=ySAQaydfJE0) they can make an enemy pass out with one blow and kill them while they're down.

[Rengori]

They never seem to realize that by doing this (http://youtube.com/watch?v=ySAQaydfJE0) they can make an enemy pass out with one blow and kill them while they're down.Well that's the pussy way to do it. How can the animators drag that out for an entire saga?

[ShunNakamura]

<span style="color:#FFCCFF">
@Discord
Seeing as how Cliche is defined as "A trite or overused expression or idea" most conventions could be cliches. Though most of which has been listed are definately conventions. I just wanted to point out that that doesn't exclude them from being cliches as well. Though they do likely fit more perfectly as a convention... but both are accurate enough.

Anyways, I think I'll just make a list of those mentioned thus far.


Hammerspace
Face Vault
Nosebleed
Overdeveloped Females......
Flashbacks
Sweat Drops
Power fluctuations(does that even count?)
Talking way too much during what is supposed to be a fight
Distances are expanded during dramatic scenes

</span>

[tan]

I definitely think it's hilarious when one (usually captured and female) member thinks and tells the other characters to rescue him/her. This is mostly funny because it's not like the characters have telepathic abilities and their thoughts can be heard by their friends, so crying out to them to save you isn't going to do anything.

Case in point:

"Inuyasha! It's a trap! You have to recognize it!" -Kagome (thinking) (from "Inuyasha")
"Ichigo! Please hurry and rescue me!"- Rukia (thinking) (from "Bleach")

You don't really realize that their thoughts can't be heard by other characters, but it gets annoying after this character gets captured so many times and yells at the characters to save him/her through his/her futile thoughts.

[Azure Chrysanthemum]

Complete and random fluctuations in power. Best example is DBZ - Vegeta can blow up a planet using a move he doesn't have to charge up when he has a power level of what was it, 6000? Something like that at least (Less than NINE THOUSAND for sure).

Skip ahead a long ways, and you've got people with power levels in the billions, who charge up moves for five minutes/thirteen episodes, and don't even blow up an island.

Too true! Or like in Bleach when Ichigo beats Kenpachi (who is continously said to the strongest captain of the death gods) but then he has to be saved from the fight again Byakuya, who is supposed to be like 2nd or 3rd strongest... :eep:

Kenpachi isn't the strongest captain, that's reserved for Yamamoto Genryusei Shigekuni (Or Aizen Sousuke). Kenpachi is mid-level at best, because he doesn't have bankai. He's just a monster in combat.


http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i29/LunarWeaver/Funny-BoobWhirlofDoom.gif

So, how about the illogical size of anime women's breasts? Some are large enough to have their own gravity. 4srly noj/k guyz.

Dear god I thought I'd seen the last of that series after we finished it in anime club. Why must you torment me so!?

*ahem*

Having been a fan of various anime series for quite some time, I've come to derive amusement from a great many cliches, especially when the series does something amusing with them.

Sweatdrops, chibi and falling, for example, are used fairly often. They're just the style, something you eventually come to accept about anime in general. Learning to chuckle at it helps you enjoy the series as a whole, especially since such things are so minor they really shouldn't be a dealbreaker.

As far as the cliche I see (and can get annoyed by most often), it's definitely the shounen male hero with the "I must become stronger!" complex. After hearing someone repeat that phrase several times, it begins to become somewhat tedious.

[StarlightAngel]

No matter how many times they are smashed into the ground by hammers/cars/*insert object of choice here*, they are fine within seconds.

Like Hayate no Gotoku! ('cept he's just invincible. Srsly)

EDIT:

2. The main character has something special about him, be it his inability to die, or some other random superpower.

3. Hmm, who should I marry, my childhood friend or that super hot chick that just transferred in?

4. Ohnoes, I'm losing! Time to learn a brand new SUPER AWESOME 1337 H4XX0R SKILL!!1!ONE!21!

[Rase]

"Now I will show you my true power!"

[Rengori]

"Now I will show you my true power!"

"HA! I was only testing you! Now I will show you my true power!"

[Croyles]

Kenpachi isn't the strongest captain, that's reserved for Yamamoto Genryusei Shigekuni (Or Aizen Sousuke). Kenpachi is mid-level at best, because he doesn't have bankai. He's just a monster in combat.

Yeah but thats exactly my point. He ISNT the strongest even though it was said at least twice in the anime that he IS the strongest. Yamamoto aside of course.

