| abstract | - Sometimes, when viewing an arc in an anime or manga, there are times when a viewer feels compelled to shout, "WTF did you do that for?!" Bleach itself have so many of these moments that it has its OWN page.
* After War Gundam X brings up Garrod Ran being hit on from the get go by Ms. Fanservice Ennil El, who obviously wants him. Sure, she was also engaging him in a business deal, but a blind man could tell she wanted to nail the guy.You'd expect: Sure, he had some reason to be paranoid about her stealing the GX-9900 G-Controller after they got laid, but considering how Crazy Prepared he usually is, he could've planned ahead, got his rocks off, and both parties could've walked away somewhat better than they did.Instead: He holds a gun on her, which pisses her off for most of the series, and was retroactively responsible for a LOT of things he could have avoided.
* Mobile Suit Gundam Age gives us the Veigan who have just found out that a teenage girl named Yurin L'Ciel is an X-Rounder - alias the AGE version of a Newtype. They REALLY want that person as an ally, specially considering that the other X-Rounder they have handy is an unstable Enfante Terrible, Desil Galette.You'd expect: That they go to Yurin's home, forcibly recruit her, train her as a pilot and in the use of her abilities and then make her a top pilot. (And maybe get her Brainwashed and Crazy, if needed.) It sorta worked in 00 with Louise, after all.Instead: The Veigan catch a hold of the girl... and then they merely strap her to a cockpit and use her as a living amplifier for the psychopathic Desil's own powers. Predictably, they lose a potentially very strong Dark Magical Girl of sorts when she gets killed in battle -- by Desil, of all people.
* The other part of the plan is just as stupid. Yurin is a very peaceful and sweet person who lives more or less in peace with her adopted father and has a crush on a certain boy named Flit Asuno aka The Hero of the story. It doesn't look like recruiting her willingly will be easy...You'd expect: That they terrify her into submission via shooting or capturing her father or telling her that, if she doesn't join in, they'll endanger the colony. Or just tell her that they'll kill her if she doesn't collaborate. Or, as said before, having her Brainwashed and Crazy wouldn't be out of the question.Instead: Desil just goes to Yurin and tells her "Come with us, or you'll never see Flit again". And it works. Not only the threat doesn't seem to be half as convincing or tragic as the alternatives mentioned, but it makes poor Yurin look like a total idiot too. And as seen above, it works as well as expected..
* When Asemu was about to steal the Vagan X-rounder helmet, Dique appeared.You'd expect: That he would make sure Asemu left first and locked the door behind him.Instead: He puts it back to the glass case and.... leaves Asemu in the room. Cue sound of something breaking.
* As a child, Arabel Zoi sees Grodek Ainoa gun down his father. Grodek tells him that doing so was his only purpose in a shattered life, and that Arabel is destined to follow the same path.You'd expect: That Arabel would not accept the life philosophy handed to him by a stranger who murdered his dad and do something else, if only to spite Grodek.Instead: He devotes his life to getting revenge on Grodek and ends up as an Unwitting Pawn to the Federation in the process. Right after knifing Grodek in the kidneys, he himself is shot by Federation agents.
* Mobile Fighter G Gundam has a lot of examples courtesy of Domon Kasshu, and here's one of the more Egregious ones: Schwarz Bruder has been teaching Domon how to unlock the true potential of his Super Mode by achieving a serene state of mind, rather than the Unstoppable Rage that leads Domon to accidentally activate it. Master Asia arrives before Domon's training is complete and goads Domon mercilessly to get mad and use his Super Mode to fight.You'd expect: Domon to listen to Schwarz and not rise to Master Asia's bait. Master Asia is very definitely Domon's enemy and every action he's taken since revealing his Face Heel Turn has been against Domon. If he's telling Domon "Get mad! Get mad! Get so mad it drives you mad!" while Schwarz is desperately pointing out exactly what Master Asia is doing and that Domon needs to keep his cool, Domon really should listen to the latter.Instead: Domon gets mad and activates his supermode.Result: Master Asia completely curbstomps Domon, forcing Schwarz to go Big Damn Heroes and incur serious injury.
* Another shiner from Domon. After the tag team match with Argo, Graham, and Allenby ends in disaster, medivac crews are called in. Domon tells Rain to stay with Allenby, but the EM Ts brush her aside and take off without her, in full sight of everyone present. When they visit the hospital later, Allenby has vanished.You'd expect: That Domon would ask Rain to search for her and enlist the help of the Shuffle Alliance. Just that. That's all you have to do.Instead: He flips his lid and blames the entire thing on Rain, bawling her out in the middle of the hospital and saying she's worthless as a doctor and a crewmate. Even though, as mentioned, he saw everything as well.
* Not surprisingly, Rain feels horrible after this and, having been told that she not worthy of being on Domon's crew, resigns from his crew. Unfortunately, the next match is against Schwarz Bruder, who nobody has beaten.You'd expect: That Domon would realize what a jerk he was and go apologize to Rain.Instead: He's utterly dumbfounded that she would leave the crew and treats it as a huge betrayal (even before she turns up in a German flag mask) and sulks like a five-year-old, refusing to work with Rain's replacement. This results in a key flaw in God Gundam going undiagnosed until the middle of the match, when it's too late to do anything. Luckily, Schwarz set up a Batman Gambit to get Domon to realize what a moron he was being and Rain is able to fix the Gundam, but it still ends with Schwarz nearly dead. Again.
* Mirai Nikki gives us the standoff between Yuki and his Dad, after finding out he'd lied about coming back to the family to kill Yuki and had stabbed his Mom to death while fleeing.You'd expect: Yuki to completely reject his father's apology, and maybe even try to kill him. Or at least take it with a grain of salt, given how much he'd lied to Yuki at that point.Instead: He totally forgives his father, and even vows to go stargazing with him after his sentence is over. And when his father bites it, he grieves for him just as much as his Mom, promising to bring BOTH of them back. It's as if his dad had lied about taking him to the arcade or something- and he accepts the apology without questioning it once. What the Hell, Hero??
* Yu-Gi-Oh GX:
* It's eventually made abundantly clear that the Big Bad of the third season is specifically targeting Judai's friends and loved ones in order to inflict maximum pain on him, and will continue to target them as long as they're made a target for him/her/it.You'd expect: Judai's friends to agree to back off and not provide a target for the Big Bad, knowing Judai is The Ace and, with only himself going in to take care of the Big Bad, he has the best chance of doing so while cutting off the Bad's biggest advantage over him.Instead: They completely ignore Judai's pleas to this fact, dive in with him, and die off one by one as they become sitting ducks for the Big Bad.
* Yet again when Judai is facing Yubel. Yubel has a card that allows his opponent to choose a card to put in her hand. Meanwhile Judai has finally found a way to defeat Yubel's nigh invincible monster with his overly powerful one. He equipped a magic card that allows him to bypass the ability that has caused him so much grief. So he then has to choose one of Yubel's cards to put in her hand.You'd Expect: Judai to pick Grinder Golem, or even Super Polymerization.Instead: He picks Mystical Space Typhoon. A card that destroys Magic cards. Such as the one that is stopping Judai from LOSING. Yubel does destroy it and Judai is in an even WORSE position.
* Yu-Gi-Oh 5 Ds:
* An example from Yusei's second duel against Aki: Yusei has Stardust Dragon out and 2100 LP. Aki has her Black Rose Dragon, a Monster that can lower Stardust's ATK to 0, and an equip (Thorns of Hatred), that raises BRD's ATK to 3000, but it lowers other Monster's ATK rather than destroying them.You'd Expect: Aki to activate the Dragon's effect, lower Stardust to 0, and attack for game.Instead: Aki attacks with Black Rose Dragon, lowering Stardust's ATK and doing 500 damage, but not much else. Albeit, she was trying to cause as much pain as possible, but it doesn't really get much more painful than 3000 from Aki!
* Team 5Ds vs Team Unicorn. Team Unicorn's starting duelist thrashes Jack and Aki, and does serious damage to Yusei before going down. Team Unicorn's second duelist runs a mill deck, reducing Yusei's deck to like 5 cards before going down. Team Unicorn's last duelist finds himself in the position where ending his turn would have won him the duel, as Yusei has 0 cards left in his deck.You'd expect: Him to actually, you know, do so.Instead: He decides he wants to win with honor or some tripe like that. So he attacks Yusei's monster, allowing Yusei to activate an effect that wins the duel for Team 5Ds. This despite the fact that even if he had been able to destroy Yusei's monster, there was no way he could have taken out Yusei's life points by attacking, so he'd have had no option but to end his turn anyway, winning by deck out.
* A more direct plot element from the first Yu-Gi-Oh series goes like this: in the middle of the ocean, the main characters' airship is attracted by a Deus Ex Villain that demands that they defeat him in a virtual reality game thing (filler, anime-exclusive arc). They do it; but by doing it they left Evil Marik, the villain, unsupervised; and Odion/Rishid, the guy he's trying to kill, at his mercy.You'd Expect: For Marik to find Odion in the ship and kill him. And if Isis tried to protect him, kill her as well (seeing how she has no Millennium Item left to defend her at this point).Instead: He just sits and waits for God-knows-how-long, and near the end of the whole thing decides to leave the airship and destroy the Deus Ex Villain's computers for the lulz. And go back on board.
* The first ever duel between Joey and Kaiba takes place at Duelist Kingdom. It's the first ever duel using the newest technology created by Kaiba Corp. Kaiba summons a fusion monster with 2000 ATK, destroying Joey's monster, and is strong enough to do so to any of the monsters Joey had in his hand.You'd expect: Joey would simply put monsters in defense mode. In case you didn't know, a monster in defense that's destroyed in battle deals no damage to the player's life points (with a handful of monsters having an aversion to this being their effect). It's been used before and after this duel.Instead: Joey keeps summoning them in attack mode. The monsters don't have HP like an RPG or anything, so being attacked by a weaker monster does nothing but cost yourself life points. Back when this duel took place, the rules were sort of different in a way that would have given Joey an advantage. There was no attacking directly, you could only attack as many times as there were monsters to hit. Joey could have simply put his cards on defense until he drew something strong enough to do something. Had Joey dueled correctly using the rules at the time, he likely would have only taken a total of 800 LP, out of a total (at the time) 2000. It would have kept going, but the idiot move was treated like Kaiba was genuinely skilled.
* In Mamotte Shugogetten, the hero Tasuke looks into a ring and gets a guardian spirit from it because of his purity of heart. A legend that his dad sent along with the ring said that something like this would happen. Of course, she causes him lots of trouble by doing things like destroying his school, locking him up at Christmas, etc. He receives more gifts like this via the mail from his traveling dad. They have legends that say if someone with a pure heart does something or other, some spirit will appear, etc.You'd Expect He'd remember the legend of the ring and therefore count all these legends as true, being careful to avoid doing the stuff that would activate them.Instead He does exactly what is required to activate those legends. He repeats this mistake twice. Once the spirit inside has repeatedly tried to get him to pay attention to only her, and the other time the spirit's only job is to create "trials" for her master, really just making life more difficult on him.
* In Death Note:
* In the second episode of Death Note, Interpol makes a broadcast wherein "L", the greatest detective ever, announces that he will be taking the Kira cases. More importantly, he does this while giving his real name and showing his face for what is supposed to be the first time ever, and is practically daring Kira to kill him right then and there. There is something suspiciously fishy about this.You'd expect: Light realize this was likely to be a trap or probe of sorts and avoid killing the man. Or, if the temptation is too strong, do some research on the name and face to check if its falsified first and then kill him at a later date.Instead: He writes his name in the Death Note right then and there and, big surprise, it was a trap. Now, not only did L figure out his MO and limitations, but he pinpointed his location.
* After his first failed attempt to kill Near in Death Note, Light Yagami sends the Death Note to Teru Mikami, a definite Kira supporter, with instructions on it.You'd expect: Light to send a message to Mikami to hide a page of the Death Note on his person, considering he must have had Kiyomi Takada do the same herself, and does so himself (using a trick watch to hide it). This would help him handle emergencies, the number of which had lately been high enough for Light to be tempted to kill Sayu with the watch trick. Additionally, for himself, he would make some extra precautions to ensure that he's not on the brink of defeat again.Instead: He does not. This is clear from the fact that Mikami has to go to the bank a second time in a single day in the first place to kill Takada. Light, blinded by his ego and not even instructing Mikami earlier to only enter the warehouse (which has a single exit to begin with) upon hearing a password from him (like what he did in his Memory Gambit), declares his victory in the warehouse too early.
* Light, still being a student, has been keeping his Death Note activities in the afternoon to late evening. L comments upon this, suggesting Kira is a student.You'd Expect: Light would try and dissuade the notion by suggesting that it is just a coincidence and many people may only be able to attack in the afternoon, not just students, being the Chessmaster he is.Instead: He begins writing down names to die in a more spread out fashion that day the night before, leading L to deduce that the Kira has insider information about the investigation and prompting him to lock everyone in the same room together, which forces Light to actually get on the team to keep up with his opponent.
* It's the endgame! Light and Near face off in the ultimate battle of wits. The fate of the world rides on these moments. Light's plan? To perfectly recreate the act of using the Death Note with a fake, then ensuring Near swaps the fake for another fake. Essentially, they will have believed that they disarmed him, unaware that they've only captured a harmless copy! Meanwhile, he keeps the real Death Note hidden away, then replacing the fake with the real one at the last moment! That way, the copy they "know" is fake is anything but! That way, when they allow him to incriminate himself, he'll instead slaughter them all at once, and the world will be his!You'd expect that Light The Chessmaster would keep an eye on the real Death Note at all times, test it prior to the epic finish, keep several backups stored, maybe lend that page he keeps in his watch to the assassin, and hey, maybe even a grenade or two just in case. As long as they die, however they die, he wins. And even if they don't, they won't have any evidence directly linking him to Kira.Instead he puts the original in a safe miles away, under no observation, doesn't bother testing it, and then loudly incriminates himself in front of all of them. Then he tries to use a Death Note (ironically, a functioning Death Note page that could have killed them all had he given it to his lackey instead), in front of several people with much faster guns. Twice.
* Happens to Team Rocket on numerous occasions, usually used as an Ass Pull.
* In Pokémon Paparazzi they've successfully captured Pikachu and defeated Ash and Todd.You'd expect: Them to the get the heck out of there.Instead: They throw bombs at Ash and Todd and are fooled into posing for a shot, where the bombs blow up in their hands, thus defeating them.
