Blade Run



""From here you can get an excellent view of my foot.""

- Pai Mei, Kill Bill Volume 2.

The hero and his enemy are in the midst of a fighting duel. The enemy makes some flashy move with his conspiciously large sword that's guaranteed to reduce any mortal to tomorrow's worm feast.

But as the dust clears, the enemy is in for a nasty surprise, as the hero is balancing on the blade of his sword in an Asskicking Pose, which is the perfect place for him to run across the blade toward his unguarded opponent.

Can rarely be justified by anything other than Rule of Cool, as a 70 kg warrior with leverage on your arm is not something you'd call trivial. It may be justified/handwaved with Super Strength.

Not to be confused with the notably blade-free Blade Runner. Or the villain from Goseiger who is named for the film.

Anime & Manga
""Char Aznable": My God, she's standing on it."
 * Ranma does this several times with Kuno's wooden bokken in Ranma ½.
 * Toshiro of Bleach does this to Gin Ichimaru during their fight scene, though his weight does causes Gin's sword to drop to the ground.
 * Also, Ururu does this when Ichigo tries to punch her, leading to a face full of foot.
 * Hiko Seijuro of Rurouni Kenshin does one of these after a No One Could Survive That moment while facing off with a giant. The fun part is that he's standing on the bottom of the sword.
 * Kenshin himself does this in his fight against Sanosuke, running down his Zanbato to hit him in the face. This also occurs in the Samurai X adaptation.
 * Played RELATIVELY straight in Futaba Kun Change, where a SUMO-WRESTLER does this. The owner of the sword couldn't hold for long.
 * Not yet outdone by Katsuhiko Masaki, Tenchi's grandfather in the eponymous Tenchi Muyo!...by standing on a lightsaber.
 * In Appleseed Ex Machina, Deunan runs upon an enemy's outstretched Humongous Mecha hand, taking the direct route to his cockpit. It's not the same as the blade but looks just as awesome.
 * In Dragonball Z, little Goku has to save Master Roshi's Turtle from an evil monster trying to eat it. The huge monster takes an impossibly fast swing at Goku, and to his surprise, Goku is perched on the tip of his sword! Which of course leaves Goku free to punch the monster between the eyes, KO'ing it immediately.
 * Devil Hunter Yohko uses this, though she seems to have more of an 'Eep!' reaction to the attack. Of course, she then uses it as a springboard to make a classic anime flying sword strike.
 * In Berserk, where Griffith jumps up on Guts' sword in their fight. Much later, Guts uses Azan's spiked sraff as a ramp to get past him.
 * In One Piece, Captain Kuro moves fast enough to jump onto Luffy's stretched-out arm.
 * Digimon Tamers: Vajramon has a lot of dialogue with Renamon while she's standing on his sword. Of course, it helps if you're as strong as he is (arm doesn't get tired, and you're totally unconcerned about losing.) Unusual for this trope, he has his blade turned so she's on its flat, not its edge.
 * Gintoki in Gintama does this in Benizakura arc while fighting Nizo's Benizakura, as seen above.
 * A variation in Saint Seiya: After Shun has sent his Andromeda Chain towards an opponent and ensnared a piece of scenery, said opponent usually leaps onto the chain (which is attached to Shun's gauntlet) and kicks him in the face.
 * Claire Stanfield from Baccano! puts his own spin on this by performing a blade handstand on the top of Graham's monkey wrench
 * Done in a Detective Conan! episode where Heiji confronts a murderer while a Kendo competition is going on in the background. The man attacks Heiji while he has only a cellphone to protect him. The phone ends up being cut, Heiji lands on the blunt end of the blade with cat-like percision, and cue the killer's dumfounded and fearful look when he not only recongnize him (Heiji is accually one of the best H.S. Kendoists and is a famous detective)but could not save himself from the one-hit beatdown given to him.
 * Happens in this Korean bootleg Gundam ripoff, in which the blade holder (definitely not Char) lifts the blade up and flinging the stander across the room.