[JKTrix]

You people seem to be stuck in the rut of Shounen shows--shows made for the entertainment of young boys. The cliche concepts (chibi modes, sweat drops, falling people, winning-through-determination-and-last-minute-BS) are easy and effective for young folks to grasp. Older people like us would get tired of it, because it is in fact juvenile.

This is how I view Shounen shows. I know they're made for people 1/2 my age, so I don't let silly things and predictability get in the way of my enjoyment. I kind of roll back my critical thinking to that of a pre-adolescent.

Comedy shows don't count. They may be Shounen shows at the same time, but you can do anything in a comedy and it doesn't have to adhere to any kinds of rules. Like indestructible ninja butlers.

You folks need to watch some shows that are more on your intellectual level (and are generally just damn good). Watch Eureka 7, Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo, or RahXephon. After you see them (and their general lack of cliche) you'll have different standards. You people that think anime is stupid should at least watch Gankutsuou.

[Croyles]

None of us ever said we thought anime was stupid, we're just expressing our amusement of some of the cliches, and SOME of them get tiresome after a while. Doesnt mean that we dont like it though.

I found another one. Blaming a loved ones death on yourself through the most illogical ways ever, like 'If only I hadnt hammerspaced him all these years!'

[JKTrix]

There is a certain cliche involving every anime, and that cliche is that they are terrible.

There's at least one post like that in just about every anime thread that comes up. My comment was directed at people who don't like anime because they think all anime is bad.

[MJN SEIFER]

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i29/LunarWeaver/Funny-BoobWhirlofDoom.gif

So, how about the illogical size of anime women's breasts? Some are large enough to have their own gravity. 4srly noj/k guyz.

You know, this has been bugging me for a long time.

I have watched Anime for most of my life, and this the first time I've ever seen an Anime Girl with breasts that... "Exagerated".

They look pretty realistic the rest of the time, appart from the occasional over sised ones, and even then they're still pretty "real".

[Namelessfengir]

i hate it in anime when you have someone who bitches about anime

[Croyles]

i hate it in anime when you have someone who bitches about anime

OMG thats all of us outsmarted there. Go home people. Lights out. End of fun. :p

[Azure Chrysanthemum]

Kenpachi isn't the strongest captain, that's reserved for Yamamoto Genryusei Shigekuni (Or Aizen Sousuke). Kenpachi is mid-level at best, because he doesn't have bankai. He's just a monster in combat.

Yeah but thats exactly my point. He ISNT the strongest even though it was said at least twice in the anime that he IS the strongest. Yamamoto aside of course.

Where did they say that in the anime? I honestly don't remember aside from several lines by Ikkaku about "he's strong. Stronger than anything you've ever experienced" and "you'll know when you see him."

I don't recall in the manga or the anime anyone ever saying "Zaraki Kenpachi is the strongest captain in the Soul Society".



http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i29/LunarWeaver/Funny-BoobWhirlofDoom.gif

So, how about the illogical size of anime women's breasts? Some are large enough to have their own gravity. 4srly noj/k guyz.

You know, this has been bugging me for a long time.

I have watched Anime for most of my life, and this the first time I've ever seen an Anime Girl with breasts that... "Exagerated".

They look pretty realistic the rest of the time, appart from the occasional over sised ones, and even then they're still pretty "real".

That's from the series "Mahoromatic" which is essentially softcore porn pretending to have a plot.

[Ishin Ookami]

Nothing wrong with cliche's so long as they are well used and implemented. Shows like Trigun or Rurouni Kenshin rely on a great deal of cliche's, but it's the sharp and original writing and animation that makes the jokes special.

And there is nothing wrong with shonen or shojo type anime either. Some of them can be annoying since some shows really don't try anything new, while others succeed because they focus on the characters and making them stand out and feel special. GTO is a great shonen anime that excels at this. and unedited sailor moon is also pretty special because of many of the developments that were edited out of the english dub.

as for some of my personal pet peeves in anime?

Bishonen badarses that have deeply sensitive sides despite being utterly homicidal lunatics. Heero Yui and Trowa Barton from Gundam Wing, I'm looking in your direction right now. I personally think that particular archetype has been played out worse then the whole (you killed my "insert loved one(s) here" and I'm now gonna kill you" plot device.

