[Sarafan]

In my own honest opinion, these are worst anime cliches ever, they're not in order of importance, I numbered them just for the heck of it, now to the list:

1)Coughing blood - all it takes is just *one* single hit anywhere from anything and the character instantly coughs up one mouthfull of blood but then is fine after that with just a bandage applied.

2)All you need is friends! - The protagonist fights one of the main villains of the show but keeps losing no matter what he does. All his "strategies" and powers that he developed and used against lesser enemies, fail miserably against this guy, every single one of them.

But does he lose? Does he give up? HELL NO!

He wins because he has the power of FRIENDSHIP, of KINDNESS and he's TRYING  HARD!

3)I killed an entire army single handedly but now I'm a pacifist!!! (perferct example: Gundam Seed) - I've lived a life time of war, killed hundreds of people/I'm the only one who can pilot this mech/whatever but just because I've met someone/saw something "horrible" I'll change my ways, starting now!!! (right in the middle of this war, I mean).

4)Wait, there's, like, a battle going on? - Just because you're in the middle of a battle, with shots going all around and explosions everywhere, it doesnt mean we cant start right in the middle of it a philosophical/psycological discussion about the reasons of the war or the repercussions of the dark secret that has just being told, it's not like we're in danger here.

5)SURPRISE! OMG! I HAD NO IDEA IT WAS HIM/THAT! - everybody who's watching already got the point/figured it out of well beforehand but, no, the characters never saw it coming, mainly used by writers who have no more ideas.

6)I wanna be the best (insert anything here)! - this speaks for itself...

7)There's always someone tougher/more evil - essentially the whole DBZ plot.

8)The mysterious power - why, just the other day I managed to wipe out the enemy all by myself using this mysterious power only I possess but now I have no idea of how to use, activate it or what was it in the first place.

9)The completely innocent yet incredibily hot girl (perfect examples (out of the thousands): Aoi Sakuraba and Orihime Inoue) - Why are all this boys staring at me???

10)Draging the fight (again DBZ) - I'm just too cool to wipe you out from start so I'm going to drag this fight a whole week by staying in my weakest form.

11) Mortal Rain - Oh, no! You just passed out on the floor! It's all my fault! If I had noticed you were standing (only a few minutes) in the rain for ME, this wouldnt have happened!

Dont worry! Instead of taking you to a hospital and giving you medicine, I'll just drag you home, get you in bed and by morning you'll be fine!

And you'll wake up and bump into me or my sister causing yet another hilarious but completely unintended situation.

12) I have amnesia but I think that if I stay with you, maybe, just maybe, I can regain my memories so can I tag along?

13) Panty shots.

14) Harem anime - a nerdy guy surrounded by a bevy of beautiful babes who all fall in love with him, and end up fighting over him, even though the guy wants no part of it.

15) Slap of doom (examples: Kenshin, Yusuke, etc) - I'm the most powerfull guy in the universe but all it takes to defeat me is the slap of a girl (usually the potential love interests).

16) I hate you but truly I love you - It's true that it may seem like I hate your guts but this is all a facade for my love for you!!! You simply never seem to notice it, that's all.

17) The girl that eats enough to feed the whole of Africa but never seem to gain, you know, any weight.

18) Mysterious guys always have glasses and you'll never see their eyes.

Add any that you think or remember, I'll post more when I can.

[Mefustae]

Tentacles.

[redsniper]

All samurai/ninjas/heroes can leap 20 feet in the air.

[Fury]

Even though the anime shows and movies are full of clichés, most good ones are still more entertaining than western tv shows and movies. And entertainment is what matters.

[Dough with Fish]

This sums up anime perfectly. Oh, NSFW.

[asyikarea51]

Even though the anime shows and movies are full of clichés, most good ones are still more entertaining than western tv shows and movies. And entertainment is what matters.

I second this... somehow.

Erm... David vs. Goliath-type battles?

[TrashMan]

In my own honest opinion, these are worst anime cliches ever, they're not in order of importance, I numbered them just for the heck of it, now to the list:

1)Coughing blood - all it takes is just *one* single hit anywhere from anything and the character instantly coughs up one mouthfull of blood but then is fine after that with just a bandage applied.

Lol..yeah..I'm assuming you're reffering to flicks like One Piece or similar. Those are all about humor and some message - not logic.
Personally I don't mind caughing blood (or vomiting) if appropriate, but certanly not after every scratch.

2)All you need is friends! - The protagonist fights one of the main villains of the show but keeps losing no matter what he does. All his "strategies" and powers that he developed and used against lesser enemies, fail miserably against this guy, every single one of them.
But does he lose? Does he give up? HELL NO!
He wins because he has the power of FRIENDSHIP, of KINDNESS and he's TRYING  HARD!

Double affirmative. Again, something like that is common in kid animes (Pokemon, digimon, One Piece, etc...)

3)I killed an entire army single handedly but now I'm a pacifist!!! (perferct example: Gundam Seed) - I've lived a life time of war, killed hundreds of people/I'm the only one who can pilot this mech/whatever but just because I've met someone/saw something "horrible" I'll change my ways, starting now!!! (right in the middle of this war, I mean).

