Overused things in anime!

When the first episode starts by going to school/late for school.

This

I'll admit Kaimax, if I had to list anymore, I would actually have to start googling for names.
Mostly because I have a terrible memory.

And yeah, an anime can have these things in it and not make you go 'not another beach scene'.
A good example is Full Metal Panic! Fumoffu!

Star Driver is another example where they have used cliches, but the anime is still original and interesting.

Then you can have things like Fortune Arterial, where everything is just one cliche after another.
Transfer student comes to new school, meets cute girls, gets dragged into student council, one of the girls has a dark and mysterious past, sports festival, cultural festival, cute girls dark problem bites her in the rear, conflict resolved, end of series.

And saying that you 'need to watch more anime' isn't exactly the problem. There are a LOT of good anime out there, but the problem is, there is also lot of anime out there that just rely on the same old cliches, and don't do it well.

The problem is, a lot of anime are relying on these cliches, and overused scenarios that have been around for a good decade and half, instead of using inventive/original ideas for the story.

Its why you can have things like the male lead ends up being a mecha pilot with no prior training, like Nadesico or Evangelion, and still be original. You can have series like Angel Beats and Azumanga Daioh, which both are set in a school, but have their own original storyline (and you'll be struggling to make major links between the two of those series).

TL;DR - Original is good. Cliches used in predictable ways, bad.

Honestly how much anime have you watched, what made you think that they're overused in the first place.

How would you define overused when you haven't seen them all?
My watch list haven't even touched a 1000 yet there's a total around 5000 animes.

It's like "complaining that you've seen too many Asians in the USA, even though you haven't visited every state"

Of course you would be correct if you phrase it within a limited time slot. Like "animes that range in 2009-2010 has too many beach scenes."

Honestly, I've been watching anime since Tekkaman Blade first aired on Australian TV about 15 years ago, but only have been getting seriously into watching them over the past decade. I have watched anime like Serial Experiments Lain, Slayers, Orphan, Kanon, Haibane Renmei, Zegapain, Sexy Commando and El Hazard.

But even you can't deny that if you started watching a High School Harem series, that you cannot expect to see a sports/cultural festival at some point.
You can't deny that if you started to watch a fighting series, that the same formula of main character defeats current big bad, next big bad shows up, main character trains, ends up having a fight on par with big bad, wins, next big bad shows up etc.

And whilst your analogy is right, in this context it is wrong. This thread is more like arguing that 'there is too much pop music on the radio'. The people that like pop music will disagree, whilst the people who like other genres will say that there is too much. Neither are wrong, because it comes down to preference.

So, in the end, You only need to just enjoy the show for what it is. "Swallow the bitter pill" if you're really troubled with it.

Why bother with trivial things. It's not like that the formula will change in the next 10 years.. >_>

I have one... Why does the guy always have to be a pussy? I get tired of that. I could name several but I'm lazy so... Anyway there always seems to be a unstoppable female, who is unbelievable strong, and a male whose got no nuts. Seriously, I'm not a sexist or anything but I think the male lead should either get a pair or start off with one.

Because in some stories like you mentioned. if the guy is a Aggressive one, it turns out to be a hentai anime.

People should really remember Character chemistry. You also need to think about Room for development

an anime is less monotone when their character developed.
Imagine
-Yuuki Rito from To Love ru, not as wimpy as he is now = Hentai anime
-Keitaro Urashima from Love Hina = There will be no conflict between Keitaro and Naru
-Junichi Tachibana from Amagami = There won't even be any Amagami... because he woudn't be traumatized


ROOM FOR DEVELOPMENT

You do have a point. Sorry I didn't really explain myself there. What I mean is in anime when it calls for action and where someone needs to step up to the plate and do something. I've seen love hina and I know it would probably mess up the anime but a prime example would be Gurren Lagann. Simon starts out really whippy but starts to man up and accepts what he has to do. In a lot of anime the man is emasculated for some reason. I mean he doesn’t have to fight or want to fight but at least stop the whining. He can be a reject, a loser or underdog, but at least accept the situation you got yourself into. Maybe it’s just me or maybe its Japanese culture and I don’t fully understand it. What do you think?

Well-placed soap bubbles/ steam clouds

I have to agree with you on this. I have nothing to defend it... lol

This is one of my pet peeves. I hate it when this situation happens:

A female lead that is an abusive "tsundere". Male lead who is their punching bag. At one point of the series the female leaves, is in danger of leaving, or has a serious problem. The male does everything in his power to help the female. After everything is back to normal, the female gives a reluctant "thank you"....Then physically and verbally attacks the male lead. Female exits stage. Man has a "wouldn't have it any other way" smile.

I swear Kirino Kousaka, Taiga Aisaka, and Haruhi Suzumiya need to be told to shut the fuck up.

The Near and Mello part was a whole different story arc. And it just so happened that in the anime adaptation it looked a bit too raw compared to the initial arc with L.

As for myself, there's really nothing that I wish to complain about. I believe that an anime is just as good as it's director and team are. If the director and team are good, regardless of how weak the initial story is, and the genre it's playing in, it will shape up to something of quality. And quality doesn't only mean originality. Likewise, a good intitial idea can be run to the ground by poor creators.
Knowing where to find such quality anime is a very tricky thing. I often base my choices on how original the plot sounds, but that's not been such a successful scheme. In any case, I fully support the notion to watch more anime.

[font=Verdana][color=green]^This.

Also, what's it with drinking chocolate milkshake (I think that's it) in a Japanese bath with one hand on their waist?

Fan-service when you don't want it. Like during a serious scene and the girl just happens to lose her clothes.
ex. Air Gear, Tenjou Tenge, Ikki Tousen

That is what you call a blatant fan service anime (a name that I came up with anyway). Fan service that seems to just be pulled out of the creators asses at unnecessary times. Rosario+Vampire (the anime only) does this as well. Besides the girls that obviously are asking for it, what kind of woman would wear a skirt that easily reveals their underwear (when I mean this I mean even if they stand still you can see it)?

They don't do it because it makes sense, they do it because it BRINGS IN THE GOD DAMN VIRGIN VIEWERS.

Let's see, overused things in anime? I think that oversized breasts would be one of them but I haven't watched an anime in months.

Unheard of...

What about shining bodies and well placed glare lights?

also this mosiac on men. Men get away with censored penises.