Anime Tropes you hate

[impervious_gakko42]

I really dislike fanservice. It tends to be off-putting or just outright cringeworthy; I can't think of a single instance where it was that tasteful or remotely necessary. Like, I tried watching Food Wars, but gave up after the second tentacle scene. Just... why? It's a show [that's supposedly] about food for Yato's sake! If I want to watch hentai for some ungodly reason, I'll do that instead.

If it's just kinda there and a whole spectacle isn't made out of it, I don't really care, but like there's a time and a place my dudes. Really sick of the "Female Character Who Never Wears A Shirt For No Particular Reason And That's Her Only Purpose For Existing" trope in particular.

 

[chocovelvetcake]

I can't stand the Christmas cake trope. The idea that a woman is considered undesirable for marriage after 25 just doesn't make any sense to me. 25 is still considered young, and not everyone is going to get married in their 20s, let alone want to get married.

This doesn't just apply to anime, tho. In Japan, women had been traditionally expected to get married at a young age, and any woman who's over 25 and unmarried is metaphorically referred to as a Chrismas cake, since the idea of a Christmas cake stops being desirable after December 25th, a woman stops being desirable for marriage after she turns 25.

 

[zoroarctic]

Conveniently timed power-ups. Understandable earlier in the story when the heroes are first learning their abilities or if it's set up well, but it gets annoying very quickly if the heroes keep getting bailed out that way.

 

[CynthiaLover]

Idiot Hero, hands down. Especially when combined with Chaste Hero. The fact that a lot of anime have the main protag be about as smart as a brick and twice as thick is really off-putting. It's one reason why I can't stand characters like Luffy, Goku, Davis, and Jaden from their respective series. But when it's combined with the Chaste Hero trope then it really becomes obnoxious. I can tolerate a Chaste Hero on its own, especially if there's a good enough reason for it (ie: Sonic the Hedgehog is one example, both because he likes to be free/not be tied down and because Amy is disturbingly obsessive/violent when she doesn't get her way, which would be off-putting to me if I was in his shoes). But when both are combined then it becomes unbearable. Granted, if an Idiot Hero is able to "graduate" and become a smarter/better character (Van from Zoids is a good example, as he very much grew up, both figuratively and literally, during the course of the series) then I can stomach the Idiot Hero days because I know there is a light at the end of the tunnel. But in general when a protag is a full-blown idiot yet somehow is pretty much invincible in some form or another is really annoying. The fact that Grim from The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy summed up the Idiot Hero perfectly is frankly both amusing... and depressing, since it often applies to whatever series it's applied to. Especially anime.

In case you're wondering, here's the quote: "Why must the fate of the world always end up in the hands of an idiot?"

 

[Neo Blaze]

I wouldn't say I hate this trope (since it's not as bad as say, excessive fanservice), but one that I have always found very strange is that most foreign (or half-foreign, half-Japanese) characters in anime are blondes. It makes me think that Japan has a very limited view of the west since there is so much diversity appearance-wise to choose from, so the fact that foreign characters almost always have blonde hair is very odd to me. Bonus point if they speak broken English despite coming from an English-speaking country.

 

[Aulos]

I have no patience for pervert characters. Well, I guess it's one thing for a character to be just perverted, but the way I've seen it play out in anime/manga is that they are straight-up predators and it is supposed to be "comedic".

Worst example I've ever seen was the old guy in Ranma 1/2. He not only is a predator to women, but minors. Not only that, but he was this super powerful character that couldn't even ever be punished for his actions because no one could touch him. Gross.

As I said, I have no patience for this anymore. I will drop anime that do this. It's gross, it's not funny.

 

[Juliko]

I have no patience for pervert characters. Well, I guess it's one thing for a character to be just perverted, but the way I've seen it play out in anime/manga is that they are straight-up predators and it is supposed to be "comedic".

Worst example I've ever seen was the old guy in Ranma 1/2. He not only is a predator to women, but minors. Not only that, but he was this super powerful character that couldn't even ever be punished for his actions because no one could touch him. Gross.

As I said, I have no patience for this anymore. I will drop anime that do this. It's gross, it's not funny.

Agreed. It was never funny when it was first conceived, and it still isn't funny today.

