Nicole. Inner pages of Skip Beat! by Yoshiki Nakamura.
What I Think Are the Worst Shoujo Tropes
Continuing from my other post describing 10 of my favorite romantic shoujo tropes, these are some of the tropes I personally dislike in romantic shoujo manga (specifying here that not all shoujo is romance, but the type of shoujo I primarily read is).
I was a bit hesitant to make this version of the topic as I think it’s totally fine to read whatever you like, and I also prefer to keep my site as positive as possible. My intention isn’t to insult other people’s preferences.
However, I decided it would be fine as I also want to be honest about my reading preferences and perhaps why some titles are or aren’t often reviewed/recommended on my small blog.
So, keep in mind that what may be a bad romance trope to me may be a favorite trope to you—and that’s ok! You are welcome to enjoy whichever tropes you want, regardless if someone else enjoys them. This post is just my own personal opinion. ♡
Regardless, the discussion is fun, especially considering how manga tropes can be really wild, portrayed in so many different ways, and also seem to change over time. Personally, I think I read with a bit of a literal or logical approach.
On the other hand, some readers may approach manga differently, since a manga is simply a fictional story at the end of the day. So if you don’t agree with this list, that’s totally okay!
With that being said, let’s look at some of what I consider the worst shoujo tropes (in no specific order). I also utilize abbreviations often, so for those who aren’t familiar, FL = female lead and ML = male lead.
1. Certain Age Gaps
This one will make some readers upset at first glance so I apologize in advance, haha. You’re totally allowed to like age gaps in fiction, so don’t come for me. I actually don’t mind some age gaps and have even reviewed some stories on my site with age gaps that I thoroughly enjoyed!
However, in some cases, I just can’t complete mangas with certain types of age gap tropes. If an age gap is between two adults, obviously I have much less of an issue.
It’s primarily when one character is significantly younger than the other that bothers me. Therefore, teacher x student tropes really turn me off of a manga and I almost always drop them. Basically any age gap story where either of the characters are under the age of 18 sort of just turns me off a story.
This is actually rather common in shoujos, hence why it’s one of the worst shoujo tropes in my opinion. When you have josei stories featuring older characters, this issue usually subsides more. However, age gaps that are more than around 8-10 years start to get further and further from my personal preference and comfort level.
I will admit, however, that I’m sort of eating my own words here because my most favorite manga of all time has an age gap with a FL who is 16. Although I consider that aspect as the main con of that manga, haha.
Again, enjoying an age gap manga is no big deal—these stories are simply a fictional escape! However, age gaps just don’t align with my personal interests in most cases.
As one last note, I’ll mention that in most supernatural or fantasy manga situations where a character is immortal or something, I don’t really consider the age gap trope. It’s sort of a weird special case where the realism is lost already anyway. As long as their emotional maturity is the same (and they aren’t grossly depicted as very underage), I don’t mind.
2. Drunken or Hidden Kiss
Next on my list of the worst shoujo tropes is the drunken kiss or hidden kiss.
A drunken kiss is specifically referring to when one out of two characters gets extremely tipsy, and forgets any romantic activities that occurred with the other person. This trope is used so often, and it doesn’t really feel very interesting to me.
What makes it especially unlikable for me is that for some reason, it is often portrayed so that one character is much more sober than the other, and allows said romantic endeavors to happen. I just don’t personally think alcohol-induced romance is very, well, romantic.
It makes the sober character feel irresponsible. However, if both characters consent to drinking and both end up tipsy, it feels a bit less problematic.
A hidden kiss is more of an artistic issue. This is when the author draws a kiss between the two main characters (especially the first kiss, the more “important” one in shoujo) either from extremely far away or covered in some way.
Obviously some variety in art style is appreciated, but imagine you read 80 chapters of a slow burn romance just for their first kiss to be hidden by one character’s head or an umbrella!
3. Violent Tsundere
In my other list where I discussed my favorite types of shoujo romance tropes, I mentioned that I loved tsundere characters as long as they weren’t violent. For some time, the violent tsundere trope seemed like it was designed for humor, where a tsundere character would smack the love interest as a result of their own embarrassment or jealousy.
I personally never really understood the appeal of this type of comedy, as it feels rather annoying—especially when the tsundere is acting this way towards other characters who don’t even deserve this sort of response.
It gives me second hand embarrassment, which is why I consider it one of the worst shoujo tropes. However, I know this character type is popular and may be a form of humor that some readers enjoy, and that’s totally fine.
4. “Toxic” or Mean Leads
This is sort of a difficult and controversial one with a lot of exceptions and nuances to it, haha. I don’t really like the word “toxic” but couldn’t think of a better fit for what I mean here. Sorry!
I want to first exclude mangas where the toxicity is the whole point. A lot of manga utilize toxicity or negative personality traits as a part of the appeal. Especially older manga series such as Peach Girl or Boys Over Flowers, where “toxic” character traits help serve that extreme melodrama.
And while nobody would allow that sort of behavior in real life obviously, it can be exciting to read in a fictional story. So that isn’t really what I’m talking about. I also don’t want to include mangas like A Condition Called Love in this trope, as the whole point of the “toxic” character is his character growth. And I loooove character growth.
In fact, I think it’s more exciting for a character to not be perfect at the start. I’m fine with unique character designs and personality types—after all, yandere is an entire trope on its own focusing on “toxic” characters, haha.
Perhaps it’s hard to explain, but I just don’t like when characters are made to act mean or disrespectful for seemingly no reason, especially if other characters don’t fight back and just forgive the behavior. I think my issue is the glossing-over of problematic behavior, and not necessarily the “toxicity” itself.