Super whiny main characters that never grow up. Shinji Ikari from evangelion, and I'm even gonna throw cloud strife from Advent Children in there. Yah, lifes real tough guys. Build an effin bridge and get over it already

Lackluster endings. Okay, so you produced the show while the manga was still being written just to make an extra buck. Then you realized you had to end the bloody thing before the manga, hunkered down over a film real and deposited the smelliest ending your bowels could deliver. I'm sure the fans are REALLY gonna be satisfied with that one. Rurouni Kenshin, GTO, Inu Yasha, all apply here.

[The Summoner of Leviathan]

Most people can jump at least 30m high with ease and land perfectly fine, even in heels.

[Doomie]

The anime women always have massive, perfect breasts. Oh wait, you said worst.

[Fonzie]

It doesn't make a bit of difference guys, the balls are inert.

[Laddy]

1. It sucks.

2. Everyone is a loser who has nothing useful to say.

3. Badasses are abound, and they usually are are so overfocused, say very little, and have a retarded background. "Look at me, I'm a badass, I'll be enigmatic because I can! Badass!

4. Every woman is usually either pathetic or a tomboy.

[sir helix]

im goin with red on number 4

[Slade]

Cat ears, cards, 'mons' and robots. There's so many cliches. Probably the reson I don't watch many animes anymore, nothing new, it's all been done. And done. And done. And Done. And done again.........

[JKTrix]

Lackluster endings.

YES. Can't believe I forgot that. Not just Manga-based either. Last Exile, for example, is an Awesome Awesome Show. The ending builds and builds to something epic, and the result just doesn't feel as great as it was building up to be. It's still a very fine ending, but I personally was expecting something more. Last Exile is still an "almost-cliche-free" series I'd recommend, but not before the stuff I mentioned before which have more satisfying endings.

Again, anyone who thinks anime sucks or has nothing new/good should check out Gankutsuou, RahXephon and Eureka 7.

[Fatal Impurity]

There is one cliche (which i find rather amusing) in which when a character is punched or blown up they bounce around the room and walls like 20 times at high speed before suddenly coming to a halt. Another is the the sparkle when a character is punched/blown into the sky.

The best examples of these are Love Hina, Bleach and Pokemon.

[Madame Adequate]

Eureka 7 is pretty great. But it does highlight another silly cliche - random, nonsensical names for things!

"Cut back drop turn!"

[Namelessfengir]

i hate it in anime when you have someone who bitches about anime

OMG thats all of us outsmarted there. Go home people. Lights out. End of fun. :p

what do you expect? i am a genius after all

[Discord]

Most people can jump at least 30m high with ease and land perfectly fine, even in heels.

Especially in heels.

[MJN SEIFER]

Cat ears, cards, 'mons' and robots. There's so many cliches. Probably the reson I don't watch many animes anymore, nothing new, it's all been done. And done. And done. And Done. And done again.........

Yes, it has been done and done, but that doesn't mean it's bad, put some originalty while being unoriginal. It works better than one might think.

[Obsidian]

For me, it will always be the energetic/carefree young hero who aspires to be king of the ninjas/pirates/catching them all in spite of HOW IMPOSSIBLE THE ODDS ARE ZOMG!

[Grazia]

For me, it will always be the energetic/carefree young hero who aspires to be king of the ninjas/pirates/catching them all in spite of HOW IMPOSSIBLE THE ODDS ARE ZOMG!

And even with 29343828278373727 opponents, the hero still manages to become the best.

[Rengori]

For me, it will always be the energetic/carefree young hero who aspires to be king of the ninjas/pirates/catching them all in spite of HOW IMPOSSIBLE THE ODDS ARE ZOMG!

And even with 29343828278373727 opponents, the hero still manages to become the best.

I really wouldn't mind that (who want's to see an anime about the guy who loses to the king to be?) one unless it's the retarded/carefree hero, like Naruto or Luffy.

[Grazia]

For me, it will always be the energetic/carefree young hero who aspires to be king of the ninjas/pirates/catching them all in spite of HOW IMPOSSIBLE THE ODDS ARE ZOMG!

And even with 29343828278373727 opponents, the hero still manages to become the best.

I really wouldn't mind that (who want's to see an anime about the guy who loses to the king to be?) one unless it's the retarded/carefree hero, like Naruto or Luffy.

It would be nice if one time at least, the main character could lose, as it would serve as a kind of tale that you dont always have to be number one at everything to be a great person. ;)

Its just one of those annoying anime clichés. :)

[Shiny]

bishounen males

[Eiko Guy]

Well if the main character loses most of the time they will just work and try again. But if they win it doesn't have to be drawn out so everyone wins.

