Not What It Looks Like



""It's not what you think! I know it looks like we're cleaning dishes, but actually we're having sex.""

- Gregory House

A common trope in romantic comedies is the humorous misunderstanding, or the Not What It Looks Like.

A couple teetering between Will They or Won't They? has gradually started to slide toward "they will". But wait! The girl sees the guy's old crush/ex-girlfriend/other person who's previously expressed a romantic interest in him (or vice versa) go into his apartment/a hotel room/etc., and stay for a suspicious length of time.

The girl is convinced that he and the other woman have gotten together, and goes through intense doubt about her own relationship with the guy. However, she'll hardly ever confront him about it, instead preferring to stew in her own insecurity or make veiled bitchy comments to the guy, who's usually completely clueless as to what's going on because the other woman just wanted something completely banal, like someone to bitch to after her latest boyfriend dumped her. The scales even out, the status quo (i.e., UST) is restored, and the fans tear their hair out and scream at the writers for some progress, dammit!

Often the other woman will catch on to what's happened after a while and tell the girl what really went on, clearing the way for a slide toward "they will" again. In most of these situations, the other woman is a Relative Error, "proving" to the girl that nothing untoward was happening.

This can also apply to parents or teachers finding young people in compromising positions, where one or both parties age is the problem.

The name of the trope comes from what is usually the first line the guy says afterward, often followed by, "I Can Explain!" This line is also the first line uttered by an Accidental Pervert.

Advertising

 * The punchline in this Trojans commercial double-inverts the trope.
 * This This is SportsCenter ad.
 * There was a series of Ameriquest commercials that centered around this. For example, two doctors are standing over a patient whose wife and daughter are coming towards the room. One doctor kills a fly buzzing around using a defibrillator. Right as the wife and daughter walk in, he says "Yep, that killed him!" while still holding it.