* In another episode, Ash is fighting Misty in the Whirl Islands Tournament. When Misty tries to use her last Pokémon, Psyduck comes out. Ash has his Kingler out on the field. However, Psyduck has a tendency to go into a Psycho rage when it gets a headache. Ash knows this; he has seen it on numerous occasions. You'd Expect: Ash to command Kingler to tickle Psyduck, or better yet, nudge it into the water. Instead: Ash commands Kingler to use Vicegrip. On Psyduck's head. A few seconds later, Ash's face comes in contact with flying crab.
* Ash's general stupidity in regards to Team Rocket.You'd Expect: Ash, over his many encounters with Team Rocket, to smart up and realize that their weapons/tools/whatever are more often than not designed to nullify electric attacks. Instead: Time and again, Ash sics Pikachu's Thunderbolt on their asses as a first attack, with unsuccessful results.
* On a similar note...You'd Expect Ash and his company to recognize Jessie and James's hair colors, styles, and voices after all the constant encounters, and learn to identify them through such.Instead they fall for the disguises almost every time.
* At the end of the eighth movie, Lucario needs to use his Aura power to heal the World Tree, but the amount of Aura required would be fatal to him. You'd Expect Lucario to ask Ash, who has recently been revealed to have Aura power, to help him heal the tree, thus preventing a senseless loss of life. Instead Lucario does it himself and dies a tragic, pointless death.
* In Pokémon: The Movie 2000, the villain Gelarden has just captured Moltres and Ash & co accidentally.You'd Expect: The villain to keep Ash and friends imprisoned, or just for kicks, dump them into the sea.Instead: He lets them go as he monologues. A few minutes later, his flying base is in ruins and the two birds he captured have escaped. Nice work, moron.
* During the three-episode Enemy Mine tournament arc where Ash and Paul are forced to work together, Ash comes across Paul's intense training methods and how injured Chimchar was, all in the name of harnessing Blaze - the whole reason Paul caught Chimchar in the first place and kept him as long as he did, and the whole reason he's even in the tournament in the first place (this is already a big strike against him). Keep in mind that this is the night before their next match. Chimchar is taken to the Pokémon Center, and Paul is explicitly told by Nurse Joy that Chimchar would be far too worn out to battle tomorrow and would need rest. He is also aware that his next match involves a Zangoose, and that Chimchar fears this particular species.You'd expect Paul to take her advice and have Chimchar sit this one out. You know, since she IS a doctor for Pokémon and knows what she's talking about. Not only would this give Chimchar a chance to physically and psychologically recover, it would also ease Ash off his case. And who knows - maybe Blaze could come out the following round?Instead Paul ignores Nurse Joy's warning and uses Chimchar in their battle the next day. Not only that, he then has Chimchar attack knowing that his moves would end up hurting Ash's Turtwig as well and finally, fed up with its 'weakness', leaves Ash to finish the battle solo. After the fight, he abandons Chimchar without a second thought, just like several other Pokemon he once handled.Taking the stupidity even further, the kind of trainer Paul was meant to represent would know better than to send into an important match a Pokemon that clearly needs bench time, professional opinion or otherwise. Furthermore, anyone with even a shred of empathy would know that throwing a Pokemon against something it flat-out fears is more likely to petrify it than to trip Super Mode. And yet, despite such flagrant disregard for both his Pokemon and his teammate, especially in front of such a massive audience, Paul was not reprimanded one whit, either on-the-spot or in hindsight. Were it not for his leather pants and the author's favoritism for him, this would be the moment that destroyed any sympathy he deserved.
* In Pokémon the First Movie, Mewtwo, having been persuaded to work with Giovanni, is still wondering what his purpose is. You'd Expect: Giovanni would keep in mind Mewtwo is the strongest Pokémon ever, and can take down multiple opponents all at once, AND that prior to this, he destroyed an entire laboratory and all those inside in a fit of rage over the scientists not caring about him, just what he is. Thus he should be careful not to offend/anger Mewtwo.Instead: He tells Mewtwo that, as Mewtwo was created by humans, his purpose is to serve them and not question it. Mewtwo promptly causes an explosion and takes off.
* Barry is battling Ash. Ash's Chimchar defeats Barry's Staraptor.You'd expect: Barry to send out his Empoleon, taking advantage of Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors and the fact that Empoleon is a fully evolved Pokémon with powerful attacks, unlike Chimchar.Instead: He sends out his Roserade, giving Ash Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors advantage.However: His Roserade is also powerful, taking out Chimchar in a matter of seconds. Plus, defeating Chimchar despite type disadvantage may have been Barry's way of showing off.
* In Pokémon Special:
* Jasmine is traveling through Ecruteak City when there's an earthquake.You'd Expect: She run somewhere she won't get crushed.Instead: She runs to what has to be the most structurally weak building in the area: a crumbling, 700-year-old wooden tower! Not just inside it, either, but to the top!
* Ark uses a bound-and-gagged Flannery as a hostage to lure Sapphire into an airtight cable car, which he locks and then floods with his Azumarill - but not before knocking out Toro and putting an air bubble around his head to make certain he can breathe in the flooded car.You'd Expect Ark to let the water do the work. He can breathe; they can't. The entire situation, at that point, was engineered so he couldn't hope to lose.Instead not only does he summon a Sharpedo to expedite the killing, but even after its teeth are broken off, he flagrantly violates Rule 6 of the Evil Overlord List, with some of the gloating going straight into Tempting Fate. Yes, Sapphire can hold her breath that long, and she does, up to the point she manages to cut a hole in the glass with the same teeth she just broke off!
* Blue Drop:
* Hagino is the commander of an alien battleship who learns about her people's plan to invade the earth, which she is squarely opposed to since the has grown to love the planet and its inhabitants--and one inhabitant in particular: Mari. You'd Expect: Hagino puts all of her knowledge and resources on the line to stall the invasion and to save as many people as possible--including herself and the girl she loves. She'd be a greater asset to the Earth's resistance when she's alive, after all. Instead: She wastes a lot of time and energy rehearsing a silly School Play, because the girl she loves is in it as well. Once the invasion starts, she can't do much more than put on a kamikaze-act to save her girl's city from destruction. Although this is very heroic, it is also very stupid and wasteful. Hagino's people obviously have a lot of trouble thinking clearly when under the influence of hormones, as is also shown in the manga.
* Not to mention that she ejected her co-pilot against her will, and didn't, you know, eject herself afterwards when the ship had demonstrated quite enough AI to do it by itself. During the maneuver, she neither gives any order nor touches any command, it's like she was just there for the ride.
* In Hot Gimmick, a girl named Hatsumi is tasked with getting a pregnancy test for her sister, under the premise that it's for her. On the way back however, she bumps into Ryouki, the Manipulative Bastard son of the landlady.You'd expect: Hatsumi lies and says "it's for me" or even better "my parents are trying for another child".Instead: She says "they're for my sister", setting up the blackmail plot of the series.
* Welcome to The NHK:
* Satou is given a stash of underage pornography by Yamazaki. Afraid that he himself is becoming a Lolicon, he resolves to improve himself.You'd expect: He gets rid of the pornography.Instead: He comes up with a plan where he hangs around in the bushes outside a middle school wearing a trenchcoat and looking every inch the creepy paedophile while carrying a camera - the idea being that seeing himself like this will be sufficient impetus to stop his attraction to Lolita-like characters. This won't end well.
* In a later episode, Satou is invited to a seminar which instantly makes the fact that it's a pyramid scheme obvious, and realizes it's a scam right off the bat.You'd Expect: He runs away.Instead: He runs away... and still gets talked into joining. When he gets home that night, products in tow, his friends berate him for it. One of them runs to a bookstore and buys a book on pyramid schemes, and studies it for a solution. They find they have the option of returning the items and getting out.You'd Expect: They return the items and claim their refund.Instead: They return the items and claim their refund... and then get talked into buying more products. On the way back, they start talking about how stupid someone would have to be to be involved in a pyramid scheme. They only realize this when the book they had consulted earlier falls out of one of their bags.
* In the Sailor Moon R TV series, Mamoru Chiba starts freaking out after he has a dream where Usagi will die. And not only that, he has it several times. All of this takes its toll, and he dumps Usagi to avoid exposing her to danger. You'd Expect: Mamoru to eventually tell Usagi straightforwardly that he's got big issues of his own to solve and needs some time out to figure what the hell goes on. Maybe not tell her the content of the dream, but he could at least let her know that the blame's not on her. Instead: Not only does Mamoru dump Usagi without any decent explanation, but he actually does everything in his power to push her away for almost 20 episodes straight, sometimes even resorting to borderline psychological abuse... and still refusing to tell her why he let her go. The result? - the confused Usagi flickers between being determined to become strong enough to win him back and being so depressed that the enemy takes advantage of her fragile state of mind and almost kills her in episode 69.
* In Sailor Moon S, Mistress Nine awakens and takes over Hotaru's body. She temporarily reverts back to being Hotaru, claims Hotaru's body is rejecting her and asks Sailor Moon to give her the Holy Grail, despite the Outer Senshi pleading with her not to.You'd Expect: Sailor Moon to be on her guard and refuse to hand over the Holy Grail.Instead: Sailor Moon gives the Holy Grail to Professor Tomoe, who passes it to Mistress Nine. She places it in a device, the Holy Grail is destroyed, and all hell breaks loose as Pharaoh 90 appears and daimons swarm Tokyo.
* In the Watanagashi arc of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, Keiichi narrowly manages to escape from his friend's Torture Cellar after almost having nails hammered into every joint in his hands. Before he escapes, however, she warns him not to come near her if he sees her again. She manages to escape as well and a few days later throws stones at Keiichi's window in the middle of the night.You'd Expect: Keiichi would lock all of the doors, stay inside, and call the police, since at this point, she's a full-blown Ax Crazy who's responsible for the murder of four different people.Instead: He goes outside and talks to her to find out if she's okay. After giving a few good Evil Laughs, she shows him why this was so stupid and stabs him in the gut. Ironically, this isn't even the thing that does him in this arc. He finally dies from psychological trauma from all the abuse he racked up.
* In Onikakushi-hen, Rena and Mion (though mostly Rena) suffered from this. For Rena: Keiichi has been screaming at her and avoiding her for days now.You'd expect: For her to stay away from him at the next sign of a threat.Instead: She goes up to him, most likely with her signature machete in hand, and starts talking to him. Also, this is after he banged her hand into a door at full force.
* Mai-HiME: Episode 13, "Night of the Tamayura": Yuuichi and Shiho are out on a date, and they bump into Mai and Reito just as they're about to kiss. He's still struggling to decide whether or not he actually likes Mai "in that way".You'd expect: Yuuichi to keep his mouth shut and wait until the end of the festival to ask Mai about what happened...or perhaps confronted her about his feelings, maybe...eight episodes ago, when Reito wasn't around.Instead: He picks the worst possible time to blurt out Mai's name, and breaks two cardinal rules of dating in the process: 1. Never cockblock another guy just as he's about to get some action, and 2. Never confess/imply that you like another girl in front of your date. Now, Shiho's mad at Mai and refuses to talk to her; and Reito, usually a calm and collected guy, is mad at Yuuichi because he suspects something's going on between the two of them. Nice job breaking them up, "hero".
* Full Metal Panic:
* In the third season, Mithril's intelligence department put down a report stating that Sousuke is being wasted as Kaname's bodyguard, causing the South Pacific fleet commander to order captain Testarossa to recall him to full service as the Arbalest's pilot.You'd Expect: Mithril to consider the fact that Sousuke has spent the last six months integrated into civilian society and has been solely responsible for a VIP's well-being, and include forewarning and a sensible recall schedule followed by a thorough psychological debriefing and a monitored return to active service to ensure he doesn't break down from the ensuing stress.Instead: Over the course of the next 24 hours, Sousuke is promptly ordered out of the mission and permanently banned from contacting Kaname. Once back in Mithril's fold, his CO proceeds to verbally lambaste him because she's jealous and he is assigned a new superior officer who further belittles him and uses Training From Hell to retrain him, followed by immediate deployment into an active terrorist attack without any kind of follow-up. To the shock and awe of no one watching, Sousuke suffers a Heroic BSOD shortly after from the resulting stress. What's worse is that The Lambda Drive is dependent on the user's emotional and mental stability to even work, and since this is precisely what Sousuke was recalled for...
* In the novels following End Of Day By Day (TSR), it's revealed that the chief of the Intelligence Department was in fact an agent of Amalgam. It's strongly implied that Sousuke's abrupt removal was in fact his idea, intended to leave Kaname alone and vulnerable, under the "protection" of an agent like Wraith, who preferred to not get involved, and who bore a personal grudge against Sousuke. It was probably meant to clear the way for Leonard Testarossa. Until Gauron's pupils got in the way. Once you start adding all this together, it's clear that the odds are being deliberately stacked against Sousuke, no matter how much Tessa might think it was only her decision. Oh, and in case you missed this, the Amalgam agent mentioned is the general Sousuke smacks down at the end of TSR. (He is finally discovered and captured in the "Dancing A Very Merry Christmas" novel.)
* The first series also has a grand example of this kind of mistake. After participating in a massive joint military operation to capture Gauron, the team proceeds to imprison him aboard their high-tech super submarine.You'd Expect: Since Mithril is explicitly stated to be a MERCENARY ORGANIZATION, the two individuals who should have guarded this man would be the only two who wouldn't be motivated by anything other than personal vendetta or duty, particularly Sosuke and either Kalinin or Kurz, whose partner was just injured in battle against him. As long time members of the organization, it is likely they could be trusted to, at the very least, not help Gauron in any way.Instead: Sousuke is not put on duty guarding this guy, and instead the job is relegated to two nameless guards who, surprise, surprise, work for the very financially well off Gauron. Because they're MERCENARIES.
* In the novels, it's explicitly mentioned that Gauron was being watched by members of both the PRT and the SRT, in 'quick one hour shifts". Lian and Dunningan were the second shift -- that's why Gauron didn't escape sooner, because he didn't know who the traitors were or when they would make an appearance. So, while it was possible for Sousuke and/or Kurz to end up guarding Gauron sooner or later, I truly doubt Kalinin would let Sousuke in there, knowing full well their history. Kurz, on the other hand, is surprisingly described in the novels as a much more cool-headed guy, who couldn't be nettled easily. Or at all. It's all part of being a good sniper, apparently.
