Anime Fans Discuss the Most Annoying Tropes in Japanese Animation in Amusing Internet Discussion

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Ely Bulnes • Writer and Editor
Aug 11, 2024 7:00 PM EDT

No anime or manga - no matter how renowned it is or how precious it is to you - is completely free of pesky and overdone tropes. An anime with amazing characters and an engaging plot line can be marred by excessive and distracting fan service. A nostalgic and revered anime can deter new fans when it has loads of filler episodes that do absolutely nothing for the story, world-building, or character development. An exciting shōnen anime with beautiful, fluid animation can disappoint fans when a much-anticipated fight ends up happening off-screen or is won with the 'power of friendship' instead of with unique techniques and wits - looking at you, Naruto. 
In this amusing internet thread, anime fans discuss which trope is the most annoying. Read below and decide for yourself which is the worst: fan service, plot holes, forgotten side characters, off-screen fights, an out-shined main character, the power of friendship, or something else?

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  • 01
    u/Watchdog_the_God. 2d What anime trope do you hate the most?
    via u/Watchdog_the_God
  • 02
    offscreen fights plot holes NARUT forgotten SC fan service mc outshined power of friendship
    via u/Watchdog_the_God
  • 03
    not-ulquiorr4_ • 2d The MC being outshined is perfectly fine, it gives the spotlight to side characters who usually wouldn't get any. The Power of Friendship is an overused cliche, but a lot of the best scenes in anime are a result of the Power of Friendship. Fan service is alright if it isn't overused to high heaven.
    via u/not-ulquiorr4_
  • 04
    Offscreen fights can be excused if they happened in the past or if it's two lesser important characters fighting amidst more important characters fighting. Plot holes can be confusing, but rarely actually affect the enjoyment you have in a show. Forgotten side characters are easily the worst. It can be agonizing to see your favorite side characters get constantly pushed to the back line in favor of the main characters. Especially if they tease that character over and over, but never give them an
    via u/not-ulquiorr4_
  • 05
    Capstorm0 2d I love when the MC is out shown, in fact the worst is when the MC is better at everything and gives no side characters their own time to shine. 316
    via u/Capstorm0
  • 06
    00 boomftw557 • 2d Best recent example: JJK. Everyone forgot Yuji was the MC until recently gege finally decided to bless Wuji enjoyers with the hardest panel containing Yuji for at least the last 50-100 chapters. 119
    via u/boomftw55
  • 07
    How Can You BanAJoke 2d That's what I like about JJK the most, Yuji isn't this incredibly overbearing MC that is involved in every plot point. Gege really does build great worlds with fun characters. ... 29
    via u/HowCanYouBanAJoke
  • 08
    ProfessionPlastic285 2d Except for One Punch Man, in that form factor i think its actually pretty awesome. ← a û 4 ♡ 43
    via u/ProfessionPlastic285
  • 09
    Optimal_Carpenter690 • 2d I agree with most of this except your plot holes point (me personally, of course). I'm a big stickler for consistency with the worlds rules, and plot holes very often interfere with that.
    via u/Optimal_Carpenter690
  • 10
    That's also why I love when side characters outshine the main character from time to time, or at the very least, are always shown to be at least somewhat competitive with the main character, because that's realistically how it would be. You don't have people dedicate their whole lives to training who are suddenly regulated to being cheerleaders a la the Z Fighters or Konoha 11. Yes, I get that there are reasons Goku and the other Saiyans are so far ahead of the other Z Fighters, or why Naruto an
    via u/Optimal_Carpenter690
  • 11
    katakuri Wilson • 2d As someone who watches more anime than the ammount of manga I read. The opening/episode titles having spoilers in them is annoying. Especially like in naruto shippuden when the opening would have semi spoilers, like it will show something that is going to happen but it's completely different from how it actually plays out ← Reply Ŵ 77 ♡
