Trope Guide


My personal Trope Guide! While some may share names with TV Tropes, it’s just the common turn of phrase. Or convergent evolution. It’s just the tropes that I’ve become familiar with over time.

I’ve sorted them A to B.

A

  • Accidental Proposal – Wherein the main character unknowingly proposes marriage.
  • Age Gap – Where a significant age gap separates two people in a romantic relationship, usually accompanied by a trigger warning tag. Often justified in the story in order to have a forbidden loli x elder gent style romance. Occasionally subverted with two adults who have a large gap in age instead.
  • Albino MC – Wherein the main character is albino, usually because it looks cool. Usually not explained. Occasionally coupled with being a Cursed Child.
  • All Hail Capitalism – Wherein capitalism is either introduced or used as the touchstone for a fictional economy, and the power of being incredible at Capitalism and Marketing only adds to the main character’s power. Occasionally subverted by watering it down to create a more socialist ideal.
  • Animal Sidekick – Just like it says on the tin.
  • Annulled Engagement – Where one of the major story beats, usually an inspiration for a villainess to change her life, is the annulment of the engagement they’ve been working on their entire life.
  • Annulment Start – Where the MC begins the story getting their marriage annulled by their now former fiance, usually because she is being accused of a crime.

B

  • Beautiful Corpse – Where there is considered ultimate beauty in death and decay. Once in a while coupled with Necrophilia, which would prompt a trigger warning.
  • Beauty & the Beast – Where a beautiful heroine subdues a villain or beast with the power of Love, or alternatively, the power of what the Fuck are you doing?
  • Blood in the Handkerchief – Somebody is ill and that means that they must cough into a handkerchief, revealing blood to the audience. Usually they die.
  • Book within a Book – A story in the meta that is literally a story within a story.
  • Bunny Girl – Harem stereotype. Bunny girls are dressed as playboy bunnies— the black one piece and the fishnet stockings. Sometimes if we’re lucky they wear clothes.

C

  • Car Just Won’t Start – Like it reads on the tin. Usually when the plot needs to cut off escape and it’s absolutely dire that the car starts.
  • Changing the Timeline – Where the protagonist’s actions alter the timeline they are expecting. Usually on purpose. Sometimes not. Occasionally the entire point of the story.
  • Cheat Skills – Where a character, typically in an isekai, is granted a skill that is terribly powerful and considered “cheating” if it were in a game. IE someone arrives with the newly granted ability to instantly attack weaknesses or see the absolute value of something. Occasionally a power is turned into a cheat despite being considered “useless”.
  • Chekov’s Gun – If it appears, it’ll be worked into the story. Usually fucks with foreshadowing. If there is a gun in Act 1, the gun will be used in Act 3. Classic narrative tool.
  • Creepy Child – Where a child is invariably creepy in some odd way, usually because the adult writers cannot fathom a child being anything other than a device to make something spookier. Usually they don’t have any emotions, or if they do, it’s anger. You usually see weird terrifying drawings, or the child will interact with a spirit.

D

  • Death by Overwork – Like it reads on the tin. Typically results in an isekai slow life, and PTSD.
  • Disgusting Human – Humans are treated as vermin or lesser beings.
  • Ditzy Glutton – Harem Archetype for all genders. A big eater with a bright personality and a carefree attitude. Often forgetful.
  • Diversity is Superior – An observation that the better, more peaceful, much more stable nation in the story is the one that is more racially diverse. Usually by “racially diverse” it’s humans + not humans. Not a dig on diversity in media.
  • Domestic Dragon – A dragon that subverts stereotypes by being a nurturing type. Usually this involves caring for a human in one way or another.
  • Doting Husband – Husband who simps for his spouse to an unearthly and unrealistic degree. Typically wish fulfillment, sometimes results in a jealous husband as well.
  • Dystopia – Everything sucks super bad no matter what, and it is the fault of society at large and/or the state of the governing body.

E

  • Edgelord MC – This MC suffers from some tragic backstory or lives in a world where no one can understand them, and wears this on their sleeve. They usually end up with a chuunibyou-type personality with their over-the-top expression of darkness and world-weariness. They act like they know better than everyone else and in reality, they’re just a bit out of touch.
  • Eldritch Worship – Someone, or someones, is worshiping a cosmic, unknowable entity that would feel right at home in a Lovecraftian horror.
  • Everyone Loves MC – Somehow the main character, no matter how weird or off-putting or strange or inanimate, is beloved by nearly everyone they come in contact with. People admire them and offer loyalty with little persuading, and a harem forms around them with little to no effort.

