Random Cliches Only Anime Fans Will Understand (18 items)

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  (#1) The More You Glow, The Stronger You Are

  This is a simple rule of anime that cannot be disputed. The more you are glowing, the stronger you are. Have you ever seen Krillin glow? Didn't think so.
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  (#2) The Overpowering Sound of Cicadas

  What's the best way an anime can let you know it's supposed to be summer time? If you answered, "add extremely loud cicada noises that loop over and over again," then you are absolutely correct! Every anime veteran has recognized this trope in at least one series they've watched, and it's become somewhat of a joke within the anime community. 
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  (#3) Hero Always Has Enourmous Appetite

  What is it about anime characters and their insatiable appetites? The two names that come to mind are Goku and Luffy, but it certainly doesn't stop there. Remember that episode of Samurai Champloo, when Fuu gorged herself during an eating contest? The sad part is that she accidentally threw in the towel and didn't even end up winning. For whatever reason overeating in anime is a staple in almost every series, but who can blame the characters? The food always looks so damn good.
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  (#4) The Bad Guys That Turn Good

  Ah yes, the character that for the first 50 or so episodes is extremely evil, but eventually switches over and becomes a good guy. To be fair this usually only happens in Shonen Jump series, where characters like Vegeta (DBZ), Renji (Bleach), Gaara (Naruto), and Franky & Nico Robin (One Piece) all eventually made the switch from foe to friend. If you're starting a long series and there is a bad guy that you wish was good, don't worry! Chances are they'll probably end up on the winning team eventually.
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  (#5) Yelling The Name Of Your Special Attack As You Do It

  One does not simply do their special move without yelling the name of it. That is pretty much the #1 golden rule of anime. Whether it's "Kamehameha," "Final Flash," "Rasengan," "Sharingan," "Gum Gum Pistol," or anything else, it's an unwritten law that a character must shout the name of their attack before they actually use it. Does it make it 10x more obvious that the attack is coming? Yes. Does it ever actually matter? No, no it does not.
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  (#6) Thinking The Enemy Is Dead When They Clearly Aren't

  This is probably one of the most notorious cliches on this list, purely in terms of how often it happens it anime. Here's how it always, ALWAYS goes down:

  1. Good guy delivers "final blow" to enemy
  2. One of his companions says, "you did it!"
  3. The enemy reveals they aren't hurt at all

  I can pretty much guarantee you that if you ever hear a character say "Alright, you did it!" that the bad guy is 100%, without a doubt, not dead. 
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  (#7) The Beach Episode

  In a lot of anime, there is a filler episode that revolves around all the characters going to the beach (or sometimes a pool) to hang out and have a good time. There is one reason and one reason only that the beach episode exists....fan service. The girls are scantily clad in their sexy bathing suits, and the guys have their shirts off to show off their abs and muscles. Thanks beach episode! I always wondered what my favorite female character looked like half naked!
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  (#8) The Exaggerated Facial Expresions

  Whether it's shock, embarrassment, excitement, or anger, many anime characters will put on a completely ridiculous face to express how they're feeling. Sometimes it's tiny eyes to express confusion, while other times it's an extreme blush to show that they're smitten. All I know is don't call Edward Elrich short, or you might see an example of this.
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  (#9) The Pervert Character

  Sanji, Master Roshi, Jiraya...this is just scratching the surface when talking about perverted anime characters who are obsessed with women. Hell, even the original Pokemon series had a pervert in Brock, who couldn't help but swoon over the Nurse Joys and Office Jennys of the world. A pervert's #1 weakness will always be beautiful women, even in battle.
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  (#10) Saying "At This Rate..."

  Good gravy, how many times have we heard this one? This is an anime character's way of saying, "If something doesn't change here, I'm going to die." Another similar phrase is "I'll have to use THAT technique," which teases a new special ability that we haven't seen yet. Stop being so vague dammit!
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  (#11) Breathing In Disbelief

  When something bad is happening in an anime, the camera almost always pans to multiple characters for reaction shots of their faces. The character will have wide eyes filled with horror, and a stuttered breathing like they're pushing out a really big turd. This most often happens when the main character is really hurt, or when the villain has just revealed a new power or strength that they didn't know about.
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  (#12) The Protagonists Are Really Young

  If you're watching any given anime, chances are the the protagonists are between the ages of 13-18. However, it's often easy to overlook this, especially in fighting/action anime where the main character is so strong. For example, kid Gohan was only 11 years old when he took down Cell, and at the time he was the strongest character on Dragon Ball Z.
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  (#13) The Hero Always Arriving Late

  Remember when Goku was still recovering on Namek, leaving Vegeta, Gohan and the rest to take on Frieza and his cronies by themselves? How about when Luffy got stuck in the giant snake's belly, and had to wait to fight Eneru? Time and time again, something will happen to the hero that causes him/her to arrive fashionably late on the scene, a trope that helps build suspense and anticipation.
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  (#14) Sprinkling English Words Into The Japanese Intro Song

  This is something that old-school anime fans can definitely relate to more, but it still happens in modern anime. Take the second Death Note intro that's shown above for example. What the hell does "We've always been this to free all this pain" mean? That literally makes zero sense, but the line is sung twice in the song before going into the Japanese lyrics. This is such a cliche in anime that South Park even made fun of it in their season 7 episode "Good Times With Weapons," where the Japanese song "Let's Fighting Love" sprinkles in phrases like "protect my balls" during the song.
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  (#15) Sneezing When Someone Is Talking About You

  There is an old Japanese superstition that when you sneeze, someone is talking about you. If you sneeze once, someone is definitely talking about you, and if you sneeze twice, someone is saying something bad about you. This has been seen in many anime, including Fullmetal Alchemist, Rurouni Kenshin, Dragonball Z, and plenty of others. Achoo! Achoo! Hey, which one of you is trash talking me?!
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  (#16) That Episode Where The Animation Suddenly Gets Better

  You've probably noticed in long-form series that after a certain episode, the animation starts to look way better. If you've ever wondered why, it's simply because the show has become more popular, thus resulting in more funding and better quality animation. In the original Naruto, it's very noticeable when Naruto fights Sasuke at the Final Valley. For Bleach, many cite the Ichigo vs Grimmjow fight as the turning point for better animation. 
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  (#17) The Soft Spoken Glasses Character

  The glasses character has a few traits that you will almost always notice. They are always cool and collected, intelligent, and very soft spoken. They also always push their glasses up to their eyes by the bridge, which makes them look sooooo cool. Sometimes when they're really mad their glasses will even reflect light off of them, which doesn't really make sense but it sure looks badass!
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  (#18) Swords Are Strong As Hell

  If there is a character who wields a sword in an anime, chances are that he/she is an extremely powerful foe. Swords in anime come in all shapes and sizes, and can always rival the power of a gun (think Spike vs Vicious in Cowboy Bebop.) Sword users often have some kind of special ability that goes along with their blade, as Zoro demonstrates above.

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