 

[DigitalGen6]

HOOOOOOOO BOY don't even get me started on the anime tropes that make me want to bash my head against the wall. Don't get me wrong, I love the anime/manga industry for all the stories it can tell, but there are some tropes that really, really, REALLY need to die. But I don't have time right now to get into all of them, so I'll just talk about the one trope that seriously makes me seethe with hatred: Boob grabbing, usually the non-consensual kind. Seriously, why do so many anime/manga have characters do this?! I don't get it! If it was consensual on both sides, I wouldn't mind, but if it isn't, I'm pretty sure that's considered sexual assault! Yet so so so MANY anime/manga treat it as either no big deal, a gag, or brush it off like it's perfectly normal WHEN IT CLEARLY ISN'T!!! Especially when the character on the receiving end of it is shown to not like it!! It isn't funny or cute or anything, it's fucking sexual assault no matter how you slice it! I've been taught from a very young age that nobody should ever touch someone else's private parts (Unless you're adults and both parties consent to it). It's basic sex education 101! I hated it when I first discovered it as a high schooler (Thanks, Haruhi Suzumiya), and I still hate it now, and I cannot understand why this trope is so prevalent. I've dropped and actively avoided several series because they felt the need to shove this in, especially when it either doesn't do anything to further the story (And usually it doesn't!) and actively ruins the intended tone or atmosphere of whatever scene its in (Case in point: Orbital Children threw one in during what's intended to be an intense, dramatic scene...but shoving that trope in there completely ruined it)! God, this whole boob-grabbing trope needs to die.

Oh wait, there's another trope I loathe with the fury of a thousand suns: Brother/sister incest. Do I even need to explain this one?

I hate those a lot, too.

 

[c la fet]

I don't like when there are lots of female characters in a shonen and none of them get a significant amount of screentime or when a female character is canonically strong but she's only allowed to win against other female characters (or very inexperienced male characters) when the fights are not even a matter of physical strength.

I also really hate the "magical slap" trope (it probably has another name) aka when the mc is feeling down and another character comes to slap them across the face which magically restores the mc's determination. Most of the time the mc doesn't even deserve the slap.

And another one I don't like is when a villain who never tries to become a better person is forgiven while the villains who change themselves alone end up dying.

 

[toastghost]

oh yeah, this isn't anime exclusive but I just hate it when a character's "redemption arc" is them sacrificing themself and dying. it's just such a cop out. that's not an arc, that's an excuse. the most egregious example for me is in harry potter (not an anime but still) with snape. you're trying to tell me that this man literally bullies children and is apart of a group that literally wants to murder everyone who doesn't have pure wizard blood, but he's okay because he cared about lily and sacrificed himself? bullshit. that's so dumb.

 

[beryllium]

i hate yanderes with a BURNING passion.

 

[Blanc]

I notice (especially these days) yandere characters both rarely appear in media, and get a bad rap. I don’t think this is necessarily a bad thing either way, but I’d like to controversially give my hot take that I don’t think yandere characters are nearly as bad as the strong fans they garner. I think at it’s most basic form, yandere are kinda same-y, so I like when they’re creatively done (A cold-type vs an outright crazy type, for example).

Back to the thread topic though, this isn’t much of a trope I guess but something consistent I’ve noticed with newer anime— when an anime tries to get by on a character’s design alone; making an attractive design but the character themself offers little or gets screentime long enough to just have a one-sided personality or trope itself encompass their character. Just feels like the bar is lower than it used to be.

 

[Anoko Dokonoko]

Every time I see that "thousand year old dragon/demon/some form of undead character who looks like a child" trope I just get sad. Because there's actual ways you could pull off that trope well (sure, usually as a gag character, but still) but I only ever see it used as either an excuse to be creepy about a child character or put in a position where the character could just as easily look like a grandma and still work. (Damn you, Fire Emblem.)

Alsyo, the "heehee I look like a GIRL but I'm actually a BOY!!! Isn't that quirky???" shit is tiring. You can easily make crossdresser/androgynous characters without making them bring it up every seven seconds (and you can even more easily make them without constantly having them be the target of played for laughs sexual harrassment too, like wtf). (And even when they don't constantly point it out or get constant creepshots they're ALWAYS obsessed with being cute or pretty too, though that's as much of a trope with transfem characters as it is with GNC guys. And I do really like some characters who fall into that trope like Venus Pororotcho and Mizuki Akiyama but when it's every single time it just gets irritating...)

