What is it about alliteration? it’s not like it’s rhyming or anything fun like that. Why do I enjoy it so?
Treasure trope is a new series I’m hoping to actually keep up that where I will take a closer look at all my favourite anime tropes. Let me rephrase that, at all the anime tropes that catch my attention.
Anime s a medium particularly rich in tropes, some of which are so popular and longstanding that they are used in series completely without context. If you are not already familiar with said trope, whelp too bad for you! This can get particularly confusing for international fans which have not necessarily grown up with the same cultural tropes and references. Not only do tropes sometimes go over our heads, but occasionally we can’t even tell something is a trope at all.
To viewers not yet familiar with the medium, this can be a hurdle. Although I have not yet seen a series so dependent on tropes that it becomes unintelligible without the understanding, I noticed that it’s a common sticking point when I introduce new viewers to anime.
“Why did she do that?” Oh it’s just a trope of the genre. “That’s creepy, weird ect..” you can’t take it at face value, it’s a trope! “I don’t get it!” I think a lot of anime fans are more comfortable than the average person at accepting to exist in a mild state of confusion or accepting the seemingly incomprehensible. Maybe we’re just born that way or years of anime watching has conditioned us as such.
In any case, knowing about and understanding certain anime tropes can help you understand shows you watch a little better. And it’s just really fun. That’s not just me right?
Of course, most of you probably already know the wonderful resource that is TV Tropes, if not, here you go. You’re welcome and I’m so sorry! No I am not going to do anything better than that and TV tropes is likely to be a source for research material. The main difference will simply be that I will tailor my posts to anime content. And TV Tropes is a dangerous website that can easily swallow you whole. You figure you’re just going to look up some little detail and before you know it, you’ve spent your entire afternoon on there….at work…
My site is much much safer! No risk in getting lost in the prose or anything like that. So why take any chances? And it’s nowhere near as complete so even if you wanted to, you wouldn’t be able to spend more than an hour, tops!
And you know what, my blog is a great place to learn stuff. Well at least it has been for me as I have had some wonderful readers who take the time to comment and fill in the gaps and provide wonderful context and discussion. For someone who really enjoys exploring the background and use if tropes, conversations around them and examples of use are just plain interesting. As such, I do hope you’ll join me on my little treasure trope journey. The more the merrier after all!
**my header gif brings a hole new meaning to “treasure chest”
