Common tropes that you feel need to stop
Hey guys, I figured there's a lot of threads about individual anime and stuff like that but I felt like starting a discussion about general things. This might be the first of many, but we'll see. So, I wanted to ask you guys; what are some of your personal pet peeves with shows? As in, what are some tropes or themes that you guys feel can potentially bring an anime down? Here's a small list of things that I don't typically like; I'll try to refer to some recent or well-known anime as examples of these. Expect light spoilers.
[b]1. Unfulfilled romance.[/b] This is usually something you see in harems or love triangles. Somebody falls in love with somebody else, but by the end of the story what happens? Absolutely nothing. We can assume this is because everybody has different opinions on best girl, but really, the whole "romance" aspect of the show that was supposed to be there just goes to waste. Two examples are Nisekoi and Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo.
[b]2. Gratuitous comedy relief.[/b] Sometimes you get serious scenes in shows; maybe they're fight scenes or major developments, but oh no can't go overboard, guess the writers have to toss in a little lolrandomXD laughs to lighten the mood a little bit. Usually, this just breaks the immersion and can leave you pissed. It's like waking up in the middle of a dream that seems to be going somewhere; not fun. I'm okay with some comedy relief if it doesn't interrupt anything, but you know what I'm talking about. Kill la Kill did this with Mako and Nui showing up at the worst moments possible and ruining everything. Also, FMA: Brotherhood had this problem at times.
[b]3. Plot out of nowhere.[/b] Sometimes I see a comedy/ecchi show that takes itself really light-heartedly, but suddenly, near the end when there are only two episodes left, it decides "Oh crap, we need a plot now!" Then it goes into this super-serious super-rushed bullcrap that usually fails to make any sense and disregards everything prior to that. Now I'm supposed to take all these light-hearted characters seriously. That's tough. No examples but I'm sure you guys know this.
[b]4. Teased plot developments.[/b] Yes, finally! Something is finally going to happen; the story is finally going to advance! Of course, right before it does, some random coincidence comes out of nowhere and stops everything, and we're left with nothing. Way to lure us into thinking that the story was actually going to go somewhere. Nisekoi is a HUGE example of this; where you are constantly teased with some sort of setting that's perfect for a development, but it just gets interrupted and nothing happens.
[b]5. Easy amnesia.[/b] Somebody gets hit on the head and loses their memories, and usually an entire episode/chapter is dedicated to trying to figure out how to get their memories back. This usually ends up being an uninteresting filler that ends in the sufferer getting hit on the head again. Though this can be worse when combined with the previous point, if amnesia is used as an excuse to stop plot developments. Now THAT is real garbage. Noucome comes to mind...
[b]6. Super slow and super useless pacing.[/b] Think Shingeki no Kyojin and the second arc of Kaiji Season 2. In these cases, time is devoted solely to thriller and shock factor, with barely anything happening. Now regardless of how mindlessly entertaining it can be, this can get really annoying to watch, and often I found myself wishing for the story to just advance already.
So, opinions? By the way, just because a show has one of these traits doesn't make it bad automatically, it's just I feel like this is some stuff that shows can do without.
28 Comments • Newest first
@iVege: really glad ufotable are remaking fsn. The first time I watched it, I fell asleep. Couldn't remember any of it by the time f/z came out so the exposition really was even worse, even when overall it was an okay anime.
Everything you see in romance Shoujo: the randomly inserted shady male character that's "used to teach a lesson to the viewers" (which directly conflicts with the male lead); the female lead acting really different from their initial exposition once the love interest is shown; everyone at school is a generic cardboard cut-out until the plot starts.
Doesn't bother me as much, but the art style is basically the same in most as well: the huge bubble eyes on the female lead, and ridiculously spiked hair on male lead.
[quote=kcwt]Male MCs who remain thick headed and oblivious to painfully obvious things for the sake of drama/maintaining dat harem (usually it's something to do with girls/romance but it's just their obliviousness that annoys me).