* Mahoromatic:
* Mahoro finds out that her master Suguru participates in a street fight festival. She sets out with Minawa to retrieve him and bring him home safely. You'd Expect: Mahoro and Minawa take off for the air and survey the area from there, since you have to fight when you walk the streets. Alternatively, they could simply break the flowers on their heads indicating that they are disqualified, so they won't be bothered by all those baton-swinging morons looking for a brawl. Instead: They walk around with the flowers intact on their heads and get distracted by fighting all those apparently brain-damaged locals - which also takes a ridiculous amount of effort, considering they are battle-androids.
* Also from Mahoromatic: Mahoro keeps confiscating Suguru's Porn Stash, since according to her "dirty thoughts are bad".You'd Expect: Suguru makes it clear that he is the master and she is the maid, and she has no right to tell him what he should or should not keep under his bed. Instead: Suguru lets Mahoro simply take away his expensive erotic books, even though he sometimes goes to great lengths to obtain a rare issue. Worse, he even allows himself to be scolded by her. Who is the master and who is the maid again?
* In Oniisama e...:
* Mariko Shinobu makes sure Nanako Misonou and her best friend Tomoko Arikura miss each other after school. She then tells Tomoko that Nanako doesn't have time to spend with her anymore, since she joined the Sorority.You'd Expect: Tomoko calls Nanako the same evening to ask her directly what's up. Or maybe ask her in the way to school tomorrow. Seeing how Mariko is openly clingy with regards to Nanako should already have sounded some alarm bells, and since Tomoko lives near Nanako's home it should be easy to catch up with her in the morning.Instead: Tomoko simply decides to believe Mariko without any evidence and goes into instant sulk mode. She even refuses Nanako's phone calls later that evening, not even wondering why Nanako would call her in the first place when she doesn't have time for her.
* Also in Oniisama e..., local Rich Bitch Aya Misaki is very butthurt because an "outsider" like Nanako has been invited to have a spot in the famous Sorority, which she assumed it'd be hers due to having attended Seiran for far longer time and being from a very rich and distinguished family (Nanako is the daughter of an uni professor but technically is middle-to-high class, which is far below the average Sorority girl).You'd Expect: Aya decides to formally issue a "protest" via speaking directy to the "higher ups" like Fukiko, or at least take the deal with some dignity and keeping it to herself. The aforementioned Mariko (also a prospect Sorority member) may be clingy to Nanako, but she also seems to be quite protective of her, and not to mention she has also been attending Seiran for years so Aya has leads on Mariko's Hot-Blooded personality.Instead: Aya and her Girl Posse, Miki and Megumi, openly bully Nanako in front of everyone, thinking that Aya's high social status will let her get a Karma Houdini. She adds insult to the injury via making cruel comments about Mariko too.
* Much, much later, Miki and Megumi are on their own, rather worried because it looks like the Sorority will be disbanded, thus Aya's dream of being there will be definitely crushed. Two of the elder Sorority girls approach them and ask the two to burn the signature books requesting the Sorority disolution, promising to make their beloved Aya a membress.You'd Expect: For Miki and Megumi to make sure that the Sorority ladies do really mean what they've promised, asking for a sort-of proof in regards to it.Instead: The two girls actually go and steal the records on their own, without even questioning anything.. This leads to them getting caught, Aya taking the blame for them and letting everyone think she was behind it, which then causes her to cross the Despair Event Horizon and almost kill herself, Nanako and Tomoko's efforts being the only reason she lives on.
* In Strawberry Panic, sweet, shy, and cutesy Hikari has fallen in love with her older classmate Amane. However, as a result, she is being stalked, harassed, and almost sexually assaulted by a Psycho Lesbian duo who want to get Amane to join the Etoile Election by threatening to harm her.You'd Expect: Hikari and/or Amane to report these occurrences to either the school staff or the police.Instead: Neither of them do anything, and the evil duo end up nearly raping Hikari twice, and she continues to be stalked and tormented until the end of the series. Not to mention that Amane is more or less bullied into entering the Etoile Election anyway.The Result: Two Words: Karma Houdini.
* In Rurouni Kenshin, Kenshin and Shishio are on their last legs. Shishio's 15-minute limit has already elapsed. His right-hand man, Houji, has a rifle.You'd Expect: Yumi: "Just Shoot Him!"Instead: Houji: "I believe in Lord Shishio!!!!!" * throws his gun away* .The Result: Shishio: * Man On Fire*
* But you want to know what makes this What an Idiot! moment worse? Previously on the Great Kyoto Fire chapters, Houji modified Shishio's original plan by arranging that 7 members of the Juppon Gatana took part of the Great Kyoto Fire by killing the police officers and VIPs as a distraction while the rest sail towards Tokyo to bombard it and thus destroy it while the capital was undermanned. He did this because he wanted to bring total victory to Shishio regardless of costs and perhaps even risking gaining his ire modifying his plan in such a manner. Before the final fight with Kenshin, Houji swore that he would risk being hated like snakes and scorpions as he put it and had his rifle in hand in case the worst would come to worst! By pulling his Honor Before Reason moment, Houji completely contradicted himself in this double whammy of the most illogical, thus bringing us this moment. Holy crap.
* Remember Shishio's philosophy, the one that Houji fanatically adopted? "If you're strong you live, if you're weak you die." As far as they were concerned, if Shishio got killed in battle, then it meant he was weak and deserved to be killed. Of course, Houji didn't seem ready for the possibility that Shishio could be killed, hence his Villainous Breakdown.
* Similarly: Saito has just gained the advantage of surprise by suddenly appearing on the battlefield.You'd expect: He'd go for Shishio's heart. Or pretty much anything vital in that area.Instead: Tries to stab him in the forehead for some reason. So he hits the only armored part of Shishio's body. And due to Shishio's ability to beat any attack he's seen once, even his Zero Gatotsu fails (an Ass Pull in itself) and that's pretty much it for him in the fight.
* In Naruto The Dragon, Pain, has attacked Konoha and is destroying everything in sight. He wants to capture Naruto. One problem: Naruto is away training. Tsunade has to decide what to do.You'd Expect Tsunade to keep Naruto away from this mess. He has not finished his training yet and Pain is the person who killed Naruto's mentor, Jiraiya.Instead Tsunade asks a frog messenger to get Naruto back to the village! The village where a death machine wants him and will probably kill him if he engages him.
* Then, Naruto fights Pain.You'd Expect Pain to pull the Naraka Path away from battle. The only combat-efficient move that Path could do would result in his opponent's death. And it's an interrogation move. Considering Naruto is a Jinchuriki, that would majorly screw up Akatsuki's plan. Plus, the Naraka Path could revive any of the other paths should they be disabled in battle. So, pull him from battle, and as soon as Naruto kills one of the other paths, have the Naraka Path recover the body behind Naruto's back, go into hiding, and ressurect the body there.Instead He's out in the open doing fuck-all except for reviving one path! And then he gets killed off rather easily.
* This trope retroactively applied to Jiraiya when we learned that Pain/ Nagato and Konan were trained by Jiraiya when they were kids. Pain had the Rinnegan, supposedly the strongest of the Eye powers, first used by the creator of ninjutsu, ninja philosophy, and, supposedly, the freakin' moon!!You'd Expect Jiraiya would take the kids back to Konoha with him so the village could have all three Eye powers, getting major bragging rights in the ninja world.Instead Jiraiya leaves them to own devices, and gives nothing to let them get in touch with Konoha. Eventually, Nagato loses one too many best friends to the violence of the ninja world, and gets manipulated by Madara Uchiha and plans to use the Tailed Demons to make the equivalent of an atomic bomb. His quest for the Demons is what brought him to Konoha's doorstep.
* Also, pre-timeskip: Naruto is having trouble hitting Kabuto with his new uber-move because Kabuto's too good at dodging and is kicking the snot out of Naruto despite only having one working arm. Employing desperation tactics, Naruto manages to grab Kabuto's good arm.You'd Expect: that Kabuto might remember that he still has legs, and kick Naruto in the face.Instead: He spends almost half a minute doing nothing but standing there tugging ineffectually at his trapped arm, watching as Naruto charges up his uber-move and smacks him in the chest with it.
* Anytime that Naruto leaves the village, ever, and is either alone or with only a few people who aren't expecting immediate danger. Special mention to the battle with Sasuke at the Valley of the EndYou'd Expect: Tobi to appear in front of him and use his Time Space attack to capture him instantly. We've seen him sense people and teleport right to them, after all. At the battle with Sasuke, not only was Naruto especially vulnerable, but Zetsu was watching and has been shown to be good at contacting Tobi.Instead: He doesn't. Honorable mention goes to anyone who thought him leaving the village was a good idea, especially after Itachi's visit confirms that Akatsuki is after him. On multiple occasions, Naruto is with only a few people while actively seeking out Akatsuki members who are after him. Idiots indeed.
* A related one the Danzo fight: Sasuke is confronting Danzo for ordering Itachi to slay the Uchiha clan. Sasuke, not fully trusting Madara's story, asks Danzo if this is truly the case. Danzo's mind control eye has not fully recharged yetYou'd Expect: Danzo would stall for time until the eye is usable again and use it to bring Sasuke back under control.Instead: He confirms Madara's story, fueling Sasuke's rage.However: Before even asking for confirmation, Sasuke assures Danzo that he has already settled on killing him and restrains Danzo with Susanoo. Danzo realizes there is no time to stall and there is no perceptible disadvantage to telling Sasuke the truth.
* Sasuke has just given Karin the nth degree when Sakura shows up, wanting to join him in his nefarious plans like she proposed in Part I. Sasuke is still standing over the prone, bleeding, barely conscious Karin and there's a good chance Sakura saw the end of his fight with Danzo. Sasuke demands that Sakura Shoot the Medic First before she joins him.You'd Think: Since one of Sakura's most noted traits, before being The Load and then Action Girl, was being the Smart Girl that she would think that something's up with Sasuke and at least not show her back to him.Instead: She does and Sasuke promptly tries to knife her In the Back, prompting a Big Damn Heroes from Kakashi.
* In the Forest of Death during the Chunin Exams, Sakura is left fighting 3 sound ninja all by herself. She tricks one of them through an admittedly tricky series of substitutions, getting him to assume she's a substitution when she isn't, giving her a window of opportunity as she jumps down on him with a kunai in her hand.You'd Expect: She'd jump on top of him and stab him with the kunai either to kill or disable him so he couldn't fight her anymore.Instead: She lands on him and bites his arm, doing nothing while he repeatedly punches her on the head.
* Kabuto has now managed to capture both Naruto and Killer Bee with the rejuvenated Nagato. You'd Expect: Knowing that Itachi is still out there, he'd keep Preta Path ability up, as well as create more summons to widen the field of Shared Vision. Thus, when Itachi begins his counter attack he'd be able to easily retort and capture Itachi too.Instead: Instead, he turns off Nagato's Preta Path ability thus enabling him to be blindsighted by Itachi in Susanoo, and Naruto and Bee get freed. Adding insult to injury, he uses Nagato to create the Chibaku Tensei and just stands there instead of you know, summoning another bird or one of the Rams or Rhinos in his disposal. He doesn't even keep the Preta Path ability up in the little chance that the Chibaku Tensei gets destroyed. Thus, Nagato gets sealed. \\
* Naruto is facing Tobi's Jinchuriki Six Paths. They have taken their V2 forms, while he and Bee are standing in front of them. You'd Expect: Tells Bee to quickly launch a Bijudama before they can attack, or at least enter V2 himself to get back his mobility. And if they got close? Start using his fabled speed and reflexes.Instead: Naruto and Bee stand there, doing nothing as Tobi orders the Six Paths to attack. Bee gets his hand melted slightly, Naruto is hit by three of the Jinchuriki Paths and incapacitated since he forgets about his speed and needs to be saved by Kakashi and Gai.\\
* The fillers did this with Neji in the Star saga. Big Bad Akahoshi hires the heroes to protect the village's secret weapon, but then takes measures to recover it himself, then declares them enemies of the Hidden Star Village, in front of a large crowd because they know of their motives. In the finale, everybody comes together, Akahoshi's plan to mutate the children of the village with the power of the meteorite into an army that will help him conquer the other nations is exposed, and he decides to use the meteor by himself to slaughter his own people and the Leaf genin present.You'd expect for Neji to recognize an open declaration of war, and coordinate a joint attack taking out the bastard.Instead he forbids his team to interfere in another country's internal affairs - basically condemning an entire village and his own teammates to certain death.
* Filler Neji again. During the penultimate filler arc of the original series, Naruto escorts an amnesiac ninja to the Land of Rice Fields, to help him recover his memory. Neji is ordered to follow them and keep an eye on the later, due to strong evidence of him being a sound ninja, and his possible connection with the man who attacked the village. They arive to a village near the Land of Rice Fields that has been burned to ground by sound ninjas, and there's a good possibility they might return at any moment, killing many innocents. The amnesiac Menma decides to stay and help the people defend themselves.You'd expect Neji to agree, seeing how his mission was to keep an eye on Menma, and not much else, also considering the possibility that there might be a connection between the ninjas who attacked the village and the one who was after Menma, not to mention that Menma was found shortly after the attack on the village took place.Instead He refuses to stay and urges Menma and Naruto to carry on with the mission, even after Menma tells him that helping the villagers might trigger some of his memories and refuses to even look into any possible connection between Menma, the village, the attackers and the man who attacked the leaf village earlier, effectively defying the Hokage's orders because of a minor technicality.
* Kabuto is now confronting Itachi and Sasuke. You'd Expect: Knowing what Itachi is capable of, you'd expect him to set up a trap to catch him unawares. Either a new type of clone, summoning a few of his back up Edo Tensei's, or even hiding under ground since the Sharingan can't see through the earth.Instead: Instead, he continues sitting around and lets Itachi break through his barrier. Note, he could have already been in his Sage Mode by then and hit him with his blinding Gatsugei or have the entire earth attack him with Mushi Tensei. No, instead he sits there, bragging on how Edo Tensei can't be stopped and let Sasuke come to back Itachi up.
* Dragonball Z, Vegeta, while effortlessly defeating Semi-Perfect Cell, acknowledges Cell's last transformation.You'd expect that he would also acknowledge his son Trunks' warnings, considering that he knows a great deal about Cell, and annihilate the evil android while he still had the chance and prevent the destruction of the world as well as thousands of lives.Instead he beats the crap out of Trunks and then allows Cell to transform into his ultra-powerful One-Winged Angel form because of his massive overconfidence. Cell proceeds to promptly beat the crap out of Vegeta, Trunks, and anybody who stands in his way at that point, threatening the entire world with his power.
