Exceptions to the rule

**Sean Whitmore** · 03-11-2007, 05:01 PM

I'm all for any anime that eschews cliche. Very few (if any) can avoid them all, but there are probably quite a few that manage to sidestep the big ones. See how many animes you can name that avoids each of the cliches below (not one anime that avoids them all, as some are genre-specific). If you can think of any I missed, suggest your own as well.

A fantasy anime that doesn't involve some kid from the "real" world crossing over into another world.

An anime where the lead man and woman have a good in-story reason not getting together.

A fighting anime where the lead hero has a love interest who doesn't passive-aggressively slap the shit out him for comedic effect.

An anime where a government agency hunts down a specific enemy (say, vampires or demons), but doesn't have a team member that is related to that enemy (a half-vampire or a half-demon).

An anime where the supernatural investigators don't have some cute, made-up name for whatever it is they hunt (i.e. Aragami, Hollow, Chiroptera, Methuselahs).

An aime where we meets the hero's eventual love interest in an episode other than the first.

An anime with energy-wielders (ki, chi, spirit energy, etc) where the lead hero doesn't have deep, untapped reserves of raw power that surprise everyone around him.

A fighting anime that doesn't have an abrasive tough guy who eventually becomes a lovable second bannana.

A "robot suit" anime where the lead pilot doesn't have severe emotional hangups (at least more than any non-robot-pilot anime hero).

An anime with an old man character who has no perverted tendencies.

An anime where the hero defeats the main villain of the series by being smarter, not by being stronger or better-skilled. (And by smarter, I don't mean devising the perfect laser beam attack or something)

An anime where the bad guy wins.

SEAN

**Kevinroc** · 03-11-2007, 05:33 PM

Originally Posted by Sean Whitmore

I'm all for any anime that eschews cliche. Very few (if any) can avoid them all, but there are probably quite a few that manage to sidestep the big ones. See how many animes you can name that avoids each of the cliches below (not one anime that avoids them all, as some are genre-specific). If you can think of any I missed, suggest your own as well.

A fantasy anime that doesn't involve some kid from the "real" world crossing over into another world.

Scrapped Princess. Or you could try Slayers.

An anime where the lead man and woman have a good in-story reason not getting together.

Escaflowne.

A fighting anime where the lead hero has a love interest who doesn't passive-aggressively slap the shit out him for comedic effect.

Gantz. Warning, GANTZ is not for kids. AT ALL.

An anime where a government agency hunts down a specific enemy (say, vampires or demons), but doesn't have a team member that is related to that enemy (a half-vampire or a half-demon).

Stratos 4. (Edit: Sorta... It's hard to explain but it does follow your criteria.)

An anime where the supernatural investigators don't have some cute, made-up name for whatever it is they hunt (i.e. Aragami, Hollow, Chiroptera, Methuselahs).

Paranoia Agent.

An aime where we meets the hero's eventual love interest in an episode other than the first.

Angelic Layer.

An anime with energy-wielders (ki, chi, spirit energy, etc) where the lead hero doesn't have deep, untapped reserves of raw power that surprise everyone around him.

Kimagure Orange Road. (Okay, it's a romantic comedy but they have super natural powers.)

A fighting anime that doesn't have an abrasive tough guy who eventually becomes a lovable second bannana.

Berserk.

A "robot suit" anime where the lead pilot doesn't have severe emotional hangups (at least more than any non-robot-pilot anime hero).

Fullmetal Panic.

An anime with an old man character who has no perverted tendencies.

Mermaid Saga. (Hey, Yuta's over 500 years old. I know he's got the body of a young man but that should count.)

An anime where the hero defeats the main villain of the series by being smarter, not by being stronger or better-skilled. (And by smarter, I don't mean devising the perfect laser beam attack or something)

Spiral.

An anime where the bad guy wins.

Berserk.

SEAN

Kevin. :p

**Sean Whitmore** · 03-11-2007, 05:38 PM

Cool answers, Kevin! Well, the couple I actually recognized, anyway. :)

Could you say a few words about why you believe each of your choices fits the category? Obviously, something like "Slayers doesn't have any kids from the real world" goes without saying, but I'm interested in what the reason is why the Escaflowne characters don't get together, or how Spiral's hero uses his brains to win in the end.

Crap, I probably shoulda thrown a *spoilers* thing into the thread name, huh?

SEAN

**Kevinroc** · 03-11-2007, 05:42 PM

Originally Posted by Sean Whitmore

Cool answers, Kevin! Well, the couple I actually recognized, anyway. :)

Could you say a few words about why you believe each of your choices fits the category? Obviously, something like "Slayers doesn't have any kids from the real world" goes without saying, but I'm interested in what the reason is why the Escaflowne characters don't get together, or how Spiral's hero uses his brains to win in the end.

Crap, I probably shoulda thrown a *spoilers* thing into the thread name, huh?

