TV/anime tropes

[Custos Sophiae]

This wiki may be interesting for anyone interested in the guts of the stories, including fanfic writers.
They've got pages about all the standard tropes, heroes, stock phrases, etc, with examples, and conversely, lists of the tropes etc used by most major TV/anime shows. Trying to avoid using these tropes in fanfic would not be a good idea, but being able to recognise which ones you're using and which ones are inherent in the show could be useful.
There's also a random plot generator, one trope from column A, one from column B, ... which actually produces more original plots than some TV shows.

[Bob Schroeck]

Thanks for the link, Custos, but just so you know, I'm "LooneyToons" on that Wiki, and I've promoted it here many times.
Another doesn't hurt, though!
-- Bob
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...The President is on the line
As ninety-nine crab rangoons go by...

[Custos Sophiae]

I did wonder if there might be some overlap, despite not noticing the earlier recommendations of that site, that I recall. Come to think of it though, I don't remember where I did see the link to the site.
I have made a few minor contributions to it myself, as 'Robert'.
Referring back to your earlier post on fanfic writing, it is very useful to know how stories work - what the standard components are, and the many ways they can fit together. Even a crude painting-by-numbers approach would be better than much fanfic; get a deep understanding of story mechanics and you can write the kind of fic that keeps your readers glued to the screen for 30 hours straight.
A conscious understanding isn't necessary, of course, you can rely entirely on techniques unwittingly picked up from your reading, but it is certainly useful - and sites such as this wiki are probably a better way of getting it than dry academic dissertations.