* In the Frieza saga Goku splits a magic bean in two parts, so that Gohan and Kuririn can both have their part. They are fully recovered, even despite eating just half a bean.You'd expect that from that point on they'd actually split any magic bean into two so that they have double the limited supplies of magic beans without having any drawbacks.Instead no one splits a magic bean ever again...
* The Full-Power Super Saiyan means that by remaining transformed as a SSJ for extended periods of time the users can conserve their energy consumption much better than any other form of SSJ, thus they become stronger in training than any other form of SSJ would make them. While the FPSSJ users Goku and Gohan exit the training room in this state Vegeta and Trunks notice how genius this kind of training is, Vegeta even comments about this.You'd expect that during their second year-long-training Trunks and Vegeta entered they'd be SSJ all the time, thus not only becoming FPSSJ but they'd be if not stronger at least equally strong as Gohan and Goku.Instead Vegeta and Trunks completely forget about the benefits of training as a SSJ all the time, thus even though they trained double the time Goku and Gohan did, they were far weaker.
* According to Word of God, Krillin's Kienzan technique is capable of cutting through anything (the only times it failed to cut through its targets were in anime filler scenes). Now, let's look at a certain point in the battle with Frieza: Krillin has just blinded Frieza using the Taiyoken.You'd expect Krillin would take this opportunity to use a pointblank Kienzan on his blinded enemy, ridding the universe of a great evil once and for all. It's not like he could have forgotten that he has that technique, considering he was attacking Frieza with it several times in a row mere seconds earlier.Instead Krillin shouts at Vegeta to take the opportunity to blast Frieza... even though moments earlier Vegeta blasted Frieza with all his strength to no effect. Krillin is actually surprised when Vegeta doesn't take the opportunity. Let's see... technique that is guaranteed to accomplish nothing versus technique that could be a one-hit kill, regardless of the user's Power Level... Gotta go with the flashier one.
* Earlier, when Recoome was about to use his Recoome Eraser Gun on Vegeta, Krillin moves up for a sneak attack on Recoome.You'd expect Krillin to bust out a surprise-attack Kienzan, slicing Recoome in half while he was busy with the attack and eliminating yet another member of the Ginyu Force, as well as making some headway toward not being regarded as a joke by the fans.Instead Krillin slams Recoome's mouth closed mid-beam, accomplishing little more than knocking out his teeth and severely annoying him.
* The Earth is seconds away from being destroyed and Goku has time enough for only one choice: use Instant Transmission to save Hercule and Dende or use it to save Goten and Trunks.You'd Expect: Goku to save Trunks and Goten, not only giving them access to the amazing powers and abilities of the only other Super Saiyan 3 in existence but also given them a formidable 3 to 1 defence against the most powerful creature in the history of the universe.Instead: Goku saves Hercule and Dende: an act which literally had no foreseeable benefit. Goku had full knowledge that Porunga was still alive which nullified any benefit they would have gained from Dende and Goku had absolutely no way of knowing Hercule was going to rally the people of the Earth for his Spirit Bomb or summon Fat Buu to save their collective asses (a situation that would have in no way been relevant if they had access to the exponentially stronger Gotenks.)
* In Ranma One Half, when Akane has been given an unbeatable powerup thanks to a Battle Dougi, Soun and Genma convince Ranma to seduce her, since this would be one way to make the Dougi desert its master. Ranma does, but quickly realizes he's being a Jerkass and stops the charade, allowing his true feelings to surface instead. They're on the verge of kissing...You'd Expect: That Soun, Genma, and Nabiki would back off, since they actually want Ranma and Akane to get together conclusively, and allow the scene to reach its expected outcome.Instead: Nabiki gleefully lets the Dougi interrupt the moment, and Soun reveals the entire "seduce the Dougi's master" plot to Akane. She does not take it well.
* Again, in Ranma One Half Ranma, who has a surplus of Fiances, suddenly has Shampoo, a Fiance he's not interested in, to lose interest in him. (She's been brainwashed, and in the anime the source is a magical jewel that alteres her behavior, but Ranma doesn't know that.)You'd Expect: That Ranma thanks the gods that something has finally gone right in his life.Instead: He tries to win Shampoo back, not because he's worried about her being brainwashed, but because his ego can't handle being rejected by a woman. Any issues he has involving Shampoo from then on are by definition self inflicted. Also to note, he never learns she was brainwashed right until Akane, brainwashed now herself, breaks it up. Not to mention, Brainwashed!Shampoo takes his most sorceful try as pretty muchy a rape attempt, and it's among the few times she looks genuinely better than Ranma; even with her brainwashing, she does have a point about how you can't force people to love you.
* Ranma, the character of Ranma ½ is a boy who is cursed to transform into a girl every time he comes into contact with cold water & vice versa with hot water. He is uber-masculine and absolutely hates having his life ruined by these transformations.You'd Expect: Every single time he leaves his house he would carry a backpack containing at least a Thermos of hot water, a kettle, a full body anorak and a towel.Instead: He leaves his house every morning wearing a short sleeveless vest and without precautions of any kind. This frequently turns out exactly how you would expect (not helped by Japan's rainy climate).
* Nabiki has been given the "rights to Ranma" after Akane throws a temper tantrum. She knows that Ranma's Unwanted Harem consists of a Hot Amazon whose culture has a motto of killing obstacles, a Rich Bitch who routinely uses blackmail, paralysis powder and other dirty tricks on Ranma himself and is much nastier to her competition, and a Wholesome Crossdresser who hunted Ranma for about ten years looking for revenge. They also know that Ranma doesn't have the "history" with Nabiki that he does with Akane, so they're more likely to believe they can get away with hurting her.You'd expect: She would keep things on the quiet and make nice with Ranma, who is her only protection against them should they think to try anything.Instead: She flaunts her "new relationship" in front of everyone at school, treats Ranma like crap, and then goes so far as to offer to auction him off to all of the girls simultaneously... naturally, they egg each other on and try to kill her instead.
* Nabiki has learned that Ranma and her sister are finally going to get married.You'd expect: She'd try and keep the various also-rans away from the ceremony, if only to prevent either her own death or the destruction of her property in the crossfire, being well aware that the mere possibility that Ranma was trying to give Akane an engagement ring caused the girls to destroy the Saotome house.Instead: She figures they will bring cash presents to the wedding, as is traditional, and that she can somehow take that money for herself (as well as any money she may get from telling them). So, she calls them and lets them know what's going on.
* In an anime episode, Shampoo has managed to use a literal Red String of Fate to get Ranma to fall head-over-heels in love with her, and the effect will become permanent if they are still bound together five hours after it was first used to tie them together.You'd expect: She and Ranma would high-tail it out of town so that nobody can find them until the magic is permanent.Instead: She not only sits around the Tendo Dojo, giving Kasumi and Nabiki a chance to figure out that the string is responsible, she sends a wedding invitation to Akane. And then she trusts Akane enough to let her get close enough to cut the string, seconds before the magic expires and the string vanishes -- releasing Ranma back to his senses.
* Ranma and Akane's persistent and unwanted admirer Kuno has met Mariko Konjou, a girl with a similar personality to his own and who is actually very interested in him.You'd expect: Ranma decides to do some Cleaning Up Romantic Loose Ends and encourages Kuno to give up on his female form and Akane to get together with his admirer.Instead: Ranma decides to break them up by proving he (in his female form) loves Kuno more and actively encourages Kuno to come after "her and dump his new love interest. All too get back at Kuno's admirer for making Akane upset by cheating in a volleyball game, never mind that there were other ways to get back at her. Ultimately, Kuno's admirer gives up and leaves, while Kuno continues to pursue Ranma and Akane as much as before if not more so and ends up ruining Ranma's wedding in the final story.
* Kagome from Inuyasha can travel from Feudal Japan to modern times via the Bone-Eater's Well. For a while, shortly after the hunt for the Shikon shards has begun, Kagome took to keeping these shards in a bottle on her desk back home --which the bad guys can't get to, being stuck in the Feudal era.You'd Expect: For her to take each new Shikon shard with her back home, put it in the bottle, and assemble the Jewel in a time and location that Naraku has no hope of getting to, and where mythological Japanese beasties are much less numerous and easier to dispatch than in Inuyasha's native time period.Instead: She keeps the incomplete Shikon Jewel on her person, making it child's play for Naraku to steal it and keep it, making himself stronger and stronger with each passing minute.
* Also in Inuyasha, every month during the new moon Inuyasha undergoes a transformation into a weak, nearly helpless human. Every time this happens, some demon or other shows up to kick his ass and nearly kills him.You'd Expect: That the group would at least try to plan their returns to the village around this very specific and reliable weakness so that Inuyasha could go to Kagome's time period where he would be safe.Instead: Inuyasha has never gone to Kagome's time even once during the new moon; instead the group is ALWAYS out doing some sort of demon-hunting activity far away from Kaede's village.
* Speaking of Inuyasha's transformation, Naraku eventually finds out about this little development.You'd Expect: for him to spy on the heroes to find out exactly when Inuyasha turns into a human and use this information to launch a sneak attack.Instead: Naraku never follows up on this, throwing away a perfectly good opportunity to kill Inuyasha and his friends.
* Kaze no Stigma: In the first arc, Ayano suspects Kazuma of being the one behind the recent Kannagi murderers. Later, however, he is proven innocent by Ayano's father, Juugo, who reveals the real murderers to be the Fuga Clan, a group of wind magic users who work for the Kannagis.
* You'd Expect: Ayano to realise her mistake and sincerely apologise to Kazuma for suspecting him as the murderer, especially considering she had very little evidence that he did it in the first place.
* Instead: Ayano still thinks Kazuma is the murderer and only accepts the truth when both Kazuma and her father chew her out for her stubbornness.
* In The Daughter of Twenty Faces, Chiko accompanies the Twenty Faces gang on a trip with a submarine.You'd Expect: The captain of the submarine has Chiko frisked just like the grown-ups and makes her leave behind the conspicuous basket she's carrying. Better still: he leaves her ashore, since a submarine is no place for children. Yet even better still would be to only take the people who are needed for the mission, since a submarine tends to be crowded pretty fast.Instead: He lets her enter the submarine unchecked. That's really stupid, since Chiko might be a kid, but she still accompanies a troop of known hoodlums.
* In Clannad, Sunohara has to endure ridiculous amounts of abuse at the high school soccer club.You'd Expect: Sunohara takes this up with the school authorities and at least tries to make clear how messed up the soccer club is. Failing that, he could simply join another club outside school, since every Japanese town worth its salt has at least one or two. In the unlikely case that there are none in his town, he could try in a neighboring one. And failing that, he could even try to found his own club. Anything for the love his sport, right?Instead: He causes a fight at the high school club, gets thrown out and then even gives up soccer completely, sulking about it for most of the series.
* In Tokyo Mew Mew, Kish figures out that Aoyama can only transform into Blue Knight if Ichigo is in danger.You'd Expect: Kish would attack Aoyama, and Aoyama only, since he is in a "I want to have my revenge on the Blue Knight!" rampage.Instead: He ignores that vital fact and attacks Ichigo. Failure Ensues.
* In Ef: A Tale Of Melodies, Mizuki sends Kuze a "letter of challenge", urging him to meet on the school roof in an effort to get him out of his self-inflicted isolation since he discovered he suffers from a terminal heart condition. He indeed shows up.You'd Expect: She challenges him in words only to try to make him understand she really loves him and wants to be with him, despite his condition.Instead: Mizuki actually pulls off a surprise attack and kicks Kuze hard in the chest, telling him that he "died once" already. Sure enough, Kuze gets a heart attack shortly after.
* Sachiko from Mariasama ga Miteru has a hard time when her grandmother, who she loves immensely, becomes terminally ill and winds up in the hospital.You'd Expect: Sachiko explains to Yumi why she won't be around school much anymore in the following period, even if she finds it hard to talk about it. After all, Yumi is her beloved soeur and therefore the first and foremost person that she can confide her troubles to, outside family. That way she could have given a Yumi a chance to stand by her emotionally as well.Instead: Sachiko tells Yumi nothing and keeps on disappearing without explanation, seemingly conspiring with her cousin Touko, Yumi's biggest rival at the time. This results in quite a bit of emotional turmoil for Yumi, who really has no clue about what is going on.
* Also in Mariasama ga Miteru, first-year student Naito Shouko desperately wants to be a member of the Yamurikai, so she signs up for the tea-party which Yoshino and Yumi hold to find a soeur, since being picked by either one of them would secure her position in that prestigious student council.You'd Expect: She concentrates her efforts on one girl, preferably the least popular one, and tries to woo her into becoming her grande soeur. Since she has quite an impressive appearance her chances would have been rather good. Instead: She outright mentions that either one of them is fine, spoiling any chance she might have had to be picked as a soeur.
* In Gakuen Alice, a heartbroken Mikan follows her beloved best friend Hotaru to a weird school filled with supernaturally gifted children. Once she gets there, Hotaru treats her like dirt most of the time. You'd Expect: Mikan tries to get out of the school back into the normal world, to forget about Hotaru and mend her broken heart.Instead: She sticks around, being the victim of abuse by the school's staff and students and of Hotaru's Tsundere tendencies.
* In Yami no Matsuei, Tsuzuki is pretending to be a casino dealer on a cruise ship. Antagonist Muraki comes over and offers to play poker with Tsuzuki. When asked what they're betting on, Muraki answers, "your body," and proceeds to describe what he would do with Tsuzuki. However, Muraki never states what's in it for Tsuzuki if he wins, making it a lose-lose proposition. You'd Expect: Tsuzuki to say "Hell no. Do you think I'm stupid? There's nothing in it for me. Go away." Instead: Tsuzuki says yes, promptly loses, and gets all whiny and whimpery when Muraki starts feeling him up. He doesn't even have the guts to punch Muraki or push him away.
* Code Geass R2 has quite a few points.
* Shortly before the second battle of Tokyo, Suzaku gets between Lelouch and his goal of rescuing Nunnally. You'd Expect: Lelouch to remember that he once put a "Live" Geass on Suzaku and order Kallen to merely disable the Lancelot rather than destroy it.Instead: After Suzaku refuses to submit, he orders Kallen to kill Suzaku, which she was just about to do anyway. Thanks to the "Live" command, Suzaku takes the quickest way to survival and nukes the Tokyo settlement, supposedly killing Nunally. Nice Job Breaking It Anti-Hero.
