Top 10 BEST Anime Art Tropes! (And I Draw Them All) || SPEEDPAINT + COMMENTARY 

I had a magical girl story when I was younger and no matter what they were wearing, when they went magical girl mode they got a frilly version of what they were currently wearing. Nightgown? FRILLY MODE!! Jeans? FRILLY MODE!! Full winter snow outfit? FRILLY MODE!! It was ridiculous and I loved it

I love the mood shift especially in Demon Slayer. It goes from the most detailed and beautiful animation to a wonky face that rivals that of Picasso.

Wtf do people mean they hate shark teeth ??? 😭 it gives so much character to the character ! But honestly I love all those in the list, great taste Celestia 👌

i love the ahoge so much and especially when it moves to reflect the character's emotions!!! like when it wags back and forth like a happy dog tail, or makes different shapes like sticking straight up in surprise or curling into a heart shape i also love when the bishie sparkle is acknowledged by the characters, like it wasnt just for the audience's benefit but something that physically manifested in reality and is observable. especially when the flowers remain afterward like in a pile and stuff lmao

7:19 I've really never understood why the ahoge and visible eye under hair trope get so much hate. They both are representative of actual, possible features of physical appearance, but just stylised and emphasised by the anime art style?

I personally love the ahoge when it shows emotion, like if someone’s confused it shows a question mark, if they’re angry, it’s all spiky, or if they’re shocked by something, it turns into a kinda lighting bolt, I also played Danganronpa when I was like, 13 so it might be where I like it from, and the emotion displayed with it, but like, it’s just amazing

The bishie sparkle has made my art style what it is, and I blame nanabaka, EVERY scene has the bishie sparkle, and I adore it. So many people have literally told me that the most identifiable part of my art is the sparkles, no matter how many times I change style, the bishie sparkle are forever going to be present.

Nah but for the glasses glare one, there’s a manga I read where one of the characters wears glasses and they’re CONSTANTLY covered by glare 😭 I think I could count on one hand how many panels there are where his eyes are visible 💀

I like the ahoge as an anime enjoyer. As a cosplayer on the other hand.... it's the bane of my existence

I LOVE the eyes/eyebrows over hair thing so much 😭

I think it’s a lot nicer to hear about what you love rather than what you hate

as yes, Duchess Celestia and her crazed ramblings.

Here I am, just doing dishes then I hear that Soul is "just a little guy" and it got me. I laughed harder than I probably should of. Side note. As a glasses wearer myself I also love the flare that happens when a character wearing glasses reveals important info. In the same vein, I also like when a character adjusts their glasses when they are now taking things seriously. Though in this instance, it doesn't need to be glasses, almost any article of clothing or accessory being adjusted to portray emotion or tone shift just works for me.

I like all these except for the first one, the eye over the hair trope. Sorry Celestia, I have to disagree on that one. It bothers me when I see the eye just floating over the hair when the hair is supposed to be covering it. Either draw the eye to where it’s showing in between hair strands or don’t do it at all. However, I have seen it done where the color of the eye disappears but the lining of the eye remains with the hair still covering part of the face. I’m fine with this because with the hair dominating the eye color shows that the hair is still over it while still showing emotions the character is feeling at the moment. Basically, don’t color in the eye when doing this. Also, showing eyebrows underneath bangs is actually a trope I like cause it’s cute and doesn’t stand out as much as the eye cause hair and eyebrows are usually the same color which helps the two body parts blend together.

Celestia is one of the best anime ranters!

I also like the snooty anime girl “oh hoh hoh” laugh

as someone who was a danganronpa 2020 alt kid i totally agree😭 like i fr ASPIRE to make gojo faces irl and be able to make 1 strand of my hair stick straight up

12:50 I agree!! I love it so much I even imagined myself being drawn in this way😭✌️

bishie sparkle, frill upgrade and the glasses glare are among my favorite tropes. I am alsoa sucker for the ahoge trope, since it helps me love the adorable idiots that have them even more (especially since one of my all time favorite characters, Saber from Fate/stay night, has it :])

I love drawing the eyes or eyebrows over the hair! I rely a lot on my characters’ facial expressions in my drawings, so I will never ever ever fully cover it up with hair. The only exception for me is when the bangs fully cover one or both eyes, but even in that case I still always have the eyebrows visible or else how the heck am I supposed to know what my character is supposed to be feeling? Anyways I agree with all of these if it’ll make my characters cuter I will 100% be doing it lol

I think one of my favorite anime tropes is when after long hard battle the characters strike a peace sign to the camera as the two fingers also symbolize "V" for victory. That or a thumbs up to signal someone is all good. I just love the energy it brings. One of my all time favorite animes that utilize this trope is Slayers, or the Slayers series (ie Slayers, Slayers Next/ TRY/ Revolutions/ Evolution-R). Whenever the character had a victorious moment, they'd throw a peace sign to the camera standing tall and proud.

