Exploring Anime Tropes: Deal-Breakers and Hidden Gems

 

I enjoy watching anime, a passion that originated during my teenage years with Dragonball Z. What draws me to anime is its unique ability to convey aspects that live-action cannot capture. While I appreciate anime, it's important to acknowledge its flaws. There are certain recurring tropes that, when considering a new series, one should investigate. Some of these tropes are harmless but annoying, while others are outright distasteful. For those venturing into the world of anime or contemplating allowing their children to explore it, I hope this list proves helpful. Here are five deal-breakers when it comes to anime.

The Main Character Always Fights the Final Boss

   While a harmless trope, it can limit the creativity of a series. In many Shonen anime, the main protagonist inevitably faces the final boss, sidelining opportunities for other supporting characters to grow. An example is Fairy Tail, where Natsu consistently confronts the opposing team boss, despite other characters being equally capable such as Gray or Erza. This trope could be improved by allowing other characters to take on the main villain in the arc especially when they are better suited for. For example, If the protagonist has fire magic and the boss also has fire magic, then let the supporting character with water magic face the villain.

Deus Ex Machina Occurs Too Often

   This overplayed trope involves the protagonist receiving an unexpected power boost to defeat the villain when on the brink of defeat. Often tied to the power of friendship. It’s ironic when an anime has dark themes not suitable for children, but the heroes use the power of friendship. Naruto is a notable example where friendship plays a significant role in the protagonist's strength.

Perverted Characters

   This trope, featuring characters who sexualize women, can be off-putting and occurs too frequently in anime. Characters like Master Roshi in Dragonball or Daru in Steins;Gate exemplify this issue, potentially deterring some viewers. Perverted characters tend to have nose bleeds indicating that they are having an impure thought.

Women Betrayal

   Aligned with the previous trope, the objectification of women in anime is a concerning trend. Despite character development, female characters are often depicted in impractical attire with unrealistic bodies. One Piece is cited as an example, where every female character is scantily clad. Which should discourage viewers with moral standards.

Brother and Sister Romantic Interest

   This uncomfortable trope, where a sister develops romantic feelings for the main protagonist, is a definite reason to stop watching an anime. Instances like those in Sword Art Online can be particularly unsettling. Typically, if the main protagonist has a sister, then she will have romantic feelings towards him. The exception being Demon Slayer.

Conclusion

  Reflecting on these tropes, I invite you to share your own anime pet peeves. Despite these drawbacks, there are numerous anime series that avoid these pitfalls. I recommend the following, excluding Steins;Gate due to its inclusion of the perverted character trope:

1. Bungo Stray Dogs

2. Spy X Family

3. Hunter X Hunter

4. Mashle: Magic and Muscles 
(Yes, this breaks the first tope, but it is still good)

5. Love is War

6. Ranking of Kings

7. Log Horizon

8. Classroom of the Elite

Dealing with Quarantine Cabin Fever

What do you do when you are in Quarantine? Recently, I tested positive for COVID-19 and had to stay at home in a room for over a week (still positive while writing this post). I Usually work a lot, but the first few days I had a very high temperature and couldn’t accomplish much, but by the 5^th day my fever broke, and I was functional again. My professor told me that I can’t come back to work until I tested negative for COVID two days in a row. So, I have been getting cabin fever and been trying to make my imprisonment as enjoyable as possible. In this post I am going to share what I have been doing to enjoy my isolation.

Read Books

While I have been away from school, I have been trying to get ahead of my reading goals and I have been researching what books I want to read next. I just finished the third book in The Seventh Tower series by Garth Nix Aenir. It is a scholastic book series written in the early 2000’s where a chosen named Tal must search for a sun stone to provide for his family after the disappearance of his father. I like the series because it was something I started as a child but never finished and I like how Garth Nix doesn’t go into explanations on how the world works at the beginning of the book he starts off right into the drama like Tal falling off the red tower.

I am currently reading book four of Alcatraz vs the Evil Librarians: The shattered Lens. This is a fun series to read because it’s supposed to take place in our world but Librarians (Who control the hushlands [our world]) place this ‘nonfiction’ book into the fantasy section. The series is an autobiography by Alcatraz who uses Brandon Sanderson as a pen name to tell us about the freelands and his battle against the librarians who want world domination. Even though it is written for youth I get a lot of joy reading it.

I have been researching the next series of books that I want to read, and I have put the kingkiller chronicle on my radar by Patrick Rothfuss. I think this series will be very beautiful to read because of how important words are in the story and I want to get into the band wagon on theorizing on what will happen in the third book in the series. In the series it states that there are seven words to make a woman love you. I only need three, I love you. It worked on my wife.

Watching Shows

While having a high fever I rewatch Love is War again starting from season one because it was something that would make me laugh but since I have already seen it before I wasn't disappointed when I missed some important scenes. If you don’t know what Love is War is about read my previous post about the show. It is a perfect anime.

I am currently watching Ms. Marvel and It is not as bad as I thought it would be after, it is surprisingly getting better each episode. I gave a better update on why I like it in last week's post but if you are debating on seeing it watch the first 3 episodes then decide if you want to continue.

