Totally agree with this.

And it isn't just limited to shoujo or manga. Cliches in any demographic, belonging to any medium (novels, movies, anime not excluded) tire you out. It's a waste of time (and in some cases, money) to be reading / watching stuff that reiterate the same tired plot outline over and over again. And it's definitely a let-down when you were expecting something new and unique, just to get the same old drivel you've been seeing since infancy.

"Cliches makes things fun" is some people's view of the matter. But actually, the only reason you think such a thing is fun is because you haven't had enough experience in the field. Once you've read a lot of manga, the cliched shoujo formula will no longer succeed in keeping you entertained...not unless you're the kind of person who enjoys predictability and boredom

I have read a lot of shoujo manga...but most of the ones I've read have cliches that make the story exciting--the author might make the cliche seem well done. Sometimes it's repetitive, but if the story idea overall is original and it has a good ending, then the cliches aren't a big deal for me. I look forward to the plot and storyline than little cliches thrown in here and there. ^^ However, if the story is almost cliche-free, then it becomes my favorite.

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I ♥ Shoujo!

i hate formulaic cliches that are utterly predictable and where it seems like the mangaka has no idea that this idea/scenario hasn't already been showcased in like a zillion other shoujo manga. dude, been there, done that.

like the typical "omg he has a cold, i must go see him and make sure he's okay!" scenario, the super sexy childhood friend comes back into the picture to be a rival scenario, or the dorky childhood friend is always at the heroine's side but almost NEVER gets chosen scenario, a random fiance from nowhere is introduced as a rival scenario, hot bishie is interested in heroine but he has a rabid fangirl club who bullies her scenario (and of course he'll defend her crying ass in one scene), i could go on forever.

i mean, if a mangaka wants romantic drama, lose the gimmicks and make the couple go through the garbage the rest of us go through. family approval drama, long distance challenges, money hardships, school/real-life getting in the way of the relationship and vice versa, etc. and if it's a fantasy manga then introduce warring nations, split dimensions, time travel, the whole kit and kaboodle. those could be cliched too, but only a really bad mangaka could make those situations bland and repetitive.

although i admit that sometimes mangaka can make some annoying cliches amusing. like parody mangas or mangas where a lot of role reversal is involved. ai morinaga comes to mind almost immediately, lol.

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;D

This is bullshit. Shoujo manga simply means it is mostly directed at young girls and doesn not even need romance. The ones with horrible cliches is simply bad writing. There is plenty of Shoujo manga that are both violent/fantasy/fighting/has a male lead/Has an adult lead etc etc. Shoujo has just as much to choose from as any other genre. (Not too mention that Shounen ai is also part of the Shoujo genre.) Some examples of sucsessfull shoujo manga include;

Ludwig Kakumei; The story of a necrophilic prince who collects female corpses.
Olimpos; A philosophical story of Ganymedes stay in Apollo's garden.
Clover; Tells the story of four people doomed to death because of their position as "Clovers"
X; The extremley violent and Gory story of how the world is ending in 1999
[m]Shounen Zansou[/m]; The story of a 15 year old male protitute who gets into a relationship with a serial killer.
Angel Sanctuary; The story of a boy who is the reincarnation of a female angel and in love with his own sister.
After school Nightmare; The story of a boy who is intersex and needs to literally survive his worst nightmare to graduate from school.

So. Basically. There is plenty of fantastic Shoujo manga without those cliches you talk about. Shoujo =/= romance.

....they are cliches...thats what wrong bout them....

cliche x 2 manga = ok

clich x 10000 mangas = NOT ok

Ah, I actually find nothing wrong with shoujo cliches, if they're done in a non OMG-this-heroine-is-an-absolute-idiot-may-I-please-kill-her way. I mean, there are only so many times the heroine can get saved by the awesomely popular and perfect bishie guy for it to not be annoying. Although it does get annoying when you KNOW there are a few things that will usually ALWAYS happen in a shoujo. Like, the stereotypical love triangle, with the childhood friend and new, hot bishie. I don't even know why mangakas still use that. EVERYONE knows the childhood friend doesn't get the girl, despite his better choice-ness.

But, still, for example, I really liked V.B. Rose, and it was predictable and cliched, but the heroine was so cute and I liked all the characters so much. The art was so pretty, too. And in Penguin Revolution there are cliches (beautiful girl who's actually a guy *gasp* and the heroine who's only forgetful when it comes to locking the bathroom door, for example), but Yukari is one of my favorite shoujo heroines and it's one of my favorite shoujo manga.

So, I think shoujo cliches are totally okay (it IS shoujo, and love, etc., normal situations don't really get the reader to go, "Awww!') as long as the characters are good and/or there's a good plot. Look at the things people call original and the heroines that people really like. Like in Beauty Pop, and in [m]Perfect Girl Revolution[/m] Sunako goes through the kidnapping cliche. Although, applause for the mangaka for her being awesome and getting kidnapped 'cause of her doll, LOL.