 

[czl]

Other than obviously gross stuff, I really dislike extensive internal monologue during action scenes. I don’t read much shonen because of that. it’s cool if the characters are taking while action is happening but when it completely grinds the scene to a halt for multiple pages/minutes so that exactly what is going on can be explained in detail it’s soooo irritating
way worse in anime than in manga and much worse in older series
all my favorite fights from the shonen I’ve read are ones with little to no dialogue, it makes a huge difference in how engaging they are

 

[CynthiaLover]

Another trope I hate that I forgot to mention is the tsundere trope. God, I HATE tsunderes. And yes, strangely, they're the ones that tend to win the "love wars" or are the more popular characters in their series, despite how violent they can sometimes be. It's one reason why I hate characters like Luna Platz from Mega Man Star Force, Naru Narusegawa from Love Hina (and the fact I can't stand the series itself as a whole), Akane Tendo from Ranma 1/2, and others. Granted, the tsundere trope can be done in a way that I can at least tolerate, like Melty from Shield Hero or Tsukiumi from Sekirei, who show more positive traits, can actually be very loving/supportive, and aren't violent toward their love interest. But in general I really despise tsunderes, yet they're so popular in Japan and various animes, and come almost a dime a dozen nowadays, that they can get unbearable and oversaturated. It's one reason why in my series, Shooting Star Rider, where a tsundere (who is basically a fusion of Yai from Battle Network and the aforementioned Luna Platz) is one of the "love interests" to Obsidian and will lose the "love war" because her tsun traits repel Obsidian, among other reasons, as a means of spiting the fact tsunderes tend to win "love wars".

 

[Lapidot Matoi]

Introducing characters from the OP near the end of a season. I know it's an odd choice (I'm not sure it's a trope, I haven't even seen 10 anime yet), but in the anime it has shown up in, it really bothers me. I highly prioritize characters and the way they interact, so it really bothers me when I get excited for new characters and have to wait weeks to learn about them. The two worst examples of this include:
The disastrous life of saiki k introducing a character in the second to last episode of season 1
And chainsaw man introducing multiple characters in once again: the second to last episode of season 1, but didn't give the new character major roles in their first episode, and got nothing in the finale.
It's more of a personal bother I know, but it takes the biggest strength of many OP's and uses it against them

 

[Steel_Justice]

I would air my grievances towards the Idiot Hero, Chaste Hero and Tsundere but CynthiaLover beat me to it on all three accounts to the letter. Out of them I have the least dislike towards the Tsundere since I have seen ones that work extremely well like Rin Tohsaka from Fate/Stay Night. The way I see it, the trick is to make the Tsundereness of the character just another part rather than the main focus of the character and give them plenty of redeeming qualities and kind moments to make them sympathetic.

As for other tropes I can't stand one would be an idea rather than a trope itself (I think). That would be the idea that the protagonist has to be bland and uninteresting as to allow the audience to put themselves into the character's shoes more easily. I can see that idea being more applicable to a video game since we can express ourselves and add character to the protagonist ourselves with how we play the game and the choices we make. But an anime or any non-interactive work lacks that option and all we get is a walking piece of cardboard that the story hinges upon for usually flimsy reasons while more interesting characters end up getting sidelined. I don't know about everyone else here but I'd take a character that isn't like me at all but has a full fledged personality and understandable goals+motives over one that is supposed to be me but clearly isn't. I doubt most people who would be watching these kinds of anime in the first place are actually as bland as their protagonists.

Another trope would be the Faux Action Girl. I thing I hate is when they hyped or shilled as being very strong, skilled, intelligent etc and is talked up as being on level with the hero and his lancer/rival but completely fails to deliver on all accounts. Often having their only victories being from inconsequential villains of the week (which even the comic relief sidekick can handle at times) or jobbers that are even worse than her. The most memorable of these lot that I remember are Mai Valentine from Yu-gi-oh! and Zoey from Digimon Frontier. I've also gotten this feeling about Momo from My Hero Academia which is a crying shame since her power is very similar to Emiya Shirou+Archer from Fate/Stay Night and the two use that power for some truly epic stuff in their various appearances.

