Anime has often been criticized for playing it too safe, as a result of which most anime and their characters are a poor copy-paste of each other. This in itself is not a bad thing, seeing how clichés and tropes exist for a reason. When they’re done well (like in Demon Slayer), they can become extremely popular in a short period of time.
However, often these clichés are used as a shortcut by writers and screenwriters so that they do not have to invest too much of their time and energy creating original stories, personalities, and back-stories for their characters.
10 Naruto: Believes Even Mass Murderers Deserve Redemption (Naruto)
Even most die-hard fans of Naruto have a hard time justifying his completely illogical decisions of constantly forgiving the abominable crimes committed by villains like Kabuto, Obito, Sasuke, and Orochimaru. Not only that, he extended a hand of friendship to them, thus crossing the boundary of a “good guy” and basically becoming a knucklehead.
A variation of this cliché is anime heroes’ no-kill code, with Naruto and Edward Elric (Fullmetal Alchemist) being excellent examples of the same.
9 Rimuru: A Character Who’s OP Just Because He’s The Main Character (That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime)
Initially, the OP characters that propelled the isekai/fantasy genre into massive popularity, are now exactly the kind of characters fans have grown tired of. A young boy is reborn/isekai-ed into a fantasy world/video game, keeps becoming stronger and stronger due to certain reasons, and in the end, he’s the strongest of them all.
Heroes that best exemplify this trope are Rimuru (That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime), Ainz (Ovelord), and Kirito (Sword Art Online).
8 Eren: Consumed With Revenge, He Just Wants To Kill All Titans (Attack On Titan)
For the first two seasons, Eren just had one goal in mind: to destroy all titans because they took away his family from him. Characters like him are easy to provoke, have an affable personality, and are usually liked by everyone.
However, their most identifiable trait is their ability to act first, and think later. Popular examples of this cliché include Yuuichiro (Seraph Of The End), Tanjiro (Demon Slayer), and Rin Okumura (Blue Exorcist).
7 Tanjiro: Dead Family & A Loved One Who He Must Protect At All Costs (Demon Slayer)
Shonen anime is littered with heroes who grew up as orphans, were abandoned by their parents, or witnessed their family die in front of their very eyes. Tanjiro is no exception to this rule, where in the first episode itself he returns home to his entire family slaughtered by an unknown demon.
His first priority now is to convert his half-demon sister back to human. The most popular examples of heroes who also saw their parents die and witnessed their siblings become inhuman are Edward Elric (Fullmetal Alchemist) and Rin (Blue Exorcist).
6 Izuku: A Complete Loser Who Eventually Becomes The World’s Strongest Superhero (My Hero Academia)
A shonen anime isn’t a shonen anime if its protagonist doesn’t work himself to his bones, right through his blood sweat, and tears, to become the world’s best superhero/Hokage/wizard/alchemist/exorcist. This is also quite ironic, considering how a sizeable chunk of his training is relegated to 1-2 few episodes, at best.
Asta (Black Clover), Naruto (Naruto), and Rin (Blue Exorcist) are heroes who are walking embodiments of this trope.
5 Yato: His Conveniently Unexplained Actions Result In Him Being A Typical "Misunderstood" Good Guy (Noragami)
In the anime, Yato preferred running for his life and risked dying at the hands of Bishamon, rather than telling her that he killed her shinki clan for her own sake.
His reason for keeping quiet is never explained and is used as a plot device to propel him as a tragic or misunderstood “good guy” in the eyes of fans. Other characters who are guilty of going down this road are Satan (The Devil Is A Part-Timer) and Yukio (Blue Exorcist).
4 Rin: A Half Human Boy Who Fights His Demon Side To Hold On To His Humanity (Blue Exorcist)
The action and fantasy genres are full of young boys who owe their superpowers to something inhuman that either resides within their body, or is due to their bloodline. They are often ostracized by society for no good reason, and always end up saving the same people who hated them for who they were.
Examples of such tropes include Shino (Hakkenden: Eight Dogs Of The East), Naruto (Naruto), Rin Okumura (Blue Exorcist), and Ikoma (Kabaneri Of The Iron Fortress).
3 Korosensei: Prefers Being A Martyr Instead Of Communicating His Problems With People (Assassination Classroom)
As a result of illegal human experimentations, Korosensei was informed that the antimatter cells within his body would explode by March of next year. With a global catastrophe on hand, the world’s governments would have joined hands and come up with a solution together, had Korosensei chosen to act logically and share the truth about the Earth’s imminent destruction.
However, the most logical solution he could think of was to deceive everybody and spend his time teaching students. Characters who chose to take the longer and more illogical route, include Biba (Kabaneri Of The Iron Fortress) and Laurent (Great Pretender).
2 Galo: He Usually Has His Good Looks & His Dense Personality Going For Him (Promare)
Thanks to an ever-increasing number of fans, anime has witnessed an increase in the number of good-looking guys on-screen as well. They are friendly, well-liked by everybody, and are often as dense as they can get (which usually results in their being completely oblivious to people's romantic feelings for them).
They aren’t necessarily dumb, but they often understand things much later than other people. Examples include Makoto (The Disastrous Life of Saiki K), Atsushi (Bungou Stray Dogs), and Satan and Alciel (The Devil Is a Part-Timer).
1 Senku: A Mad Genius Who Always Manages To Outsmart People, No Matter What (Dr. Stone)
Senku is the Rimuru of shonen anime. Guys like him are so smart that absolutely nobody can defeat them, except of course, when the plot demands that they be defeated, for whatever purposes.
While not a very common anime cliché, there are many popular protagonists who fit this description to the T. Popular names include Light Yagami (Death Note), Korosensei (Assassination Classroom), and Shiro (No Game, No Life).