Depends..people can certanly change..especially if an experience is powerfull/traumatic enough FOR THEM.

4)Wait, there's, like, a battle going on? - Just because you're in the middle of a battle, with shots going all around and explosions everywhere, it doesnt mean we cant start right in the middle of it a philosophical/psycological discussion about the reasons of the war or the repercussions of the dark secret that has just being told, it's not like we're in danger here.

Exchanging a few word in a relativly calm part of the battlefield is certanly not impossble or unheard of. As long as it's short.
It's the anime like Dragonball that annoy me where a single battle last 20 episodes - why? Becoause they TALK ALL TEH TIME!

 

5)SURPRISE! OMG! I HAD NO IDEA IT WAS HIM/THAT! - everybody who's watching already got the point/figured it out of well beforehand but, no, the characters never saw it coming, mainly used by writers who have no more ideas.

Well, usually the spectator knows/sees things that a charachter doesn't.. But in lower-quality animes sometimes teh protagonists are really utterly dumb..or blind.
Dilandau would be an example of such a thing doone in a good way.

6)I wanna be the best (insert anything here)! - this speaks for itself...

Doesn't everyone?

7)There's always someone tougher/more evil - essentially the whole DBZ plot.

Tis time for the next lvl...LOL
yeah...that's so lame..

 

8)The mysterious power - why, just the other day I managed to wipe out the enemy all by myself using this mysterious power only I possess but now I have no idea of how to use, activate it or what was it in the first place.

Deus Ex Machina...bad plot, bad storywriting.

 

9)The completely innocent yet incredibily hot girl (perfect examples (out of the thousands): Aoi Sakuraba and Orihime Inoue) - Why are all this boys staring at me???

LOL..they are usualyl devoid of any intelligence to boot... But why do you think innocent ckicks can't be hot?

 

10)Draging the fight (again DBZ) - I'm just too cool to wipe you out from start so I'm going to drag this fight a whole week by staying in my weakest form.

 

11) Mortal Rain - Oh, no! You just passed out on the floor! It's all my fault! If I had noticed you were standing (only a few minutes) in the rain for ME, this wouldnt have happened!
Dont worry! Instead of taking you to a hospital and giving you medicine, I'll just drag you home, get you in bed and by morning you'll be fine!
And you'll wake up and bump into me or my sister causing yet another hilarious but completely unintended situation.

Is this reffering to Ranma or something similar?

 

12) I have amnesia but I think that if I stay with you, maybe, just maybe, I can regain my memories so can I tag along?

13) Panty shots.

14) Harem anime - a nerdy guy surrounded by a bevy of beautiful babes who all fall in love with him, and end up fighting over him, even though the guy wants no part of it.

15) Slap of doom (examples: Kenshin, Yusuke, etc) - I'm the most powerfull guy in the universe but all it takes to defeat me is the slap of a girl (usually the potential love interests).
16) I hate you but truly I love you - It's true that it may seem like I hate your guts but this is all a facade for my love for you!!! You simply never seem to notice it, that's all.
17) The girl that eats enough to feed the whole of Africa but never seem to gain, you know, any weight.
18) Mysterious guys always have glasses and you'll never see their eyes.

Sooo...true...again, in lower-quality anime flicks.

[Ghostavo]

Someone needs a tour of this followed by this more complete version. But the first one is better because it has DRAWINGS!!! 

[Mefustae]

Law of Sonic Amplification, First Law of Anime Acoustics

In space, loud sounds, like explosions, are even louder because there is no air to get in the way.

That's the best explanation i've ever heard.

[NGTM-1R]

#17- Law of Transient Romantic Unreliability- Minimei is a bimbo. (Note: The
Minority Opposition in Ohio disagrees and thinks all men who like this stuff needs
to get out more.)

It's Minmei. But yes.

[Desert Tyrant]

Law of Sonic Amplification, First Law of Anime Acoustics

In space, loud sounds, like explosions, are even louder because there is no air to get in the way.

That's the best explanation i've ever heard.

Indeed.

#17- Law of Transient Romantic Unreliability- Minimei is a bimbo. (Note: The
Minority Opposition in Ohio disagrees and thinks all men who like this stuff needs
to get out more.)

It's Minmei. But yes.

**** I never needed to know

[Ace]

Though I don't watch anime, #14, 16, and 17 just happen to be real life cliches.

Add in #19- The girl you're actually somewhat interested in turns out to be a religious fanatic/terrorist/axe-murderer/vegan or all the above.

[Polpolion]

Why can't the good guys have tiny pupils for once?

That way they could star right at the sun and not go blind! Consequently, though, they would be blind in a standard brightness room.

[Agent_Koopa]

18) Mysterious guys always have glasses and you'll never see their eyes.

*sigh* I wish I could do that; be able to have the light in a room reflect off my glasses, rendering them opaque, at a moment's notice.

I read the posted lists, and noted that I'd independently discovered number 14 for myself; the smaller and slower-moving a bomb, missile, or other similar weapon is moving, the larger the explosion.