SEAN

Which entries do you want me to expand upon? I will. But I want to know which ones. I'll toss in a spoiler warning and explain each of my answers.

**Sean Whitmore** · 03-11-2007, 06:09 PM

Specifically the entries for Escaflowne, Stratos 4, Angelic Layer, Kimagure Orange Road, and Spiral. The rest are pretty much "yes or no" type answers.

Oh, and as for the Gantz one, I should have been more specific than "fighting anime". I was thinking more all-ages stuff like Kenshin, Fullmetal, Trigun, and the like. Not sure how to group those into one genre while excluding heavier stuff like, say, Fist of the Northstar.

SEAN

**Sophisticated_Gamer** · 03-11-2007, 06:23 PM

Originally Posted by Kevinroc

Gantz. Warning, GANTZ is not for kids. AT ALL.

Are you talking about the anime or the manga?

Also when is the manga coming to US?

**Sophisticated_Gamer** · 03-11-2007, 06:25 PM

Originally Posted by Sean Whitmore

Specifically the entries for Escaflowne, Stratos 4, Angelic Layer, Kimagure Orange Road, and Spiral. The rest are pretty much "yes or no" type answers.

Oh, and as for the Gantz one, I should have been more specific than "fighting anime". I was thinking more all-ages stuff like Kenshin, Fullmetal, Trigun, and the like. Not sure how to group those into one genre while excluding heavier stuff like, say, Fist of the Northstar.

SEAN

Umm in trigun

A fighting anime where the lead hero has a love interest who doesn't passive-aggressively slap the shit out him for comedic effect.

That dosen't happen....

**Sean Whitmore** · 03-11-2007, 06:28 PM

Originally Posted by Sophisticated_Gamer

Umm in trigun

That dosen't happen....

I guess that depends on whether or not you consider Meryl a love interest.

If you don't (though I do), then just change "love interest" to "female lead".

SEAN

**Sophisticated_Gamer** · 03-11-2007, 06:31 PM

An anime where the bad guy wins.

Yu-Yu Hakusho

spoilers:

The last season, he looses the fight with the main guy, and dosen't advance to the finals...

end of spoilers

**Kevinroc** · 03-11-2007, 06:32 PM

Originally Posted by Sean Whitmore

Specifically the entries for Escaflowne, Stratos 4, Angelic Layer, Kimagure Orange Road, and Spiral. The rest are pretty much "yes or no" type answers.

Escaflowne spoilers.

spoilers:

Hitomi comes from Earth and she can't remain on the other world. She really didn't realize her feelings until the end but she couldn't stay on the other world. And Van couldn't come to Earth because he became a king on his world.

end of spoilers

Stratos 4
spoilers:

Everyone thinks the military organization is destroying dangerous meteorites. Over the course of the series, it is revealed that aliens live in these meteorites and basically take over the minds of humans. IIRC, one of the girls were infected but she didn't become a mind-controlled human. So the humans fight aliens and don't even know it until the end.

end of spoilers

Angelic Layer

spoilers:

The anime reversed the love interests from the manga. In the manga, Misaki's love interest was Kotaro. In the anime, Kotaro seems to have a crush on Misaki but eventually he decides to go out with Tamayo, an old friend of his (and who was in the manga). Towards the end of the series, Ohjiro asks Misaki out and she accepts. But don't get me wrong, AL is mostly about the relationship between Misaki and her mother and the Angelic Layer game.

end of spoilers

Kimagure Orange Road

spoilers:

Kyosuke's family has paranormal powers. The family mostly keeps it a secret amongst themselves but as the series continues, it becomes more about the wacky situations that their powers get them into than the romantic triangle between Kyosuke, Hikaru and Madoka. Since it's a big family and their powers do come up time and again, nobody actually seems surprised by how powerful anyone actually is. Towards the end of the series, Madoka becomes aware of Kyosuke's powers but she isn't too freaked out by it. The movies, which take place after the end of the TV series, are written with the knowledge that Kyosuke's powers aren't important at all.

end of spoilers

Spiral

spoilers:

Spiral revolves around a teenage detective named Ayumu. Ayumu is searching for the mystery of the Blade Children and often comes face to face with life or death traps. He solves these traps by logically thinking of a way out of the dangerous situation. His opponents do not come up with clever enough traps to actually kill him.

The anime never resolves the secret of the Blade Children so I looked it up on Wikipedia. It's very interesting, actually and explains quite a lot about the story.

end of spoilers

Oh, and as for the Gantz one, I should have been more specific than "fighting anime". I was thinking more all-ages stuff like Kenshin, Fullmetal, Trigun, and the like. Not sure how to group those into one genre while excluding heavier stuff like, say, Fist of the Northstar.

Well, that makes things much harder. I'll just stick with Gantz and it's extremely violent and disturbing ways. Gantz makes Fist of the Northstar look tame. Gantz was probably more disturbing to me than the Berserk anime.

