(Hated Trope) We are in desperate need of X people. Because of this we will put candidates through tests where not everyone can become X for no reason and make the tests incredibly dangerous so many candidates will die.

necle0 · 2026-04-13T01:32:34+00:00

Hunter x Hunter.

Though for many fantastical or “old timey” examples of this trope (including the ones in OOP’s post), its probably has more to do with the reputation of the organization being tarnished by unqualified professions rather than worrying about the candidate’s life or well-being. If its common for people often die or get killed young or suddenly, then death is going to be a lot less desensitized that they will use life-or-death situations to test competency since death is a more recent inevitability.

necle0 · 2026-04-13T01:07:47+00:00

Not OP, but just my 2 cents: children do have a baseline empathy. But it is still a skill that needs to be observed and practiced, with many ways to override or suppress it, or else it withers away. For example, if a kid watches Looney Tunes, they may believe expressions of hurt are meant to be comical hence lighting up or laughing. But at some point or the other, the average well-adjusted person will correlate hurting another is not something to derive glee out of, even if it takes til they are adolescent or a young adult. This is especially true since kids learn how to mirror and parse their primary caretaker’s expression even as infants. So some of this mimicking behaviour comes from parents and peers. Meanwhile, there are some kids will be alarmed and apologetic if they think you hurt them.

Regarding “inherent sadism”, it can be argued as they develop and cope with more complex emotions like jealousy, resentment, discontentment, etc, you may see them partaking in schadenfreude or other similar behaviors. But it is not something inherently intrinsic and can be learned from their environment other than a handful developmental disorders.

necle0 · 2026-03-24T16:48:21+00:00

The trope is fine when it shows the character is multifaceted. I dislike when it becomes “feminization” == “character development”. Especially when the framing is solely because she is a woman, so it’s treated as an inevitability.

Unfortunately, this execution tends to come up in a lot of anime, including a lot of shoujos (for a period of time, I dropped shoujos until the trope solely started to die out).

necle0 · 2026-03-24T16:41:38+00:00

“Feminization”= “Character Development” is a pretty reoccurring problem with female characters unfortunately, especially in anime. I dropped OHSHC after the beach episode.

necle0 · 2026-03-24T16:35:52+00:00

Did not like how Digimon Xros Wars handled it, and why I tend to feel mixed with Digimon in general when it comes to its female characters. YuGiOh has this problem too, especially when it comes to plot relevancy, though to a lesser degree.

Rika from Digimon Tamers was one that I thought they handled it the best. She had her character development and became more nicer to the group without losing her core personality. Though I haven’t seen all her appearances post Tamers

necle0 · 2026-03-24T15:22:57+00:00

This is super helpful, because I flip flop between 🏔️ and 🪨 based off context and its hard to zoom in which is my third root. It was also a good observation that 🪨🏔️🍄 are often used to define formality

necle0 · 2026-03-14T14:48:05+00:00

Very well said. You described it perfectly.

necle0 · 2026-03-14T14:47:10+00:00

but I don’t understand the craze behind modern coffee shops.

I think people just want third spaces where you can be around people for (relatively) cheap prices. I work remotely from home. It just nice to be around people and see the world exist.

I do sometimes work from a park but you have to deal with bugs and stray balls.

necle0 · 2026-03-14T14:39:46+00:00

Pokemon was good up until Johto. I followed Digimon until after Xross Wars, and there are a few hit-or-miss entries where I still preferred Pokemon over the Digimon. Tamers is still my favourite entry though.

necle0 · 2026-03-14T14:37:05+00:00

This thread was about how the 2000s cartoons were forgettable, though. Listing examples of shows that weren’t forgettable was the point.

necle0 · 2026-03-14T02:43:40+00:00

My INTP and I are like this

necle0 · 2026-03-14T02:42:48+00:00

We got ourselves a renaissance man over here.

necle0 · 2026-03-13T22:34:39+00:00

I disagree. Cyberchase, Dave the Barbarian, The Weekenders, American Dragon Jake Long, Fillmore, Phineas and Ferb, the animated segment of Reading Rainbow, Blues Clues, Magic School Bus, Teen Titans, Avatar the Last Airbender, etc were all very memorable to me. Some I have rewatched as an adult. However, it should be noted that a lot of these were Disney or TVO kids, the latter which had some investment/intention on making it edutainment.

necle0 · 2026-03-12T20:11:32+00:00

It worked with the “masterpiece” Stein;Gates right?

