mould

SPECIAL: Shounen cliche 1: Battousai complex

This may be the first or only of a series of cliches to be found in shounen action anime (so not the harem type!). It came about as a result of having read Samurai Deeper Kyo and realising how much of the (initial part, anyway) plot was predictable. But I thought about it and can only come up with two other anime which employ this plot device heavily - Trigun and of course Kenshin. The basic idea is that the current hero was in fact a terrible and uber-powerful killer in times gone. He usually knows this and hides his past in a tragic air of guilt and 'I cannot be happy, sinner that I am' type of thinking. This plot device doesn't provide a very strong element of surprise, since enough hints are dropped to let you in on the big secret. But it's good because it allows the author to bring in a lot of enemies from the past that are super powerful. Apart from that, it sometimes provides historical contrasts (when there's an epoch change, as with the case with Kenshin and Kyo) that can be interesting. I suppose it's particularly interesting to me because Aster follows in this type of tradition as well. Ok now on to the thing.

1) Goofiness. The hero in his current guise is often clowning around in a manner that greatly downplays his 'true strength'. This is because he doesn't 'want his power to hurt others anymore', so tries to avoid conflict even with baddies. He often 'happens' to come out of fights unscathed by goofy dodges that fool no one at all.

2) Young girls. The female lead is often a young girl who is associated with the new era. She often hits him/expresses her strong personality in physical or verbal abuse that is supposed to be 1) funny and 2) shows that she is zesty, strong and full of life, a juxtapose to the tragic-bishonen that is the hero. I find such heroines HIGHLY irritating and think they should just stfu. They also often need rescuing, sometimes in a manner that brings out the 'hidden past' of the hero.

3) Skeletons in the closet. The hero obviously has baggage from the past. Sometimes this is romantic, an incident that inevitably leaves him heartbroken and requires the zesty girl to salve. More often, it takes the form of antagonists who invariably say things like "show me your true self" or "so this is what the current age has done to you". Minor ones demand that the hero show them his full power and end up getting killed by the overwhelming difference in level. Major ones are full of contempt for the softness that has set into the hero but end up getting defeated by him when he 'overcomes the burdens of the past and steps bravely into the new age'.

Ok I'm a bit addled now so I think I must stop here. I would greatly appreciate from my wide readership any additions to the list of cliches or to the examples of anime with such a cliche. Any reference to mecha anime (the hero being a legendary pilot or something) would be particularly appreciated.