| Nearly every single anime I have ever seen in my life includes scenes where characters are having conversations on rooftops of buildings. They could be schools, warehouses, skyscrapers, regular apartments, you name it. Isnt this just about done to death now? Do you know how much time and effort it takes to get someone to follow you up some stairs onto the rooftop? By the time you get there you could have had your conversation already. If you're nearby the rooftop I could understand because you want privacy, but when your scene begins with you outside in a street and ends with you on a rooftop, it just becomes laughable for the viewer. Are you sick of this anime convention, or do you love it? Is Japan really a nation of rooftop conversationalists? EXHIBIT A: "Hey, I have something I want to talk to you about." "What?" "Follow me." *10 minutes later, they're on a nearby rooftop moodily staring at the horizon* "I wanted to tell you that I'm going to talk to that girl tomorrow." "Ok." "..." "Ok, I'm going home now." "Ok, bye." "You're not coming?" "No, all the characters on the rooftop cant leave at the same time." "Eh? Why?" "I DIDNT INVENT THE DAMN CLICHE DID I!? HOW SHOULD I KNOW!?" "Alright jeez. Why'd you bring me up here to have such a mundane conversation we could have had on the ground?" "Shut up." "And why'd you keep dropping your unfinished cigarettes onto the ground and stubbing it out with your shoe? Why dont you ever finish your cigarettes? Isnt it a waste of money to smoke half a cigarette all the time?" "SHUT UP, JUST SHUT UP!" |
"I'm starting to think mal is run by Xinil generating electricity on a bicycle." - idklol |
| hahahahahahah... This was funny.... I think someone told me that its actually forbidden in japan to go to the rooftops in school, that nobody actually does that.. But I don´t know the truth in that. Who knows what's the meaning behind it. |
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| Yes, I already have this habit listed as one of many common shoujo manga plot devices on my Random Shoujo Manga Page: http://shoujo-manga.com/common-shoujo-manga-plot-devices/ (These aren't limited to shoujo manga really, but that is what I was reading when I noticed all the plot devices) :D |
| Like Shoujo? Visit: Emily's Random Shoujo Manga Page |
| lol, I never really noticed this until you pointed it out ... I guess its for wind effect that others have stated. That and the fact that height is epic =p. It also provides good sucicide oppurtunities xD. |
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| How else are they going to end the scene with a pan-up to a big full moon? |
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| Because that's the coolest place to commit suicide from. I don't think many countries leave their rooftops unlocked. At least, not over here. Never ever been on one before. |
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| Someone mentioned it before, but yes it's true that students aren't aloud and can't really get on the roof so I was kinda curious where animators get this idea from. Also it's always windy everywhere in Japan, they don't need to go on a roof to get wind, haha. |
| I forgot to do a poll actually, that would have been interesting. How many people have ever actually been on a roof, let alone had a conversation on one? I dont think I've ever been on a roof before! |
"I'm starting to think mal is run by Xinil generating electricity on a bicycle." - idklol |
| I'd much rather see people gossip/talk on the rooftop than having them gossip in bathrooms -- which is what I see most girls do. I guess since the rooftop IS off limits it sort of gives the impression that no one will eavesdrop / interupt. random: but i've also noticed how in Anime/Dramas people NEVER finish their cigarettes and it REALLY bothers me. Cigarettes are so expensive. And people always start smoking one, have like 3 pulls, and throw it to the ground. what a waste of a cigarette :\ |
katsup said: I'd much rather see people gossip/talk on the rooftop than having them gossip in bathrooms -- which is what I see most girls do. Yeah, but as a viewer its like the equivalent of watching someone slip on a banana in a comedy, its completely played out and done to death. The rooftop convo in anime now just makes me roll my eyes, I just cant take it seriously at all. What makes it worse is its contrast with real life, and the fact that characters sometimes are nowhere near a rooftop when they decide to talk, so the anime is telling us to assume these guys walked up a hell of a lot of stairs or rode a lift together for ten minutes. Its just laughable to me. I know this convention isnt going to go away anytime soon, but I've been seeing it a lot in Honey & Clover and just felt like commenting on it. Along with the cigarette thing... random: but i've also noticed how in Anime/Dramas people NEVER finish their cigarettes and it REALLY bothers me. Cigarettes are so expensive. And people always start smoking one, have like 3 pulls, and throw it to the ground. what a waste of a cigarette : Desho!!! |
"I'm starting to think mal is run by Xinil generating electricity on a bicycle." - idklol |
| some of the ones i've seen have explained it through either someone in the student council or a regular student stealing a key and then it being passed down through the years. or maybe those were h-games... i cant remember. Cihan said: How many people have ever actually been on a roof, let alone had a conversation on one? it's quite common here in the city (near universities.) |
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| First off: the OP was hilarious, I really really mean that. I for one, have only been on the roof of a small house, like a cabin but even smaller than that I think, hehe. Getting up there was troublesome but worth it because it was "different" - climbing a set of stairs to get to the roof to an apartment would be cool and refreshing, but the idea of starting from the ground, yeah... Silly at best. But it's cool.. and you can... ^^ eeeh, have the wind blow in your air? Yeah ^^; |