Anime and Manga
"Jin: Tsugumi! Wait!"
 * In Ranma ½ this leads to Mistaken for Cheating more than a few times. It's never what it looks like.
 * Yes, but he probably shouldn't have shouted "Now give it up!" while leaning over a very buxom teacher and grabbing at her breast. Or tried to do the same thing several times over the next week....
 * Also in one episode, Akane burns herself while trying to ignite Ranma's rage; the fire has burned off her top so she's left in her bra, and Ranma gives her his shirt to cover herself. Ryôga comes across this—and thinks Ranma tried to rape her.
 * Full Metal Panic!
 * Kaname is first introduced to Sôsuke's CO Teletha Testarossa, a 16-year old girl, coming out of the shower in his apartment. Since she is unaware that Tessa is his CO, Kaname's immediate (and justifiable) assumption is that she is his girlfriend—an assumption only encouraged by Tessa, who's too pleased to be taken for Sôsuke's girlfriend to be any help at all in clearing things up.
 * However, when Tessa actually climbs into bed with Sôsuke in an episode of Full Metal Panic Fumoffu, Kaname—by this point well aware that he's a hopeless case—replies to Sôsuke's panicky "It's Not What It Looks Like!" with an irritable, "yes, yes," and proceeds to get on Tessa's case for breaking their mutual agreement not to go into Sôsuke's room.
 * Before the first meeting with Tessa, there is an episode where Sôsuke notices a thief sneaking up to Kaname's balcony and goes to stop him. It turns out to be Shinji Kazama, a classmate of theirs forced to steal a pair of Kaname's panties by upperclassmen who are holding something of his hostage. Shinji's also a military Otaku, so he and Sôsuke start having a lively conversation. So Kaname steps out onto the balcony just in time to see the two of them chatting away—and worse, when Sôsuke starts to explain, he raises his hand and accidentally shows the panties he grabbed from Shinji earlier. Batter Up!
 * An odd version of this occurs in Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, because what it looks like is not sex, but murder.
 * Maison Ikkoku: Made up almost entirely of a long string of Not What It Looks Like incidents for the major characters. In the beginning they tend to end in apparent Snap Backs, amplified by pathological levels of Cannot Spit It Out. But as the show progresses they have long-lasting repercussions and increasingly force Godai and Kyoko to talk to each other and learn to trust each other. Particularly notable examples:
 * Godai and Asuna (Mitaka's sort-of fiancée) open Mitaka's door to find him on the floor on top of Kyoko. Godai and Asuna both look like they've been clocked with a brick and leave before Kyoko can catch them to explain. It was nice to see the tables turned on Kyoko for once, and have Godai be the jealous one.
 * Subverted when Godai's student Yagami gets her friends to lock him in a storage closet with her. She's wearing only bloomers and a bra, and threatens to scream rape if he doesn't stay and talk to her. She grabs him when he tries to leave, the struggle results in a fall, and Godai thinks his life is over when ... while he's kneeling over a half-naked Yagami, with his hand on her breast.
 * Quadrupled, subverted, averted, and inverted when Mitaka takes Kyoko on a date that turns out to actually be, 1. an omiai cooked up with the help of Kyoko's mother. Kyoko calls Godai and asks him to come help her, but when he gets there Mitaka tells Godai that he's reserved a hotel room for them before whisking her away to dinner before Godai can see her. Kyoko is notably anxious—Mitaka asks if she called Godai, then "speculates" that, 2. he must not have cared enough to come. When Kyoko's father shows up at Ikkoku late that night and she's not back, he freaks out and tries to hunt the city for them; Godai goes with him (mostly to keep him calm). When they get back and she's still not home, he keeps telling him to have faith in his daughter 3. despite appearances. This alone may establish Rumiko Takahashi as the Queen of Not What It Looks Like.
 * Mitaka gets drunk and can't remember what happened between him and Asuna, except that he woke up in the morning in bed without his clothes on. He asks what happened, and she, thinking he is talking about their kiss, confirms they "did something". As if that isn't enough,
 * Godai has to go to a love hotel to cover the bill for a drunken housemate (Akemi) whose date had abandoned her, and walks out with her just in time to run into his nominal girlfriend Kozue—who then immediately runs to Kyoko for advice. But it turns out that Akemi had engineered the whole thing in order to give Kozue the impression that Godai was seeing other women, so that she would break up with Godai, so he could get together with Kyoko. And
 * In REC (Not the Spanish horror film), Aka notes that Fumihiko never comes home after going out drinking with an old crush whose boyfriend had just broken up with her. He'd carried her back to her apartment after she'd passed out drinking, then she'd woken up and wanted to continue drinking with him through the night.
 * In Nodame Cantabile, Chiaki's ex-girlfriend Saiko comes to see him so she can complain about being passed over for the lead role in a concert. Nodame sees them together and spirals into comic depression. Slightly different in that Saiko (after a few drinks) does try to get back together with Chiaki, but he refuses.
 * Subversion: In the Beach Episode of School Rumble, Kenji Harima ends up naked and grappling with the bikini-clad Eri Sawachika when their classmate Akira Takano walks in. Even worse than the usual Not What It Looks Like because it looks like he's about to rape her, including to Eri herself. Akira is immediately able to discern (and explain in detail to Eri) exactly how they got into that position, rather than jumping to the obvious conclusion. This only serves to further cement Akira's position as the only Genre Savvy person in a series that parodies Genre Blindness. It gets better—the reason he panics and grabs Eri is because he's afraid it'll lead to another misunderstanding with Tenma, his love interest.
 * The release of School Rumble in the U.S. invoked this trope in all of the promotional material, especially with the tagline: "It's not what you think! It's hilarious!"
 * Harem comedies in general rely heavily on this trope, if to distract people from the main couple (or make their relationship not so painfully inevitable) or inspire shipping.
 * Fox example, Love Hina. It usually ends up with either Naru or Motoko attacking Keitaro.
 * Also in Mahou Sensei Negima, the next series by Ken Akamatsu. It's often subverted by the fact that most of the characters are often fully aware that it isn't what it looks like. This doesn't stop these types of moments from happening often. The worst is probably this, which could very easily be construed as a sexual encounter if one was not aware of the context (NSFW, obviously. Also, spoilers).
 * Also happens in this scene.
 * Ai Yori Aoshi averts this: despite having so many situations where it's Not What It Looks Like, as the girls listen to Kaoru's explanations and actually believe him. Sometimes, he doesn't even need to explain anything. Except for his first encounter with Miyabi. He'd gotten out of the tub in an unsuccessful attempt to keep Aoi from coming in. Then he slipped and fell on top of her. So Miyabi enters and sees Kaoru, naked, kneeling between Aoi's legs ... with his hands firmly planted on her breasts. It was perfectly natural for Miyabi to throw him across the room and start trying to stomp him to death.
 * Suzumiya Haruhi
 * When the Student Council demands that the SOS Brigade produce a book of short stories if they want to continue using the Literature Club Room, Kyon is forced to write a romantic short story. He refuses to give Haruhi the last page, and she attacks him, holding him in a wrestling position. Enter Mikuru, who knows about Kyon and Haruhi's love for each other and the Belligerent Sexual Tension. She sees them in this position, and...
 * Taniguchi jumps to the obvious conclusion after seeing Kyon kneeling over Yuki in an empty classroom. Actually, she was on the floor because she had just Kyon, and was trying to recover from  in her  before she could get back up and they could finish . While it wasn't what it looked like, Kyon couldn't exactly explain.