This can be lead characters who are overly possessive, controlling, mean, ignorant of boundaries, abusive, or just generally have no respect for the other lead character. When they have these traits but no backstory or character growth that explains or changes such behavior, I just can’t see the appeal. How am I supposed to ship a bad person with literally anyone?
But again, this is a more difficult trope to list because for many readers, manga is just a fun, fictional escape or fantasy. Even if those “bad” personality traits are not something someone would tolerate in their actual life, they may enjoy it in manga form. If you’re here for the messy content and imperfect characters, that’s totally fine!
I’ll also admit that I’m typically someone who leans more towards the sunshine and butterflies sort of wholesome content, haha. I generally hate unhappy endings in romantic media. So it may just be a matter of preference in the end. ┐(￣ヮ￣)┌
5. Meaningless Interruptions
This is a very straightforward scenario and is, in my opinion, one of the worst shoujo tropes when it comes to romance. When two characters who are having an important or romantic moment are interrupted, it makes me want to pull my hair out.
They’re talking about their feelings! Oh someone showed up and the conversation stopped… Oh they’re about to kiss! Oops, someone walked in the room and suddenly the main characters are 10 feet away from each other. One character is going to ask the other something important! Oh no, they’re suddenly needed for other things far, far away…
These interruptions are just super annoying to me. I know life has its own interruptions, but these scenarios feel like super uncreative methods of dragging out a romance. I personally don’t enjoy this trope!
6. Damsel in Distress
With this shoujo manga trope, the FL is a useless, weak, and childish character. They are incapable of doing things themselves, and are constantly put in danger. If not physically weak, they may depicted as emotionally weak, too.
Don’t misunderstand—these character traits are perfectly fine, because not everyone can be the super strong and capable type. In some cases, this trope can even serve as a form of character growth for the FL, which is really great!
I love when it is used that way, like in Yona of the Dawn. Or even when they don’t grow out of it completely, that’s fine, too. “Girlfailure” types are often really fun and relatable.
However, the damsel in distress trope is unfortunately overused and is not always done well. Oftentimes, this personality trait either interrupts the story at random or relies on a ML to save the day. And personally, I think this trope is made worse when the heroine is constantly in need of saving by a ML.
Don’t get me wrong, a FL being saved by her prince is cute and romantic here and there. But if a story does it constantly, I get frustrated with the lack of creativity or character growth.
Often, but not always, this trope is accompanied by a dramatic, sad backstory or a situation where the FL learns to love herself because of a ML. Not a fan of this. Although I am a big romance enjoyer (obviously), I don’t think that romance is the sole source of happiness. I value character growth outside of romance, too.
To put things bluntly, this trope just isn’t always executed well, and can be repetitive.
7. Miscommunication
Miscommunication is definitely one of the worst shoujo tropes, and arguably one of the most commonly hated tropes in romance mangas. I definitely think that it can be done correctly in some ways to add some fun drama, but very often in romance it is a needless trope that happens purely because characters just won’t speak their minds or communicate an issue with each other.
I think that a little miscommunication is completely normal in romance. I mean, it’s normal in real life, too! However, when it happens multiple times in the same story or occurs over something extremely trivial, it becomes annoying.
This is especially the worst shoujo trope when it takes up more time in the manga than the actual romance does. Or, the worst of all, when it is used with bad timing.
I’ve seen this trope used towards the end of a shoujo romance, where the relationship is pretty much becoming solidified, and then boom—secondary love interest appears, or some other minor issue stops the couple from actually getting together. Very unnecessary! Just talk to each other!
8. Mr. / Ms. Popular
This trope is so specific, but it’s used often enough for me to want to include it here. The “overly popular student” is one of the worst shoujo tropes in my opinion, because it is just so exaggerated. I don’t just mean where a character has a lot of friends or is maybe a noticeably attractive character… I mean where they are so incredibly popular that they are ridiculously well-known.
This is especially used in school life romance shoujos, where the entire school or even neighboring schools know who a character is. Being well-known within one school isn’t so bad. However, when a character is so popular that they get surrounded or chased by a group of people and it prevents a romance from progressing, it starts to get very annoying.
It also feels unrealistic, unless the character is an actual celebrity. The most annoying part of this trope is if it goes so far as to include a fan club for the character. So to conclude, this is one of the worst shoujo tropes mostly because it’s irritating and gives me second hand embarrassment. If you like this trope… I apologize!
9. Ship Sails… The End!
This isn’t really the worst of the worst in terms of shoujo tropes, but it still a little disappointing at times. As the name suggests, this is when the manga or story ends right after the ship sails (the characters get together).
Sometimes a story can feel pretty fulfilling once the relationship becomes official, but very often it can leave much to be desired. Give us more cute moments after the fact too, please!
10. Annoying Siblings
Very rarely do I ever enjoy romance stories that involve siblings. If characters are just introducing each other to their families after a relationship is formed, that’s usually okay. However, I am not a fan of the obsessive, protective sibling trope. It’s so exaggerated, creepy, and annoying.
I don’t need some weird drama to interrupt a romance. Just a big no from me. Siblings can be involved in romance mangas in ways that are normal and supportive. Characters who are jealous, mean, or protective siblings that prevent the main romance from progressing are one of the absolute worst shoujo tropes in my opinion.
Final Thoughts
As I mentioned before, what I consider the worst shoujo tropes may not be what you consider the worst. Everyone’s opinions and preferences are valued here. ♡ I hope that even if you disagreed with my least favorite tropes, you still enjoyed reading my thought process on them and the reasons why I don’t really enjoy them!
In the end, I probably have read and enjoyed plenty of series containing these tropes at some point—so nothing is truly that simple or black-and-white. Preferences can be flexible, and they may change with time. No matter what anyone says, don’t let it stop you from enjoying the manga you read!