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| Oh my God. I cant think of any anime where characters dont speak on a rooftop. (oO) |
"I'm starting to think mal is run by Xinil generating electricity on a bicycle." - idklol |
Xyik said: lol, I never really noticed this until you pointed it out ... Same here. |
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| In The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift there were actual people on a rooftop. >.> (When the Japanese guy wanted a refund for his "broken Ipod") Maybe Japanese people like being on rooftops. Another reason why Japanese are awesome. ... Roofs are good environments, nice view and everything. Unless it's a slanted roof. Those are kind of dangerous. |
Sephiex said: Unless it's a slanted roof. Those are kind of dangerous. You should check out NieA Under 7. Lots of dangerous roof talking in that. |
"I'm starting to think mal is run by Xinil generating electricity on a bicycle." - idklol |
| I think they should re-name Shigofumi to Rooftopfumi. 7 episodes in and there's been a billion rooftop scenes already. If you get off on rootfop conversationalists, Shigofumi's your fix. |
"I'm starting to think mal is run by Xinil generating electricity on a bicycle." - idklol |
| The rooftop conversation is very symbolic, and sometimes used in metaphors to enhance the themes of the anime. You need to pay more attention to them and factor in what they really mean. D: |
asandari said: The rooftop conversation is very symbolic, and sometimes used in metaphors to enhance the themes of the anime. You need to pay more attention to them and factor in what they really mean. D: Anything's symbolic if you squint hard enough. (they're talking on a roof because that person died/was born on one!) The rooftop conversation is about as subtle as quick-cutting to a butterfly being caught in a spider's web then cutting back to a conversation involving deceit. That is to say: laughably blunt and overused. Actually, I cant think of any symbolic or metaphoric value to a rooftop conversaton, I think anime writers are just using that location because its a convention and they're lazy. |
"I'm starting to think mal is run by Xinil generating electricity on a bicycle." - idklol |
| lol i've noticed that a lot, but it probably has to do with habit, they've drawn the roof scene soo many times, that it seems "special" and i think it probably has to do with lazyness because when they are on the roof all they have to draw is the background once and carry it over for the next few minutes with only animating a moving mouth... idk seems like a simple answer |
First Sig built from scratch 2nd overall^^^ |
Cihan said: Oh my God. I cant think of any anime where characters dont speak on a rooftop. (oO) Tower of Drauga? Tengen Toppa Gurenn Lagann? The inexistence of roofs in these animes renders roof-talking impossible :smallsmirk: Wrongly coded vBcode aside, the rooftop convo is one of the staple tropes of anime, to the point that it's becoming a guessing game to take bets on when it'll happen, and on which roof. It's like Calling Attacks in shonen anime, or dramatic powerups. It's pretty stupid when you think about it, but it's so prevalent that people start to *expect it.* Think about it, how would CSI sound like without snappy and grossly offensive quips from Mulder? It's stupid and pointless, but it's become a running gag in the series that people start expecting it. |
| Peace through Superior Firepower! formosan said: Are you using some kind of advanced logic I don't know about? Have you decided to assign new meanings to English words? Are you just intentionally burning a straw man and knowing full well that you're changing the subject and misrepresenting a claim? |
| I have. It's a great view. ;) It's true that it's not common in the US, but it's pretty common in major cities overseas where everyone lives in an apartment or condo (as long as the buildings are not too high.) In my country, it's popular to garden on your roof. People have everything from ping pong tables to peach trees up there, and let's not forget laundry lines, lol. Now a conversation on a school rooftop, that's pushing it. That's not allowed, lol. |
| I actually never realized how many rooftop conversations anime has. The only one that really comes to mind is the fight between Naruto and Sasuke ^^; |
Music is from the soul~ ♥ |
| I think we need a MyRooftopConversationList pronto. I'm watching Toshokan Sensou. Guess what? Rooftop conversation. |
"I'm starting to think mal is run by Xinil generating electricity on a bicycle." - idklol |
| I've been on a roof before, but it was too windy. |
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| This thread is brilliant! It is so so true! But only when you pointed it out, like others, did i think about it! The image of them just walking in silence all up the stairs or in the lift and waiting to get onto the roof just to talk about talking to a girl is hilarious though! Oh and yeah i've been on a few roofs! Not all they're made out to be!! I think from now on when i need a chat with someone i'll drag them with me to the nearest roof! |
| I've been on a rooftop not too long ago we some friends, and we DID have a conversation (and roofs clearly aren't made to be stepped on, it was quite scary), but I guess it's not really something most people do, and it gets annoying when every single anime has a scene on a rooftop |
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Kettricken said: This thread is brilliant! It is so so true! But only when you pointed it out, like others, did i think about it! The image of them just walking in silence all up the stairs or in the lift and waiting to get onto the roof just to talk about talking to a girl is hilarious though! Remember, they cant talk inbetween the moment they decide to go to the roof and them actually arriving on the roof. The period inbetween must be in complete silence, they cant even look at each other. Ok!? |
