An anime theme that I have a love hate relationship with?
I can certainly think of some things that I love, and others that I hate, but both at once?
Looks like I’ll need the thinking cap for this one.
Alright so after some thinking this is what I’ve come up with.
The first answer I came up with is the actual “isekai” (other world) part of the isekai genre. Because when done right, in a way that actually makes use of the “other world element” (for example: Mushoku Tensei) I think the isekai element can lead to some great angles on stories that regular fantasy couldn’t achieve. Even a simple tie in to the protagonist’s original world (for example: No Game No Life) can be enough to make it seem worth it for the protagonist(s) to end up in another world and enhance the story.
But the isekai element doesn’t always enhance the story, it’s not a get out of jail free card that can be slapped onto any story to make it better. When this element is used poorly, and we just get something like a pointless 20 second intro before the protagonist(s) is transported to the other world (or in some cases, we never actually see the original world and are just told they are from another world) it only serves to bring down the genre. Many isekai anime that are being churned out today could easily just be regular fantasy anime because the isekai portion of the story is completely unnecessary and obviously slapped on.
And that just ain’t right.
The other answer I thought of for this is tropes in general (some not exclusive to anime even).
Things like the nosebleed, villains playing chess against themselves, the turncoat, the childhood friend, the tsundere personality type, and so on.
And the reason I’m clumping these tropes together is because I do like that these tropes are a part of anime, and we all have many memories from many series where these things have happened. Just like how the Wilhelm scream is still used in movies today, I think it’s cool that there are many longstanding tropes that are almost like tradition for anime studios to include in their creations. That’s the love aspect.
And the hate aspect is simply that many tropes are annoying, dumb, or just take away from certain scenes / stories. Like I can’t not notice the villain playing chess alone anymore, and it sort of makes me laugh, but it also makes me see the character in a less serious light. I also hate the nosebleed trope, because I just think it’s gross, and always have. And I have mixed feelings about a lot of other tropes. I do like some, such as the turncoat trope, but then even that can be a bit much when the all powerful villain becomes a weakling the moment they switch sides.
Anyways, tropes are a mixed bag, which is why I thought of them here.
Considering how often we criticize the things we love and hate, I guess you could say there’s an element of “love hate” in most things.
What’s a theme that you both love and hate in anime?
Until next time,
Thanks for reading.
Umai Yomu Anime Blog 
My first thought was Isekai that don’t need to be as well. If it doesn’t add to the story then what was the point. Just make it fantasy. I’m sure there are enough pure fantasy fans to sustain the genre…
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Also, I don’t mind the little nosebleeds where it’s like a tiny trickle, but the ridiculous ones that fire them through the air have got to go.
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Honestly to me it’s just gross more than anything, I mean really you’d think that they could find a better way to show that a boy is attracted to a girl without having blood drip down his face. Usually the face he is making alone is enough to tell us that haha.
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Hmm, I think one reoccurring theme that I might love or hate would be the very small child character. When done right this character can be very heart warming and adorable! For example Miri from Buddy Daddies or Anya from SpyXFamily. When done wrong these characters can be super annoying. The annoying version of this character is usually seen in the “babysitting” episodes of anime. Like a shonen anime that has that one episode in which the main character has to watch a younger cousin or a friend’s younger sibling for a day.
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Great answer, definitely. There are a lot of kids who are super cute, and a lot of kids who are super snotty and jerks, or annoying like that kid in Saiki K who is obsessed with that soda action hero.
That, and I’m sure that many people feel the same towards real life children too haha. So anime does a great job there.
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I think some producers think that slapping the isekai label on an anime gives then a couple more points in the ratings. It allows some poor dweeb to fantasize, “This could happen to me!” So the originating world gets referenced in the first few minutes and then you do the shounen you’d planned to do all along. I don’t consider most isekai to be isekai at all.
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Yep, that definitely seems to be the case. It’s kind of sad to think about the sheer amount of anime that is produced to appeal to that audience, both with the dumb / boring protagonists, and then having said protagonist go to another world.
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It’s hard for me to say I hate this theme with a passion, since I’m mostly an indifferent person when it comes to such but the one where the “childhood crush loses to new girl on the block” (think Nisekoi) doesn’t sit well with me, and often times is awkwardly shoehorned/teased into the plot.
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Yeah it’s a strange thing, I don’t mind who gets the guy but the thing that I typically don’t like is when the childhood friend (usually the tsundere ones) will literally beat the guy or get angry at him for doing things as if she’s his girlfriend, when she technically isnt, like she has this entitlement or whatever.
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