It's not, but the whole "identical in every single work that uses it" seems more specific than just "an artificial riverbank". For one, they've generally got a nearby bridge.
Bridges are as commen in inhabited areas as artificial riverbanks, maybe even more. That is not Japan specific either. If we claim that a trope is specific to a certain culture we need to work out the details which are specific. Right now I don't see these details.
That counts for all kind of water in western works too. Depending on the location of the city a place like this could be the ocean, a see in a park or a river.
edited 4th Oct '11 5:35:51 AM by Osmium
Again, they look pretty much the same from one work to another, more than they would in real life, and they show up a lot more often in Japanese works than in most others. In anime (I can't speak for other Japanese media), they're one of the more common settings or types of background scenery. And they seem to carry some kind of meaning. Given the tropes listed in the description, I'd guess they're associated with peacefulness and close personal relationships (or peaceful solitude). In Western works, I see gently sloping green hills a lot more in similar contexts, or sandy beaches, or parks.
Artificial Riverbank does not look the same in all Anime. It can be anything from concrete and kind of gritty, to wide and grassy. It depends on the anime. The only reason bridges are common is because they're common on all rivers. No one likes to wade through a river to get to the other side. If there are people near one, there is going to be a bridge.
Reality is that, which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. -Philip K. DickConcrete where? Seriously never seen that one... The closest I have seen is some concrete steps in Persona 4 (a cement one sounds like an aquaduct not a river.)
They all get a grass slope (usually a road running parallel to the river at the top) dirt at the bottom and then river. The amount of dirt from grass to river varies but that's about it. Got like 15-20 examples off the top of my head of this it's a very prominent location for animes not set near the ocean or a lake.
It's very common for people to be sitting or laying on the grass near the top of the hill, or being part of the walk to school sequence.
edited 4th Oct '11 11:39:08 AM by Raso
Sparkling and glittering! Jan-Ken-Pon!Serial Experiments Lain is the first one I can think of off the top of my head. Sloping cement banks down to a river area with a walk way. It was called a river, but it had a very bleak urban feel to it. How it's displayed varies a lot even in anime and more of the variation seems to be based on the genre.
edited 4th Oct '11 11:28:26 AM by shimaspawn
Reality is that, which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. -Philip K. DickHm, those count too? Okay, I'll swap back to general setting/prop tropes.
I don't think we got any decisions made on anything but Anime Hair, so I moved the others to the bottom list.
Next batch and thoughts on them:
- Adjective Noun Fred (language trope, if that. Do we even count aspects of languages as tropes? If not, recommend cut.)
- Blue Bishōnen Ghetto (this is apparently about how a show focused on the young male demographic will still have all attractively drawn male characters right? No clue what to do with that.)
- Caught the Heart on His Sleeve (general/Japanese or what? Don't see this that often, romance fans care to comment?)
- Chains of Love (might need TRS, looks like a type of symbolism, most likely general)
- Class is in Room X01 (Japanese specific or do other places use this?)
- Adjective Noun Fred: Its a naming title trope that is quite frowned on in english however its how the Japanese Language works. There is a rare western example but this is standard. IE Mahou Sensei Negima IE Magic Teacher Negi (ma is a pun on onion)
- Blue BishōnenGhetto: This is in TRS... lets not start it up again.
- Caught the Heart on His Sleeve: the actual event of grabbing the shirt sleeve is rather common in Japanese romance works I have never seen it in a western work.
- Chains of Love: uhh bondage illusions? I dont know.
- Class is in Room X01: American schools don't work this way. I don't know about anywhere else that Teachers switch classes not students and each class will get a Year-class number IMO this trope should be 1-X not X01 as the later doesn't happen much the former is the way its done. IE Negima's 3-A and Baka Test 2-F.
edited 4th Oct '11 9:08:44 PM by Raso
Sparkling and glittering! Jan-Ken-Pon!- Adjective Noun Fred - Naming trope. Not a language trope.
- Blue Bishōnen Ghetto - In TRS for a rename to sound less anime specific.
- Caught the Heart on His Sleeve - I've certainly seen this in Western chick flicks, but I can't think of any specific examples. The title made me think it was an animation trope dealing with people emoting hearts.
- Chains of Love - Very common and universal symbolism. Seems to have almost no wiks or examples and needs love badly.
- Class is in Room X01 - I think the core tenants of the trope (all the mains in the same class, the class being the most fleshed out, and the class getting all the action) are pretty much universal to media. Just look at The Magic School Bus. That said, the trope can't seem to decide if it's about that or if it's about the room number. It's really badly written.
Adjective Noun Fred: It's a naming trope based on the language. I think. I'm not familiar with the Japanese language so I don't know if that's a general way of describing proper nouns or not, which is why I was considering it a language trope. Still think it should be in either Japanese Tropes or Language Tropes.
Blue Bishōnen Ghetto: is the trope being redefined? I thought it was just in for a rename (in which case we can make a decision for the trope itself). I'll move it to TRS anyway, just so we can get it out.
Caught the Heart on His Sleeve: based on Shima's testimony, I'll recommend moving to a general Symbolism Tropes or possibly Romance Tropes or whatever. In which case, it would be "remove".
Chains of Love: seems to be a general symbolism trope (my initial thought, just wanted to make sure), "remove". TRS or no?
Class is in Room X01: I sort of vaguely remember having teachers switch classes in some of my classes (I've never been outside the continental US though). However, it seems to have become a "How Japanese and US classrooms differ" page, which means it probably needs a TRS.
edited 4th Oct '11 9:50:37 PM by Deboss
Fight smart, not fair.Replacement for Blue Bishōnen Ghetto is
- Excited Episode Title! (titling trope?) Still believe this is a plain title/naming trope.
