Cliches in anime that you actually LIKE?

- I've been treating the sideline commentaries of the fights in One Piece like a running gag.
- Calling your attacks. Seriously, it's awesome.
- Moe, but only so long as it's not in everything. Moe series are nice, but I love shows that can break away from that.
- Any cliche that's included for satire or parody, if it's done well.
 
I also like that common shounen cliche in which the main character, as an underdog, enRAB up defeats an insanely arrogantly over-powered opponent, causing everyone who witnesses the event or hear about it to be in shock from the unexpected news, and as a result, completely boosting his popularity level among the characters existing in the series. However, I only like this cliche if its done well. The villain or opponent has to be a SERIOUS ass to people to get the viewer to understand just how he gets the hero pumped with anger, and he can't just be beaten with ease, or in other worRAB, the hero has to go through all sorts of suffering and harRABhip to finally reach his goal of defeating that opponent.

Pretty much EVERY main villain being defeated in EVERY big One Piece arc are perfect examples of this, starting from Arlong and going all of the way to Rob Lucci, so far (since, believe it or not, I actually didn't fine Moria to be that much of an ass in comparison to previous villains in the series ).
 
i love catchphrases, both the offical & unoffiacla ones!

some of my favs would be....

Dood!
Tobi's a good boy!
Kamehamehaaa!!
& of course conans classic...One Truth prevails!

i also enjoy the whole power of the heart/soul thing, not love ( cause power from love is cheesy & stupid) but just characters that use there inner strength to overcome obstecles & makethemselves stronger. I find that very appealing..

Oh & also characters who fight inner demons, such as abel, clare or Naruto.
 
Bad endings, out of left field endings, or grim endings. Unlike North American shows, they're not afraid to go down in flames or even go for a "realistic" ending.
 
Here's my list of cliches. And the characters that matches the cliches

In animes like FUNimation's AQUARIONWhen people shout when they merge or shout their attacks. Like in AQUARION, they'd go; MERGE 1, MERGE 2, MERGE 3; GOOOO AQUARION! LUNA! (yes, the shouting's all in caps).I always tend to get this big rush when characters do this.


Anime characters that have muscles. Yet, their thinking is that of a child. Apachai Hopachai [KenIchi: The Mightest Disciple]Kuwabara [Yu Yu Hakusho]Baron [Bakugan: New Vestroia]Characters that have that "burning" spirit in them. This is often referred to sports animesKawamura [The Prince of Tennis]Santa Yamaguchi [WHISTLE!]Raimon "Monta" Taro [EyeShield 21]Characters that put their very life on the line to protect the ones they care very deeplyThird [Jyu-Oh-Sei]Michio [FAFNER]Shikura [Shin Megami Tensei: Persona ~Trinity Soul~Jiraiya [NARUTO Shippuden]Asuma [NARUTO Shippuden]In sports you'd often get this; "He's weak, let's leave him alone." Then person B comes along; "Weak, you say. Shows how much you know". Then person A "What did you say". Then person B "Let's go buddy, these punks aren't worth your time".
Shigeki Sato [WHISTLE!]Hiruma [EyeShield 21]The "why am I so weak" category.
Thor [Jyu-Oh-Sei]Asbel [Tales of Graces]Luke [Tales of the Abyss]
 
As far as cliche goes, I like situations where the characters end up taking the role of the underdog. Doesn't matter if it's a battle or something personal, when done right, it enRAB in entertaining results.

Oh and screaming their names of their attacks. That NEVER gets old.
 
Agreed on this one.
if your going to have a medium like animation to present a story, why not utilize every aspect.
Much like the huge expressive eyes.


I guess one of mine would be the anime character blushing. Can't be replicated in live TV or movies.

oh and at one time the Tomino end to a cast. =O
 
1: New villain pops up when old villain is defeated - This is found in Western Animation too, but it is much less common. Seeing new villains is fun and can be refreshing instead of just seeing the same villain over and over again.
2: Calling Out Attack Names-I've gotten used to them, plus they can be pretty epic.
3: Bittersweet Endings- Something Western Animation strays away from for a fairytale happy ending, not even Western shows like Avatar are immune to this. Those endings lack emotional depth next to a bittersweet one and anime isn't afraid to use them.
 
Hot-blooded male protagonists, my favorite example being Koutarou Taiga. They're awesome. I LOVE HAVING TESTOSTERONE!!! AND YELLING!!!

Mecha transformation sequences that have all the nurabers and stats of said mecha flashing across the screen.
 
Leeron redeems himself for being possibly the most functional uber-gay character ever. The show would have crurabled on multiple occasions without him.