[url=http://i.imgur.com/6qH6LlQ.jpg]This may not be the best example or the best anime but I had this picture and saw it relevant to what I'm saying[/url][/quote]
Yes! That annoys the living heck out of me. It got especially bad in Infinite Stratos 2. Main character gets even more oblivious than he was in season 1. I had to stop watching it
[quote=EMSfreeze]and another thing is: yeah, it kinda get tired how the female character hits the MC when ever she got stripped or he flirts with someone else or meets in a ridiculous situation.[/quote]
it's understandable/justified if she gets stripped, but tiring either way. i'm more accepting of the reaction beating than the blame beating, though, since it's rarely the MC's fault.
shaft has been doing some older animes with this style before monogatari and madoka came around
sayonara zetsubou sensei, arakawa under the bridge, negima (though didnt watch it, but the opening got shafted too) and few others.
the thing is, as the dude in this vid mentioned: a **** anime will stay a **** anime, no matter how much time or special the animation is. shaft is just like any other animating studios with their ups and downs. the shaft style works well for monogatari and madoka, but it dont really work on nisekoi.
nonethless i still like the style because it is so unique and so different from the rest, that it has to be watched by me, no matter how worse the anime would actually be. of course i would rate the bad animes with a low rating, but the difference to other studios is that i will watch it.
but hey, this is just me
and another thing is: yeah, it kinda get tired how the female character hits the MC when ever she got stripped or he flirts with someone else or meets in a ridiculous situation.
I'm pretty sure that SHAFT first started that artsy style with Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, and then kept doing it for Monogatari. Now for those series I'd say that the style worked really well, and fit in quite nicely, but the problem is that they're just expanding it to shows that it just doesn't go with. Nisekoi is the best and most recent example off the top of my head, and I hear that Mekaku City Actors is suffering from this problem as well.
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDhYEmmQz7Y]Here's a video that kind of expresses some stuff on SHAFT[/url] (And yes, I love this guy. Will refer to his videos quite a lot.)
[quote=lesty40]1. Too many stills. It's the 21st century for fudge sake. So lazy Lol.[/quote]
Ugh. Impossible to get into an anime that makes you feel it has an non-existent animation budget.
[quote=lesty40]2. SHAFT needs to stop using stylisation as an excuse to repeat movements, particularly in series where stylisation just wouldnt make sense. So sick of head tilts..[/quote]
Yah. If it's universal within their works then it's not being used for effect. It's just there for no reason, and it's stupid.
[quote=lesty40]3. Spoken exposition that is OVERHEARD by the enemyn. How convenient that the person talking is a loudmouthed idiot who can't think quietly.[/quote]
Kubo, so many times. And he alludes to it 90% of the time.
[quote=Novagnome24]And I've had the same issues with exposition. The problem with it is that it relies on you, the viewer, to be interested enough to listen. Which can work if you are, but if the show hasn't really caught your attention yet then it can just seem like a boring monologue.[/quote]
Fate/Zero episode 1 lol. Basically 40 minutes of talking that you wouldn't understand too much about as a first-time/non-FSN watcher.
@SpadeStyle: I was waiting for someone to point that out (realised that my example wasn't quite right).
Nevertheless, he still annoyed me the same way oblivious MCs do and I'm sure you all understood what I was trying to get at anyway.
[quote=kcwt]Male MCs who remain thick headed and oblivious to painfully obvious things for the sake of drama/maintaining dat harem (usually it's something to do with girls/romance but it's just their obliviousness that annoys me).
[url=http://i.imgur.com/6qH6LlQ.jpg]This may not be the best example or the best anime but I had this picture and saw it relevant to what I'm saying[/url][/quote]
Wasn't it later revealed in, season 2, that he DID notice the signals from the other girls, but intentionally chose to act oblivious to not affect their friendship?
OT: There is one thing I dislike with a burning passion, usually in harem series. Let's say we have a girl who has feelings for a guy, but he isn't aware/doesn't feel the same at that time. Then when another girl gets all flirty (sometimes it's not even anything flirtatious) with that guy, the first girl gets pissed off at him, yells at him and/or beats him up. Like, what the heck? He is not in a relationship with you, so why shouldn't he be allowed to get closer to other girls? If anything, she's the one to blame for making close to zero advances. I just really don't want this trope anymore...