I love it when you get to talk about things you like! You deserve to talk about fun stuff once in a while

I agree with almost everything on your list but I have to say I absolutely love how you illustrated every single art trope!

I am the biggest ahoge supporter, I will live and die by that alive clump of hair.

i was very mad about the eye over hair thing as a wee child watching pokemon anime, but these days i 100% agree with you about them

I honestly love the anime fishbowl eyes

I swear I relate to talking about anime all the time so much 😭😭

Cant wait to see this later, its my birthday and im so happy that you posted this topic, i love hearing about tropes people enjoy!

these tropes are all great. i love them all (to varying degrees obviously) they all make me very happy

I’m so happy that I’m not the only person who loves when the anime characters do something with the eyes!

In terms of western animation I hate when people favor a characters shape language over them actually looking good. Like okay, this character is angular and has a recognizable silhouette and?

Finally another eye over hair defender! IT LOOKS COOL! SUE ME!

My two favorites from this list would definitely be the goofy art style shifts for exaggerated reactions, and the wacky hair styles, which are especially a huge staple in shonen anime!

I agree with all but the pretty boy sparkles. Sometimes i love them but most of the time they are just a bit too much, lmao.

I really like the ahoge but it doesn’t always work with every hair , personally I prefer it with fluffy or wavy hair, it especially works with short hair in my opinion.

Can't argue with any of this, 'cause I actually like those tropes too. Personal favorites are the ahoge, art shift, glasses glare (I too am a glasses wearer and wish I could do that IRL), and shark teeth. (thinking about it, Fullmetal Alchemist exposed me to all that pretty much at once)

Tbh, I’ve never really thought about these tropes. Although, I’ve always had a great disdain for the shark teeth because no one acknowledges that this person is at least quarter shark, and there’s this secret society of shark people, and the story’s just like, “Yeah they exist, but it’s not important, we have Hugh school drama to focus on.” Like….WHAT!?!? >_>

One of my favorite uses of the Bishie sparkle is in the Splatoon Manga, of all things. Volume ten has a bonus chapter with the idea being it was written/drawn by one of the characters in-game, Marina. The chapter is about Marina's relationship with another character named Pearl. While Pearl isn't ugly, she also isn't textbook attractive (and you'll see a lot of the early fandom making fun of her). What does Marina do? Draw this average, somewhat gremlin-looking character FULL. BISHIE. I'm talking flowers, sparkles, big pretty eyes, smooth movements, etc. I'm probably a bit biased since I ship the two of them, but the mere fact that Marina (a character who's very pretty in her own right, by the way) draws Pearl like she's the most beautiful girl ever is extremely wholesome. Like, that's what Marina sees when she looks at Pearl. I can't get enough of it.

I feel exactly the same way with the "eye over hair" thing. I don't like when the WHOLE EYE should be covered, but sometimes it looks better if you don't have the hair be completely solid in that way. Okay, I'm pretty sure I'm going to agree on everything here. I actually do. Holy crepe.

12:50 i love how saiki kusuo took that trope of sparkles to a whole new level with the pretty girl having a literal sparkle aurea around her all the time

Regarding the expression tropes, I also love the pointy nose some characters suddenly develop when they've won an argument or been proven right about something. It's that added bit of arrogance and self-importance that makes the scene - especially if the pointy-nosed character then gets immediately humbled!

