Top 10 Most Common Anime Cliches

Even though anime is amazing, it also has its flaws. A good example of this is clichés.

The Top Ten
  1. Death of a parent or downfall

    This is literally in every single anime that I have watched so far.

    In Attack on Titan, Eren, Mikasa, AND Armin all lost their parents.

    In My Hero Academia, Midoriya had an absent father, Shoto's mother was sent to a mental hospital, and his father was abusive. Kota had both of his parents die.

    In Naruto, basically everyone on Team 7 except Sakura had dead parents.

    Does this happen in every anime? Because I feel like it does.

    Or if it's not that, then one parent and child.

    Oh, and why is it always mothers with sons and fathers with daughters?

  2. Abnormally colored hair

    In an anime, there are 20 people in one frame. Some are blonde, some have brown or black hair, some have red hair, and one person has dyed hair. Some have hooded eyes, some have almond-shaped eyes, some have round eyes, and one has huge eyes.

    They're all wearing common clothes you see other people wear, except for one who's wearing a cape and looks like he/she is on their way to an anime convention and is a total weeb. Try spotting the main character!

    I don't mind abnormal colored hair as much as the freaky, gravity-defying haircuts that no one in their right mind would either have or want.

    For example, Yugi from Yu-Gi-Oh! - tell me, does that hairstyle look cool or physically possible? Wavy blonde bangs and dark purple spiked-up back hair that makes him at least 2 feet taller. Yeah, you're stylin', Yugi.

  3. Fan service

    I guess it's okay for some people, but it's disturbing or just weird to others, you know. We all have our own opinions, and I totally respect that.

    Look, I understand fan service being there, and I'm fine with it, but at least give fan service characters an interesting personality so you can actually care about them!

    I don't like it when a show becomes too inappropriate to watch.

  4. Boy as the main character

    Well, most of the creators are men. Men can't really write about a female character 100% compared to a female writing about a female. The best way to relate to the story is by knowing the main character inside and out, which is why most main characters are male - because men are the authors.

    So, this is a naive suggestion, thinking this is a cliché when it's just natural for a male to write about a male. Plus, men don't know what women are thinking 90% of the time anyway. That's why you have the other clichés here that reflect a man's perspective on how a female acts. All they see are girls with large breasts.

    Not in every anime or manga, but still in most of them.

  5. Girls with large breasts

    So true. Creators think that if they can't reel in regular viewers, they might as well attract people with more risqué interests by featuring girls with big boobs. And once they do this, their entire anime turns into a near-pornographic series.

    It's pretty common to have female characters with incredibly large breasts.

    Oh my god, this is so annoying! It's the main reason I don't watch anime. I know some anime aren't like this, but 99% of even the most innocent-looking anime have those. (Example: Pokémon!)

  6. Happy resolutions

    I actually don't hate this type of ending. I actually like it a lot. It's just that it's WAY too overused, especially if you're talking about Inuyasha.

  7. Filler episodes

    In Yona of the Dawn, I feel like most of the arc in Awa was filler. Seriously, it took five episodes just to complete a simple episode arc. What?!

    I'm agreeing with nerdypweeps here. As much as I love Naruto, there are WAY too many fillers to deal with.

    Fairy Tail does not have as many fillers as Naruto.

  8. Plot armor

    All the main characters (like Sasuke, Gintoki, and others) being protected by it is ANNOYING.

    Looking at you, Fairy Tail - Natsu Dragneel and Erza Scarlet in particular!

    You know, the power of friendship. Happens all the time.

  9. Main group of characters are friends

    And they beat all their enemies through the power of friendship.

  10. Setting is usually in Japan

    Well, if American cartoons are mostly set somewhere in America, it's natural that anime will usually set their stories in Japan. It's natural, not a cliché.

    I can point out some exceptions in cartoons: Avatar: The Last Airbender (probably based on China) and Samurai Jack (based on Japan).

    In anime:

    Fullmetal Alchemist (Europe)

    Pokémon (currently based in France (Kalos). The immediate previous series was based in America (Unova), whereas the first three were based on the three islands of Japan respectively: Kanto and Johto - Honshu, Hoenn - Kyushu, Sinnoh - Hokkaido)

    Princess Sarah (1850s England)

    Kaiketsu Zorro (1900s Italy)

  11. The Newcomers
  12. ?

    Cute girl is always the short one

    Yeah, where are the tall cute girls?

  13. ?

    Stupid protagonist

  14. The Contenders
  15. Main character sitting by a window in class

    The only classroom-type anime that I have seen so far that don't use this trope are My Hero Academia and Assassination Classroom, where both Deku and Nagisa sit in the exact middle of the classroom.

    Haha, apparently I was an anime protagonist in high school because I always sat by the window when I had a choice! Jk!

    You'd think that the main character would be sitting in the middle of the class or by the door. Nope, apparently not.

  16. Perverted male characters

  17. Girls flying onto the screen out of nowhere and overreacting wildly

    Especially girls falling onto a male main character in a compromising position, then yelling and slapping him like it's somehow their fault that this happened.

  18. Little girls who are actually 30+ years old

    Wendy Marvell is actually a little kid. You're thinking of Mavis Vermillion.

  19. Harem setups

    There's only one boy and a bunch of girls swarming him. Not cool.

  20. Shonen characters who eat a lot

    Well, food also holds a lot of protein, and in action types, eating a lot of food is good so they have enough energy to fight. When they burn the protein, they gain muscle. So it actually makes sense.

    Practically everyone in One Piece.

  21. Characters shouting the names of their attacks

    It gets very annoying that the villains do NOTHING to stop the attack, as if it's sacred or something.

  22. Sparkling eyes

  23. Male character falls and lands on a girl's breasts

    Or walks into a girl's room, trips, falls on her breasts, or walks in on her naked. Somehow, the girl then gets super strength and hits him so hard he flies out of the room... SO ANNOYING!

  24. Boys aged 10-14 who are braver, smarter, and more skilled than adults

    This is not the case in DBZ. The older they are, the stronger they become. Well, most of the time at least.

  25. Everyone is attractive

  26. Nosebleeds

    When excited and against any real-world logic, anime characters get nosebleeds! It's hilarious to me!

  27. Girl running late for school with toast in her mouth

    As she runs, she narrates her life with something like, "Hi, my name is blankety blank-blank, and I'm only 15 years old. It's my first day of the new school year, and my goals are blankety blank blank-blanker blank."

    Sailor Moon, Madoka, etc. It's kind of a bummer.

  28. Always hungry protagonists

    It was originally very unique (Goku), but then DBZ was so inspiring that Naruto, Luffy, Natsu, and others stole the trait, and it became a cliche.

  29. The chosen one trope

    This happens with Harry Potter too.

8Load More
PSearch List