F

  • Faceless Character – A character with no real identity, oftentimes without a name. Occasionally embodies some terror.
  • Fake Seduction – Where a character’s will is tested by offering them an alternative, and usually more visually appealing, partner. Usually ends up with a jealous misunderstanding.
  • Fatherhood Fantasy – Where a man raises children and loves them terribly, and the child loves them back just as dearly. Usually involves stories where a child is adopted and carefully brought up with love and care that causes both the reader and the dad to be very proud.
  • Final Girl – Common horror trope where the final character to face off with a movie monster is a woman who is typically “Good” and “Smart” and “Ideal” will survive and come out on top.
  • Four Heavenly Beasts – Common in East Asian symbolism. The Four Heavenly Beasts represent the four cardinal directions: Tortoise of the North, Dragon of the East, Bird of the South, and Tiger of the West. This is different from the Four Heavenly Kings.
  • Four Heavenly Kings – Named for the Buddhist belief in the four devas that represent the cardinal directions. They all have different names depending on which nation is referring to them; commonly this is a title given to a powerful team that represents the absolute pinnacle of power.

G

  • Genre Savvy – Where the characters are familiar with the genre they are in and act accordingly. Can be subverted.
  • Gods Are People Too – Where the gods in the story have very human qualities and may act in unexpected or childish ways because of it.
  • Guilds– A staple of the fantasy genre. A guild is a self-governing organization that people in a similar business join. IE, the adventurer’s guild, the thieves’ guild, etc.

H

  • Harem – Where the MC collects romantic interests that all fawn over the main character and are interested in pursuing them romantically. This comes in two forms:
  • Harem SUBVERSION – Wherein the character collects something other than romantic interests to surround themselves, such as guardians, animals, or spirits.
  • Haven’t I Seen You Before – A pair of characters have fatefully met long ago, or in a past life, and have some recognition of another.
  • Horror Nostalgia – Where a piece of nostalgic pop culture is analyzed and molded into something unsettling and yet recognizable; like the uncanny valley of childhood. This is usually seen with children’s shows, video games made to emulate low-poly styles, or children’s book style horrors.
  • Hypercompetent MC – They have amazing minds that are beyond the average person around them. They can predict and orchestrate the events around them easily.

I

  • I CAN Fix Him – Where the female lead ends up with some really fucked up little dude and wins him over to the good side with her love and attention.
  • I Swear They’re Gay – Two people with chemistry that is absolutely off the charts who can feasibly be gay together (and in my mind, totally are gay even if they state they are not, because really, how are you going to act like that and not kiss?).
  • I’m Not a Bad Slime – Slimes are good actually!
  • Is it REAL or is it Mental Illness – A narrative trope that leaves the interpretation up to the audience, giving a reason to dismiss the magical or unrealistic elements of the story as something made up by the character it is framed around.
  • Isekai’d into Misfortune – Where a character in placed into a situation after transmigrating where they are suffering needlessly. Often used to kick off a revenge fueled power fantasy or to sculpt the character into a more brutal person before allowing them a peaceful life.
  • It was a Dark and Stormy Night – Classic story starter.

J

  • Japanese Cooking is Ultimate – The best food in the world is Japanese. The main character longs for Japanese food, and when they finally make it, it dazzles the crowd. This doubly applies in isekai where the MC has been transferred to a European-inspired setting.
  • Japanese NEED Good Baths – Where a Japanese person is transmigrated and will go out of their way to experience a hot bath they can soak in again. Usually because they end up in a world without bathing culture.
  • Japanese Work Ethic – Where a character will work to an extreme degree in order to accomplish their goals, often ending up with them overworking themselves or others. Some manga reinforce unlearning the work hard, play never style of work while others reward the character handsomely for their efforts.
  • Jump Scares – A technique that causes the viewer to startle. It’s often used as a cheap way to frighten the viewer, but there are times when it becomes well-used. It’s typically characterized by the sudden appearance of something with a loud sting.

K

L

  • Levels & Stats – A story contains these to emulate gaming and give both the audience and the characters an obvious grasp of power or growth.
  • Loli – Harem character type. Also just a character design in general. Character is designed to be a young, but attractive, child-like figure. Or is a child. Typically combined with moe style. They’re made to titillate and are an unfortunate trope. They look like this:
  • Lolis EVERYWHERE – Just about the entire harem is lolis. Sometimes age appropriate for the main character. Sometimes not. Coin flip.

