The mob mentality in anime

[pianocello]

I see this kind of scene occasionally appear in anime and it rarely fails to make me very angry when it appears.

The typical scenario is this: The townspeople feel that they are unfortunate. Instigated by a few more vocal ones, they are too willing to find a scapegoat to blame their problems on. They proceed to go on a witchhunt to lynch their scapegoat in an unreasonable manner.

Examples of what I am talking about it is Jigoku Shoujo season 1 when talking about Ais past and Mai Otome (which admitedly had some justification but still. Anyhow, this kind of resolved sort-of-happily).


Which scenes of this sort made you angriest the most. Also, which ones (which initially made you angry) had the happiest resolutions?

[Lego]

Frankenstein anyone? This has been going on since stories were stories. The biggest example of this for me had to be what happened in the Animatrix when it gives the backstory about the androids/robots.

[something]

The typical scenario is this: The townspeople feel that they are unfortunate. Instigated by a few more vocal ones, they are too willing to find a scapegoat to blame their problems on. They proceed to go on a witchhunt to lynch their scapegoat in an unreasonable manner.
Kind of like people in the real world, you mean?

Anyway, yes, this often happens when they just need a quick and dirty way of getting a character to move on to another place, usually. Coming up short on examples off the top of my head now.

[Lego]

FMA?

[roastedpekingduck]

I really hate that technique. It's usually an easy and trite way of alienating the protagonist. Nowadays, there are a lot of better alternatives that achieve the effect that is intended by the mob scene. I've seen a load of these in anime, and they just seem so trite.

Helpless Protagonist: "Wait...you guys, you know I didn't steal that right? Please, tell the cops that I wasn't the one who stole this!"
Bystander #1: "Well sonny, I'd like to think that, but you were standing right here during the scene."
Bystander #2: "I'd hate to suspect you, but you look kinda suspicious."
Bystander #3: "Well...there's nobody else around."
Bystander #1: "Screw it, he's the one who stole the item. Fuck you son and get your ass in jail!"
Bystander #2: "Yeah, get in jail!"
Bystander #3: "Screw jail, let's execute him too!"

Dialog always seems to be like that for a mob scene in some ways or another.

[Redcoffin]

I see this kind of scene occasionally appear in anime and it rarely fails to make me very angry when it appears.

Why does it make you angry? Because it's an over-used and hackneyed plot device? (if so, quit watching anime now because most of it is full of such devices) or because you fear you may be the next target of the mob's untimely wrath?

[jecca-neko]

Honestly, this is something that happens in Japanese society a lot, so it's not going to stop happening in anime anytime soon. It doesn't always take the form of Frankenstein-esque mobs, but it's common for it to be a group of people picking on one person.

The Japanese term for it is "iijime".

[Gundamhead]

Honestly, this is something that happens in Japanese society a lot, so it's not going to stop happening in anime anytime soon. It doesn't always take the form of Frankenstein-esque mobs, but it's common for it to be a group of people picking on one person.

The Japanese term for it is "iijime".

There. Tightened that up a little.