 * In Disappearance, Kyon has been losing it all through the beginning when it seems like Then he finds Yuki.  He finally snaps and eventually pins her against a wall in a way that looks like assault. Once he finally comes back to his senses, he realizes about how easily this scene can be misconstrued if someone were to walk in and backs off.
 * The Familiar of Zero
 * Played... oddly in season 3 when the ridiculously busty Tiffania asks Saito to feel her breasts, because she's trying to understand why everyone keeps asking her whether they're real. Saito, rather stupidly (considering his past track record) agrees to check them out and is predictably caught by Louise and Siesta in bed with Tiffania, enthusiastically groping her. Played straight in Tiffania's case, but almost certainly inverted in Saito's case.
 * Also hilariously averted and played straight simultaneously in the first episode of the second season. Saito tries (and fails) several times to kiss Princess Henrietta. Unfortunately, the head guard, Agnes, sees this, but decides to forgive him of "his shameless act". More unfortunately, Louise goes absolutely berserk, whipping Saito until the sun rises the next morning, which is when Agnes barges into the room to report. Saito is on the floor, almost completely nude, covered in numerous bruises and cuts. Louise is straddling him, blouse open, skirt pulled up, stockings torn, and out of breath. It actually is what it looks like, but this is not sexual in the least.
 * Welcome to The NHK features a comedic example. Misaki spills hot sauce on Setou's lap, and jumps in to wipe it off. Cue Yamazaki walking in, with Misaki's back to him.
 * In Ah! My Goddess, it's a common occurrence for someone to pull Keiichi into a compromising situation, but Belldandy always believes him when Keiichi explains that it's Not What It Looks Like.
 * On one occasion, he doesn't even need to explain --, prompting another character to say that Belldandy must be stupid to trust Keiichi so blindly. But considering that Keiichi can't even make moves on the eminently-willing Belldandy, it's quite reasonable.
 * Belldandy once defended her K1 from a manufactured compromising situation by saying "It's true! He doesn't have the guts to do that!" She realized how bad that sounded and tried to correct herself, but just made it worse.
 * When they were under attack, Urd manipulated Keiichi into groping another woman in front of Belldandy. Belldandy subconsciously channels her jealousy into explosions, powerful enough to defeat the attacker.
 * Belldandy has flat-out stated that she will always believe Keiichi—even if he's lying.
 * In an episode of Inuyasha, Inuyasha has been wounded, and Kagome tries to apply first aid (not knowing about his demonic Healing Factor). In order to do this, she must remove his clothes, which leads to the two of them on the ground, her on top, struggling to pull open his robe, loudly ordering him to undress. At the time Kaede is Right Behind Her, along with children who take the scene the wrong way.
 * Nearly every episode of Chobits. Poor Hideki is always found in compromising situations... especially when it comes to Chii's "power button".
 * In Mai-Otome, after Shizuru discovers a secret about Akira, Arika walks by and sees the two of them in a suggestive pose with Shizuru's face behind Akira's.
 * Early in Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch, Lucia, looking for Rina to make friends with her, finds her on the roof apparently cutting class to kiss Kaito. In actuality, Rina was harassing the poor boy instead, as she mistook him for the Big Bad in disguise.
 * Happens all the time in Girls Bravo. Quite a lot of episode start with Miharu ending up naked or near-naked in front of Yukinari, during which Kirie will probably walk in and beat the shit out of him before bothering to hear an explanation.
 * To LOVE-Ru
 * Rito constantly ends up in ridiculously suggestive situations with Lala in front of Haruna, the girl he has a crush on. Some of the situations he's had to attempt to explain his way out of include him and Lala popping out of a locker in the girl's locker room while naked, and running into Haruna in a lingerie store, just in time for Lala to emerge from the changing room wearing only a bra and panties and ask Rito what he thinks of it.
 * Then there's this incident involving Yui. Her brother just so happens to walk in during a Thanks for the Mammary moment after she falls out of bed onto Rito.
 * Later, Rito grabs one of the devices Lala has made as she's searching through things. Somehow, he and Haruna activate it. It ends up being the device that transports a person without their clothes. Eventually they are found by the school nurse, who's response is, naturally, to leave them alone to get back to what they were doing.
 * In the first episode of Karin, Kenta witnesses Karin embracing an older man in a park and jumps to the conclusion that she is a prostitute (conveniently failing to notice that she is, in fact, biting the man's neck). Later on, he sees her in a similar position with his own mother. Hilarity Ensues.
 * The second season of Hidamari Sketch has Yuno walking in on Sae posed on all fours over Hiro and starts freaking out. Turns out the two were practicing for the school play, with Sae being the criminal. I wonder what the crime was. Oddly, this scene is depicted in the OP for the first season, making it Bait and Switch Credits at the time.
 * In the Beach Episode of SHUFFLE!, Sia catches Rin carrying a half-naked Asa-senpai to the washroom and jumps to the wrong conclusion; unbeknownst to Sia, Asa's top was washed away by a large wave.
 * Near the beginning of the Bount Arc in Bleach, Ichigo suspects Renji may be one of the mod souls which are kidnapping their friends. He decides to test it by jumping on him outside the classroom screaming at him to "Take it off!" ("it" being the articifical body which allows him to interact with the "real world", but the rest of the class didn't know that).
 * In Candy Boy, there is a roll call just when Kanade and Yukino are fighting over control of a mobile phone, which makes them end up on the bed in a very suggestive position. After an awkward pause the student checking on them simply declares that the "shameless couple" is in and leaves.
 * In Mahou Tsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto: Natsu no Sora, Seiichirou sees how Sora seemingly gets seduced by her teacher. In reality she is.
 * This happens several times in the hospital episode of GetBackers to Ginji and Himiko. Himiko was not amused.
 * Yumeria: After her first battle in the dream world, Mizuki rushes to Tomokazu's room to see if he had the same dream. His cousin Nanase finds them with Mizuki kneeling between his legs (bonus points because Mone slipped between Mizuki's legs and has her head poking out from under Mizuki's skirt). Tomokazu twists this, deliberately making it seem it is what it looks like with a shy expression and a whispered "Please be gentle." Mizuki's face gets redder than is physically possible, and she wails, "It's a misunderstanding!"
 * Elfen Lied
 * Subverted: Kouta is most definitely groping Nyu, who as local Innocent Fanservice Girl made him do so because she... uh, liked the sensation. While he has an excuse, it's pretty clear what was going on.
 * There was later another scene where it happened again (but with the Nyuu and Kouta naked) that Mayu sees, and walks off before Kouta can even try to explain.
 * Played straight however when Yuuka opens the screen door just as Kouta pulls the wet underwear off Nyuu who's lying back on the tatami, because she can't change her own clothes.
 * Although played straight briefly at the beginning in Mx0, the presence of openly lecherous Ise and Kuzumi's past attempts to stop Ise's schemes quickly teaches the girls to give Kuzumi a chance to explain himself. At one point Kuzumi ends up in the womans pool time as a girl not only do they create a believable lie for him to use they don't even make him leave. Saving half dozen of them from drowning may have helped though.
 * Kannagi: The final scene in the last episode.