"I'm starting to think mal is run by Xinil generating electricity on a bicycle." - idklol |
| I think you need to take in to account that a lot of Japan is highly metro, and... privacy is quite rare. Rooftops (of a school, apartment, shopping centre, office building, whatever) are very commonly utilised as available space, unlike in most of the world where we barely even think about the need for maximising space efficiency. That said, people go to a rooftop in order to try to be alone. Bathrooms are busy (and really, who wants to chat away in a bathroom?) classrooms have randoms (Taniguchi!) popping in, workplaces always have people about, etc etc etc. So it's a common concept to go somewhere private, without constant traffic, to try to have a serious/private conversation. Though, really, if everybody is doing it, surely people would bump in to each other a lot. And it wouldn't end up being private at all. . . |
Asako said: Though, really, if everybody is doing it, surely people would bump in to each other a lot. And it wouldn't end up being private at all. . . Oh thats crying out to be spoofed! They go to the roof but there's already a cliched conversation going on, "uh sorry, we'll go find another roof..." |
"I'm starting to think mal is run by Xinil generating electricity on a bicycle." - idklol |
| I can just picture a scene where a guy asks a girl to meet him on the school rooftop, and they go up, and there's like a dozen couples already there (Including some making out ala Kanokon's Chuzuru/Kouta molestation). Very '...' moment. |
| Futakoi Alternative. Rooftop conversationalism: check. I swear, every single anime I've ever seen... EDIT: By the way, I notice a lot of conversations in kids playgrounds, but thats fine. They're on ground level, easy to get to, empty at certain times of the day, its totally acceptable. Just wanted to get that out there, I'm not against all cliches and conventions of anime, m'kay? |
"I'm starting to think mal is run by Xinil generating electricity on a bicycle." - idklol |
| yeah therooftop conversations in gto were intesrting especially since people actually feell off the roooooof. |
 今はどんでん返しの時代ではない★너와 함께 했던 일상은 어느샌가 작은 영화속 풍경이되고 ☆ |
| ^haha, that's great! I've seen so many crappy rooftop scenes since I last posted. I'd say about 7 out of 10 anime had rooftop conversations. I did see a great one in Ghibli's Whisper of the Heart though. They're in school, they need to talk somewhere private, and here's the thing: we actually see them go up to the roof. I think it was raining so they couldnt even go to the edge. Then later on the entire classroom of kids follows them up to listen in on their conversation, all in all it was an entertaining rooftop conversation that didnt feel lame, it felt natural and realistic. No "meet me after school...at midnight...on the roof...so I can tell you something that will only take 5 minutes!" |
"I'm starting to think mal is run by Xinil generating electricity on a bicycle." - idklol |
| Maybe because it's easier and cheaper to animate + create audio for a quiet environment with a scrolling sky as the backdrop than to draw and one full of other one talking, like in the school cafeteria, for example (where I am sure many conversations take place). |
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| i just watched a pointless rooftop scene in clannad... they were outside of the school doing nothing in a place where the is already no one, somewhere out in the trees, and they need to ask a character a simple question so they take her up to the roof to ask it, of course it made the scene funny because it was supposed to be an entire joke about how romantic everything is going to be only for it to be a simple question... but still yeah i don't get the rooftop scenes either |
First Sig built from scratch 2nd overall^^^ |
freedoleen said: Respect.you know, Japanese rooms are small & the streets are narrow... also, authors don't want to distract viewer by the unnecessary details like the pedestrians, cars or furnitures. on the other hand, they really like to draw the sky. but more importantly on rooftops they can use the wind. and without a doubt wind is really important in anime - something has to winnow hairs and skirts. Eh, I really do like those scenes and they are very inviting when it comes to dramatic effects and so on. Your little post might have been an eye-opener, though. I just hope I won't start noticing and thinking like that every single time it happens. You know that Fansub Documentary on utoob? My fansubs are ruined now. |
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| i totally enjoyed reading this... the funniest thing of all is that its absolutly true!  |
| Lol, I read these pages from a manga and I immediately thought of this thread... NSFW, maybe. The author seems to have had the same thought as you, Cihan. xD |
new_userJul 11, 2008 1:16 AM
| Well, rooftops are nice :P At my old house I would usually sit on the roof aswel =D love the view and watch people look strange at me sitting on the roof xD I can think of a few anime that don't have rooftop conversations~ |
| I never noticed it before, but now that I think about it the whole rooftop conversation thing does crop up mysteriously often in anime. Here in the UK you'd probably never be allowed on the school roof. |
| It depends for me, I'm not really sick of it, sometimes they are random and that just feel weird, its like 'why the heck did you go on the roof...?' But other times it makes sense so its okay. |
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| yes rooftop is nice. because there can be a lot of interesting things. except of a confestion there can be a suicide too. not really that great but i think the most time they survive through. |
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