**Kevinroc** · 03-11-2007, 06:36 PM

Originally Posted by Sophisticated_Gamer

Are you talking about the anime or the manga?

Also when is the manga coming to US?

I don't know when the manga is coming to the US. But I was talking about the anime.

So disturbing...

Originally Posted by Sophisticated_Gamer

Yu-Yu Hakusho

spoilers:

The last season, he looses the fight with the main guy, and dosen't advance to the finals...

end of spoilers

No, I definitely wouldn't agree with that.

spoilers:

Even though Yusuke lost, the main bad guy lost too. So the main villain didn't win the tournament. Someone else did, who promised to do good.

end of spoilers

I'd argue that Berserk DEFINITELY belongs on that spot. Chrono Crusade belongs on that spot more than YYH, and CC had something of an ambiguous ending.

**Sophisticated_Gamer** · 03-11-2007, 06:39 PM

A fantasy anime that doesn't involve some kid from the "real" world crossing over into another world.

Yu-Gi-Oh

An anime where a government agency hunts down a specific enemy (say, vampires or demons), but doesn't have a team member that is related to that enemy (a half-vampire or a half-demon).

Witch Hunter Robin. ( only for demons)

An anime where the supernatural investigators don't have some cute, made-up name for whatever it is they hunt (i.e. Aragami, Hollow, Chiroptera, Methuselahs).

Yu-Yu Hakusho

An aime where we meets the hero's eventual love interest in an episode other than the first.

S-Cry-Ed

An anime with energy-wielders (ki, chi, spirit energy, etc) where the lead hero doesn't have deep, untapped reserves of raw power that surprise everyone around him.

Yu-Yu Hakusho

A fighting anime that doesn't have an abrasive tough guy who eventually becomes a lovable second bannana.

S-Cry-Ed

An anime with an old man character who has no perverted tendencies.

Naruto (the Hokage)

An anime where the hero defeats the main villain of the series by being smarter, not by being stronger or better-skilled. (And by smarter, I don't mean devising the perfect laser beam attack or something)

Yu-Gi-Oh! AHA!

**Sophisticated_Gamer** · 03-11-2007, 06:42 PM

Originally Posted by Kevinroc

I don't know when the manga is coming to the US. But I was talking about the anime.

So disturbing...

No, I definitely wouldn't agree with that.

spoilers:

Even though Yusuke lost, the main bad guy lost too. So the main villain didn't win the tournament. Someone else did, who promised to do good.

end of spoilers

I'd argue that Berserk DEFINITELY belongs on that spot. Chrono Crusade belongs on that spot more than YYH, and CC had something of an ambiguous ending.

Idk, the Anime was just a little bit wierd, I watched it on Ondemnad, and they only showed the first 2 episodes, and they were also censored...so ya, I'm hopeping to get a hold of the uncensored once...some day

Originally Posted by Kevinroc

I don't know when the manga is coming to the US. But I was talking about the anime.

So disturbing...

No, I definitely wouldn't agree with that.

spoilers:

Even though Yusuke lost, the main bad guy lost too. So the main villain didn't win the tournament. Someone else did, who promised to do good.

end of spoilers

I'd argue that Berserk DEFINITELY belongs on that spot. Chrono Crusade belongs on that spot more than YYH, and CC had something of an ambiguous ending.

Idk, the bad guy did win the match, so it dose answer the question. :rolleyes:

**Kevinroc** · 03-11-2007, 06:47 PM

Originally Posted by Sophisticated_Gamer

Idk, the Anime was just a little bit wierd, I watched it on Ondemnad, and they only showed the first 2 episodes, and they were also censored...so ya, I'm hopeping to get a hold of the uncensored once...some day

Oh man, you have NO idea how WRONG that series really is.

Idk, the bad guy did win the match, so it dose answer the question. :rolleyes:

No, it really doesn't. Because the good guys still win in the end. I was talking about series where the good guys definitely don't win in the end. Which is what my mind thinks of when I am confronted by the question of "where the bad guy wins".

**Sean Whitmore** · 03-11-2007, 06:49 PM

Wow. Okay, SG, let's see if I can steer you back on track...

Originally Posted by Sophisticated_Gamer

Yu-Gi-Oh

Not what's generally considered a fantasy anime. I'm thinking Lodoss War, Slayers (which are both good examples of exceptions), Inu Yasha, Noein, Maze, Those Who Hunt Elves, etc.

Witch Hunter Robin. ( only for demons)

They use Robin the witch to hunt witches, so...no.

Yu-Yu Hakusho

That's iffy. Is "yokai" a made-up term, or just the Japanese word for "demon"?

S-Cry-Ed

Which love interest are you referring to? Mimori? She was in the first episode.

Yu-Yu Hakusho

WHAT? What would you call Yusuke?

Yu-Gi-Oh! AHA!

That might be a good one. I assume you're referring to him winning with his card-playing skills? (I don't watch it)

SEAN