CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

This thread is for those plot devices that get used all the time in anime but rarely get used correctly, of in a way that enhances the story.
For example, estranged, absent, or dead parents. Lots of anime use this, but very few enhance the story with it. I would say the only two I can think of are Fruits Basket and the FMAs.

Love triangles. Particularly the shoujo ones where two characters have established feelings for each other, and a third waltzes in even though he/she doesn't stand a chance.

Anything related to Time Travel.

Illnesses. You don't get a cold from standing in the rain.

Breast physics. Or just breasts in general.

These are all good, but can you think of an anime where it was used well or realistically?

Oh. Let's see...

Well Done Love Triangles:
Chihayafuru. Macross Frontier. RahXephon.

Well Done Illnesses:
Chihayafuru ( SPOILER: Highlight text to read: Arata's Grandfather).

For colds, I don't mind them so long as it isn't from walking in the rain or spending a little time out in the cold. For everything else, it's the "chronically sick with an ambiguous disorder that makes them bedridden and/or hospitalized for a while" shtick that gets tiring.

AMNESIA. This goes for basically every form of entertainment, not just anime. Amnesia as a sudden plot device drives me crazy, mostly because it's used as a way to artificially extend tension, and eventually everyone recovers completely. It's just lazy writing.

Vii wrote:Oh. Let's see...

Well Done Love Triangles:
RahXephon.

I really loved the genuinely triangular bisexual love triangle between the scientists in RahXephon , more series need that.

Tsunderes? They're *everywhere*, but only a few I've found actually are tolerable or enjoyable to watch. (In my opinion of course)

Mecha that have weight and move like giant hulking robots. Any fool can make robots hop around like ninjas on speed, and sure, I do like that too. But I like it better with some oomph behind every move. Big O does the best at it, followed closely by Giant Robo and Battletech/MechWarrior stuff; Gundam makes a couple half-hearted attempts at it in 08th MS Team, but most shows just use a scene or two of the heavy slow stuff for an establishing effect and then goes back to treating them like normal-sized people.

How about Tsundere and Moe?

And no it's never been done well. It would be done well if those archetypes didn't exist.

Mr. SmartyPants wrote:And no it's never been done well. It would be done well if those archetypes didn't exist.

I think it's a bit too cynical to say something has never been done well by nature of its archetype existing. By that vein of thought, pretty much nothing in existence is ever done well.

Regarding the tsundere archetype, I have fairly strong opinions on that since I personally love a well written tsundere. However, the market of anime is overly saturated with the most poorly written tsundere characters, especially in the last ~7 years since KugiRie's claim to fame. Pretty much every single one of them can hardly qualify as an actual tsundere as they are essentially tsuntsun because writers take the most cliched and overused lines and shove them into the dialogue at every chance they get with no real clue how to execute anything else. Unsurprisingly, the archetype within the bounds of anime is almost exclusively seen as a very cookie-cutter tsundere, so to speak, to fill the role as a love interest.

To bring this back to the topic of the thread (actually, I feel archetypes as a whole don't really belong in this thread since OP is asking for plot devices, oops), yes, good execution pretty much does not exist at all in anime but they aren't nonexistent. Though, I've been told some of the best examples exist in stories with no English translations (let alone anime adaptions), so, meh. Kotobuki Nanase of Bungaku Shoujo is probably my favorite tsundere of all time, but Touko steals all the screen time so no one remembers her, and since the adaption is only a movie + 3 OVAs, you only really see her for a single OVA which hardly does her character justice. I suppose the best/most popular examples in anime would have to be Hinagiku and Makise Kurisu, though I think the Nanase OVA would be a good watch to see what an actual tsundere is like.

This might seem kind of weird, but bear with me; it's one of the things that annoys me most in anime.

Blood spraying like a fire hydrant when someone gets slashed, stabbed, etc. Sooooo unrealistic 99% of the time, but there's actually this cool sword in the FMA movie Sacred Star of Milos that has a mechanism in it that makes the blood spray out, so it's actually halfway believable! That's the only time I've seen blood sprays used as a plot device, and I thought it was a good redemption of a trend I hate.

Davidizer13 wrote:Mecha that have weight and move like giant hulking robots. Any fool can make robots hop around like ninjas on speed, and sure, I do like that too. But I like it better with some oomph behind every move. Big O does the best at it, followed closely by Giant Robo and Battletech/MechWarrior stuff; Gundam makes a couple half-hearted attempts at it in 08th MS Team, but most shows just use a scene or two of the heavy slow stuff for an establishing effect and then goes back to treating them like normal-sized people.

See Tetsujin 28-go (the 2004 TV series). It shares a lot of the same staff as the anime you mention.

Yuki-Anne wrote:AMNESIA. This goes for basically every form of entertainment, not just anime. Amnesia as a sudden plot device drives me crazy, mostly because it's used as a way to artificially extend tension, and eventually everyone recovers completely. It's just lazy writing.

I think sometimes it can work in a series' favor. One of the best is probably Angel Beats. He grows up twice, and it adds a nice dimention to his character.

Harems. 'Nuff said.

FourFourSeven wrote:Harems. 'Nuff said.

Where it was done well: Clannad and Kannon

Well-written Tsunderes: Kyo Sohma (The only on I can think of right now)

I think that to have a good Tsundere, it must not be the only facet of their personality, and probably not even the most defining one at that. I suppose that could also go for any archetype.

Really, most tropes are not used well simply because people think that because they're tropes, you can use them lazily and it'll be fine, without adding anything original to it.

Ahh, Clannad, the first anime to completely top my personal 'A' list. Forever.

Romance misunderstandings.

Parallel dimensions/Alternate Universe.