When my hair reaches specific length, is more likely for me to have irl physics aog and it won't go away even if brushed. I found it somewhere between annoying and funny

About the eyes over hair, I think if it’s just an outline I like it even if the whole eye is covered. What really breaks my suspension is when the eye if full colored when it’s completely covered by hair, if it just a little bit that’s covered that’s perfectly fine, but my god when the full thing is covered it just looks bad , no other way to say it

I love this! You're amazing!

one trope that im a SUCKER for is when eye blinking defies logic, like if the ^^ or > < is within the schlera rather than with the eyelids I LOVE THAT SHIT ITS SO SILLY especially when the rest of the character has that balance between gruff and silly i eat that UP

I love gravity-defying hair oh my goodness LOL- I giggled when you showed Yasuhiro on the screen

"asking the internet to chill is not the most productive request" god that had me cackling

Giant hair and frilly clothes are some of my favourite tropes, I also like ridiculously detailed anime outfits as well. Ones that make zero sense, but look cool and arty.

1. The eye visible under the hair is definitely not my thing. I personally like to use hair to cover parts of the face in order to strengthen either design or facial emotions. 2. IM WILL DIE FOR THE WHITE GLASSES TROPE GIMME 3. I’m a sucker for semi-realism/cartoon, so big anime eyes is not my cup of tea 4. I’m actually in the middle: I don’t think I’m gonna draw smt like that often but depending on which art style we’re talking about, it’s fun 5. I love the sudden style change, really emphasize the tone shifts XD 6. Yes for all this ! The empty or shrinking eyes 🤌🤌🤌 Tho I’d draw the angry and sweat symbol smaller 7. CAT MOUTH !!!!!!!!! 8. The gravity defying hair depends heavily on the style 9. I actually don’t have any opinion on it bruh 10. No opinion either !

I love the cat mouth, I've always drawn my oc's with a permanent cat mouth because I have a tendency to just exude the aura of smugness that the cat mouth conveys. I even draw it when I draw more realistic stuff because it is truly that powerful. Tbh I love most of these tropes, they're all great so long as they're in their proper context. My greatest enemy personally is the eye through hair thing tho because you need to have at least some of it so as not to delete the character's facial expression, but too much see-through will make it look stupid.

I SO MUCH AGREE WITH YOU IN THE VISIBLE EYE BEHIND THE HAIR!!!

I feel like people who hates these tropes are either older teenagers who are over the cutesy anime style in particular or just ppl who prefer semi-realistic but still a nime styyle

As someone who draws mainly on paper using graphite pencils, but prefers anime-ish styles over realisism, yes, the eyes over the hair is absolutely 100% hands down no doubt don't argue with me one of the best trophes out there. Sir, I ain't gonna waste my time trying to cover those tiny little gaps between the hair strands where they cover the eyes. Just no. The absolute pain and misery I felt whenever I have to leave a little smudge on those areas because I kept erasing and redrawing the eye and hair in those ares just... Ugh. It's almost the same level of pain as that one line you can't seem to draw right.

ah yes the hyper simplified to hyper detailed trope i love that trope both in anime and manga

I was drawing as I was watching this, and when you mentioned the ahoge, I looked at my character, and the massive her strand on the top of her head. I feel called out. 😅

I personally adore the way Studio Ghibli handles expression through hair. Like when the stink spirit arrives in Spirited Away and Chihiro’s hair fluffs up in somewhat spiky tufts to show her disgust. Anyone else feel the same?? (I know they aren’t the only anime studio to do so but I find that Studio Ghibli’s take on the trope of “expressive hair” is my favourite lol)

No Danganronpa can hate the ahoge. It's such an important part of the franchise's character designs. V3 gets really creative with it, even having an ahoge reveal be a big deal.

Wait, Duchess Celestia watches D'Angelo Wallace too?! 😱

The funny thing about the ahoge trope is that i have one. Its big, in the centre right of my hairline, and most noticeable when i slick my hair back in a ponytail. I'm honestly linking of commiting to the bit and shaping it with pomade or hairgell!

Somewhat related but THE BSD APPRECIATION IN THIS VID 🙏🙏🙏 bungo stary dogs deserves more love istg(my tism is going brbrbrbrbrbrbr rn((im so hyperfixated)))

10:21 that ain't a cat mouth anymore that's just turtle smile

I love the glasses glare trope. I need an anime where an episode just focuses on this one character with glasses that has the sun glare his glasses whenever he has an intense thought but it also blinds him when it does that. So then he'd try to go about his day, but every time it looks like he's gonna have a thought, the sun comes outta nowhere and glares his glasses and blinds him. Like it would just happen at the most inopportune of times.

