Anime Clichés – Complete List

Do you know what cliché means? This idiomatic expression is used to say that something becomes very predictable, worn out, or has 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 clichés that we get lost trying to remember them all. I hope this list shows clichés you never imagined. Some clichés are quite obvious, while others go unnoticed.

The MAIN clichés of animes

Running – Various scenes in animes show characters running as if they were in a marathon. This happens mainly in openings. Not to mention when they run late for school with a bread in their mouth.

Cliché of Food Obsession – There are so many characters who eat non-stop or gulp everything in one bite. One of the big highlights is Luffy from One Piece.

The Dark Sound of Cicadas – In most animes during the summer, you can hear a sinister sound of cicadas singing; I was there in the summer and couldn’t hear it that much.

Tsunderes – It is always necessary to have a tsundere or some deredere in some anime. A mandatory cliché in all animes.

The Protagonist has no mother or father – When they are not dead, the creator is probably too lazy to add relatives to the protagonist.

The bad guys turn good – In most shonen animes, some evil character ends up turning good. I think this is common in Japanese culture, since peace prevails there. I think this is hard to happen in Western works.

Filler Episodes – Most animes need to have an unnecessary and extra episode to fill space.

Clichés involving FAN SERVICE

The main clichés of animes appeal to awaken the impulses of young viewers. That’s why we find a lot of fan service in animes. Some of these clichés are:

Girls with giant breasts – I see no need to add breasts so giant they are bigger than the body. It’s enough that most Japanese girls are busty in animes.

Groping breasts – Apparently, women in Japan like to grope their friends’ breasts; I haven’t had the opportunity to see this scene in real life, but it happens all the time in animes.

Harem – Most animes have a harem, with several girls in love with the protagonist, and most of the time he ends up with none.

Nosebleed – One of the biggest clichés in animes, characters end up suffering a nosebleed just from seeing a woman in little clothing or in a sensual pose. (we recommend reading our article about nosebleeds by clicking here.)

Beach episode – Every anime needs to have a beach episode to complete the tradition of clichés.

Attacking men out of nowhere – Girls tend to punch and kick that move the protagonist 500m away and make his soul leave. This usually happens unnecessarily just because the character saw a girl’s panties or groped her breasts. Yet at other times, the girl appears naked in front of him and he doesn’t get hit…

Hot spring episode – There must also be episodes in hot springs, where a boy always accidentally enters the women’s bath or listens through the wall to inappropriate things.

Also read: Onsen – Natural Hot Springs of Japan

Clichés involving character fights

Thinking the enemy is dead when he clearly is not – It’s quite obvious that the enemy is not dead to us; how can they be so stupid?

Talking while fighting – Some conversations are as long as the fights; the villain always makes a speech.

Shouting the name of the power they will use – Characters waste time shouting the name of each attack.

Shouting to make stronger attacks – It’s not enough to say the name of the power; they still have to keep shouting…

The more you shine, the stronger you are – A basic rule of shonen animes; whenever a character is fighting and starts to get stronger, they shine.

The list of clichés in animes continues

I better summarize 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 animes, even if some don’t make sense.

• Characters always sad;
• Courage test;
• Excessively sweet characters;
• The character with a dark past;
• Fights that last 10 episodes;
• The food of Japan always appears in an amazing way;
• Character that appears to be a woman but is not;
• Exaggerated facial expressions;
• Eyes with different colors;
• That perverted character;
• The main character is nothing original;
• The main character is normal; (trying to be different but ended up 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;
• Animes 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;
• Breasts that defy gravity;
• Fanservice OVA;
• Blue swimming outfit sukumizu;
• Horrible childhood;
• Favorite characters die;
• Teenage protagonists;
• Characters using repetitive phrases in English or colloquial language;
• Immortal characters;
• Summer festivals;
• Freezing the screen to give effects;
• Overly energetic girls;
• Annoying characters;
• Main character sits by the window at school;
• Childhood friend – There’s always a damn one;
• Characters sent to another dimension or world;
• Transformation scenes;
• Talking to animals;
• You are the chosen one; Chibis;
• Girls always fall in love with shy and quiet 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 diseases; Ugly teachers or hot teachers;
• Characters captured by the enemy;
• Characters sent to a special school;
• Showing panties;
• Excessively muscular characters;
• Sad scenes during rain;
• 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 comments and shares. xD