Being Creative

The next thing I have been doing is trying not to get cabin fever. “I got cabin Fever it’s been burning in my brain. I’ve got cabin fever it’s driving me insane” - Muppets Treasure Island. I have been working on developing a talent that I am not good at, drawing. I couldn’t draw anything that I would be proud of, but I have a child that loves animals and Disney characters, so I have been working on learning how to draw. So far, I learned to Draw Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Pooh, and a cartoon giraffe. I can’t draw on different planes, but they are recognizable characters. I am grateful for YouTube and the internet for helping me bring joy to my child.

Clean

The days that I didn’t make my bed in the morning made me feel more uncomfortable even while being really sick because by the time I went to bed my sheets would be all over the place and I felt disordered. I read a book called Make your Bed: Little Things Can Change Your Life…And Maybe the World by William H. McRaven earlier this year. The book helped me accept that we fail a lot in life but when we preserver we become better. Doing daily chores like making our bed is setting us up for success and if the day turns out to be a failure at least we succeeded in making our bed. Even though I had Covid I felt like I accomplished more throughout the day if I made my bed. Instead of being depressed and staying in bed all day making my bed helped me get out of it and stay out of it until I needed sleep.

Play Games

The last activity I have been working on is playing games, specifically Worldle. I can’t really go out an exercise how I usually do throughout the day, and I haven’t been eating much lately either, but I enjoy exercising my mind with a fun five letter word each day. My strategy for the game is for my first two guesses use two words that have all the vowels “Youth” and “Media” from there I am in a good position to get the Wordle. I did miss a couple of days while I was sick, but I am determined to surpass my Max Streak of 114 days.

I hope this is helpful for those that are experiencing COVID. It sucks and can be depressing. What did you do when you had COVID?

Check out some of our other ideas of things to do in quarantine:

• Binge New/Old Shows
• Board Games
• Video Games
• Virtual D&D

Love Is War!

“First you fall in love, then you confess it and find it returned in full. Ask anyone and they will say it is a wonderful thing, but they are so ... very ... wrong. Even with the cutest of couples there are power dynamics at work. There is a side that gives and a side that takes; one who rules and one who serves; a winner and a loser. If it is your wish to live a noble life you must not become the loser. Love is no game, Its War! Whoever gives there heart first will be conquered.” This is how the show Love is War starts.

This show starts as a parody of traditional romantic comedy manga, comparing love to war, but as the show progresses it morphs into a charming well developed story about two characters, Shirogane and Shinomiya, trying to get the other to confess their love to them in the most elaborate, over the top ways. In each story we follow either Shirogane's or Shinomiya's perspectives, listening to their inner dialogue as they execute their plot to get a confession. One of my favorite schemes is when the student body council (which Shirogane presides as president and Shinomiya as vice president) play a truth game where one person asks a question and everyone answers anonymously with a coin; heads is true, and tails is false. They all agree to be honest and when it comes to Shinomiya turn she asks the group if they love her in a romantic way. She knows that the president's coin with a unique year on it and this would be as good as a confession. if you want to know how Shirogane gets out of this situation you must watch the show and find out. This is how formula for most episodes one will plot a diabolical plan to get the other to confess their love.  

Most of the time while I watch shows I don’t laugh out loud, but this anime had me chuckling on numerous occasions with its exaggeration. If you like the romance between Jim and Pam from The Office or enjoyed romantic comedy's like The Proposal and any other of Ryan Reynolds chick flicks, then give this show a try. I have laughed more watching this show than most comedy's I have seen and was more invested in the romance between the main leads. This comedy develops the characters into compassionate, well-fleshed out characters. The supporting characters are a great addition and make the show better. My favorite characters are the other members of the council, like Iino who has a strong sense of justice and decency and wants her school to not decline in morality. Her interactions with Ishigami are priceless because he is carefree and has no structure for life, but he protects his friends (even Iino) from embarrassing themselves which usually results in him being humiliated. Iino doesn’t realize he does this for his friends and gets frustrated because his actions decreases the decency of the student council.

I appreciate that what is learned in one episode is continued throughout the show. For example, when Shinomiya feels like she is not in control of the situation and becoming flustered she trained herself to be calm by placing her hand on her cheek. After she learned this we see her keep using this technique throughout the show letting the audience know that she is being compromised.  

I am not the only person that believes that this show is the great. According to MyAnimeList Love is War is currently the highest-rated anime of all time--- passing Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (Finished airing August 2010) which has been at the top spot for a very long time. Personally, I can see why this show is number one. I see myself re-watching this show if I wanted to look for a good laugh. Before the 3^rd season I watched the first two seasons again for a refresher and I still got a good laugh out of it.

Love is War is a great anime that shows how entertaining anime can be. It has clean language even when Shirogane is learning how to rap, when his rap swears it’s bleeped out which made it more fun. The show is also respectful and doesn’t show anything inappropriate. Each season is about 12 episodes, each episode is 20 minutes long, each episode has multiple mini stories. If you like anime, you would like this show. If you haven’t seen anime or gave it a try once, give this show a try.