M

  • Man with Depression – This bitch depressed
  • Marriage of Convenience– Where a character MUST marry in order to further the plot. Both characters will not initially be attracted to one another— this is just a political marriage / a marriage of mutual benefit / etc.
  • Marry Me Dad! – One of the most terrifying tropes, which rattles my bones with pure fear when I see it. It could change the course of an entire manga. Sometimes it is seen as the typical stage children go through where they love their parents and say they want to marry them; sometimes the story veers toward incest.

N

O

  • OP Protag – Where an MC is overpowered. They are far stronger than many of their competitors, or far stronger than they should be. Usually their powers become something of a deus ex machina. Often becomes a game of keep-away, where the plot must separate the main character to delay resolution and keep up the conflict.

P

  • Power of Friendship – As long as your friends believe in you, you will have the will to succeed.
  • Pretentious – Character or story goes out of their way to display all the characteristics of a pretentious better-than-thou creature. It’s obnoxious and without merit, and it makes me want to choke people.

Q

R

  • Regained Youth – Where a character ends up becoming magically younger, usually by being reincarnated as a teenager.
  • Reincarnated into Nobility – Where the character has been reborn into the upper class.
  • Ricky Rat– We’re trying to avoid some copyright strikes here from a great and powerful corporation! The author either censors, recolors, or omits the name of the relevant corporate entity or pop culture reference from their work to avoid any issues coming out.

S

T

  • This World’s Food Sucks – Where an isekai’d character has been teleported to a world that is so behind in development that all the foods typically on offer suck. Usually this is because they haven’t thought of something modern, or spices are yet to be widespread.
  • Truck-kun – The #1 killer of isekai protagonists are trucks. Online the truck involved in this phenomenon is affectionately referred to as “Truck-kun”.

U

  • Unreliable Narrator – We see the world from the narrator’s skewed viewpoint. Their perspective includes their biases, their justifications, and they may also straight up lie to the reader.

V

  • Villainess – Where the main character is slotted into the archetype of the antagonist, typically of high nobility. The character may seek to change her fate or behavior and ultimately right the wrongs her character has committed. She may also lean into it.

W

  • Who Lives in these Fucking Houses – The main characters live in a weird architectural nightmare, where it is obscenely modern and lacking any warmth. Usually it has huge windows, at least 90% of it is a smooth white, and it looks like it could sell for well over a million only to be left empty by the celebrity owner.

X

Y

Z

  • Zero to Hero – Where a character considered powerless gains the ability to crush everyone around them. Usually we end up with an OP Protag.

Welcome to the Menagerie.

Here is where M logs their media activity. Partly because Goodreads is forgettable and keeping physical logs is harder. Sometimes M writes a lot. Sometimes M doesn’t write enough. It doesn’t matter. This is just a for-fun little blog so that M can remember what they thought about whatever they watched or read or played or. Whatever.


What is M?

I read. Voraciously. I have subscriptions to those book things on digital retailers. I consume books at nearly all hours. The hours I don’t spend reading? I’m writing. I’m drawing. I have a problem. I have a problem in that I love to read things that are in the same vein repeatedly. Book journals don’t work and as much as I text my friends screenshots of book passages, it doesn’t scratch the itch. Now I’m going to be doing… tiny… tiny book reports.


Truck-Kun Kill Count:



Menagerie Categories


Tagged in the Menagerie

All Hail Capitalism (7) Animal Sidekick (6) Beast Man (6) Changing the Timeline (7) Cheat Skills (8) Doting Husband (6) Everyone Loves MC (9) Everyone Wants to Bone MC (6) Fan Service (9) Guilds (6) Harem (Standard) (10) Harem (Subversion) (6) Hypercompetent MC (18) Japanese Cooking is Ultimate (6) Japanese Work Ethic (8) Last Minute Hero (10) Lolis (7) Main Character Coloring (10) Mean Boy (15) Mean Boy Love Interest (6) Modern is Best (6) Modern Morals (8) Nat 20s (9) Nuclear Revenge (7) Old Men Still Got It (6) OP Protag (26) Power of Friendship (10) Power of Love (7) Regained Youth (7) Reincarnated into Media (6) Reincarnated into Nobility (10) Revolution (6) Rich vs. Poor (7) Scantily Clad Warrior (7) Sexy Fall (5) Shapeshifter Love (6) Shortest Way to the Heart (7) Stats & Leveling (9) Tsundere (8) Twist! (8) Uniquely Skilled (13) Unreliable Narrator (7) Villainess (9) Western-Style Fantasy (23) Zero to Hero (8)