Also, considering how small the remaining Anime Tropes section is, if it doesn't expand, should we just lump it into the Japanese Visual Arts Tropes page?
Just noticed, apparently the proper term would be Japanese Graphical Tropes, sound good to everyone?
edited 4th Oct '11 9:56:11 PM by Deboss
Fight smart, not fair.
I have never seen Caught the Heart on His Sleeve in a western work but it needs a TRS anyway for rename.... the name makes little sense.
Chains of Love It seems to be a BL trope at least its written that way and thats the way the examples go. /shrug.
Class is in Room X01: I have been meaning to write up a school system differences page based on [1]
[2]
this outline but no time to actually write it and my writing skills really suck. However yes TRS for description clean up and other things.
Excited Episode Title! Needs a TRS and example clean up and rename. Its about two short statements with "!" at the end of each one as an episode title (Or more than two) but its got examples of just anything with an "!" in it.
edited 4th Oct '11 10:11:48 PM by Raso
Sparkling and glittering! Jan-Ken-Pon!I've seen this in western works
>>I've never seen this in a western work
since the point is "is this only seen/originated in Japanese works?", and not being present in works one consumes doesn't mean a lack of presence. Anyway, I think it actually had a rename from something significantly more abysmal, but can't name the thread. Does it really need a TRS in addition, I can put it in both if necessary.
If Excited Episode Title! needs a TRS, I'll move it once we get some more say.
Current plans, comment if you have ideas:
Adjective Noun Fred: needs more discussion.
Caught the Heart on His Sleeve: remove + TRS for rename (no redefine)
Chains of Love: remove + Needs More Love
Class is in Room X01: needs TRS for definition issues.
Excited Episode Title!: needs TRS for definition/usage issues.
edited 4th Oct '11 10:32:58 PM by Deboss
Fight smart, not fair.
If there were examples of it and meant the same thing I would say remove but there isnt one and that's my point. If we can get enough of them then I would say remove as is I say stick on Japanese Tropes and just pimp it elsewhere or toss it up on YKTTW for a couple of days to see if there are any.
This is a major event in a lot of works especially with a Shrinking Violet type. (but not the standard Shrinking Violet hide behind a person holding the shirt way... that is something different.)
edited 4th Oct '11 10:56:36 PM by Raso
Sparkling and glittering! Jan-Ken-Pon!Class is in Room X01: This trope seems to be all over the place. It needs to go to the TRS. But the teacher switching the classe is how it works in Germany too. That is no reason to make it Japanese only.
Adjective Noun Fred:I am not sure... but "Witch Hunter Robin" as an example in the description has to go. And all the examples which are Noun Noun Fred.
Yeah TRS it is really all over the place... there could be like 5 tropes in there. Class is the Cast, The Class Naming style, the fact that its always Grade then class A as first class in the list
That last one is Not A Trope IMO I mean the actual class numbers are usually all over the place Negima is 3-A, Baka Test is 2-F, Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei is 2-H, Persona 4 is 2-B (iirc I got to recheck that one) Rosario To Vampire is 2-1.
And a few other issues.
edited 5th Oct '11 12:14:44 AM by Raso
Sparkling and glittering! Jan-Ken-Pon!I'm not sure Catch The Heart Of His Sleeve is restricted to Japanese examples. If it's not something that stems from Japanese culture, I'm inclined to say it's just general. It might need a rerun through YKTTW with whatever new description/name it gets. I think it just might be that Shrinking Violet might be a more popular love interest in works, due in part to the Japanese love of the Harem Genre (which has a much higher ratio of love interests than most romance AFAIK).
Fight smart, not fair.I think a Useful Notes page on Japanese schools could probably cover most of the weird bits of Class is in Room X01. The cast all being in one class is very much a general trope though.
edited 5th Oct '11 12:09:41 PM by shimaspawn
Reality is that, which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. -Philip K. Dick
A class getting an actual aggregate name in which they are collectively known as in said style Grade-Letter (or Number) (IE 3-A, 2-F ect) though is a trope itself and what I think the page should be, many of which use Grade-A or 1 because its first and easy and what most of them are.
Class Cast or whatever should probably be YKTT Wed.
Another thing that should probably be related is its getting quite common for said classes to fight each other. Negima's then 2-A vs Highschool 2-D (then later vs the rest of the second years in a grades contest), Baka Test's entire premise, same for Maji De Watashi Ni Koi Shinasai (at least first episode) Sports Fest (like a track meet) all work this way too.
edited 5th Oct '11 12:59:36 PM by Raso
Sparkling and glittering! Jan-Ken-Pon!Yeah, that seems more like general identification than anything else. Seems like chairs.
Fight smart, not fair.Now I disagree, in many works they don't even bother with the name of the class itself. Giving the detail of a name is a sign that this class is important and this specific naming convention is lost on English viewers. Some works like Baka Test class names are important as hell and the entire story is wrapped around it. (Faceless Masses Mooks actually get their class name replacing their face.) And Class vs class is getting quite popular in works that give the names. (IE Yukari's "Down with class 1-3" chant in Azumanga Daioh and examples I brought up in my last post.).
Well anyway TRS section we can argue more later.
edited 5th Oct '11 11:45:49 PM by Raso
Sparkling and glittering! Jan-Ken-Pon!

Artificial Riverbank is even associated with certain tropes, like Watching the Sunset and That Cloud Looks Like.... It seems to have some connotations of "peaceful place within the city".