Do you know what cliché means? This idiomatic expression is used to say that something becomes very predictable, has worn out, or lost its meaning. Animes are full of repetitive clichés. In this article, we will try to make a complete list of all the clichés in animes.
There are so many cliches that we get lost trying to them all. I hope this list shows cliches that you never imagined. Some clichés are quite obvious, others go unnoticed.
Table of Contents
The MAIN clichés of anime
Run – Several anime scenes show the characters running as if they were in a marathon. This mostly happens in openings. Not to mention when they run late to school with bread in their mouths.
Food Obsession Cliché – There are so many characters who eat non-stop or swallow everything in one mouthful. One of the highlights is Luffy from One Piece.
The dark sound of cicadas – In most anime during the summer, you can hear an ominous sound of cicadas singing, I was there in the summer and I couldn't hear that much.
Tsunderes - It's always necessary to have a tsundere or some deredere in any anime. A must-have cliché in all anime.
The Protagonist does not have a mother or father – When they are not dead, probably the creator is too lazy to add relatives to the protagonist.
Bad guys get good - In most shonen anime some evil character ends up being good. I think this is common in Japanese culture, as there, peace prevails. I think this is difficult to do in Western works.
Filler episodes – Most anime needs to be an unnecessary and extra episode to take up space.
Clichês envolvendo FAN SERVICE
The main clichés of anime appeal to awaken the impulses of young viewers. That’s why we find a lot of fan service in anime. Some of these clichés are:
Girls with giant breasts – I see no need to add such a giant chest bigger than the body. It's enough for most Japanese women to be busty in anime.
grope breasts – Apparently Japanese women like to grope their friend's chest, I didn't have the opportunity to see this scene in real life, but in anime it happens all the time.
Harem - Most anime have a harem, with various girls in love with the protagonist, and most of the time he ends up with none.
Bloody nose - One of the biggest anime cliches, the characters end up suffering a nosebleed just by seeing a woman with little clothes or in a sensual pose. (We recommend reading our article on nosebleeds by clicking here.)
episode on the beach – Every anime needs to have an episode on the beach to complete the cliché tradition.
attack men out of nowhere – Girls often throw punches and kicks that move the protagonist 500m and make his soul come out. This happens most of the time unnecessarily just because the character saw the panties or felt the girl's breasts. At other times, the girl appears naked in front of him and he doesn't get beaten...
Episode at the hot springs – The episodes in the hot springs can't be missed either, where a boy always ends up entering the girls' bath by mistake or hears inappropriate things through the wall.
Read also: Onsen - Natural Hot Springs of Japan
Anime Cliches involving Fight
Thinking the enemy is dead when he clearly isn't – It becomes quite obvious that the enemy did not die for us, how can they be stupid?
They talk while they fight – Some conversations are as long as fights, the villain always makes a speech.
Shout out the name of the power you're going to use – Characters spend time yelling the name of each attack.
Scream for stronger attacks - It's not enough to say the name of power, you still have to scream...
The brighter you shine, the stronger you are. – A basic rule of shonen anime, whenever a character is fighting and starts to get stronger he glows.
List of anime cliches
I better sum it up even more because this list will never end. Many of the clichés below are reported by anime fans who always detect some kind of similarity or pattern in most anime, even though some don't make sense.
- Characters are always sad;
- Test of courage;
- Overly sweet characters;
- The character with a dark past;
- Battles that last 10 episodes;
- The food in Japan always appears amazing;
- Character who appears to be a woman but is not;
- Exaggerated facial expressions;
- Eyes with different colors from each other;
- That perverted character;
- The main character is nothing original;
- The main character is normal; (trying to be different more became common);
- The villain kills many people and you forgive him;
- Mahou Shoujo, magical girl;
- moe characters;
- Underage girls sexually assaulted;
- Lolis;
- Maids - Girls dressed as maids;
- Anime with 12 or 25 episodes;
- Exposed breasts;
- Colored and multicolored hair;
- Ridiculous hairstyles;
- Badass Overpower Character;
- Senpai;
- The absent father;
- Giant robots;
- Half-human and half-animal characters;
- The main character escapes death;
- Gravity-defying breasts;
- Fanservice OVA;
- Blue swimming outfit sukumizu;
- Horrible childhood;
- Favorite characters die;
- Teenage protagonists;
- Characters using repetitive English or colloquial phrases;
- Immortal characters;
- Summer festivals;
- Freeze the screen to give effects;
- Girls too energetic;
- Annoying characters;
- Main character stands by the window at school.
- Childhood friend - There's always a cursed one;
- Characters are sent to another dimension or world;
- Scenes of transformation;
- Talking to animals.
- You are the chosen one; Chibis;
- Girls always fall in love with shy and silent guys.
- The main character's best friend is a big pervert;
- There is an extremely perverted girl that everyone thinks is innocent;
- Foreigners speaking with a strange accent;
- Characters with illnesses; Ugly teachers or hot teachers;
- Characters captured by the enemy;
- Characters sent to a special school;
- Showing the panties;
- Overly muscular characters;
- Sad scenes during a rainstorm.
- Fireflies;
- Secret Identities;
- Winter episodes (Christmas and New Year);
I hope you enjoyed this list. Do you know more clichés that were not mentioned in this article? We appreciate the comments and shares. xD
