Greetings! Railgunfan75 here! Welcome to a new feature called Top 5. In this series, I will be doing countdowns of various topics related to anime, video games, comics, etc. I decided to vary my content up to include more than just reviews and recommendation lists. Hopefully you enjoy this feature going forward.

As longtime readers know, I am a huge fan of anime & manga. Anime/Manga contains many great stories and characters. Many series define the genres they belong in. However, as is the case with all forms of entertainment,  there is always room for improvement. There are some recurring things which only tend to hurt the series that is using them. These things can negatively impact the quality of the series in question and are generally despised among fans. Today ladies and gentlemen, I present to you my list of Cliches from Anime and Manga Which Need to Disappear.

Disclaimer: While I am listing these things as things that I generally don’t like, this doesn’t mean that I am passing judgment on those who do. If you enjoy these things about anime then that is a great and I respect your opinion on that. There are also instances where these things work well in the series and be a strength in a series. These statements are a generalization and don’t apply to all cases for series which use these things. 

#5 Villains who hold back until they are near defeat 

We all know the routine. Hero is engaged in an epic battle with a villain who has caused trouble for an entire series, villain is on the brink of defeat. But wait! The villain was holding back and now is is going to show their ultimate attack or ultimate form and the battle continues. We have all seen this before and gosh it is a tired trope not just in anime but in comics and action films as well. This type of plot point is not only predictable but also kind of boring as well. I get the whole “I’m not afraid of the hero so I won’t take this battle seriously” idea to a point. But any villain worth their reputation would want to just win the battle or attempt to win the battle right away. Why would they hold back? These are not good individuals to begin with and many are egotistical. They would just not care about using the best of their abilities.

#4 Heroes who pull insane abilities out of nowhere 

This is a very common plot point and while I am fan of shows who are notorious for this such as Fairy Tail, it is really something that just comes down to lazy writing. The writer just can’t write a character out of a tough situation so they say, ” I will just give them a random ability out of nowhere which defeat the villain. That will work.” Anime is not the only culprit if this as movies and television in general are notorious for this as well. Many times these moments just happen with no setup or anything  and after we see the hero on the ropes. Not only do we get forced drama but then we just get a magical solution. This really lessens the impact of the victory as it just begs the question- why didn’t they just lead in with that in the first place?

#3 Childhood Promises that characters obsess over

Many series have a character or characters whose entire motivation is based off some promise that either they made or was made to them when they were 7 or 8 yrs old. Their entire world revolves around that single moment. Many times the main character is either obsessed by that promise or is the character who forgot about said promise.  Shows like Nisekoi base their entire premise around this idea and for the most part it really falls flat. While childhood experiences can really help to form one’s character, if you were to walk up to someone and say “Hey remember that promise you made to em when we were 10, time to own up to it”, most people would just laugh in your face. There are some cases where this does work, such as those promises which leads to character friendships and as a means to explain the close bond two characters share. But when it is used as a plot device such as in some romances, it just doesn’t work.

#2 Beach Episodes 

Why do so many series have these?  The Beach episodes typically don’t advance the plot at all are pretty cookie cutter and boring. Their only purpose is to remind us about how cute or attractive the girls are which we pretty much know already. These episodes are the worst examples of needless fan service. So many good shows have these episodes tossed in and it is a real shame. While yes, the cute girls are part of the appeal of anime, these episodes are just kind of insulting to the fans.

#1 Awkward Scenes where a male character walks in on or accidentally touches a female character 

We all know the type of scenes I am referring to. There are 2 scenarios which occur. Scenario 1: Girl is showering or getting undressed and guy walks in on her while doing this. Scenario 2: After a mishap of some kind, guy falls on to girl unintentionally ending up in a pose which could which makes our guy seem like a perv. Both of these scenarios are overdone to death and are used as a cheap way to advance romantic subplots. These scenes are not even that funny and the circumstances that cause these things to occur are usually incredibly far fetched. They just feel out of place, you can see them coming really easily, and don’t serve any purpose.

So there you have it, my list of Top 5 Cliches from Anime/Manga Which Need to Disappear. What things from anime and manga annoy you the most? What do you think of the new feature? Please comment below. Also please follow me on Twitter (@Railgunfan75) if you haven’t done so already. So until next time, anime fans this is Railgunfan75 signing off! See you next time!