 * Subverted in the opposite manner in Gun X Sword when Priscilla has her Armor Brownie stand on the edge of Dan's blade and tries to slide down in, but Van lets the blade drop and Brownie with it, which would have let Van punch her mech in the gut across the ring if she hadn't reached the ground and jumped back to lighten the impact.
 * Mahou Sensei Negima: Fate Averruncus does a variation where he briefly balances on Negi's fist. Negi himself balances on sword/lance hybrid thing a couple chapters later.
 * In Naruto one of the fillers (Land of Birds arc) takes this Up to Eleven by having the baddy (a shinobi with a weight problem) standing on the very end of the goody's pike. As a bonus, the goody is a young woman and the baddy delivers his introduction speech without stepping off the end.
 * The first episode of the All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku sees the title character do this, only it's a concrete pillar the enemy swings at her instead of a sword.
 * Done twice in Claymore : the first one is a classical blade run executed by Theresa, the second one is a tongue run done by Clare.
 * In Rental Magica, Sekiren manages to land on Daphne's foot and tell her to calm down when she tries to kick him. Her leg doesn't budge when he jumps off..

Fan Fic

 * Spoofed in this Azumanga Daioh fan comic.

Film

 * Pai Mei does this to the Bride in Kill Bill: Part 2. Rather than attack her with his own sword, he simply makes a smartass remark and kicks her in the face.
 * Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon practically introduced the mainstream west to this trope.

Literature

 * Miaowara Tomokato does this with a lance, during the Knights of the Round Table segment of More Adventures.

Video Games

 * An unlockable video in Prince of Persia: Warrior Within features the Prince doing this on the handle of a halberd, after a Sand Monster struck at him, and missed (naturally).
 * In Kingdom Hearts II, when fighting Captain Barbossa, Sora stomps down on Barbossa's sword, pinning it to the ground. Barbossa goes for his gun, and Sora goes for his Keyblade. Rather a cool moment.
 * Dark Link is capable of doing this in The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time if you use the stab move to attack him by freezing Link in place somehow and jumping onto the blade. This can be used to your advantage, however; if you use the broken "Giant's Knife" or the Biggoron Sword, he falls off.
 * What makes it worse is that, as the fight foes on, he'll stab you whenever he does this. This becomes incredibly annoying, given that most players will at this time be conditioned to stab a fleeing enemy.
 * In the Playstation 2 game Shadow of the Colossus, the third Colossus is a giant humanoid whose weak points can be reached only by running up his sword after he embeds it in the ground following an attack. This particular example isn't really physics-defying though - being the blade of a Colossus, it's pretty much a highway.
 * Maxi does this to Astaroth's axe in the opening video for Soul Calibur II, after Astaroth misses and gets it stuck in the ground. He proceeds to run up the axe to nunchaku Astaroth in the face.
 * Yoda also does the same thing to Astaroth in the apening video for Soul Calibur IV, minus the nunchaku.
 * Reversed in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, where in duels, Kadaj or his companions frequently run on Cloud's sword which, to be fair, is the size of a gangplank.
 * In Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Vamp does this to Raiden in their fight in South America at the end of Act II.

Tabletop Games

 * Exalted: this can easily be done with stunts. Or the correct Charms. (Seriously, you can stand on a spiderweb, you can stand on a sword)

Webcomics

 * Kareem runs along Noor's fist constructs in Project 0 this way.
 * Justified in No Need For Bushido: the main character Yori leaps onto Ken's sword - which is absolutely massive.
 * As with so much else, parodied in Adventurers!!
 * This strip of The Dreamland Chronicles is a rare case where the character jumping onto the sword happens on screen. Vaguely justified as this is dreamworld, so regular physics don't necessarily apply.

Western Animation

 * Optimus Prime has preformed it in his Final Battle with Megatron in Transformers Armada by running along a metal pole both had been using to trade blows beforehand.
 * In the Animatrix, one of the short segments called "Program" feature 2 shipmates within a feudal era Japan simulation. In sparring one of the shipmates jumps to avoid her companions' polearm slashing at her, and she lands on the blade.

Real Life

 * Some martial arts have techniques involving stepping on an opponent's weapon after a low thrust. The goal (and actual effect) is to pin the weapon to the ground. This is also typically done on shafted weapons (i.e. spears, staffs) not by stepping on the bladed part. Though if the flat of the blade is facing up, it could still be done to a sword.