[quote=kcwt]Male MCs who remain thick headed and oblivious to painfully obvious things for the sake of drama/maintaining dat harem (usually it's something to do with girls/romance but it's just their obliviousness that annoys me).
[url=http://i.imgur.com/6qH6LlQ.jpg]This may not be the best example or the best anime but I had this picture and saw it relevant to what I'm saying[/url][/quote]
Did you mean: Every harem ever?
Unfortunately, unrequited crushes is the only way a plot can keep going with 'potential' (lolwhut) for future development. In other words, corporate stooges wanting to milk bad fictional romances and authors/writers unable to stop clinging to their cashcow at the expense of any true creativity short of recycling bland harem plots.
edit: @emsfreeze
Probably should've added the ONLY reason I dislike SHAFT stylization so much is because I love the monogatari series. It's an arthouse piece. But again, SHAFT is milking a style that should be limited to the atmosphere of THAT series. They're effectively SHAFTing (haaaaa) everything else. It's tired, and very lazy considering how many frames they can recycle doing that. Keep in mind that SHAFT was totally capable of good quality animation before bakemonogatari was released. Even madoka was horribly mundane visually. It felt like every indie animation ever :L the monogatari series was amazing because of good storytelling AND a style which fit it perfectly, wherein only the characters are focused on and background elements are nice and simple and flat. It takes away from that when head tilts are exploited for added dramatic effect, because it really doesn't work unless it's done by abnormally self aware characters as in the series. Totally ruined nisekoi, and is in the process of potentially ruining mekakushi.
to those who are complaining about shaft: while you are hating it (i can understand that people disliking it), there are also few like me liking it.
i think the main reason for them doing so is to set an own style different from the other animes studios. you have to admit that shaft has got lots of balls to do 'B', while all the others are only doing 'A'.
just imagine it. if every anime studio would do the same thing as shaft, nobody would complain because it is normal. in my opinion they established a fanbase this way, even if they are weird and different.
OT:
@kcwt yes, i frigging rage everytime when he turns completly oblivious to his surrounding. seriously. it is so overused i could punch the mc. (now that i think about it, probably this is the reason why i liked the monogatari franchise the most, because the MC here got a harem, but sets in bakemonogatari already for only 1 girl and everyone else knows it. And in monogatari series second season nearly all members of the harem graduates from being a regular harem member, like accepting that her love will never be answered; turning insane, nearly killing of the entire cast; or dissapear.)
what i also dislike most is the typical shounen feature "i will save everyone and everything, even this stone!", "believe in the power of friendship!", "random power ups during or before battles" and "okay guys, we know that here something serious happens... let us throw some boobs and wait for the big pile of money... (especially in fairy tard...)
i could rant on, but i wont...
Male MCs who remain thick headed and oblivious to painfully obvious things for the sake of drama/maintaining dat harem (usually it's something to do with girls/romance but it's just their obliviousness that annoys me).
[url=http://i.imgur.com/6qH6LlQ.jpg]This may not be the best example or the best anime but I had this picture and saw it relevant to what I'm saying[/url]
Filler/recap episodes absolutely.
Though, I will say that, to be fair, there are some episodes in even the most classic of anime that can be considered "filler", but the episodes are just plain good in general, so nobody minds. A great example of this is the episode "Mushroom Samba" from Cowboy Bebop. You can watch it at almost any time and nothing will really be spoiled in the series. It doesn't add or detract from the story in any way. Heck, if you wanted to simply show a single episode randomly from Bebop to show someone other than the 1st episode, this is a good choice.
@lesty40
Yup, Nisekoi somehow manages to incorporate all of the worst tropes imaginable in the romcom genre. After a while it became a joke to me.
Yeah I have that issue with SHAFT as well. It seems like the head-tilts became a running joke and they're doing nothing to change it. Hell some of the ways those characters tilt their heads look painful and extremely uncomfortable; I don't understand why anybody would talk like that. Also the whole artsy style really makes some stuff look really pretentious. Like Nisekoi for example; it's a dumb romcom, but the animation and the way they're doing it makes it look like some artsy, hyper-real stuff that really doesn't suit the show. And speaking of bad use of CG, have you seen last Fall season's Tokyo Ravens? It'll make you cry. But on the subject of animation overall, I've never [i]really[/i] had much problems with it, but I can see how it could bog down an anime ([url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhmBnaEcbfA]Unless of course it's Wizard Barristers level[/url], now THAT'S disgusting)
And I've had the same issues with exposition. The problem with it is that it relies on you, the viewer, to be interested enough to listen. Which can work if you are, but if the show hasn't really caught your attention yet then it can just seem like a boring monologue. I've been wondering how to integrate exposition into a story well, but I'm not entirely sure.