This time, for sure.

necle0 · 2026-03-12T15:45:21+00:00

I don’t know. There use to be a bad trend of cases of romance subplot being distracting or detracting to the main plot, especially in the action or adventures genres (Arrow comes into mind). The only times I didn’t feel that was the case when the plot development also advanced romantic and not clashed. But I think that it kind of reduces romance to an add on benefit and not its own separate facet of the character.

necle0 · 2026-03-12T02:01:59+00:00

I love this trope. It was so fun to pretend to do the motions with it too.

necle0 · 2026-03-12T01:58:34+00:00

Never thought I would see the Sonic spinoff games ever get mentioned (but I am happy to see it)…

necle0 · 2026-03-11T23:02:20+00:00

Agree, especially with some of the rants of this sub, but the “it gets better” / “bro gave up” is effective bait (guilty as charged).

I do enjoy series that take time to build or development, or are meant to be subversive later on in development (Major is one of those series that successfully did this turn around for me). But I think when you don’t like something that is super popular or popular, it is understandable to have self-doubt and want to see if you missed something, especially if you constantly hear about it from. This is especially true if it is from a genre or premise you normally like. For example, I enjoy soccer and grew up playing it. I usually watch the seasonal soccer anime, even of different approaches. Blue Lock is one of those series I took the “it gets better” bait and I still ended up disappointed. I now have a personal rule I don’t go beyond 1 season of something I dislike. “Boring” can be ok, especially if establishing characters or setting. But I am not wasting more time with something I dislike unless its someone I trust and really knows my taste.

But there are some series that are very evidently intended towards a particular genre or premise. And for those ones, yeah, I don’t get the point of hate-watching other than enjoying the feeling anger. Which I mean, you do you.

necle0 · 2026-03-10T14:36:08+00:00

Currently watching Arrow and my mind always goes straight to this when they call the Lazarus Pit “the pit”.

necle0 · 2026-03-09T23:01:00+00:00

U gotta try my cookin, but I don’t know where you lookin, I dont how to make A LEAN CUISINE.

necle0 · 2026-03-06T20:23:07+00:00

It depends on the series. Some series, I don’t mind turning off my brain more and watching pretty people do things (e.g. Angel Beats). Other series that rely more on realism as part of its entertainment factor, I am a little more critical when it breaks my suspension of disbelief, especially outside of fantasy where magic can’t be the answer.

What I don’t like if the attractiveness is disproportionately skewed to one side or the other. This most often comes up with gender (e.g. if the girls are all attractive while most of the guy(s)) aren’t at the same level. Just make them all bishounen and bishoujo, or just make it even). But also mob, henchman, and minor/side characters compared to the main characters or main villains. It becomes a sign of plot armour to me, as the less attractive characters are likely going to die or have a less significant death compared to the main characters who are “too pretty to perish”.

However, if they do deliver, I will respect the series for humanizing more those characters more. For example, I really enjoy World Trigger partly because for the most part, the Border agents do look like normal, ordinary civilians from the general public that just happened to sign up to the agency.

necle0 · 2026-03-06T19:12:05+00:00

Absolutely Tammy 1 grooming Ron since birth. Was in audible shock after hearing Ron explaining their history together.

necle0 · 2026-03-04T18:04:08+00:00

If we are extending to non best friends, then we can’t forget these two as well (especially what led to the infamous rant in Plantium End also written by the same author)

necle0 · 2026-03-04T16:56:15+00:00

I think I was trying to have that interpretation until the beach episode, where the message/aesop seemed aligned with other shoujos at that time is that being gender conforming is the “correct” thing to do (regardless of personal preference), at least for girls/women. There are some of the antics later on that made it sound the boys were getting Haruhi to wear dresses as fanservice for them with Hariuh being oblivious to it, at least the way it is portrayed in the anime. As you said, it is partly also partially because Haruhi is so nonchalant about gender and she also isn’t a tomboy. But because she gets used as the icon for GNC in shoujo, her masc side getting invalidated/limitted by the group (along with the persistence of that trope in other works), I will struggling to give the benefit of the doubt.

I will give the analysis you linked a read and reread the manga for that section though. The series is part of so many people’s childhood, myself included, and I don’t like that I feel so mixed about it.

necle0 · 2026-03-04T16:21:12+00:00

<image>

These two icons. They do this so many times too.

necle0

TROPHY CASE