PWN.

[Grazia]

Well if the main character loses most of the time they will just work and try again. But if they win it doesn't have to be drawn out so everyone wins.

PWN.

In a way thats true, but Losing & starting over shows learning & development.... whereas just winning and being the greatest anyway sort of says "OMG I AM LIEK SO KEWL AND TEH WINNAR" and doesnt provide any kind of moral or story.

Again, its an anime cliché and its annoying.

[Proxy]

Anime itself is a cliche.
I do love it so, though. <3

[Eiko Guy]

Now a days the main character is always someone with extraordinary power. Some foreign force within them so if they should lose they can power up and kick ass. It's kinda cheap but you mucst admit it is realy badass.

[sir helix]

i dont know if this has been said or not but the name sakura is used way to mutch

[Yukki-Chan]

- With much political debate and over 1000 episodes of the heroine pushing the pros of pacifism we find none of it matters in the end cities and possibly the whole world/colony/shopping centre/ get blown up, there are millions of casualties and your puppy dies. But you get the girl so everyone's happy

- Miniskirts, on EVERY female

- If you are a short geeky guy who fails at life in every way, move to a boarding house you'll immediatly be jumped by about 6 or 7 different girls who all want your babies they will always be as follows;
- The kid (flat chested)
- The character who hits you A LOT (always ends up with the guy)
- The one who gets drunk a lot
- The big sister type, the oldest (always has the largest boobs)
- The bookworm
- The athletic one
- The sister/cousin (don't even want to go there)
- Towards the end the main romantic interests rival (+10eps for every one)

[louby_4eva]

I think a cliche that I really like is the good guy becoming a bad guy. The love interest or at least someone close to him/her is the one to make him/her remember who he/she is and that he/she should be good again. I love it :D :D :D

Smile and Be happy :love:

[sir helix]

bad guys with white hair

[MJN SEIFER]

i dont know if this has been said or not but the name sakura is used way to mutch

I think someone in the anime business must have a cherry obsession.:rolleyes2

I like the name though.

[Namelessfengir]

i dont know if this has been said before but the fact that you can't kill your nemisis til the final episode
like full metal panic: they blowed the guy up three times and he didn't die til 6 monthes later when shot in the chest at point blank range and then the corpe explodes wtf?

[MoonZapdos]

Fillers. What else needs to be said?

[Rengori]

Fillers. What else needs to be said?
Flashbacks, training episodes, combinations of both.

[sir helix]

the main person always makes the choice to take the dangerous journey to save a maiden hes never met in his life but has had strange dreams about

[Takara]

Man, I must not have been watching the same anime as you guys, all those clichés I remember from waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back then. I feel old.

Some I can think of:

In shoujo, the main character is almost always an hyper airhead who eats as much food in one meal than the amount it takes to feed an entire family for a day, yet she's never gaining weight. (Looking at you, Usagi and Miaka...)

Magical girls transformations that last for close to five minutes, with sparkles and ribbons, and the equally flashy, time-consuming attacks with nonsense Engrish names.

Which leads to the monster of the day. Who never thinks of killing the heroine during the time it takes to perform the aforementionned attack.

The cute mascot. It's either: a) talking, b) magical, c) a cat or something as equally cute and girly (puppies, rabbits, squirrels, you name it, it's probably been done in at least one show), or d) all of the above.

Not just hair of unnatural colour, like electric blue, but also hair that defies gravity and/or is extremely spiky. You'd think someone who had accidentally bumped into the character might have lost an eye already...

Besides all the characters that have been named Sakura, there is also a lot of cherry blossoms. Enough to make you think the cherry tree is the only type of tree there is in Japan.

Transfer students from other countries, even if they never put a foot in Japan, and have no relatives that come from or live there, always speak and write perfect Japanese.

If it's a show about people fighting crime, the actual law-enforcement is filled with incompetent people that only exist to be awed or pissed at the main characters' 1337 crime-fighting skillz.

Pantyshots.

[sir helix]

deadly holy men

[Gopher Gamble]

How about when they run toward each other yelling and the there's a flash and they finish at each others places but one othe them falls over? Has that been said already?

[The Unknown Guru]

When people are swordfighting incredibly fast, then suddenly one of them jumps in the air and brags for about 5 minutes, falling about half an inch per minute, while his opponent just stands there and listens. It's terribly bad sword technique and disregard for physics all rolled into one!