* Earlier, Suzaku had promised to Lelouch to keep Nunally safe from that battle as long as the latter kept his vow to bring world peace. Furthermore, Suzaku should have also backed Lelouch and the Black Knights in battle, since their victory would result in the liberation of Japan with the least amount of casualties. However, Schneizel and Kanon pull a trap on Lelouch and frame Suzaku for setting him up. So: You'd Expect: Suzaku to prove his loyalty to Lelouch and Japan by standing by and helping to protect Nunnally. Instead: Our "hero" dives into the battle, thus placing the liberation of Japan and team Lelouch's attempt to reach Nunally in serious jeopardy. And then, he deploys himself with the FLEIJA bomb in tow, which he has the gall to carry into battle, rather than playing defense on behalf of Lelouch, Nunally and Japan. To be fair, Suzaku is a great pilot and isn't horribly outmatched yet, but Jeremiah still manages to catch him. Anyway, then Kallen comes in and absolutely destroys Luciano, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that her new Knightmare just decided the entire battle. Against the recommendations of everyone, he decides to pick a fight with her. He then spends the next two minutes using the same ineffective attack over and over like it will suddenly work better. He is being yelled at to retreat and ignores it. Kallen literally doesn't even fight back. Of course, when he's put on the ropes when Kallen gets serious, Suzaku decides to stay and die, which is even dumber than Lelouch's order to kill him because Suzaku knows exactly what kind of insane and out-of-character stunts the command can make him pull off when it's triggered. And that's exactly what happens: he nukes the Tokyo settlement. This results in the death of millions, including, seemingly at first, the one he swore to Lelouch to protect, which does not better Lelouch's opinion of him. Nice job, dumbass: Achievement Unlocked: 35 Million Casualties.
* Even earlier than that, Shirley, just after Lelouch had risked his life to save her from falling off the edge of a building, is found dead in a puddle of blood in a smoking building just minutes later. Her death is ruled as suicide, but even so....You'd Expect: Suzaku to absolve Lelouch of causing Shirley's death, taking the earlier heroic near-sacrifice, and a lack of opportunity for a Geassing into account. Instead: Suzaku blames Lelouch for Shirley's death, and never realizes, or certainly not before it was too late, that Lelouch didn't Geass Shirley into suicide, which makes no sense to begin with. Accusive ass. Thank you for causing us God knows how much trouble. Really, it was Rolo, working on his own buggy, although thoughtless, agenda, who killed Shirley.
* And then, The Black Knights are led by another Britannian prince and Ohgi's Britannian agent of a girlfriend to believe that Lelouch Geassed them into loyalty. Because of this, the Black Knights revolt, using Kallen to draw him out for a public execution. Lelouch just laughs at the Black Knights' gullibility - not that the Black Knights are wrong, but as if they are right, in order to let Kallen go free - which prompts the BKs to try to kill him. Rolo busts in with Shinkiro to save him. You'd Expect: The BKs to realize that Lelouch does have his morals and give him a fair trial for his actions. After all, for instance, even if he did Geass them, their attempt at mutiny would prove his Geass wasn't inviolable. In addition, that he did not use Kallen as a human shield would usually be considered strange, if the BKs weren't willing to kill her so they he couldn't. At the very least, they could have engineered events so that Kallen would go free. Instead: They don't, and instead chase him and Rolo down, resulting in Rolo's death and the Knights leaving Lelouch for dead. All of this is for an under the table deal to liberate Japan, giving the middle finger to the entire UFN in the process. Congratulations. You have just pushed our Byronic Hero to his ultimate breaking point, and now have a seemingly despotic Emperor Lelouch for it.
* On the same subject, Ohgi's Britannian agent of a secret girlfriend, Villetta, is among those to testify against Lelouch. You'd Expect: Ohgi to get a slap on the wrist at the very least for secretly harboring a Britannian agent, since that was one of the charges raised against Lelouch. After all, Villetta caused, among other things, Ohgi to let his guard down during the Black Rebellion, leading to further destabilization within the ranks of the Black Knights watching over Ashford (which also arguably resulted in V. V. being able to sneak in and abduct Nunnally, causing Lelouch in turn to take a costly detour from the Rebellion), and him to accept a death threat from her, leading to an assassination attempt.Instead: This is overlooked too easily, and Villetta even joins the Black Knights. The two even get married ever after, with Ohgi becoming Prime Minister, making them both Karma Houdinis.
* Remember that potential What an Idiot! moment mentioned above? Well, now it warrants mention given the thought. The Black Knights had been told about Geass, and it being a form of hypnotism, which especially has the stereotype of working more effectively on weak-minded people. They think they have been Geassed, which shows signs of still being effective for extended periods of time. You'd Expect: BKs: Wait a minute, Zero AKA Lelouch Vi Britannia. How can we be able to try to mutiny against you when you had a princess who appointed a Japanese man as her personal knight through all that prejudice massacre Japanese people. Something is off. Instead: BKs: Die, monster! You don't belong in this world! Open fire and kill the girl we used as bait under premise of being Geassed for questioning us, boys! Result: The What an Idiot! moment 2 entries above, its own results and all.
* Then there's Rolo's Big Damn Heroes moment: he is right there in a Knightmare and has a Geass power capable of stopping the senses of anybody in range, however temporary. He is quite okay with overusing his Geass to save Lelouch, whose life is threatened because of everybody else in the room except for Kallen, but cares too little for anybody else to not think twice of killing them, demonstrated not just by the fact that he kills random pilots in the following scenes but that his assassin history and instincts in any other case would compel him to kill at the slightest provocation, as has been lampshaded earlier on a few times by other characters. You'd Expect: Rolo to use the Knightmare and his Geass power to wipe those people (the BKs) off the face of the Earth already. Instead: Rolo just bolts for the exit. With Schneizel and Kanon being allowed to live, they get to report Lelouch escaping; this leads to making sure Rolo has to lose his life to ensure Lelouch's safety. And with them and the Black Knights still alive, Lelouch has to fight through them later on. All in the name of Lelouch fighting against the world just like Shirley said. Or maybe he could let Lelouch into the cockpit (which he did do well before dying), then escape into the water, of which few Knightmares possess the ability. To be fair to that alternative, though there was an explicit scene where he scraps a ton of amphibious Portmans.
* Lelouch and Suzaku join forces for the first time and take over the Britannian empire, but they know that Schneizel still has his Damocles and that he plans to use it nuke the world into submission, and that they need to stop it at any cost. So Lelouch contacts the only other super power on earth, the "UFN", which is controlled by people he helped put in power, and who's army he helped build and used to command, and invites their leaders for a peace conference, which they agree to.You'd Expect: Lelouch to try and rebuild his alliance with his former followers by providing them proof that he did not use Geass on them (he can easily do that, since It Only Works Once), tell them the truth about who he is and why he fights and unite together against Schneizel and the Damocles which threatens them all. That way, Schneizel would be facing all the armies of the entire world.Or at the very least, have made a secret pact then went as per canon, until someone like Xingke could meet with Schneizel and assassinate him.Instead: Lelouch uses the peace conference as bait to lure the UFN leaders into a trap and then take them all hostage, he then sends his army in and conquers the whole of Japan, thus insuring that he has to fight The Black Knights and Schneizel at the same time.
* Which leads me to the next one. Lelouch and Suzaku actually had at least a good month before Schneizel got Damocles up in the air, FLEIJAs and all.You'd expect: Them to hunt him down, and/or put him under close watch to keep him from putting his big Kill Sat into action unmitigated. One FLEIJA was bad enough. Plus, he already had the Avalon in the first season. Why give the opportunity to do worse?Instead: He just waits around for Schneizel to emerge on his own, with even worse than predicted results. Hello, Contractual Genre Blindness.
* Nunnally has the ability to tell lies by holding a person's palm. She did this to Suzaku and Alicia in R2.You'd expect: Her to do the same with Schneizel, her brother who she hasn't seen in years. She sees her own blood brother, Lelouch, as a person who has lied to her, so why should Schneizel, let alone anyone, period, be an exception?Instead: She takes Schneizel's words at face value, which results in her turning against Lelouch, and nuking Pendragon, which she has been falsely informed has been evacuated.
* And even R1 is not immune, and even has a moment in the second episode, from Lelouch himself no less: Lelouch has just Geassed Villetta for her Knightmare. Not five minutes ago he had Geassed a bunch of Britannian soldiers to kill themselves. He could kill her a few different ways and be done with it. At few if any points in the entire series does Lelouch care for What Measure Is a Mook?, and he even kills named soldiers.You'd expect: Lelouch to kill her. One less piece of Britannian scum to deal with, not to mention covering up how he got the Knightmare.Instead: He just ignores her and leaves. Villetta ends up being a factor in much of his troubles later on.
* And speaking of Villetta... so, Lelouch wakes up and realises, with his typical genius barring situations like this, that two people have seen him unmasked, thus uncovering his true identity, and that one has shot the other.You'd Expect: That Lelouch would immediately search the area for the shot party, on the basis that they're unlikely to have gotten far with a gunshot wound, just in case they're still alive. Which, as it happens, they are.Instead: Lelouch just goes home, devoting all his time and effort towards finding the shooter rather than the shootee (despite the fact that the shooter almost certainly has some sympathy or affection for him, having protected his identity and not revealed it yet), letting the badly wounded but still very much alive Villetta be discovered by Ohgi instead. Admittedly she has Laser-Guided Amnesia when she first recovers, but nevertheless...Result: This event ultimately sets in motion a chain of events that not only help to doom the First Black Rebellion by causing chaos in the Black Knights' headquarters, aiding V.V. in his abduction of Nunnally, but later on led to the Black Knights betraying Zero and driving him over the Despair Event Horizon. Yeah.
* Neon Genesis Evangelion: There is this shy, introverted, cowardly, etc. 14 year old boy, one of the few people who can prevent the destruction of the whole human race, whose performance is directly linked to his state of mind.You'd Expect: A team of psychologists and/or therapists working to ensure top condition. Extensive psychological evaluation, therapy sessions after battles, supporting friends/colleagues.Instead: Left completely alone with his doubts and mental problems, abused by nearly all people, never receiving credit for his accomplishments, being belittled at every possible occasion, being the butt of every malicious joke. It's a complete miracle that it took Shinji 19 episodes to Freak-Out
* The Evangelion have to have cords attached to them for power, and being unplugged and without a power source is a major problem for some episodes.You'd Expect: They'd add external battery packs to the Evangelion for every sortie.Instead: They do......in one episode, in which they are destroyed and are never rebuilt or mentioned again.
* Alright folks, sit down, grab a nice fluffy pillow, this is the big one. Rei is created and bred to bring The End of the World as We Know It. Just as Gendo is going to implement this plan however she hijacks the whole kit and kabudle. The fate of the human race is quite literally in her hands.You'd Expect: She cancels the whole thing. When speaking to Shinji she voices her objections to Instrumentality, proving once and for all to be the Only Sane Woman. And if it killed her, well she wants to die anyway, so it'd be no loss for her.Instead: She wipes out the human race on Shinji's behalf, because she asked and it was what he wanted. He learns to Be Careful What You Wish For, and Rei states that each individual can reverse Instrumentality if they wish. You can still get brain damage from your reaction.
* Suicidal Apocalypse Maiden? Eyep, she's gonna pass up Instrumentality.
* Lucky Star OVA had the volleyball scene in which Kagami's team is one point ahead, Konata does a roll and block the ball.You'd Expect: Misao: Go for it, Chibikko! HIT IT WITH ALL YOU GOT! (knowing that Tsukasa is clumsy at everything but cooking).Instead: Misao: Go for it, Little Sister! HIT IT WITH ALL YOU GOT!Result: Tsukasa jumps up, misses the ball, hits the net and lost the game. (Ow, it seems I smacked into something.)
* Nami from Sora wo Kakeru Shoujo turns against her sisters after they had been neglecting her obvious depressed state for a while already. The fact that her oldest sister Kazane favors her sister Akiha over her just adds to her feelings of helplessness. It doesn't take long before Nami and Akiha have their first violent confrontation, during which Nami vents her frustration. You'd expect: Akiha tries to convince Nami that she and her sisters really do love her and asks her to reconsider what she's doing. Instead: Akiha simply tells Nami to shut up, and Nami starts attacking her in full vigor. Smart move, Akiha.
* Utawarerumono: A thief breaks into a government fort and attempts to steal medicine for his sick sister. You'd expect: A man hunt so at the very least people knew what is going on. Instead: Soldiers ride into a nearby village that knows nothing about the crime and demand that they turn over the thief that "they know" is being hidden there, get rowdy, and kill the village leader Tusukuru. Results: Needless bloodshed that started a rebellion that could have been avoided.
* The village starts a rebellion for the death of Tusukuru and the later imprisonment of Oboro. You'd expect: The emperor to simply crush the rebelling village. Instead: He orders the destruction of non-rebellious villages as an example all because he lost his brother and of his own pride. Results: This leads to a full scale rebellion. Even his top general, Benawi, is pissed off at how dumb this move was. Pride Before a Fall indeed.
* In Chocotto Sister, Choco and her friends find a full-grown panther in a shed. You'd expect: They call the police, who have the panther caught and taken care of properly. Feeding a cat that size is near impossible for laymen, for starters. Instead: Choco and her friends keep its existence a secret and try to feed it scraps they bring to the shed. The panther, now dubbed "Kuro", then gets itself killed when it crosses the highway after visiting Choco's home. Choco is devastated by it, but c'mon girl--it's your own damn fault. Kuro would have been much safer in a zoo, where you might even have been able to visit it.
* In Fist of the North Star, Shin is trying to win the heart of Yuria, by committing genocide and be a supreme warlord so he can give her the land. Yuria is not amused.You'd expect: Shin wises up and do as Yuria say to win her heart.Instead: Evil Cannot Comprehend Good. He continues his daily routine of conquering in her name. The result: Yuria commits suicide.
* Dancougar: Shakunetsu no Shusho. The authorities want to kill or capture a mysterious girl who releases deadly plant spores when she is alarmed. They are armed with a kind of "stasis guns" which will freeze everyone in a targeted area. They manage to approach the girl without being noticed while she is chatting with Masato (one of the main characters critical to the fate of the world at large).You'd Expect: They fire the stasis gun at her. As it has a fairly large area of effect, pinpoint accuracy is not necessary. While they would almost certainly end up freezing Masato too, he could be unfrozen with no ill effects.Instead: They open fire with regular guns and miss. The girl becomes upset and releases her deadly plant spores, killing all of them. Only as the last one goes down does he remember the stasis gun, and freezes both the girl and Masato; who incidentally cannot now be freed, as some of the spores might have been on the verge of infecting him.
