Character Tropes and How They Last

Introduction

Tropes are ubiquitous in any form of entertainment – new works are constantly created off the ideas of old. Just as how the Hunger Games brought forth a massive wave of dystopian fiction, character tropes in anime that have proven successful will be brought up again and again to appeal to viewers. While this sort of trend can apply to any facet of the creative process, it is quite interesting to see what sort of tropes last for decades on end – some are rooted in cultural norms, while others have been popularized by the most famous works in the medium.

Character tropes in particular are long-lasting and ubiquitous, because while something like writing style can vary greatly over time (look at Shakespeare’s way of writing versus a modern style like Erin Hunter’s Warrior Cats series), a story always needs characters and thus both Romeo and Juliet and the Warrior Cats series include the idea of star-crossed lovers. A pretty good example of how trendy, say, settings can be, is the shift in seasonal anime from high school battle harems to isekai (alternate fantasy reality world). There used to be one or two per cour (quarter year) of the former and now the same goes for the latter.

So let’s get into some character tropes in anime that have lasted throughout the years, tropes that you’ll be able to see in pretty much any form of media.

Tsundere

The tsundere is a term widely popularized by anime that derives from the combination of the words tsun tsun (irritable, disgust), and dere dere (lovestruck). The character’s mood and behavior can move up and down this spectrum based on what situation they’re in and especially if their crush is present. The character trope is quite common in romantic comedies (such as Nisekoi, above), because both sides of a tsundere can be used to create funny skits or cause romantic tension.

Why is this trait so attractive to viewers? Well a few studies cited by tofugu.com might explain why (you can skip to the end if you’re lazy. It’s not like I spent time researching this or anything just for you, idiot).

The first was conducted by Elliot Aronson and Darwyn Linder at the University of Minnesota in 1964. They had subjects meet with a confederate (someone secretly in on the experiment). The subjects and confederates interacted for a period of time. After the interaction, the subjects were allowed to listen in on a conversation between the researchers and their confederate partners. With the subject listening in, the confederate would talk about and evaluate the subject in 1 of 4 ways:

1. They would evaluate the subject positively
2. They would evaluate the subject negatively
3. They would initially evaluate the subject negatively but eventually evaluate them positively
4. They would initially evaluate the subject positively then eventually evaluate them negatively

The subjects were then asked to evaluate their partners after hearing their opinions of them. Surprisingly, option number three was evaluated best. The subjects liked their partners best when they started out bad-mouthing them, but ended with kindness.

Over 10 years later, in 1975, Gerald Clore conducted a similar experiment at the University of Illinois. Clore showed video tapes to 180 female and 158 male college students. The tapes featured a woman (A) and a man (B) conversing without sound. The conversation played out four times, each time the woman (A) performing different non-verbal behaviors:

1. A is kind to be B
2. A is kind to B but then becomes cold
3. A is cold to B but then becomes kind
4. A is cold to B

The students were then asked, of the four scenarios they witnessed, in which was the male (B) most attracted to the female? The overwhelming response was scenario 3, where the woman was initially cold, but warmed up over time.

These studies confirm our suspicions. Tsundere behavior is attractive! But why? The answer is the gain-loss principle.

The principle was first put forth by Aronson and Linder in their 1964 experiment. It states that a person feels more or less toward someone depending on their baseline expectations. If the baseline expectation is “this person hates me,” there will be more attraction when the normally ornery person gives a compliment. That’s because there’s been a “gain” in baseline expectation. And this gain feels psychologically rewarding. It’s as if the grumpy person has been “won over.”

TL;DR: if you feel like someone was irritable or grumpy towards you at first, but then they change to be more kind and attracted towards you, it gives more satisfaction than if they were attracted to you off the bat.

Visually a tsundere can be identified pretty often by reddish, more fiery hair and might sport tsurime eyes (eyes where the outer corners slant upwards more sharply). They often have a more confident look on their face, especially when the viewer first sees them.

Yamato Nadeshiko

While definitely not as common as the tsundere, the Yamato Nadeshiko character trope is especially interesting because of its cultural roots. It’s a multi-faceted concept of a woman whose character traits were deemed desirable in 19th century neo-Confucian Japan.

Yamato is a old and fancier name for Japanese people, while Nadeshiko means “wildflower”. It’s traditionally given to noble women with traditional upbringings and desire, and characterizes maturity, humility and loyalty. While some may be called too submissive, most have a pretty strong will when it actually matters. The trope is interesting to analyze because of the cultural history that it has.

Visually a Yamato Nadeshiko can be easily determined from a number of physical traits. Generally they’ll have pale skin and medium height, good-looking and of relatively mature physical appearance. Additionally their hair is often long and dark, with the iconic “hime cut” (straight bangs and long side bangs). They dress in traditional feminine fashion – dresses and blouses, etc. In anime it’s even more common for them to wear kimonos if they come from that sort of upbringing.

Boke and Tsukkomi

This trope is a kind of comedy routine that is common in Japan (especially Osaka), and therefore bleeds into animation. It’s basically a straight man and dumbass routine where one guy (boke) says something really stupid and the other (tsukkomi) tries to correct him. It usually spirals into the boke doing something unbelievably retarded and the tsukkomi getting fed up and slapping them. Note that this sort of thing happens all the time in other media (like Shrek for example).

Called manzai in Japanese, this sort of duo is very common in live comedy routines. It takes a bit of finesse, as both halves of the duo need to be funny and complement each other in their dialogue.

Conclusion

There are a lot more tropes, but what’s more interesting is how these tropes came about and why they’re long lasting compared to other trends.

Sources

I used mainly tvtropes to figure out what I wanted as examples but there’s more info below.