If you want to make an anime drinking game, there are plenty of classic situations you can start with. Like, take a drink whenever a school club’s existence is in danger because there aren’t enough members, whenever a male main character is brave enough to fight demons with his bare hands yet can’t summon the courage to ask a girl for a date, whenever a character that was just introduced in an adversarial role becomes the new “transfer student” in the class at the end of the episode, or whenever a character trips and falls in a way that provides fanservice. Another theme that’s seen quite a lot is strong female characters who fight to defend the men they love, boldly declaring 守ってあげる mamotte ageru (“I will protect you”). Whether it’s Mikasa fighting to save Eren, Asuna defending Kirito after a betrayal or the classic Eva scene when Rei tells Shinji, “You won’t die, because I’m going to protect you,” strong female characters often end up becoming the most memorable in anime. Another good example of this theme is the new Witch Craft Works in which a mild-mannered male main character with no particular direction in his life (take another drink) finds that Ayaka, the popular school idol, is really a fire witch whose only goal is to protect him from murderous magical enemies.
Strong protective female characters are a big theme in anime.