* In Canaan, Hakko is led to a room in the "Factory", where she finds someone sitting in a chair in Liang Qi's clothes, facing away from her.You'd Expect: Hakko makes sure that it is indeed the evil Liang Qi who is sitting there, especially since it's rather suspicious she would simply be waiting for Hakko to arrive, considering Hakko's deadly power.Instead: Hakko begins talking right away, unleashing her deadly voice upon the hapless victim in the chair--which for her is about the same as rushing into the room with guns ablaze. Of course, the person in the chair is not Liang Qi, but her captured lover, dressed in Liang's clothes.
* NEEDLESS. Uten, a needless with the ability to turn anything invisible, needs to find the location of our heroes' hideouts. He happens to chance upon two of them while they're out shopping.You'd Expect: Powers. Of. Invisibility. He only needs to shadow them back to base to succeed. This ain't rocket science, kids.Instead: Uten sets up an extremely contrived trap for the two and tries to make them believe he's almighty and knows magic by turning parts of the building invisible, so he can interrogate them into revealing the base's location (changing gears midway into 'killing them and search corpses for clues'). He fails miserably. And dies. At no point does he even try to use his invisibility to escape when things have gone pear-shaped. Truly one for the record books.
* Gundam Wing Endless Waltz: It's just after the boys had defeated both Oz and White Fang and everything seems peaceful for now..You'd Expect: They'd put the Gundams away somewhere safe just in case they're ever needed again.Instead: Four out of the five load their Gundams in a rocket and launch it towards the sun. Meanwhile, a new group of bad guys pops up, takes Relena hostage, and starts wrecking havoc. On top of that, the one Gundam pilot who didn't go along with the hair-brained idea to launch them into the sun, JOINS THE FRAKING BAD GUYS!
* Even better is the fact that after realizing that even if they defeat all the enemies they know, there may be more enemies hidden and they may need the Gundams to fight again...You'd Expect: They would have learned from the lesson they just finished recieving and put the Gundams away somewhere safe just in case they're ever needed again like they JUST WERE.Instead: They go through with their initial plan and destroy all their Gundams...
* In Fushigi Yuugi, right in the beginning, Miaka has a huge What an Idiot! moment. After travelling into Ancient China and meeting Tamahome, they both witness a procession for the Emperor. Tamahome comments jokingly that in exchange for his help, he wants her to get him a jewel from the Emperor's crown.You'd Expect: That she'd either 1. realize he's joking, or 2. try to think up a plan to help him steal it.Instead: She runs up to the Emperor's palanquin and yells at him to give her a jewel from his crown, grabbing onto his palanquin and ripping and breaking part of it. This has the expected result of the guards seizing her and attempting to execute her. This is especially ridiculous when one considers that, even without ignorance of culture differences, this action would pretty much be the equivalent of running up to the President of her country while he's in his car, tugging on the car door and breaking part of it, while screaming at him to give her 5000 bucks. And this is all played as if Miaka is an "average junior high school student" who has a reasonable education, instead of someone with a high amount of brain damage.
* Also in Fushigi Yuugi, Yui and Miaka both spend some time unconscious, with their last memories being men trying to attack them.You'd Expect: That both, despite their understandable distress, would take a moment to assess their physical situation. For example, the fact that they were still wearing exactly what they were wearing when they passed out, including intact underwear. That they had no bruises, no cuts, no bumps, and maybe going so far as to check and find that their hymens were still perfectly intact. Or if they were too shy to check themselves, Miaka at least was a highly honored priestess in a civilized nation, and could have had a midwife from the Emperor's harem check her out and assure her of her virginity.Instead: Both immediately assume that they were brutally raped, and now have nothing but revenge and misery and deep, deep shame left to them. Presumably they both know by this point about the mechanics of sex, including ejaculation... or they could just ask why on Earth their rapists bothered to put clean panties back on them when they were done.
* In Gundam 00, the Trinity siblings have been indiscriminately killing civilians in their attacks and even worse, Nena Trinity bombed a wedding party twice just for the lulz. People think that this was done by Celestial Being.You'd Expect: Some kind of statement by Celestial Being that while they are essentially terrorists trying to end war by bombing the hell out of the world's armies, they aren't that crazy, and for them to put a bounty on the Trinity siblings.Instead: Although Celestial Being does try to attack the Trinitys, they make no such statement leading to the nations of the world uniting against them. They reason that this might have been the ultimate plan of their founder, and so while slightly troubled, think that this is a valid way of getting world peace.
* Patrick Colasour. 'Nuff said. Patrick is this trope incarnate. Despite having fought the Gundams about 10 times by the end of season 2 and survived blowing up, getting left behind in a desert with pure uranium under the sand and blowing up in space, he still hasn't learnt anything by the time the ELS attack in the movie.You'd Expect: Patrick stays in formation with the rest of the GN-X IV's and carefully destroys the approaching ELS:Instead: Patrick breaks formation as the first pilot and charges at the ELS, shouting "THIS IS FOR MY COLONEL!". This ends with him charging right into an ELS, thus getting his GN-X IV assimilated, but not before Gundam Zabanya rips Patrick out of his cockpit and leaves him drifting around in a pilot suit in the middle of the battlefield.
* As expected of Patrick, whenever he talks to his wife, Kati Mannequin, he keeps saying "Colonel". Every time he says this in season 2 and the movie, Kati corrects him.
* In the Movie, when Kati is looking at some intel on the ELS late at night, Patrick joins her. She eventually says she has no idea what the ELS are, and Patrick suggests they could be "Evil Space Aliens". Kati responds kiddingly by saying "You idiot. With you, even serious things sound stupid!"
* Already a bit after half-way through season 2, when he is piloting the plane with Kati onboard.
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* In season 1, when Patrick arrives a bit too late and gets slapped by his new superior, Kati, for being late. He immediately falls in love with her, despite what one might expect.
* On One Piece, a bunch of people ate mystical fruit that gave them superpowers but made them unable to swim.You'd Expect: Them to immediately take a sturdy merchant ship to the nearest continent and live out their lives in a low-moisture area.Instead: They keep living on a string of islands, and half of them work as sailors.
* Eating a devil fruit has the potential to give the eater insane powers, which can be useful when everyone's searching for a legendary treasure. Historically, many real life pirates also can't swim.
* It's also worth noting that except for the Red Line, the One Piece world seems to consist mostly of islands.
* From a recent chapter: Luffy and Ace, along with the remainders of the Whitebeard Pirates, are trying to flee Marineford. They run into Akainu, who begins to trash-talk Whitebeard, something that Ace doesn't take kindly to.You'd Expect: They ignore the trashtalk and continue to hightail it out of there to their escape ship.Instead: Ignoring his fellow shipmates' and even Luffy's urgings to ignore Akainu and his words, Ace takes the bait and starts a fight with the Admiral, someone who can injure him despite his usual intangibility, and ends up with a lava fist through the gut in order to protect Luffy when Akainu decides to go after him too. And unlike everyone else in One Piece, he actually dies.
* In D.Gray-man, Creepy Twins Jasdero and Devit (Jasdevi) have the power to materialize anything they both think of. During the Ark arc, they wind up fighting Allen, Krory, Lavi, a Brought Down to Normal Lenalee, and one normal person from the Black Order. The Exorcists are trying to get past them through a locked door leading further into the Ark. They screw around with the Exorcists, throwing fire and ice at them, materializing fake copies of the key to make it harder to find the real one, and making masks over their faces that make Jasdevi invisible. This could be justified as sadistic fun, up until the point where Lavi picks out the real key.You'd Expect: That they'd use their powers to do something like fill the whole room with concrete or, if they thought the badasses could break through that, gas that was poisonous to anyone who wasn't a Noah. Well, that probably wouldn't work on Allen, but they had no way of knowing that. At any rate, it wouldn't be hard for them to instantly end the fight.Instead: They let most of the Exorcists go, except for Krory, who decides to pull a You Shall Not Pass. In their fight with him, they do a Fusion Dance into a Super Mode with Prehensile Hair and Super Strength, and it's mostly a martial arts battle. It's not until they've been at it for a while that it occurs to Jasdevi to create something heavy to squish their opponent, and it takes even longer for them to think of slamming him in an iron maiden. Thus, despite their incredible power, which should by rights lead to a One-Hit Kill, the twins don't win.
* Also, during the Rewinding Town arc, Road commands an Akuma to self-destruct in front of Allen, and explains that if an Akuma is killed by anything other by Innocence, its soul will be destroyed.You'd Expect: Allen to use his Arm Cannon to shoot and purify the Akuma from where he's standing.Instead: He leaps at it, almost gets caught in the explosion, and has to be saved by Lenalee. No wonder she slaps him.
* In the anime Suzuka, Yamato Akitsuki has just broken up with his thoughtful, softspoken, and almost perfect girlfriend, Honoka, and confides in his friend and secret admirer, Suzuka.You'd Expect: For Yamato to give a straightforward account of the tragic and mutual breakup and how shaken he was with the ordeal. Or at least to keep the reasons to himself.Instead: Yamato lies and brags about how he dumped her saying that she was annoying for absolutely no reason . In a much-needed wakeup call, Suzuka berates him for treating Honoka that way, knowing that she put her all into their relationship.
* Toward the end of the series, Yamato and Suzuka reconcile their feelings for each other, but in order for her to truly come to terms with her past, she has to visit the grave of her ex-boyfriend one last time.You'd Expect: Yamato would be a nice and understanding guy and allow her to come to terms with the emotional tumor that disallows her from developing trust, let alone a relationship, with another guy.Instead: He grabs her arm and yells at her telling her that she shouldn't visit his grave any more and to get over the past. Luckily for him, instead of yelling at him or hurting him like the Tsundere she is, Suzuka takes a third option and calmly invites him on her trip to the cemetery, to which he reluctantly agrees.
* The above examples are but mere snippets of Yamato's bumbling idiocy. There's really a multitude of them throughout the series, most of which could be easily resolved by simply being honest or thinking of someone other than himself.
* In Sasameki Koto, Ushio wants a cute girlfriend badly.You'd Expect: She makes use of personal ads and the Internet to find someone, or tries to find a LGBT group in her neighbourhood (which nowadays can also be found in every Japanese town). Since she's an extremely pretty girl herself, she likely wouldn't have too much trouble meeting somebody that way.Instead: She runs after girls at her school or even in the street, startling them and generally behaving like a moron.
* Also, she's in high school. She's got plenty of time to meet girls the old fashioned way before she resorts to Internet dating. And most of the girls at her school already know that she's gay, so why be shy about it?
* In Claymore, a band of bandits attack a town the warrior known as Theresa of the Faint Smile had just left (literally passing her on the road and clearly recognizing her). One of them finds the small girl that was with Theresa when last they met, and is aware that while she was merely annoyed at the prospect of being raped by him she made it clear that she would be willing to face the punishment for one of her order killing a human if he hurt the kid.You would think he would point the kid in the direction he last saw Theresa, or have her tied up and set aside with as little harm as possible for said warrior to find.Instead by the time Teresa returned to the down the guy was casually dragging the aformentioned girl (obviously quite badly beaten and possibly raped) across the villiage square in full view of her. Then he turned and mocked Theresa by noting "... How cute she was she she was screaming your name." Cue Single-Stroke Battle... lots of them.
* Claire and Yokai! Priscilla have a final battle to the death. Raki interferes- by crying and hugs Claire from excecuting the final blow- because she's going to become like Priscilla anyway.You would think Claire would push Raki aside to finish the battle with demonic Yokai Priscillia who had slaughted countless towns and people from their OrganisationInstead Claire misses her chance and Priscillia and Easley canters off into the sunset.
* Kämpfer, episode 11. In the previous episode, something happened to Natsuru, but he cannot remember just what happened. Now, Shizuku has a tête-à -tête with Natsuru, where she uses Kaede's most precious doll to reveal the Moderators' motives. She also says that she knows that Kaede is connected to the Moderators. She then managed to recover Natsuru's memories of what happened: he was mind-controlled by Kaede into attempting to rape Shizuku.You'd expect: Natsuru to accept that his crush is evil and join the resistance against the Moderators.Instead: Natsuru goes to Kaede's house to ask if this is true. Cue mind control.
* Gurren Lagann has Lordgenome leaving a cryptic warning behind, that can more or less be paraphrased as "When there are a million humans on the surface of the planet, something bad will happen."You'd expect: With the rate at which their tech levels were advancing, the Dai Gurren Brigade would try to keep surface numbers to a minimum, by only taking in people who actually want to get out of the ground to buy them time to investigate the moon, and maybe think of other ways to stall the count until they can find a way to stop it for good.Instead: Under Rossiu's direction, they drag people out of their underground villages, even the ones who don't want to come up, just to COUNT THEM, thus ACCELERATING the growth of numbers. Sure, it's the kind of series that's full of Idiot Heroes, but Rossiu was supposed to be the cool and calculating kind of person.
* From Gurren-Lagann The Satire:
* In Akkan Baby, our 16 year old main characters have no idea what a condom is. Or how to operate a pregnancy test. Or that you don't put futons on the baby.
* In Dance in the Vampire Bund several students (including the bulk of the Absurdly Powerful Student Council), after thier brainstorming plan on flushing out those students who have become vampires ran after dark, elected to barricade themselves into the chapel on campus rather than risk being picked off on thier way home. Suddenly the lights went out and the student council president (who was apparently abducted a few days ago) started calling to them from outside claiming she had been injured escaping her kidnappers.You Would Think that the various students would suspect a trick of some sort, being aware that several students have become vampires and recalling that "Kaichou" had vanished the night after loudly berating Princess Mina Tepes, the New Transfer Student/long-lost founder of the school/self-proclaimed Ruler Of All Vampires, for her intrusion.Instead several students override the objections of Yuki with a dismissive "What are you talking about, it's Kaichou!" "She's all right!" and throw open the front door. Yup, Shinonomi Nanami is there... surrounded by at least a half dozen vampires and looking a bit befanged herself.