    via u/katakuriWilson
  • 12
    BMFeltip • 2d . Misleading OPs > accurate spoilery OPs ← 18 ↓
    via u/BMFeltip
  • 13
    MuMbLe145 • 2d Aaaah Attack on Titan would do this too ... ↑ 8 3
    via u/MuMbLe
  • 14
    Lord7Scrolls • 2d Out of the choices here it's gotta be plot holes. If the plot hole is very insignificant, I think I'll pick off screen fights. Reply 95
    via u/Lord7Scrolls
  • 15
    Suspicious_Ask_4561 • 2d I'd disagree with the offscreen fights, shows like One piece or Dbz have tons of action but really, really, really bad pacing. Imagine watching Luffy fight 10,000 more marines or enemy pirates, it saves time so we don't waste it on useless characters and sure as sane. keeps the animators ... 27 ↓
    via u/Suspicious_Ask_4561
  • 16
    Adventurous_Topic 202 • 2d maybe it ties into fanservice but the forkin one male character always surrounded by a harem of women just ruins so many any for me, because there's almost no depth to any of those characters anyway and i tend to enjoy the anime more that have a split between men and women also the physical abuse trope when a girl gets upset, hate that Reply 49 ↓
    via u/Adventurous_Topic202
  • 17
    Frowind. 2d Filler? anyone? Reply 38
    via u/Frowind
  • 18
    Robotic Dinosaur99 • 2d Depends some great and help flesh out a character and sometimes it is just there to fill time +33
    via u/Robotic Dinosaur99
  • 19
    Dat Strugglinggayguy • 2d For me, it's the main character never being willing to kill a bad guy, or always seeing "the good in someone". Reply 75
    via u/DatStrugglinggayguy
  • 20
    mindbogglingbird • 2d I think Tanjiro in demon slayer is a good mix of both worlds ... ← D û 6 B
    via u/mindbogglingbird
  • 21
    Mage_Hunter • 2d None of these will annoy me as much as flashbacks. Naruto and Bleach are very hard to re-watch because of it, and even FMA is a little bit guilty of it. We get it, you protected Chad from some bullies and sat looking sad on a swing when you were a kid. Move past it.
    via u/Mage_Hunter
  • 22
    I suspect if you took the Naruto swing scene every time it showed up in the series you'd have 2-3 full length episodes. Like, massive "power of friendship" speeches and "oh my history that you've seen a thousand times is so sad" just gets annoying after the first time. I would love for someone to release a cut that just removes all this ← Reply Ĵ 6 ♡
    via u/Mage_Hunter
  • 23
    Autonomyxx • 2d I don't mind flashbacks if the past scene took place seasons ago. But don't show me a flashback that happened 2 episodes ago, I didn't forget lol. ← 8 4 3 43
    via u/Autonomyxx
  • 24
    Complex_Wafer3828. 2d Kind Of A Dumbass The Power Of Friendship easily. There are shows which do it right, but Fairy Tail IS NOT one of those dass use the power of friendship in shows. They c almost every fight. Reply 28 ♡
    via u/Complex_Wafer3828.
  • 25
    Rabdomtroll69 • 2d Yugioh is a weird mix of it for me. Pharoah Atem/ Yugi both yap about friendship but unknowingly have the ability to stack their deck and tap into ancient magic. They aren't aware of said magic though so it gets a pass. And then Joey Wheeler survives an attack from an egyptian god after almost being murdered just because he wants to save his friend ← & 3 3 Д зд
    via u/Rabdomtroll69
  • 26
    Sensitive-Hotel-9871 • 2d Romance teases that don't go anywhere. ... Reply 10
    via u/Sensitive-Hotel-9871
  • 27
    AdjustedMold97. 2d every protagonist having insane plot armor. I get it, nobody wants their favorite character to die, but if nobody can die, then there are no stakes. fake out deaths are the worst. ← Reply + 3 ↓ 33
    via u/AdjustedMold97
  • 28
    trapthaiboi 2d Using Naruto for the "forgotten SC" is especially sad because they're all very memorable to the fans Reply Ŵ 2 ♡
    via u/trapthaiboi
  • 29
    ASL4theblind • 2d "I'm the ditzy MC who LOOOVES to eat, and that's my whole personality!" I'll take immensely flawed MC with real personality over this dumb trope every day of the week. ... Reply Ŵ 2 ♡
    via u/ASL4theblind

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tropes main character animation fan service anime discussion Dragon Ball Z naruto japanese entertainment plot holes cartoons reddit thread Reddit weeb discourse otaku television
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