For me, I feel like if some of those points aren't done then THE ANIME IS NOT BEING DONE RIGHT!!!! Because that is what makes Anime, well, Anime~!!! ✨✨✨ Like the Glasses, Animation shift to fit the Characters Emotions (wehter for comedic or serious effect), Expession tropes (including the cat smug and sharp teeth if someone is devious) and a good ol' Bishi Sparkle moment is all very vital and entertaining 😊 The Ahoge is also quite fun to see in a heart shape cause the character is so happy or so 🤭 As long as the Ahoge isn't too distracting, to the point I only look at that instead of the face cause *it doesn't fit* the character.

"Because studio bones fish eyed Atsushi again-" When will they free my poor meow meow from his fish eye hell.

I love the animation shift. I think my favourite anime (from the small amount I have watched) that utilise it the most is Ouran High School Host Club and Fruits Basket. Like not gonna like when Tamaki or Kyo just start losing their cool and the art style changes, it’s just a great way to use exaggeration as an animation principle.

1:36- Sponsor 3:09- Eyes and eyebrows under the hair are visible 5:25- Glasses Glare 6:23- Giant Eyes 7:11- Ahoge/cowlick 8:00- Animation shift 9:04- expression tropes 10:01- Cat mouth+Shark teeth 11:06- Anti-gravity hair 12:19- The bishie sparkle 13:09- Frilly upgrade

I love/like all of these tropes. I didn't know it was possible to hate most of them.

ive seen people smile like the cat mouth smile in some yt videos and its always weird af but hilarious and adorable like in anime, Lockstin smiles like it all the time lmao

10:37 not an anime thing but nepeta and Terezi are examples of these in a constant state. They are a cat-girl alien and a sorta dragon related alien girl respectively. Two very unserious constant mouth states for characters who are varying levels of serious. Terezi being the more serious one and nepeta being serious in like 1 or 2 scenes ever . The other variations of the shark mouth in this same work are, shark teeth but a forth of them are broken or missing and shark teeth plus longer fangs

I WILL DIE ON THE HILL OF LOVING THE AHOGE. (I also never knew that's how you pronounce it😭 and I also love the bones smile to an extent)

I love all of these except for the eyes over the hair. I'll let it slide if it's just the eyebrows or eye outlines, but if it's the entire eye it starts to look a bit silly

bungou stray dogs has both good and bad tropes, and i love it, because sometimes i'll be so deeply invested and sometimes i'm ready to throw my laptop out the window

A trope that I like is when a team of magical girls all have the same outfit, but with different colours, or they have the same outfit but with different colours and some small changes. Sailor Moon is the best example of this. Every Senshi has the iconic sailor suit with the huge bowtie and the skirt, but some aspects of the outfits on some Senshi are different. For example, Sailor Uranus has shorter gloves than normal, Sailor Saturn has a differently shaped brooch, and Sailor Jupiter has that huge sensor thing on her tiara (Mostly in the manga). Sailor Moon herself…I could make a whole new comment on the aspects that differ her from the other Senshi. She’s the main character, after all- I think Ojamajo Doremi is a good example of “Same outfit, different colours”. All of the characters have that leaf-shaped skirt, a giant witch hat, and those HUGE boots. However, Doremi’s outfit is pink, Onpu’s outfit is purple, Momoko’s outfit is yellow, etc. Idk, it just makes me happy. I honestly like this trope, because it makes the characters more iconic and easier to draw from memory. I can’t draw Madoka Magica characters from memory as well as Sailor Moon characters, because every magical girl in MM has a different outfit (And I don’t know MM as well as SM). It’s not necessarily a bad thing, and I don’t hate it when magical girls all have a different outfit, but I prefer when they have the same outfit, but with different colours/small changes

Dont just give Atsushi the flame of the fish eye angle XD I think Tanizaki has also had it before Also, i actually didnt notice the smiles studio bones gave them except Dazai (but tbf everything studio bones does is getting flammed) Overall pretty good video though! I agree with most of your statements

I have a friend who has the hair over the eyes be partially transparent, which I find a clever method.

I too think that polarizing opinions can be outright hilarious to see reactions of. People tend to overreact so bad, it’s good.

yumeiro patissiere is one of the animes i think of when people mention the eye over hair thing. there's this one minor character who's really insignificant, but i remember him bc his hair covered 75% of his eyes but it was still drawn over like atp just change the hairstyle T^T

3:25 oooohh, you weren't lying when you said the first one is controversial, lol I honestly don't like that trope. It could work, but sometimes it breaks emergion so hard I just can't lmao

Early for once, heck yeah. Always love seeing a new Dunked-On Naysayer vid.

people will have to pry the magical girl frillie dresses out of my cold, dead hands

I really like the ahoge, shark teeth and frills tropes cus I like drawing those.

