Most anime is pretty trite IMO. There is a lot of good anime out there, but it's buried in a lot of crap. A lot of the anime out there does follow a pretty tight formula, too.
(commence opinionated elitist mode)
Action anime: Really tough super evil guy, fights usually consist of the main character almost losing but coming back, obvious hierarchy, competitions or something equally as drawn out.
Comedy: Cute girls and slapstick. School setting. This style may actually be more cute than magical girl anime.
Magical Girl: See - Sailor Moon. Or hot trio of girl badasses.
Science fiction: Either stupidly simple or ridiculously convulted plot, serious characters EVERYWHERE, mecha is required (actually this doesn't bother me much ),
Supernatural: Either a more whimsical version of action anime or mystery-drama. The latter is usually just mediocre.
Cyber/steampunk: OH SO META
Romance: Stronger case of "seen one, seen them all" than magical girl.
Crime: Only genre with mostly awesome anime.
Detective: Boring version of crime anime.
Horror: GRIMDARK version of detective anime. Very drawn out.
Adventure: Standard, generic anime. See "most anime of all genres".
Fantasy: Adventure anime for girls.
Harem: Stuff no one cares about, unless the main character's name is "Tenchi".
Most anime of all genres: Fanservice, cheesy cookie-cutter drama, huge things blowing up mandatory, flat characters to contrast "characters with a mystery", boy with crush or boy that all the girls like, teaching of morals or personal growth mandatory, slight nudity mandatory unless specifically for kids, and usually the world needs saving.
That said, these are just my opinions and not meant to stir up a fight.