There are a lot of idol girls in anime. It’s almost unavoidable, right? The purpose of anime is to get eyeballs on the screen, and a key way to do that is to put stuff people want to look at on th…
Nov 4, 2024 • Subscribe
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Oh, So Trope-ical: The Broken Girl
It sure seems like the number of anime where the kids belong to/come from a complete nuclear family with a mother and a father is pretty small. There…
Oh, So Trope-ical: Pinocchio
Yeah, yeah, you’re saying to yourself that Pinocchio wasn’t an anime. First of all, that’s not entirely true. In fact, there have been TWO Pinocchio anime series, one…
Oh, So Trope-ical: The Oaf
I’ve written a bunch of times about one trope, the Soul Woman. You know who she is: She’s a main character who, when you break her down into…
Oh, So Trope-ical: The Infantilized High School Girl
The Law of Tropes #1: Tropes is tropes because they work. Right? Certain characters/situations/relationships are common because users recognize them and understand them, and because they do somethi…
Oh, So Trope-ical: Pawn Queens
There’s a really great character trope out there if the writers are careful in how they deploy it. You know what it is. The title says it. I…
Oh, So Trope-ical: The Superhero Doctor
Regular readers know I bring a few perspectives to these posts. Published writer looking at writing. Award-winning animator looking at animation. And yeah, I can do the critic/critique…
Oh, So Trope-ical: The Ugly Duckling
Oh, So Trope-ical: The Ugly Duckling Okay, you know the story of the Ugly Duckling and I know the story of the Ugly Duckling. It’s from Hans Christian…
Oh, So Trope-ical: The Big Brother
For storytelling reasons heroes often have sidekicks. Sure, right? A sidekick can do a lot of things, like be comic relief, or have some skill that the hero…
Oh, So Trope-ical: The Metastable Relationship
I’ve talked about metastable relationships in passing so many times it occurs that there’s something bigger going on there. And sho ‘nuf … The term metastable comes from…
Oh, So Trope-ical: The Hair Bra
The point of manga and anime is to get eyeballs onto content, whether it’s paid for directly (by buying manga) or indirectly (by ad sales during anime). In…
Oh, So Trope-ical: The Gamer God
There are certain tropes that are so obvious it’s almost a waste of time to look at them. Oh, man, what’s the point of the Princess in Peril…
Oh, So Trope-ical: Raised by Wolves
Well, no, I don’t literally mean raised by actual, you know, wolves, since, you know that doesn’t really happen, the myth of Romulus and Remus aside. But what…
Oh, So Trope-ical: The Sexually Aggressive Gal
Yeah, I started spelling it Trope-ical. There’s no point in a pun no one gets. But yeah, there are a lot of tropes in storytelling. That’s not an…
Oh So Trope-ical: Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi
Tropes are one of those things that I’ve mentioned about a zillion times but never actually talked about. There’s probably a formal definition, but a trope is basically…
Oh, so Trope-ical: Too Cool for School
One of the things you typically look for in kids’ media … and remember, the target audience for most anime is slightly nerdy Japanese high school boys ……
Oh, So Trop(e)ical: The Dirty Old Man
It seems like just about every anime comedy with a romantic plot or subplot has at least one dirty old man. Well, not ALL of them. Those that…
Oh, So Tropical: The Soul Girl
I don’t know how many times I’ve looked at a trio of characters and seen them forming a classic Mind-Body-Soul trio. Sure. How about Blossom, Buttercup, and Bubbles,…
Oh, So Trope-cal: I Can’t Say “I Love You”
Look, if you’re writing a popular romance manga, or an anime made from a popular romance manga, you often have a big problem: How do you keep the…
Oh, So Tropical: The Chosen One
The essence of The Chosen One trope is that there is someone out there in the universe who has been Marked by Fate (or the Gods, or whomever)…
Oh, So Tropical: The Nose Bleed
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: tropes exist because they work. If you’re a writer like I am, tropes is your friend. Here’s a question…
Oh, So Tropical: The Family Princess
I started out wanting to do a character analysis of Rea Sanka, the main female character (and namesake) of Sankarea, Undying Love, but I ran into a little…
Oh, So Tropical: The Princess in Peril
You know that the Princess in Peril is one of the oldest tropes in film, let along anime, right? I mean, seriously, The Perils of Pauline was made…
Oh, So Tropical: The Pre-pubescent Horndog
As a writer I love tropes. Tropes are tropes because they work in telling good stories. Sure. Take the “Hero-Sidekick-Girlfriend” trio, right? You can use that interrelationship to…
Oh, So Tropical: The Stupid Harem Protagonist
You’ve seen harem shows. Just admit it. Admit that you are powerless, and put yourself in the hands of a higher power. No, wait. That’s for alcohol. But…
Oh, So Tropical: The Convenient Stomach Rumble
I’m a writer so I can say this: There are a lot of gimmicks writers use to keep the story moving. For instance, the great crime writer Raymond…
Oh So Mysterious! The Mystery Blogger Award!