* Uzumaki: the town of Kurôzu-cho and everyone in it is descending into madness. The two main characters, Shuichi and Kirie witness increasingly nightmarish happenings, and almost die a few times as a result. Shuichi urges Kirie to run away with him numerous times. You'd expect:eventually Kirie would leave with Shuichi before they fall victim to the insanity. You'd expect that Kirie's hair coming to life and almost killing her, as well as Shuichi, seeing people turn into giant snails, and witnessing pregnant women sucking human blood would be enough to have both of them running away with nary a backward glance. Instead: Kirie doesn't decide to leave until it's far too late, months after the events start happening. Both she and Shuichi suffer the consequences. Also, with each new chapter, she seems to have forgotten the terrible things that happened in the last chapter.
* Darker Than Black, episode 25. Kirihara's boss mindlessly confesses on how eeeevil he is and tells her his evil plans of doing evil things in the future. Kirihara secretly has a recorder in her pocket, and then has the entire conversation there.You'd expect: Kirihara would silently leave the room, then give the recording to the authorities and then have the last laugh.Instead: She stupidly shows him the recorder to brag about it.Result: Kirihara being strangled, and needing to be saved.
* The Interquel OVAs: Hei is on the run from... well, pretty much everyone, when all of a sudden people start trying to capture Yin. In particular, he runs up against a Manipulative Bastard Master of Illusion named Claude who catches him off guard by impersonating his ex-girlfriend Amber. After a number of near-misses and an ever-increasing amount of weirdness, Claude grabs Yin a second time and Hei, being his overprotective self, decides to rescue her even though it's probably suicide.You'd Expect: That the Badass assassin who made a name for himself killing people with Game Breaker superpowers would pay attention to his ally's warnings, remember that the guy he's up against can manipulate what he sees, and generally try to maintain a healthy level of skepticism when he comes to the top of the building and sees Yin sitting in an empty room, alone and unguarded.Instead: He runs straight in and immediately goes over to her. This, inevitably, results in him stuck in place in the middle of the room while Claude laughs at him. When someone else appears to attack Claude and the power holding Hei in place vanishes, he immediately goes for a Face Palm of Doom... and falls for an Aizen Gambit, electrocuting Yin instead and setting off the Eldritch Abomination Super-Powered Evil Side she'd been developing. Yin pleads with him to kill her to stop it; he can't bring himself to.Result: Very nearly The End of the World as We Know It. Yin manages to suppress Izanami with Heroic Willpower, putting herself into a Convenient Coma, and Hei is left as an angry, depressed wreck in the second season.
* Fullmetal Alchemist, episode 51 and in the manga. The psychopathic Envy has been reduced from his Eldritch Abomination true form to his fetus-like true, true form. May Chang is to take Envy back to her home country so that she can acheive her goal of bringing back the secret of immortality. Envy tells her that by going back, she is abandoning her friends to coming events, and suggests she should turn back.You'd expect: Well, you'd expect that the characters would have squashed Envy like a bug when given the chance and wouldn't have entrusted a manipulative liar into the care of a rather naive young girl- there's Idiot Ball to go around here. Barring that, you'd expect that May wouldn't trust Envy and would carry on with her journey.Instead: She listens to Envy and heads toward Central City, the capitol of Amnestris/headquarters of the villains.Result: Envy's talk about the secret of immortality was only true From a Certain Point of View- he leads May into a trap of cannibalistic Zombie Mooks who are are practically immortal/invincible and then uses the zombies to recreate his Eldritch Abomination form.
* In chapter 107, Greed attacks Father to get the latter to grab him and absorb his philosopher's stone's souls.You'd expect: This is supposed to distract Father long enough for Ed to attack him.Instead: Greed gloatingly tells Father about this plan, giving Father the opportunity to counter Ed's attack.
* In Chapter 6, Ed and Al are being attacked by Scar, who has just blasted apart Al's left flank, and almost destroyed Ed's arm, thanks to his powers using his armYou'd Expect: Ed to pick a strategy that involves staying the hell away from Scar's reach at all costs.Instead: He charges Scar with a Blade Edge on the side of his automail. It goes about as well as you can imagine.
* Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha: Mad Scientist Sorceress Precia Testarossa needs all 21 Jewel Seeds (or, by her own estimates, at least 14) to activate a successful dimensional transference to Al-Hazard. Once she sees that her cloned daughter, Fate, has lost her battle with Nanoha for control of all 21 Jewel Seeds, she zaps her and takes back the nine Jewel Seeds she had in her possession.You'd expect: Precia to also zap Nanoha and swipe the remaining Jewel Seeds, which were on her person at the time. Or even earlier than that, send Fate to TSAB as The Mole to get her hands on the rest of the Seeds.Instead: Neither thought occurs to her. Her subsequent attempt to use the nine Jewel Seeds to achieve dimensional transference ends catastrophically, and she perishes along with her lair.
* In A's, it's eventually revealed that the entire plot is the machinations of one Admiral Gil Graham, attempting his own secret plan to destroy the Book of Darkness for good. It's taken roughly nine years to set up, and is rather convoluted and intricate. A significant part of the plan involves sending his familiars, Lotte and Aria out to aid the Wolkenritter (the Book of Darkness' defense programs) against the heroes several times, before finally killing them in front of their young master, driving her over the edge to justify using extreme measures. Naturally, since they're somewhat well known, disguises are employed. Not a problem, magic can be used for that.You'd expect: Them to take disguises that, well, look like nothing, which shouldn't be that hard. Something that wouldn't stand out to anyone. They could even take different disguises each time, just to keep people guessing.Instead: They take on forms heavily implied to be Chrono Harloawn's dead father, who died working on the Book of Darkness case the last time it appeared. Naturally, this can't be a coincidence, and the list of potential suspects is narrowed significantly. Before long Chrono has defeated the familiars easily, arrested their master, and confiscated the Device meant to accomplish the plan. It wouldn't have worked anyway, but if you spend nine years on something, it's hard to believe a weak point like that would slip through.
* In Kimi ni Todoke, our heroine Sawako looks like it has finally gotten into her head that Kazehaya does like her too. Valentine Day approaches.You'd expect: Sawako gives Kazehaya chocolate. Even if it is just "duty" chocolate.Instead: She gives chocolate to everyone but Kazehaya. You see, she's so honest that she couldn't give him just "duty" chocolate, but too humble to dare to give him "love" chocolate. So she doesn't give him any.Result: Kazehaya is left absolutely confused. Does she like him or not? Their relationship is now worse than it was at the beginning of the story.
* In Girls Bravo, Koyomi and Tomoka, natives of the planet Seiren, come Earth to find a husband for Maharu. Once they find a suitable match, they intend to return to Seiren using their Aqua Lamps (two tiny silver beads).You'd expect: Them to keep the Aqua Lamps somewhere where they can't easily be stolen. After all, without the Aqua Lamps they're trapped on Earth. At the very least, you'd expect them to keep an eye on their magical items.Instead: The antagonist steals their Aqua Lamps with no trouble at all, and days (possibly weeks) elapse before they even become aware of the theft.
* In the New Vestroia season of Bakugan Battle Brawlers, our BBEG King Zenoheld uses a Giant Mecha Dragon Bakugan called Farbros which can merge with more parts Voltron-style and become pretty much unstoppable. In the middle of the season, he is confronted by two of the good guys, who also have a kind of modular fusion system (albeit weaker, but these three are the only ones who have it).You'd expect: King Zenoheld and the Good Guys to immediately whip out these powerful forms and have the most EPIC battle the series has ever seen!Instead: Not only do they NOT do this, but said BBEG, without fusing to the special parts, promptly blows up his own robot. The good guys watch helplessly as their Bakugan's behinds are kicked by a self-destructing robot(which probably wouldn't have happened had they been in their fused forms...)But Instead Not only did one of the good guys' combiners never be heard from again soon after this episode, but when it did happen, the battle was never really finished as the two instead moved onto something else. A real wasted opportunity...
* In Katanagatari the Insect themed Quirky Miniboss Squad (composed of three ninja) are sent to go capture Naname the younger Ill Girl sister of the protagonist. They decide in probably reasonable Ninja procedure to go one at a time (ostensibly because two are only there as transportation and backup respectively) to subdue and capture her to hurt her older brother. The first Mook arrives at her location and ambushes her with his Praying Mantis close combat style nails (long and sharp) but is quickly defeated off screen and rendered unconscious.You'd expect: That his backup WOULD check in on him after he was gone for an inordinately long time.Instead: Even though one of them gets a 'bad feeling' that something has gone 'terribly wrong', he doesn't do anything which for a cartoon medium might as well mean Too Dumb to Live as it's a shameful case of lacking Genre Savvy.
* Also in Katanagatari for the same episode when the Praying Mantis guy does die and his friends go in to try to rescue him/continue the mission they send the next close combat specialist in next, which is fine, but it turns out that Naname has Awesome By Analysis, meaning that whenever they show her any of their generationally passed down ninja arts she will instantly learn it and master it the second time they show her.You'd Expect: if you were sane upon seeing this and her serenity dissonance slasher smile 'run the fuck away', grab the remaining guy and RUN like you never did before to inform the rest of your ninja brethren of the threat they face and report a full account of her abilities and weaknesses that you could glean from that short encounter (being Shinobi they should have observation skills). Or at least, assuming that this happened way too fast for the guy to run away before dying, for the Bee themed guy remaining to realize the depth of the threat and run for it and hopefully make it off the island alive.Instead: The Butterfly themed guy gets himself killed - which on second thought/review may have been impossible for him to get out of - but the Bee themed guy actually 'tries to stay' to complete the mission rather than run away; although Naname noticed his presence it still should have been possible to run.
* In the Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu finale, Akihisa uses his one request to the school to give Himeji a second chance to take the admission test so she can go to the A-Class (For geniuses) instead of the F-Class (For idiots) she was stuck in due to fainting during the original test.You'd Expect: She does the test, gets in the A-class and thanks Akihisa for using his request on her.Instead: Once she's done with the test, she erases her name so she's ends in the F-class again, just to be with him. Nevermind they can be together outside of class (As Yuuji and Shouko demonstrate, you can be in different classes and be friends and even a couple). She COULD have done it to keep an eye on Minami, the other member of the Love Triangle, but this is never stated. And just to make things worse, when Akihisa finds out she wasted her chance to be in the class she deserves and gets angry, HE gets called out by everyone else, while Himeji's idiocy goes unnoticed.
* In Bakuman｡, Akito "Shujin" Takagi meets with Yuriko "Ko Aoki" Aoki to talk about how to better characterize the opposite sex in their respective works. He realizes that his girlfriend, Kaya Miyoshi, will get jealous.You'd Expect: Him to explain the situation to her. She might not be happy that he isn't turning to her, but she might understand why he's seeking out a fellow Mangaka.Instead: He keeps on meeting with Aoki secretly, and in the process, picks up a copy of one of Aiko Iwase's (who had previously expressed an interest in him) novels with a letter to him, resulting in Miyoshi finding it while cleaning. She's quite upset.
* Later on, Nakai, working for Nanamine, realizes correctly that things are going downhill and is desperate to keep his assistant job. He's also one of the few who knows about Nanamine's 50 20 9 online helpers.You'd Expect: Him to realize that Nanamine keeps secrets from other people, and talk to Nanamine himself.Instead: He sneaks into the room while Nanamine is fixing the copier and tells them (over the microphone, while giving his name and identifying himself as Nanamine's assistant) that the manga has fallen to 16th and ask them to make good chapters. The few remaining people then quit on the spot.
* In Black Lagoon, Hansel (?) attempts to kill Balalaika. He sees her waiting for him at the other end of a large, open plaza, just sitting there. You'd Expect: He'd find some other way of getting to to her, waiting until he can be sure she's alone.Instead: Against this leader of a crack sniper team, holding a rifle right now, he walks slowly straight ahead, coming at her with an axe! Gunshots and Hannibal Lecture ensue.
* Later on, in the Japan arc, Chaka beats and abuses Rock, in order to provoke Revy into a gunfight, then, later, kidnaps Yakuza Princess Yukio, abuses her and challenges Revy again, only to be contemptuously dismissed, after having Rock bash him with a bowling pin and a Precision F-Strike. Chaka lives this trope.
* In Ookamikakushi, Hiroshi isn't exactly known to make intelligent decisions. To list a few examples:
* He has befriended Sakaki, who confides to him that he lost his fiancee to the mysterious group murdering people around town, and is seeking the truth. Hiroshi knows who the leader of this group is: Someone from his own school.You'd Expect: Hiroshi would realize Sakaki is probably murderously furious towards the person who killed his fiancee and keep his mouth shut until he knows more about the group, or the person's reasons for doing it.Instead: He tells Sakaki the name of the leader in the group. Not surprisingly, Sakaki uses this little bit of information to set a trap.
* Said trap involves kidnapping the girl ( Nemuru), calling up Hiroshi, and taking him out in the middle of the night to an abandoned barn with the claim that he will show him "the truth".You'd Expect: Hiroshi would see something suspicious in being called up at night, realize he might potentially be in danger if he were to go inside, and not go into the barn.Instead: He walks into the barn, runs into Nemuru, and realizes the danger he might be in...just in time for Sakaki to leave him a knife as a parting gift and lock him up inside.
* During the night, Nemuru finally tells Hiroshi everything, including that he is in danger of being attacked if she loses control of her impulses, and must be left tied up.You'd Expect: He would take into account what almost happened with Issei and follow her advice and leave her tied up until morning.Instead: He unties her, and she nearly attacks him. Nothing bad happens, but still...
* And then there's Sakaki in episodes ten and eleven. We will start with the end of episode ten, which is when he begins to latch on to the Villain Ball: He stabs his accomplice and lets him know of his real plan to destroy the city.You'd Expect: He would stab him one last time to kill him, thus unable to tell anyone of his plans.Instead: He leaves him to die alone. When someone else comes across the wounded man, he uses his last breath to warn the village of Sakaki's plan.
* And speaking of Sakaki's plan...his plan is to basically open the dam and destroy the village. After managing to open the dam itself...You'd Expect: He would stay at the station to guard it, or otherwise break the dam controls before leaving.Instead: He not only leaves the station, but he also leaves the controls perfectly intact for the heroes to come along and undo the damage.
* While heading back through the forest, Isuzu notices Sakaki, someone who holds a grudge against the entire village and hates everyone in it, walking by, not to mention someone whom she knew was a genuine threat.You'd Expect: She would get out of there and alert the attention of the police, or the extermination group.Instead: She follows him into the forest alone, loses sight of him, and gets shot.
