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For those not getting the reference, "senpai" is a Japanese honorific used to address one's upper classman in school. A common trope in Japanese medium is that

• ekianjo 10y ago
  > For those not getting the reference, "senpai" is a Japanese honorific used to address one's upper classman in school. Not just in school. In work situations as well. Note that this is no real equivalent for the opposite (there is Kouhai but it's not used at all in the same way).
  • smhost 10y ago
    How is "kouhai" used? Is it not the same as hoobae (Korean)?
    • Kretiini 10y ago
      I don't know any Korean, but the difference in Japanese is that you (generally) don't address people with kōhai. The younger one usually says '<name>-senpai' or 'senpai', the elder just '<name>'. They're really not that different.
      • thaumasiotes 10y ago
        > The younger one usually says '<name>-senpai' or 'senpai', the elder just '<name>'. Really? I thought use of a bare name was only for intimate relationships.
        • jrockway 10y ago
          <name> here is the family name, which in a language without idiomatic spoken pronouns, is how you talk about people.
        • bitwize 10y ago
          It could also be <name>-san, <name>-kun, or <name>-chan.
        • ekianjo 10y ago
          > Really? I thought use of a bare name was only for intimate relationships. Not only. Even at work you can refer to your colleagues without the honorific -san in some specific contexts.
          • thaumasiotes 10y ago
            Including vocative address?
    • ekianjo 10y ago
      Kouhai is not used behind a person's name. And you can usually refer to a senpai just by calling them "senpai" and whoever you are talking to would understand who are refering to. But "kouhai" is never used like what I described above - it's purely an adjective to describe the position of a junior student.
• astrobe_ 10y ago
  I think you see that trope mainly in hentais and very rarely in regular romcoms, as far as animes go.
  • sotojuan 10y ago
    That's not true. I've stopped watching seasonal anime but the last time I did (2014), every single comedy/romance anime had that trope. Sometimes it's just admiration and not romance but it seems to always be there.
    • astrobe_ 10y ago
      It's most of the times admiration and not romance, and is most of the times a comedy element and not part of the main plot. That's very different from what OP stated.
  • Nadya 10y ago
    Very common in Slice of Life/Highschool Life shows. It is essentially the Japanese equivalent of the Football Star/Quarterback dating the Head Cheerleader trope.
    • astrobe_ 10y ago
      I strongly disagree. The typical trope in SoL highschool romcom animes is the love triangle featuring a rather "dense" MC, a tsundere and a childhood friend, the three members of the triangle being classmates (so no "senpai"/underclass-mate relationships). Examples: Toradora!, Golden time, Kokoro connect, White Album 2, ... to name the most popular ones. Those that don't feature a love triangle (Ore Monogatori!, Lovely Complex, Kimi ni Todoke,... ) don't have sempais either. I simply can't remember a romcom anime in which the sempai relationship plays a significant role, if present at all. In any case, that's not a dominant trope in the genre.
      • Nadya 10y ago
        Yotsugi from Monogatari series, Kuriyama from Kyoukai no Kanata, Azusa from K-On (more-so admiration of Mio than romantic), Free!, Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka? just to name a few. If MAL wasn't for whatever reason blocked by my work's filter I'm sure I could come up with 10+ more from relatively popular shows (Monogatari, Beyond the Boundary, and K-On! being the most popular)
• sangnoir 10y ago
  > A common trope in Japanese medium is that a character will have a crush on a senpai There is the whole "Notice me senpai" meme that is making the rounds among the trendy youths, I hear. 1. http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/i-hope-senpai-will-notice-me http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/i-hope-senpai-will-notice-me