Well Curtis, aka ospreyshire, nominated me for this oh so mysterious award and all I can say is thank you! Check out his post HERE. Honestly it surprises…
Oh, So Tropical: Avatar: The Last Airbender
I had a date with a nice lady whose only experience of anime was Avatar: The Last Airbender. “I wonder what you think of it?” she said. Well,…
Oh, So Meta: Excel Saga
I’ve always been interested in things that are self-referential, or meta, if you prefer. This goes back to my college days, where we studied cybernetics. Sure. The Basic…
Oh, So Meta: Lucky Star
There’s just something so addictive about Lucky Star. I don’t know about you, but I can watch it over and over. And I have. And it cracks me…
Idol Watch's 50 Favorite Idol Songs of 2024 (So Far)
The column's favorite singles from girl groups this year so far, plus listing some favorites from the boys
Idol Watch's 50 Favorite Idol Songs of 2023 (So Far)
We list the column's favorite singles from the year so far
Oh, So Tropical: The Look-at-Me Woman
You know what? I think I may have discovered a whole new trope. Okay, let’s start with this fundamental fact: Anime is a medium largely created by Japanese…
Oh, So Tropical: The He-Can’t-Love-Me Woman
In a lot of ways romance animes are some of the dumbest on the air. I mean, seriously? You have Person A and Person B and everyone knows…
The Worst Trope in Romance
In this video, I talk about The Worst Trope in Romance Have you ever felt like something was missing after finishing a romance anime? Well, you’re not alone. In…
The Sneezing Trope in Anime
Have you ever noticed that when a character sneezes in an anime, it means something. I explore the trope in today's post.
The Girl I Want Is So Handsome! GN
The Girl I Want Is So Handsome! maintains a sense of light playfulness throughout, and it doesn't dip too hard into melodrama for most of the run.
God is a Girl – Three Cases of an Unusual Anime Trope
Perhaps you’ve heard the popular Ariana Grande song “God is a Woman.” But several years before that song hit the charts, there was a very different song called…
Oh, So Tropical: The “Nice To Meet You, Ms. Ayanami”
There are some anime you watch – I’m looking at YOU What Are You Doing Here Teacher – where you watch it and all you take away from…
오혁 (OH HYUK) – 소녀 (A Little Girl)
I don’t know if you guys know, but I am equally obsessed with kdramas/kpop as I am with animes. Which is why I do post korean music on…
The Girl I Want is So Handsome! Complete Collection
In 2019 and 2021, Yuri Hime Comics released two volumes of Ikemen-sugi desu, Shiki-senpai!, both of which were reviewed here on Okazu (Volume 1 | Volume 2). Today…
Oh No, We Got a Chunni Magical Girl
Dan Da Dan Ep 6 Review The chuunibyou, AKA that one person you know who thinks that tries to act as cool as they think they are because…
My Thoughts On The Inner Demon Trope.
The Inner Demon Trope In Anime And Manga. Let's talk about it. Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/maskedasura Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/masked_asura Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_masked_asura/?igshid=OGQ2MjdiOTE%3D Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@themaskedmanyt?_t=8ZLL7iPa77m&_r=1 ► "Copyright Disclaimer, Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is…
Miss Kuroitsu and the Anime Trope Department
Your favorite Super Sentai show, but from the perspective of the poor employee making the monsters.
The final girl arrives! — LIP! Lewd Idol Project Vol. 3 OUT NOW
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The Stone Idol
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The Idol Paradox
I think no genre betrayed my expectations quite as thoroughly as the idol genre. You see, I was late to watch 2011’s The Idolmaster because as much praise…
The Girl I Want is So Handsome: The Complete Manga Collection Review
I’ve managed to drag myself away from my Nintendo Switch and the newest Pokemon game long enough to sit down and get some blogging done. So, before I…
OMG! Oh My Girl (รักจังวะ..ผิดจังหวะ, Thitipong Kerdtongtawee, 2022)
A diffident young man becomes resentful after repeatedly failing to win the heart of his uni crush in Thitipong Kerdtongtawee’s mostly charming yet ultimately problematic rom-com.
What’s your favorite romance trope?
Is it different for comedy vs drama? Is it different for LGBTQ+ romance vs het? Has a specific series ever pulled off a trope you otherwise loathe?
So, You Want to Go See Master Of Idol World 2023?
Back around 2013/2014 we knew IDOLM@STER series will do a splashy show for the 10th anniversary year. We sort of got together to get something organized, and for…