5 Unspoken Rules of Anime

May 22, 2024 Crazy 0 Comments 3 min read

Animes operate within sacred rules that few series manage to break. How many times have you watched an anime and seen a familiar situation playing out, only for it to end the same way as in countless other anime shows? Here, we present the 5 unwritten rules of anime.

While these are referred to as the 5 “absolute” rules of anime, there are obviously exceptions, although they are rare. It’s not often that you come across an anime that deviates from these standard scenarios.

So, what exactly are these 5 rules of anime?

The 5 Rules of Anime:

Rule #1 – Powerhouse Characters Get Nerfed

In today’s era, we have an abundance of animes and light novels featuring immensely powerful protagonists, such as Anos from “Maou Gakuin.” But what about animes where the protagonist isn’t so strong and gains an overpowered ally? It’s almost a given that this ally will be either immobilized or undergo a power reduction to balance the storyline, isn’t it?

Rule #2 – High Mortality Rate for Original Movie Characters

Most of the time, popular anime movies are not considered canon, meaning they don’t truly belong to the main storyline. As a result, the movie producers often engineer scenarios where the original movie characters meet their demise or end up in situations that make their appearance in the main story challenging.

It’s a shame because some of these characters become immensely popular. Take the case of Uta from “One Piece,” whom fans speculate about regarding her fate in the movie “One Piece RED” and whether she’ll appear in the main series.

Rule #3 – Blue-Haired Girls DON’T Get the Protagonist

In a romance anime where multiple girls vie for the protagonist’s love, one of the girls typically has long blonde, red, orange, or pink hair — anything but blue. Then there’s the other girl, the unfortunate one with short, blue hair. You don’t even need to finish watching to know who the protagonist will end up with.

Several examples illustrate the numerous instances of blue-haired girls losing in romantic comedies. It seems that this hair color is cursed in romance anime.

Rule #4 – “We Did It!” Signals the Villain’s Survival

Pay close attention to the scene: a command center with several characters observing a screen displaying the ongoing crisis. They face something formidable, and the situation is dire. Then, they manage to hit the villain with everything they have, and someone utters the infamous words, “We did it!” No, you didn’t.

This statement invokes the villain and prompts them to wreak havoc. It’s a red flag in the world of anime. Never celebrate the defeat of a villain in a command center without first verifying if they are truly vanquished!

Rule #5 – Trash Characters Meet Gruesome Endings

You know those absolutely awful characters? Like Makoto from “School Days” or Shinji from the “Fate” series? It’s almost certain that any anime featuring a despicable character who acts with impunity throughout the series will result in a rather cruel demise in the end.

So, do you concur with these 5 unspoken rules of anime? Obviously, there are animes that defy these conventions, but this is typically the pattern observed in most series.

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