 

[Anoko Dokonoko]

As for other tropes I can't stand one would be an idea rather than a trope itself (I think). That would be the idea that the protagonist has to be bland and uninteresting as to allow the audience to put themselves into the character's shoes more easily. I can see that idea being more applicable to a video game since we can express ourselves and add character to the protagonist ourselves with how we play the game and the choices we make. But an anime or any non-interactive work lacks that option and all we get is a walking piece of cardboard that the story hinges upon for usually flimsy reasons while more interesting characters end up getting sidelined. I don't know about everyone else here but I'd take a character that isn't like me at all but has a full fledged personality and understandable goals+motives over one that is supposed to be me but clearly isn't. I doubt most people who would be watching these kinds of anime in the first place are actually as bland as their protagonists.

OH MY GOD YEAH, this exactly. I genuinely don't get why blank-slate protags are even a thing outside of games to begin with... like, in a game, a blank-slate protagonist makes sense since the viewer is alsyo the person directly controlling them syo it's easier to self-insert. But in something like an anime or a book, a blank-slate protag is a lot harder to self-insert onto since you aren't controlling them, and it just makes for a boring protagonist with nyothing actually going for them.

Another trope would be the Faux Action Girl. I thing I hate is when they hyped or shilled as being very strong, skilled, intelligent etc and is talked up as being on level with the hero and his lancer/rival but completely fails to deliver on all accounts. Often having their only victories being from inconsequential villains of the week (which even the comic relief sidekick can handle at times) or jobbers that are even worse than her.

Yeah, this is really awful too. ESPECIALLY if she's hyped up as being actually stronger than the hero but ends up getting her ass handed to her by antagonists the hero easily nyo-diffs. And istg it's a problem almost exclusively in shonen too, like at least in games when RPGs hype up a girl as being OP she can actually be turned into a powerhouse through grinding/skills even if she has crap stats at base and in fighting games there will always be people who go god-tier with even lowtiers but in shonen if a girl's strength is hyped up there's always a decent chance this trope is gonna kick in and it sucks.

(alsyo, do you perhaps browse TVtropes? I used to be obsessed with that site and the names you gave for some of the tropes you mentioned remind me of trope names on there.)

 

[Steel_Justice]

(alsyo, do you perhaps browse TVtropes? I used to be obsessed with that site and the names you gave for some of the tropes you mentioned remind me of trope names on there.)

Yeah, I do. Almost too much . Been going there to waste time for at least 17 years. It's probably why I do trope speak when discussing topics like this.

And istg it's a problem almost exclusively in shonen too

And that's why I avoid so many Shonens. To the point that the only thing out of Shonen jump I've ever consumed was Yu-Gi-Oh. Which ironically has had a pretty bad history of the Faux Action Girl trope in addition to the Token Female trope when it comes to duelist demographics among the heroes. Tch, there I go again with the trope speak .

I'm also not a fan of the whole deity/dragon or whatever is a 1000+ years old so it's alright to think lewd things about her even if she's in the body of a child. I'm not sure if Fire Emblem started this whole thing or not with Tiki from the first game but they're probably the most notable offender of it, among other things.

 

[Anoko Dokonoko]

Yeah, I do. Almost too much . Been going there to waste time for at least 17 years. It's probably why I do trope speak when discussing topics like this.

17 years... i only went on there for, like, a year (during my 2019 pokemon phase and my fire emblem phase) lol

I'm also not a fan of the whole deity/dragon or whatever is a 1000+ years old so it's alright to think lewd things about her even if she's in the body of a child. I'm not sure if Fire Emblem started this whole thing or not with Tiki from the first game but they're probably the most notable offender of it, among other things.

OH GOD I FORGOT ABOUT THAT TROPE. i swear it'd be a way better trope if it was used more often as a gag character archetype where the thing was she still acted like an old lady despite looking young, but NYOPE they just use it for fanservice and it's gross.

(and yeah i am 90% sure fire emblem codified that trope, it's a shame since myrrh is one of my fav characters from that series (though she's arguably one of the most... nyormal? examples of the trope in the series) and i have to Contend with the fact she's part of the same character archetype that brought us nowi)