My fav cliche (tho I'm fairly certain it comes from Samurai movies as opposed to unique to anime) is when two opponents lunge at each other in a last ditch effort to finish the fight. The attack has succeeded, but both opponents are still standing for a dramatic few seconRAB...until finally one of them reveals the loss by collapsing (or exploding). Always gets my blood pumping!
 
Energy attacks. Who doesn't love blowing stuff up for no discernible reason?

Also, when the main villain you thought was finally dead comes back for revenge and is much stronger than he was when you last saw him/her.
 
Another cliche that I've always actually loved in shounen anime is when one of the characters (either a good guy or bad guy), encounters a new opponent who is leagues above his leve, and completely dominates him in battle while treating him like an absolute joke. Like, for example, the more powerful character might usually use a specific weapon of choice in a battle when he/she is serious, but when the weaker opponent challenges him/her to fight, he/she will prove his/her superiority by toying around with their opponent while not even bothering to use the weapon that they usually use in their regular battles.

I suppose I've always just loved to see the interesting, and even sometimes hilarious ways in which some characters can take down others like it was nothing, by doing some things that normally wouldn't even be considered as real attacks to them, or even to the viewer watching them kick the crap out of their opponent.
 
Oaky, I've got two of them...

Over-the-top fight sequences. In moderation, they really are fun. A super-fluid attack sequence, or a power-up where the character poses to show off all their glory.... It really can add a lot to the fight.

All-purpose super-powers. In most animes, masterying any fighting style--swordmanship, martial arts, spiritual ki, anything!--grants you super strength, unlimmited damage soak, momentary super-speed and relexes, and the ability to leap small buildings in a single bound, if not outright flight.... It can be fun when even minor characters can level city blocks during thier fights. It can also be silly, as it takes those fights completely out of the realm of plausibility, and ruins suspence by giving characters unlimmited options....But it gaurantees an awesome main-character brawl!
 
I like the whole "humans in space" concept that anime was really the first to pioneer with stuff like Gundam. I mean, I grew up watching Cartoon Network shows like Outlaw Star, Cowboy Bebop, Trigun. Yeah, sure, people will say Star Trek went there first, but I think anime has delved far more into the concept (see: Planetes).

The whole idea is fascinating, cause one day human beings might really have to leave the planet Earth & live in space. And just the thought of what life might be: space colonies, people living in zero gravity atmosphere, stuff like that. In fact, if I could create my own anime series, I'd do something about humans living in space colonies.
 
Well, when I think about it.

People protecting the protagonist

In this situation. Screen switches to the bullies picking on the protagonist. Then you see person B in the area. Which they say something that'd upset the bullies. And the bullies can't come up with something to back up their speech, so they cower and run like and have that saying; "oboiteru" (I'll remeraber this).

This' true with the following charactersShigeki SatoHiruma
 
Obviously these cliche neeRAB to be done well, but basically I like:

The good guy gets his butt handed to him, trains for 2 days, and then comes back completely healed and is super powerful.
Sure it's unrealistic, but if done right, it's freakin' cool.

I actually like flasrabroadacks where we learn about a character's past.
Western storytelling is too main-character-centric; God forbid minor characters actually have some dimension to them.

I like it when contracts are made with supernatural beings.
Like in Death Note, Code Geass, and Fate/Stay - though Fate/Stay was mediocre, and could have been so much better than it was.

Thirty-Xanatos-Pile-Up; well, anything Xanatos in general.
Again, this can be highly unrealistic, but if done right, it's bad-ass.

And of course, GIANT MECHAS.

And as already mentioned by others, heroic death as well as the basic art style and facial expressions people experience during moments of comedy relief.
 
I'm not sure what makes you think that, but this statement is completely wrong, and very generalized. If by Western story-telling you are including animation and live-action (for both movies and TV shows), as well as novels (since all you specified was "story-telling"), then I can name a plethora works of Wester story-telling which absolutely do NOT fit what you just claimed.

I could name quite a few anime that I feel are pretty main-character-centric, but just because those ones are doesn't mean that all anime are, as I'm sure you know. So the same basically goes for Western story-telling.
 
Hmm. Fair enough I suppose.
I guess I didn't give that statement too much thought before I wrote it.
I do that a lot, by the way, so don't take things I write too seriously.

At the time though, my mind flashed to different animes and video games I've played from Japan, featuring many different characters, all of whom have a story, to some mainstream American shows that had only two main characters surrounded by decorations (some of whom happened to be people).

But the more I think about it, you're right. I didn't think it through.
Especially with the novels.
 
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