With hit manga like Chainsaw Man and Blue Lock set to be adapted to anime in 2022, plenty of fantastic new characters will be ing the ranks of classic anime archetypes like "edgy rival" and "charismatic mentor."
Of course, all tropes and archetypes have both good and bad implementations as well as varying levels of depth among the characters. So while there are certainly some good (and even great) characters in all of the overused archetypes, they just don't make up for the bad.
The Forgiven Villain
Some of the best and worst anime characters fall under the volatile trope of villain-turned-hero or, similarly, a villain with a heroic final redemption.
While it's always exciting for Boruto didn't earn their redemption at all.
The Annoying Talking Animal
Talking animals are a pretty huge part of anime, with varying degrees of success. They can be anything from a genuine magical being to a possessed ordinary animal or plushie.
While some talking animals are fantastic, more often the trope is just to have a cute mascot and often the mascot is incredibly obnoxious. A fun implementation of the trope is the possessed cat from Ghost Stories, with the absolute worst of the trope being the insufferable Kon from Bleach.
The One Trick Pony
A One Trick Pony is a character that either exclusively knows one technique or uses the exact same technique to come ahead in every single fight they have.
When the trope is subverted and the character grows because of it, like Naruto and his clone jutsu, the trope can be fun and interesting. However, even if they grow later on, it can be a bit annoying on characters like Zenitsu from Demon Slayer or Yuma from Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal use the same breathing form or ace monster over and over for multiple seasons.
The Useless Love Interest
Regardless of the gender or genre of the protagonist, there are some amazing romantic partners who more than pull their weight in anime. However, some are almost completely useless.
Whether it's for comedy like Izumi is Shikimori's Not Just A Cutie or if the character is just too weak to fight back like Orihime in Bleach, fans want a love interest who can genuinely stand alongside the protagonist. A good subversion of this trope is Bulma in Dragon Ball, who still greatly contributes to the team despite not being able to fight.
The Bland Protagonist
It isn't uncommon for side characters to be more beloved than main characters in anime, and bland protagonists are a huge part of that reason.
There are still fantastic protagonists that are outshined by side characters, with Gon and Killua being a great example. However, it becomes a problem with characters like Shinji Ikari or Touya Mochizuki who are so uninteresting compared to their side characters that audience grow tired of them. A good subversion of this is Hitohito Tadano from Komi Can't Communicate.
The One-Sided Rival
There are plenty of fantastic rivalries in anime, but usually, they come with even ground between the rivals. Nobody wants to see a featured rivalry where one character always loses.
A good example of this is Levi and Zeke in Attack on Titan, the latter of whom is slaughtered by the former every time they fight. Takumi Aldini and Yukihira Soma is another example. A good subversion of the trope is Asta and Yuno from Black Clover, which starts off incredibly one-sided before gradually growing closer as the series progressed.
The Tsundere
A tsundere is a (usually) female character who begins incredibly aggressive towards their love interest, usually the protagonist, until they become warm and affectionate as they accept their feelings.
Noelle Silva from Black Clover is by far one of the most annoying versions of this trope. Even good characters like Tohsaka Rin and Erina Nakiri are marred by the trope. A fun subversion of the trope is Damian Desmond from Spy X Family, made funnier by the genderbent twist and more realistic by his age, considering younger children often are usually mean to their first crush.
The Dumb Protagonist
If there's one thing more annoying than a boring protagonist, it's an incredibly stupid one. Shonen Jump protagonists in particular are guilty of this trope, with only a few having two brain cells to rub together.
There are some lovable blockheads with understandable human levels of intelligence, like Itadori from Jujutsu Kaisen. However, some protagonists are so dumb that it makes the audience wonder how they even function in day-to-day life. The worst example of this by far is Goku from Dragon Ball, who says things so asinine that Vegeta and the audience can often only stare in disbelief.
The Short (Or Elderly) Creep
A popular trait, especially in Shonen anime, is a character that obsessively chases women throughout the course of the series. For some reason, the character is also often incredibly short or old.
The least obnoxious implementation of the trope is Jiraiya from Naruto, but it's the lone flaw of an otherwise great character. Aside from Jiraiya, the characters in this trope are almost always unwatchably bad. Master Roshi, Mineta, Kon, Teruteru Hanamura, and Yamai Ren are all examples of the terrible archetype.
The Yandere
A yandere is a character who can seem incredibly sweet or doting but becomes aggressive, violent, or downright murderous when it comes to their love interest.
The yandere trope is so bad that there exist no good yandere characters or subversions of the archetype. Shuka Karino, Lucy, Kotonoha Katsura, and Yuno Gasai are among the most popular of this terrible character archetype. Even worse is that the yandere is often the deuteragonist, making the shows they're in almost unwatchable due to sheer screentime.