Honestly, it's common for me to have an ahoge myself. Ever since the 4th grade, I've had a bad habit of twirling my hair when I don't have a fidget toy on me. 7 years later, I still do this, and since I twirl my hair so much, it's extremely common for knots to form in my hair that I have to straight up pull out. This leads to now, where I have a shitton of ahoge-like strands on the front of my hair due to how much I've had to pull my hair out bc the knots I form are just that strong. And tbh I actually think it's pretty cute, as when I end up twirling those strands, it kinda looks like an anime cowlick. Whenever I dick around on Picrew and try to make myself, the only time I don't add an ahoge/cowlick is when the picrew I'm using straight up just doesn't have that option, because without the cowlick it just wouldn't be me otherwise.

Fr I loved all of these idk why ppl hated these

love stylistic choices

I can’t with the humongous eyes, sorry ^^" Why? Because I'm guilty of having drawn them by the past, and being embarrassed to no end by my old drawings...

I don't dislike any art tropes!! Every anime is so unique I love it

I'm trying to figure out my art style and for some reason I'm scared of it looking too much like anime, but honestly the more art I see the more it looks like it so I"m about ready to give up

I LIVE FOR THE PRETTY BOY ANIME SPARKLES!!!

I use shark teeth on so much of my own characters. They are my weakness. I love them.

This is a hot take but I live AND die for the fish eye troupe in BSD.Idk, it's so funny to me

I will defend the transparent eye and eyebrow line art under the hair to my grave

Hehe I really the big eyes anime style

I think the visible eyes under hair trope doesn’t deserve the hate since it’s easier to show the expression of character

7:20 I am one of the rare ones. IDC if there is a cowlick on a character or not. It can make stylising easier for the creators. I am indifferent to this. It can be cute, sure, but I am not going to feel much if it’s removed. It is what it is for me.

I love all of these, my only problem is with the eyes showing above the bangs. I don’t hate it (is a good way of showing the characters expressions and all), but I don't like how it's done sometimes, like the lineart fully showing or when the lines are just black. For me, when I draw it, I usually erase the eye/eyebrow lineart close to the hair lineart so there's a little space to separate the hair from the eyes and eyebrows :)

I don't care for the giant eyes, but when the eyes are so filled with effects and reflections that the characters are always with a mixture of a dead stare and being about to cry, that drives me insane

I like the fish eye thing

#1: Oof, this one bothers me a little bit because it kind of makes me think of plastic hair. Now if the hair is actually transparent then I would definitely see it looking cool, but otherwise it just looks awkward. Well, either that or I've watched a bit too much of Akazukin ChaCha where this never happens. #2: I also like this! I also like the glasses whose eye contacts are just white almost all the time like Reanne(Hazuki just so people won't obliterate me in the replies) or those whirly circle contact glasses. #3: Ahhhh, that classic 90s anime eye. The 90s shojo anime art style in general is one I just adore so much :D. #4: For me, it either looks awkward, weird or kinda cool. I'm usually more into the bun hair personally. #5: Animation changes like that I like as well. Really I just tend to like those neat animation changes when they're done well, or heck blending different animation types together, like what The Amazing World of Gumball does. I still remember the Chowder one where it changes to the voice actors in live-action because they ran out of money for the animation. #6: Those really aren't my thing compared to the animation changes. Instead of the sweat drops, I prefer that instant drop to the floor that is done in Akazukin ChaCha, or its older cousin from Western Animation, when someone falls down to the floor & we see the full process. The lightless pupilless eyes & shrunken eyes I kinda dig though. #7: Agreed 100%. Plain and simple. #8: Also agreed 100%. Jimmy Neutron's hair is ICONIC & Johnny Test's fiery hair looks so cool in my honest opinion(whipcracks aside). #9: Another one I really like. It looks so fancy to me. #10: Agreed as well. If only magical boys were as lucky on that...

YES I LOVE THE EYES AND EYEBROWS ON HAIR SHIT SMMMM

i loove these as well, but its easy to push 1 and 3 into uncanny valley territory