Anime Tropes, Copes and Dopes
With all of the stereotypes in western media throughout time, nothing triumphs the unbeatable level of tropes in anime and manga. Yes, horror tropes can be painfully predictable (don’t run up the goddamn stairs!), and a Michael Bay movie will inevitably follow a formula of explosions and heroism like an industrial recipe for French fried potatoes. However, no other expression of art has repeated itself to the point that its scenarios become as repetitive and ridiculous as in anime. As a medium, anime tends to eat, digest, and vomit itself in cycles of calculable convention.
Women Fighting Over One Guy
You may have seen these. The protagonist beats off (yes, pun intended) a horde of crazed females looking to date him. This high school wet dream fantasy trope has been a perennial staple in the imaginations of teenagers since the dawn of time. So it is no surprise that this trope tends to take place in exactly that setting.
Examples: Tenchi Muyo, Itazura na Kiss
Stupid Little Girl Wants to Learn Something
Some people fantasize about being a rock star or being in a singing group while in their teenage years. What’s hilarious is that this next trope entertains dreams about the uphill battle of learning one’s first notes on a musical instrument or being humiliated in front of one’s entire high school class.
Here’s how it works: an annoying little girl badgers everyone in school (school, why is it always school) until she gets what she wants, usually a club or contest or some crap. This is her dream, and she leans on others to accomplish it.
And just like in real life, everyone hates her for it. One key difference is that the mean girl tends to soften to the stupid girl by the end of the series. In real life, she’d probably live for some time as a social pariah.
Examples: Love Live! Sunshine!! K-On!
Boys Spying on Girls Bathing
Oh, anime tropes! How I relate to you!
Which 14 year old boy hasn’t relished the thought of somehow winning the briefest glimpse of his fellow classmates naked?
Me neither…
At any rate, the age of high sped internet has changed the world, and fourteen-year-old boys in need of boobies can just Google the kind they want to see. That is, unless he lives inside an anime.
Examples: Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu, Tenchi Muyo