"Parents are dead" that's a cliche I think.
Almost every shoujo, one of the character's parent are dead because of a car crash or w/e...

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I believe the point that I realized this was a cliche was when I read a manga, and two characters were talking about the heroine's past. I predicted that she had lost her parents, was happy on the outside and sad on the inside, and that she was living alone. And I was right, almost to the exact word.

The second cliche I am most tired of is where the heroine defended the main guy when he was a kid from bullies. Annoys me so much, especially since this cliche shows ujp so much. I realize that bullying is a big thing in Japan, but I can't imagine a gang of four kids rounding on one little kid, especially when they seem to have better things to do. And then, the girl shows up and merely yells at them to stop picking on the kid, and the bullies run away! I don't get this, at all.

The worst cliche is the main character is an average whatever age girl, but she looks super pretty and has many secret boy admirers yet to come, usually some stupid childhood friend. But instead she goes for the cold hearted guy. That cliche is used a ton in shoujo.

Girl falls for popular guy, whose fan-club proceeds to bully the girl


This happens so often

Breast volume is transferred to eye volume, instead

Guy touches the girl (on her hand, cheek, hair, face ...) then the guy instantly knows that the girl is into him. Like he can hear her heart beating his name already!

One exception might be Kimi ni Todoke.




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"I love you like the plant that never blooms yet carries in itself the light of hidden flowers.
I love you as certain dark things are to be loved, in secret, between the shadow and the soul" - Sonnet XVII

This is a cliche in literature too (usually children's), not just in shoujo or manga. Fiction is fraught with orphans. (Cinderella, Harry Potter, Orphan Annie, Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, Pip from Great Expectations, and so many more.) If the parents aren't dead, they are somehow absent, unfit, or "hands off". Lets be honest, half the exciting adventures that happen to young heroes and heroines wouldn't happen with strong parental figures. An example in the case of shoujo: what sane parent would let their daughter cohabit with a person (or multiple people) of the opposite gender (a cliche that seems perennially connected to this one)?

The other cliche I thought of was the secret. A lead character has an terrible, awful secret (half the time it isn't really terrible or awful at all, they just think it is) that they don't want anyone to know about. Then the other lead character finds out. Usually this is the opening premise of the manga, and how the characters meet. Alternately the person with the secret is a close friend/family member and the lead is trying to protect them. See also: secret relationship or secretly gorgeous.

Bestfriends of heroine are always cool and confident, intelligent, far more experienced in every level and of course, mostly boy-crazy.
Bestfriends of Hero are always goofy guys who tease the hero about his love life.

ugh. even bestfriends fall into one personality.

For me, it'll be super dense girls when it's REAAAAAAALLY obvious that the guy likes her. I mean, I'm dense as well in those kind of matters but.... oh please.... too much denseness makes my head ache.

yeah, i notice that a lot too.

guy (very popular) x girl (just normal) or vice versa.

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Naoto ♥ Haine

-it takes five volumes before "the confession" and another five before they actually start going out
-lying about meeting someone else to spare love interest's feelings and them finding about it later
-meddling friends who make it a sport to hook main characters up because they have nothing else to do
-the "sick scenario"... so nauseating!
-long drawn-out crying scenes

Last edited by 19eightyOne at 8:16 pm, May 18 2010

-Girl likes boy and confesses to him. She is coldly rejected BUT! She does not lose hope! She trusts that as long as she keeps liking him, it will be okay, even if she can only see him from a distance. The guy eventually wakes up to her affection, realizes she's actually quite cute and smart and nice and pleasant to be around and starts to like her even if he has a girlfriend. He will then dump his girlfriend and go after the first girl and they will live happily ever after.
Man, I hate this one. ESPECIALLY if there's another guy who totally likes the girl and would be way better suited to her, she never chooses him. There is only one main guy and the girl will always like him. I mean, I think in real life most people would choose to give up on this guy but not the Spunky Shoujo Heroine! It really bothers me. For once, I'd like to see a manga where the girl chooses the other guy. Not the one who was introduced first, the one who was introduced in the middle. I'd like to see a girl who slowly changes her feelings from one guy to another. But nope! Even if the other guy is just as courageous and obsessed as she is, she will just not look at him because he is not her One True Love.

-Guy who treats girl like crap and pretty much rapes her
This is a pretty big one too. I wonder why it's so popular? It's pretty disgusting, in my opinion.

-Spunky girl gets a playboy to change his ways because she is the first girl to not fall for his charms
"Oh! You have the nerve to mouth off to me? OH MY GOD I LOVE YOU BECAUSE YOU ARE JUST SO DIFFERENT!"

-Girl who is in love with her classmate after seeing him once

-Girl transfers to a new school and somehow captures the attentions of the five hottest guys in the school. She is then bullied by their fan club, until the Hot Guys come to her rescue and make their fangirls stop by making them feel guilty about letting their idols down. The girl then befriends the entire fanclub, except for the president of the fanclub and the extremists who are still Very Much in Love with the Hot Guys, who will continue to bully the girl until the end of the story, during which the main girl will make them see the errors of their ways.

-Vengeful Ex comes to ruin the relationship, and attempts suicide after seeing that their former lover will not take them back

-Girl is bullied by her classmates because she is "plain" and "ugly" but is really the most beautiful girl in the school once she takes off her glasses/undoes her braids, etc. Then the Hot Guys swarm around her.

-Girl and boy are finally in a relationship. Boy wants to have sex, but girl isn't ready. They then have a big fight over it. OR, alternatively, they ARE having sex and the girl freaks out and tells him to stop.

-Girl in a boys school
Actually, this one can turn out pretty well (Hana Kimi) but when done badly, it is just so so awful.

stupid girl with the genius guy

- person gets fever and the one who loves him/her pays a visit
- when the girl is clumsy and the guy says she´s cute
- love rivals
- all the bishies fall for the female lead even if she isn´t pretty/cute
- festival or beachtrips when the girls look good in thier yukatas or swimsuits
- the guy acts cold towards the girl but is in love with her
- all the cold guys have a cut smile
- superdense main characters

Last edited by ShadowSakura at 9:28 am, May 21 2010

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currently reading: Nyotai-ka
please support me

Yay! Somewhere I can rant about the most hateful cliches in my opinion in shoujo manga. I can't choose which one is the worst so I think I should list the ones that I hate. So...

I think the biggest turn-off is:
-love at FIRST sight, and I mean FIRST sight...
-to have the main female to be weak
-lacking common sense/ dense girls
-cry literally in every chapter (exaggerating)
-be dependent and clingy on the male love interest
-cries again for no apparent reason
-be in an almost-rape situation with the same female character and the male saves her in a nick of time
-have several hot guys go after the same main girl. I always think to myself, "There's plenty more fish in the sea, why does it have to be THIS one?"

Oh and I just thought up another one:
-I hate it especially when the main girl two-times with another guy but comes back crying to the guy who truly loves and supports her all the way, even though she's with someone else. I feel very deeply to the guy. I just want to *invisibly strangles the air* her!

I also think using ONLY romance as the main theme the plot revolves around is cliche, too. I much prefer manga that has two or more themes, not just having romance as that one theme.

I'm done ranting!

Last edited by LittleMelon18 at 12:51 am, Jun 6 2010