I'd also like to add that the strength of a ninja is inversely proportional to the size of the group that they fight in. For example, the four Ninja Turtles manage to defeat the innumerable Foot Ninja.

[Flipside]

The fact that every single explosion always glows as a little white circle for about 1/2 a second before actually exploding, apparently sound also get pushed by light, since they both arrive at the same time.

Shots of the villains eyes in heavy shadow with a grin on his face. Oh, and enemies in trenchcoats.

The fact that no matter how skilled or pwerful you are, if you stumble across two enemies talking, you will always kick something over. If you had actually gone there in order to listen, everything would have been fine, it only seems to happen when you find them by accident.

[MP-Ryan]

I don't have the vocabulary to express the utter loathing I feel toward anime.  I've watched precious little of it, but that little has turned me off all of it for all eternity.

And I'm sorry, but the Asian kids on campus with the anime shirts, backpacks, and cell phones make it oh-so-much worse.

/grumpy old man who's been at University too long mode

[Fury]

Perfect example of ignorance is bliss. With that same logic I could say that I loathe all scifi tv-shows, movies and books based on that I saw a crappy scifi show or when I was young, totally ignoring the fact that there are gems like B5 and BSG.

[Mongoose]

Ryan, four years ago, I would have said the same as you.  Happily, I realized the utter, complete, and abject failure of my ways some two years after that.  I may have lost an almost uncountable number of hours of sleep in the process, but I consider myself far better off nevertheless.

[Prophet]

I also don't particularly like anime. I occasionally watch it though, just for ****s and giggels. Because I find anime shows to be so... dumb or stupid would be a good word. Mainly because of things mentioned in this very thread I find anime disturbingly entertaining. So if flicking trough the channels I stumble upon an anime show, I watch it. I find this thread funny because I recognize these cliches.

The dislike I feel for anime comes, like MP-Ryan wrote, from the overflow of anime stuff i see in real life. Especially in teh internets one frequently encounters anime characters and anime schoolgirls and anime slutty school girls and anime innocent but slutty looking schoolgirls.  Some peeps like it, fine. But when anime starts infiltrating the real life, one may get a bit defensive. Especially when anime fans tend to be slightly... enthusiastic. Mongoose here being a good example. I find his comment scary, honestly. But I won't hold it against him, as long as he won't try to force feed me his views. I understand Ryan. And while he was a little harsh in his comment, you should let it pass...

[Flaser]

quoting my rant from kOChan:



    I don't like POSING as an ELITIST BASTARD (since I AM AN ELITIST BASTARD), but I will have to get this down:

    Most anime is ****.
    So is television, movies (especially the ones with a budget); most books and so on....

    You want something with CONTENT?
    You will have to LOOK.

    It may not be for you...everybody has different tastes. Still we usually regards some pieces as central, or ground braking, so here's a little rant:

    -Every anime has to be seen on its own merits.
    -Every anime has to be seen in the merits of its own time.
    -When the two give some useable crosssection as well as interesting difference, you may be onto something.

    In the later case, the anime/book/film whatever tells us something that was typical of the time, and may be typical even nowadays.

    When is something GOOD?
    When said content is so deep rooted in "what is humanity", that it actually TELLS us something.

    It may be ancient, forever told, and retold; or something entierly new and weird.

    The first often draw on myths and the central tenets of our moralities (emphasis on the plural). The later are our emerging moralities, and our daily struggle to negotiate with them.

    It's a lot harder to make the first TELL something NEW or WORTHWILE....but it's darn easy to tell it anyways.

    The saving grace in this case is CHARACTERISATION - through the protagonist/antagonist we too can not only see, understand; but FEEL and EXPERIENCE.

    (Anime tends to be miles ahead western motion picture in this regard, hence many find it captivating; NEW and POWERFULL).

    But, when all is said and done; these shows/movies tend to be rather bland, when one strips it of the character flair...
    ...so unless the central CONFLICT is relevant, or has anywhatsoever MORAL AMBIGUITY (ergo it either proposes answers or questions; but TELLS something in the first place), then it's a MERE ENTERTAINMENT.

    My best advice is to wath OLD STUFF. Sometimes REALLY OLD STUFF.

    The usual problem that anime suffers from is the inability to resolve their central conflict - so they often have to resort to DEUS EX MACHINA (the well known, mind-battle/weird beams/end of world scenarios) to bring and end to the series.

    Sometime it is fitting....most of the time it's not. Still at least, this is more often than not, not of the simple sugar-coated happy-ending showed down our throats to feel better about ourselves and believe the world is a nice place to play "whatever rolemodel/stereotype is your fancy".

    The few animes that are GREAT therefore do the following: they resolve their central conflict in a reasonable manner, that gives us an appreciable message.

    Some stuff off the top of my head:
    Area 88
    Akira
    Cowboy Bebop
    Ghost in the Shell
    Millenium Actress
    Paranoia Agent

    most Miyasaki films (Nausicaa, Porco Rosso ect.)