Uh, yeah, sorry for my inability to not type an essay about this, heheh.

cliches are fine, but I kinda hate it if I read like 6+ volumes and nothing actually happen

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"we are people because of other people"
"I am who I am because of who we all are"

Well, even in the BEST shoujos there is some sort of cliched material, but what ppl get so frustrated about (including me) is that they're tired of seeing them SO often.

To me, a cliche can ruin a whole series if its integrated into a main character that will stay with the story. Example: "perfect in every way" guy (Maid Sama) is very unrealistic and unfortunately common.

But small cliche's in the story like: girl gets cornered by thugs in alley and her love comes to the rescue, that doesn't bother me AS much, but I'd wish they'd be more original...

But, honestly, Im starting to predict such events in new manga I read and I end up being right 80% of the time

but cliche's are things most, if not EVERY shoujo fan has to deal with.

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Proud supporter of Commoner's Instant Coffee

It's like watching the same episode of a show over and over again, except with different names. Painful.

well there are cliches that are funny and there are ones that makes you want to rip you hair out and spit out blood (it's usually depends on how the mangaka executes it).
Most shoujo mangakas/mangas overuse cliches. I mean few are fine but, sometimes it gets to a point that it's frustrating. There's not much originality in romance shoujo mangas if you carefully dissect'em ya know (they are also very predictable most of the time)
One of the most used cliches (err- outline?) is when the super pretty boy(usually a bad boy) falls in love with the normal looking girl, but strangely the girl turns out to be prettier that 95% of the females in the manga itself...and the guy picks up kittens or such to show his "gentle caring"side(pfft!) and sometimes (which is most of the time) some other good lookin boy comes out and wants to win the heroine's heart then becomes a love triangle. then later on the girl realizes that she likes the main character guy too and they live happily ever after. the end isn't this basically 95% of the shoujo romance plot outline?
this is the reason why I stopped reading 99% of shoujo-romance manga...you'll someday understand if you ever get sick of shoujo-romance manga and move on to other genres. (sorry, I'm not in a good mood so I'm really stabbing this genre (shoujo-romance) in the gut...)

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I hear you say "Why?" Always "Why?" You see things; and you say "Why?" But I dream things that never were; and I say "Why not?"

Most cliches don't bother me.
I acutally find them cute. Which is why I read shojo.
If most people didn't find them cute, they wouldn't be used. If people are so bothered by it, then don't read it.(not trying to sound rude, but honestly. If you don't like candy, then don't eat candy! It's that simple)
But overall, almost every story has some form of cliche. Which is why it bothers me that people complain about it so much. If storyies didn't have some form of cliche, not only would the readers not be interested, but they wouldn't be able to fall in to genres.

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Sometimes, it's hard not to write with things that have been done before.
In college, I was reading works be a well-known author, and the reference material would give examples of where similar stories and plot devices had been used before, or existed in folk tales and legends. The punch line is: the author was a fellow named William Shakespeare.
"There is nothing new under the sun."

That said, go wild at tvtropes.org.

It's okay to some extent... but not if it's overused.
For me a manga is all about how you present the story. The storyline, characters (personality, backstory, etc), support characters... Really, you can find cliches everywhere but some are presented in an interesting way and some don't.
One shoujo that I still follow and in fact, in my top ten most favorite (ongoing) manga is Skip Beat which, of course, still has its share of cliche moments. But I like how the story doesn't focus solely on romance. And most of the characters have a background story of why s/he does this or that.
And one important point, the heroine is not weak, crybaby, or has an attitude like 'this whole world will end if I don't have a boyfriend'. Meh.

Cliches become predictable and annoying, and most of the time make me want to roll my eyes or perhaps regurgitate my last meal.
A love story doesn't have to go along the lines of "guy meets girl. They fall in love....Ta DAH!" There's a thing called imagination, I respect authors who can use it.

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Go to work, send your kids to school;
Follow fashion, act normal;
Walk on the pavement, watch T.V.;
Save for retirement, obey the law.
Repeat after me: I am free.

It's not the cliches that bother me, or else why continue reading shoujo at all? How much originality and creativity can you inject into a medium and subject that's as saturated as shoujo without alienating your demographic? The only manga-ka that I know of who can do this with success is Ai Yazawa.

Besides, I read shoujo because I like the cliches. I like the love triangles, the drama, the unrealistic devotion these characters seem to have for one another. It's not the lack of originality that bothers me most, it's the execution. Some manga-kas have it, some don't. Some know the ingredients for making a good shoujo, and they're good at kind of mixing it together, but at the end of the day, they can't seem to get the formula right.

In most cases, it's simply because the manga-ka is better at some things than others - like drawing. Look at the sustained popularity of mediocre work like Vampire Knight, The Bride of the Water God, or Goong. What they lack in terms of plot, coherence, pacing, character depth, they make up in the art department, and that is one of the main reasons why they continue to stay popular.

A lot of people fall into the traps of becoming obsessed with mediocrity simply because these shoujos contain elements that rate highly with most readers. Art, bishonens, vampires ( ), taboo subjects, and smut.

Urgh, I guess I kind of ran off topic, but what I'm getting at is that cliches are all right with proper execution. You can watch a romantic comedy that has all the same jokes with the expected outcomes and still enjoy it if it's done right.