* Last but not least, Sakaki is just about ready to take his revenge and is presented several oppurtunities to shoot Nemuru and/or Hiroshi.You'd Expect: He wouldn't wait for them to finish monologing and just shoot them.Instead: He stands around waiting for them to finish talking before ranting about his revenge, and how they're all monsters...but never actually shoots anyone. By the time he does try to get a shot, Kaori shows up, takes the bullet instead, and drags him down to his demise.
* Hentai work Dawn of the Silver Dragon. Big Bad uses technology, which can turn any woman into willing sex slave with More Than Mind Control and uses it for profit (or so it seems).You'd Expect: Formation of elite, male only force dedicated to stopping the threat, perhaps using some additional privilages to put villain down. You know, something like The Untouchables.Instead: A female only police group is hunting the guy. To add to the idiocy, one of high ranking officers was former victim of above technology. And if that's not enough the leader of the unit willingly let's herself be caputred as a part of bait operation, with only one person of backup. It may be hentai, but nothing excuses levels of idiocy that high.
* Probably in the name of Fan Service, but Infinite Stratos has one jarring moment in episode seven. Ichika and Charlotte need to change their clothes.You'd Expect: One can change in the bathroom, and the other can just change in the bedroom.Instead: Ichika then suggests that they change while facing the other way. Cue Charlotte tripping on the floor and Ichika turning around to see her backside.
* Air Gear: Kogasumaru are building a front-line base, designing it so it would help its inhabitants defend the base and territory as much as possible.You'd Expect: A base to be set up in a strategic location where it won't be affected by environmental hazards.Instead: The base is set up on a bridge, on train tracks which are being used.
* Haruhi Suzumiya: The local Reality Warper is making a sci-fi movie. She is often unable to see\ignoring the lines between reality and fiction, and is able to blur those lines with her subconscious powers. Most of the main characters are certified Genre Savvy about this.You'd Expect: Subtly (or less so) point out that the movie is not real from the beginning, thereby preventing the activation of her powers.Instead: One of the characters believes that the reality warper's often conveniently ignored common sense will reign her in, and therefore does nothing. The main characters only jump in when the desired special effects become real.
* Oniichan no Koto Nanka Zenzen Suki Janain Dakara ne!!: Nao is in love with her brother Shuusuke, who also loves her, and they just found they're Not Blood Siblings at that. She catches him playing an Eroge with a sweet and kind Little Sister Heroine.You'd Expect: She realizes that's the way her brother likes girls and acts that way to please him. It's her natural instinct in fact, being nice to him. She could even offer herself to him in a "Why playing games when you have a real sister who loves you?" sort of way.Instead: She unplugs the computer, he loses his data and gets horribly angry, making their relationship worse. In fact, the entire first episode consists of Nao holding a planet-sized Idiot Ball and faking Tsundere-ness at her brother whenever they're getting close, for no reason other than making their relationship harder and giving us a show to begin with. Had she been nicer, he wouldn't show much interest on Iroha and the other girls and she could win his heart with little effort.
* Saki: Amae Koromo can make a winning move in the mahjong tournament.You'd Expect: Her to make the move and win the game.Instead: She deliberately makes a lower-scoring move in order to demoralize her opponents and set things up so that they cannot make their own highest-scoring moves, despite the fact that they wouldn't have been able to make them anyway had she ended it as soon as she could. Naturally, she loses because of this.
* This also showed up twice in the Little Lulu anime episode where Tubby gets captured by the Westside Gang. Lulu and the gang come up with Plan A, which was to hide a saw inside a pie for Tubby to use to escape. However, since none of them knew how to make a pie, they decide to substitute the real thing with a mud pie. Lulu and Annie then bring the mud pie over to the Westside Gang's territory and give it to Tubby.You'd Expect: Tubby to listen to Lulu and for her to tell him that there's actually a saw hidden inside the mud pie so that he can escape to freedom.Instead: When Tubby finds out that the pie was actually mud, he becomes angry, saying that he cannot eat it then kicks it so hard that it sails out the window of the RV he was imprisoned in and onto the ground, revealing the saw in front of the Westside Gang.
* Then later on in the same episode, after Willy and Iggy have also gotten captured by the Westside Gang, it is then up to Wilbur to come to the rescue with a shovel that he intends to use to tunnel into the RV to save Tubby and the others. Once on the other side, Wilbur then proceeds to carry out his mission.You'd Expect: Wilbur to lightly tap on the side of the RV and quietly let Tubby, Willy, and Iggy know that he was going to dig them out and for them to be ready when he did.Instead: He just goes ahead and starts digging next to the RV, causing Tubby, Willy, and Iggy to become worried, thinking that a bear is coming to eat them, then promptly alert the Westside Gang that they hear a weird noise, resulting in Wilbur's capture after that.
* Oreimo. In one scene in episode 3, Kyosuke explicitly tells Kirino to keep her DVDs and games out of sight while she's not in her room.You'd Expect: Kirino to be extra cautious about her collection, since she's a siscon fan.Instead: She leaves one of her games in the open on the very day her father comes into her room during her offline meeting, sparking a chain of events that ends with her hobby almost endangered and both Kousaka siblings injured (Kirino gets a minor injury because she tried to attack her own father with a crystal ashtray, but she was lucky compared to Kyosuke, who first gets his arm twisted for blocking his father from entering her room and then gets punched in the face after claiming ownership of all the adults only material in the house).
* Battle Athletes Victory: Kris has vowed to her family that she'd return to the moon the day she turns 18 to become a priestess. Then she meets Akari and falls hopelessly in love with her.You'd Expect: Kris either hides or controls her feelings for Akari or she decides to break her vow to be with the one she loves.Instead: She relentlessly pursues Akari, and when Akari finally starts returning her feelings she tells her that she has to leave, causing Akari quite some heartbreak.
* Puella Magi Madoka Magica: The show has it's main characters competing for Grief Seeds produced from the Witches they kill. As they use their magic, their Soul Gems begin to fill with darkness, which is then transferred into the collected Grief Seeds.You'd expect: Someone to question the nature of the dark substance that appears inside a Soul Gem, especially since it requires a Grief Seed of all things to remove, a Grief Seed that can regenerate the Witch if left alone too long. Read that again: A Magical Girl's power source produces something unusable to themselves, but compatible with the monsters they fight, and can revive said monsters.Instead: No one seems to make the connection, most likely assuming that this "dirtiness" will make them no longer able to use magic. To drive the point home, fans questioned this from the very beginning and speculated the results until the moment they were confirmed in episode 8.\\
* Zero no Tsukaima: At one point in season 1, Louise the Tsundere with a heavy dose of tsun, gets affected by a Love Potion and changes from an outright sadistic personality to lovey-dovey Clingy Jealous Girl towards Saito, who is almost the sole victim of her permanent abuse. Everyone comments on how the new Louise is better and more comfortable to interact with.You'd expect: Saito to understand that a Louise who does not permanently tries to get him into a hospital is a lot better for his health and, to be honest, a lot cuter and thus agree with the others to accept her new self.Instead: He tries everything, despite everyone's constant attempts to convince him otherwise, to get Louise back to her old self, and when he finds out she remembered the whole thing, she beats him up brutally again, and at least 3 dozen more times after that despite the fact that Saito proved to be Above the Influence.
* On the same series, there's the season 2 finale. when Saito comes back home after stalling/beating an army and explains to Louise he was healed by an elf.You'd expect: Knowing Louise's A-Cup Angst, he omits the "minor" fact of said elf being a busty girl.Instead: Saito blurts it out on a perverted manner, thus completely ruining the until-then very emotive finale. Cue Louise rightfully beating him down.
* Hoshizora e Kakaru Hashi: On the Sports Festival, Kazuma's trial is looking for "big breasts".You'd expect: He goes after Tsumugi, Hina or any of the many other busty girls in the show.Instead: He goes after Madoka, who reacts violently when touched by men and thus sends him off flying, as everyone expected.
* Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Roy Focker takes a few bullets when his spaceplane gets shot at during a dogfight with the Zentraedi, but manages to fly back to base with relative ease.You'd expect: Upon disembarking from his plane, Focker would cry "Medic!", get taken to a military hospital, and medical personnel would do whatever they could to save one of the Macross's best pilots.Instead: Focker walks out of the base (presumably without anyone noticing his condition), goes all the way to his love interest Claudia's house, sits down for coffee and a chat, and eventually bleeds to death all over her nice couch.
* Mayo Chiki: Kanade is feeling in Troll mode, so she tells Usami main guy Kinjirou is a pervert. Note this is the same guy that has gynophobia, Usami said 3 episodes ago she'd help curing it and thus knows this, two episodes ago she invited him to her house and rubbed her chest on him (Which he didn't like much because of his condition) and in this very episode, Kinjirou accidentally grabs Usami's bare left breast and that causes him to faint in the act, plus Kanade's been trolling Usami for the entire episode.You'd expect: Usami to notice the obvious lie and tell Kanade she knows Kinjirou's not like that.Instead: Usami instantly belives Kinjirou's a super-pervert and lashes at him. Seems Usami is very gullible or Kanade so good at bluffing Usami would've believed she is the Moon too.
* Blood C in episode 8 a Elder Bairn is approaching the school and a fast rate:You'd expect: Saya to warn everyone or they would run.Instead: She doesn't. As a result, they get slaughtered except for one and Saya herself.
* In Berserk Guts tries to leave the Band of the Hawk to embark on his own dream, but Griffith doesn't want any of that and battles Guts for his freedom - which he loses, being his very first defeat. Guts promptly leaves to set off on his journey, leaving his friends and comrades behind.You'd expect Griffith to just pick himself up and get over it, since most of the hard work that the Band of the Hawk fought for was already over and all Griffith really had to do in order to obtain the Kingdom of Midland was to wait around and marry Princess Charlotte. Plus, Griffith said that a true friend to him wouldn't let anything get in the way of his dream, which was exactly what Guts was doing in the first place.Instead Griffith has a total emotional breakdown after Guts left, and did some truly downward-spiraling behavior that involved him sleeping with the princess, getting imprisoned and tortured for a year, and just throwing away all of that hard-earned work.The Result: It Got Worse. Really worse.
* In the same chapter, the King of Midland hears word of what Griffith has done and storms into Charlotte's room. He sees that she has some love bites on her neck and some puddles by the windows where Griffith made his exit. However, the King is only truly convinced when he uncovers some blood stains on Princess Charlotte's bed.You'd expect that Charlotte just lie and say that her period had just started.Instead she just sits there and stares at her father.The Result: The King begins to manifest his very disturbing feelings toward his daughter.
* Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne: Maron's classmates make comments that she resembles the titular character in Miyako's presence.You'd Expect: Miyako would find out immediately Maron is Jeanne and decided not to arrest her after all.Instead: She refuses to believe they're the same person because of the resemblance, vowing to arrest her to prove her point.
* Miyako finally found out Maron is Jeanne upon seeing her transform.You'd Expect: She retreats from the street to let her seal a demon attacking them.Instead: She fainted from the revelation and Fin takes her hostage.
* There's also episode 43 where Miyako is not completely possessed by a demon, but manipulated by the Brainwashed and Crazy Fin Fish into killing Jeanne so that "she can get Maron back". After a while, Jeanne begins to fight back.You'd Expect: That she will just have to "checkmate" the demon within her.Instead: She just took away the gun she's holding. Like that'll ever work.Even Worse: She doesn't fight back after that.
* Magical Project S has Ramia finding out Misao's father is coming to visit her.You'd Expect: She'll just give her some slack and be with her father.Instead: She has her transformed into Misa on that day.Result: Sasami and Misao have discovered their magical girl identities in the end. Congratulations, Ramia, for making that happen.
* Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch: Caren saves the mermaid trio from the Black Beauty Sisters.You'd Expect: She'd join them.Instead: She refuses to join them all because she thinks Rina left her twin sister, Noel, to get captured.Result: The Black Beauty Sisters captures her easily. Caren has bought all that on herself because she thinks she can rescue Noel by herself.
* Monster has Dr. Tenma being held hostage by the Baby. The latter tells him to leave the questions to him.You'd Expect: Tenma acknowledges this and agrees to answer his questions.Instead: He keeps on asking the questions causing the Baby to whack him repeatedly in the face with a billiard stick.
* A mostly off-screen moment from Mayonaka Lolita: A high-school teacher, for some reason, makes a rejuvenation medicine.You'd Expect: He would hide it in a safe place and label it correctly. This medicine could cause a lot of problems after all.Instead: He mistankingly gives it out as juice to a male student.Result: Said male student gives it in turn to a female student, who drinks it and promptly regresses into a child. Way to go, dumbass.
* From this point on...You'd Expect the teacher to try and make an antidote.Instead: He smiles, tells the girl she'll only be able to turn back to normal by kissing the boy she loves, and leaves. WTF.
* In the second to the last episode of Ai to Yuuki no Pig Girl Tonde Buurin, Karin is cornered by her classmates just as she tries to think of a way to transform without them noticing.You'd Expect: She'll have to go somewhere far where they can't see her transform.Instead: She just blurted out she's Buurin to them, resulting that when she transforms, she's stuck in that form.
* The Girl Who Leapt Through Time: Kousuke and his almost-girlfriend have taken Makoto's bike, which she knows is dangerous because the brakes are broken; it caused her to almost experience death-by-train-collision earlier in the movie. She's also figured out that she can only time-leap one more time, probably ever.You'd Expect: She does nothing; if something bad ends up happening, she can go back and undo it. Or she could go back to a few hours ago and throw the stupid bike in a river.Instead: She vaguely considers waiting to see what happens, and then she wastes her last time-leap pointlessly dodging a question from Chiaki. Inevitably, Kousuke and the girl are hit and killed by the train, forcing Chiaki to use up his last time-leap to save them, and then he's erased from existence by time-police or something. Whoops.
* In Fushigiboshi no Futagohime the Big Bad's plan to conquer the world by convincing world leaders that everyone else has already surrendered to him. He's already next the prince of his homeland so he simply convinces his parents to retire. Next he steals the royal seal from the Moon Kingdom and uses it to falsify a treaty of surrender. Armed with this he then proceeds to the other kingdoms.You'd Expect: The world leaders would attempt to find out why the Moon Kingdom surrendered, which would naturally lead to them finding out the treaty had been forged. Instead: upon being shown the treaty they immediately surrender.Furthermore: every prince and the princess including the Big Bad's sister knows he's a villain, but no one listens to them.
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