Pretty much all the things I've noticed in general japanese manga/videogames/anime (anime especially) when it comes down to the stuff that "everyone" likes like Naruto, or Bleach...even kingdom hearts... 1. (If the main character is a guy): He usually has two good friends. One is a guy, and the other is a girl. The guy is somewhat of a rival or opposite to the main character...and is more prone to turning "bad." The girl is not very important, but shes usually the lover of the main character at some point in the story, or someone who cheers the main character on... 2. The main character has to always have a "big" ability. Strong heart, strong soul, strong chakra, huge ass sword, etc. 3.The main character always has to have a secret power, or some inner (usually dark/evil) power...most of the time, the main character doesnt know about this power until later, but its basically the fail safe for when hes getting his ass kicked. 4. Not trying to be racist, and I dont know why this happens, but the main character is usually white...even in a fully japanese setting. 5. The girl character seems to only go two ways: either a strong female, or a timid one...they usually get captured somehow for some reason so that the main character has to save em' and then fall in love, blah blah blah... 6. Theres always some "big boobed" character. 7. The secondary male character is usually "bad ass." And usually makes the main character, no matter how hard he works look sloppy and clumsy, whatnot. This is good because when the main character battles the bad ass secondary male character, we see all the progress the main character has made when he beats the secondary dude. 8. The main character always has a good heart/since of justice...and they convert people to the "good side." An example is Gaara, from Naruto. You know what I mean. 9. Usually in anime/manga/videogame plots theres always some minor bad guy, who pops up now and then... 10. And as the story progresses from 9, theres always an evil organization... 11. All the main characters, even the bad ass secondary male character connect somehow to the organization. I've got more...but im forgetting...its pretty true though. I can argue all of the points I made at least. I have to say im a sucker for plots like these with characters like these though.
Hmmm... interesting. I've never noticed all of this until just now. But what if the main character is a girl? Is it still the same? cuz I have seen some animes where the main character (girl) likes another girl.
Its generally different. But sometimes the girl has two guy friends in which case it sometimes follows the above points...Im not sure about a girl liking another girl though =/ to be honest, even though I've seen a lot of anime I havent seen any like that. In my opinion, if the anime manages to deviate from the above points, and not turn out like bobobobobobobo, then its usually more interesting.
These rules make me happy that I watch Fullmetal Alchemist :D 1. Ed's friend Winry fixes his automail and is an implied lover. The most she really does is get really upset at how he puts himself in danger. Ed's brother Al is not 'bad' and has only ever fought with him once. 2. Ed's only great ability is his ability to transmute without a circle. 3. Nope. When Ed gets his ass kicked, it gets kicked GOOD! 4.... Yeah, I noticed that. Then again, there's a bit of a racism subplot in FMA anyway. 5. Winry's strong, and I will admit that she's captured (by a crazed serial killer no less). Closest thing was when Roy came to town looking for the brothers and she had to lead them to them. 6. All three 'boobed' characters (Winry, Sloth and Lust) have realistically-sized breasts. 7. Closest I can think of is Roy, Ed fought him once when he was pissed off and the Fuhrer called a draw. I don't recall Roy ever doing anything but make fun of or help the Elrics. 8. ... Ed has a good heart, and holds the law of Equivilent Exchange like a shield. He never 'converts' any evil characters, though. Lust and Wrath end up helping him, but only out of spite against Dante. I don't know about Scar, seems Scar sort of changed sides by himself because of the parallels between the Elrics and his brother. 9. Sounds like Scar to me. Either that or Greed... 10. True. 11. Ed is connected because he created Sloth. Scar is connected because his brother created Lust. THat's just about it.
This describes every anime I've watched except for Ichigo Mashimaro and Lucky Star. But those are a different genre of anime. Also of course the main character is white. In Japan they have lighter skin so I think that they would use lighter skin tones more often then darker skin tones. I don't think of it as a big deal. Most of the time the concept designer of this type of stuff (legend of zelda, Pokemon) wants to recreate what happened in their past. So it's totally understandable.