Hahahaha you just described nisekoi.
I'm more irked by visual tropes of some animation companies.
1. Too many stills. It's the 21st century for fudge sake. So lazy Lol.
2. SHAFT needs to stop using stylisation as an excuse to repeat movements, particularly in series where stylisation just wouldnt make sense. So sick of head tilts..
3. In betweens for key frames which don't flow. Considering these are animation studios (and Japanese ones at that) you'd expect really good 16 fps animation in this day and age at least.
4. Overly gratuitous use of CG. It looks fugly. Traditional animation is a 2D medium. Some cg is fine, but if you want sfx so much why wouldnt you go into 3D animation? And it does nothing to pair it up with crappy animation and horrible shading. Too many inconsistencies.
5. Inability to draw hands from different angles. It's almost like I'm reading shojo manga. I hate traditional shojo hands. Their poses are so...pretentious and princely.
6. Shojo poses in general. When the male protagonist covers their mouths with their massive basketballer hands to signify embarrassment, I just cringe. Ugh.
7. Flowers and sparkles. While fabulous, it's become more of a comedic aspect than anything conducive in relation to expressing beauty.
In terms of storyline tropes, everything you listed. For me though, it's specifically:
1. Exposition as a medium. Ew.
2. Spoken exposition when that character is the only one there.
3. Spoken exposition that is OVERHEARD by the enemyn. How convenient that the person talking is a loudmouthed idiot who can't think quietly.
[quote=Novagnome24][b]3. Plot out of nowhere.[/b] Sometimes I see a comedy/ecchi show that takes itself really light-heartedly, but suddenly, near the end when there are only two episodes left, it decides "Oh crap, we need a plot now!" Then it goes into this super-serious super-rushed bullcrap that usually fails to make any sense and disregards everything prior to that. Now I'm supposed to take all these light-hearted characters seriously. That's tough. No examples but I'm sure you guys know this.[/quote]
literally kannagi
1. over-powered womanizer MC
2. harem
3. forced archetypes (especially tsundere) that they try so hard to make it so obvious
Oh wow doesn't this seem an awful lot like SAO
I'm so tired of the 'omg a female? gross' reactions from male mcs. Nothing else bothers me as much as that.
The one thing that needs to stop is "**** is an ordinary high school boy, and then he gets a harem."
It's the one indicator that I won't watch it.
[quote=Xreniya]Where there's a loser guy in school and then a bunch of accidents happen and then he somehow becomes involved with the most popular and beautiful girl in school without any effort on his part[/quote]
This actually reminds me of school days.
@above
http://i.imgur.com/4k1Fyn5.jpg
characters that REALLY fit the tsundere type.
[quote=Novagnome24]Ahh... Accel World comes to mind. Wish fulfillment to the max.
I don't even understand what kind of message those kinds of shows send. Be a self-loathing loser with no redeemable qualities and hope that eventually some hot girl will pity you and fall totally head-over-heels in love with you? Heh.[/quote]
Self insert
I like pie
@Novagnome24: It's just the author drawing out his own fantasies
nakama powa!
[quote=Xreniya]Where there's a loser guy in school and then a bunch of accidents happen and then he somehow becomes involved with the most popular and beautiful girl in school without any effort on his part[/quote]
Ahh... Accel World comes to mind. Wish fulfillment to the max.
I don't even understand what kind of message those kinds of shows send. Be a self-loathing loser with no redeemable qualities and hope that eventually some hot girl will pity you and fall totally head-over-heels in love with you? Heh.
Where there's a loser guy in school and then a bunch of accidents happen and then he somehow becomes involved with the most popular and beautiful girl in school without any effort on his part
I don't watch much anime but beach episodes are filler o-o