""Don't worry, I totally understand. If you don't practice now, you might mess up and end up getting dumped.""
 * In All Rounder Meguru, Meguru's sister finds him practicing his ground grappling techniques on a cloth doll in his bedroom. She's entirely sympathetic.


 * Princess Tutu has a somewhat more innocent variation. Episode 20 opens up with a beautiful woman sneaking up behind Perpetual Frowner Fakir and giving him a kiss on the cheek. Later, it shows him out buying flowers with her and smiling. Ahiru and her friends see them together and automatically assume that they're dating, but the woman later happily informs Ahiru that she and Fakir are Like Brother and Sister.
 * Inverted in Fushigi Yuugi. Taka and Tasuki are napping together (with absolutely no overtones at all, no sir). When they wake up, Taka realizes he can't see himself in the mirror, leading him to experience a minor Heroic BSOD, which he begs Tasuki to keep a secret because it will upset Miaka. Miaka herself promptly walks in, sees them all rumpled and uncomfortable looking, and wants to know what's going on. Taka comes up with the excuse that "Tasuki can't sleep unless someone is hugging him," vaguely suggesting it is what it looks like (and you can't tell me Yuu Watase didn't know some fans would really get a kick out of it).
 * Ouran High School Host Club
 * Tamaki trips and falls onto Haruhi as he and the Host Club visit her apartment on her day off. In walks Haruhi's dad...
 * In another case, during a storm, Tamaki attempts to help Haruhi of her fear of thunder and lightning by blindfolding her and plugging her ears. While Tamaki may have had good intentions, in walks the remainder of the Host Club ready to accuse him of being a S&M loving pervert.
 * Serge in Kaze to Ki no Uta says these exact words when Sebastien enters his room to find him with a very naked (and partially unconscious) Gilbert on top of him.
 * In Gintama, ep 67. Gin-chan no baka!
 * In Soul Eater Not!, Anya wakes up one morning to find Meme in bed with Tsugumi, who is tied up with rope, all for non-sexual reasons. Naturally, she assumes something kinky was going on.
 * Wonderfully subverted in Bitter Virgin, despite one character's efforts to make it seem exactly what it looked like. Yandere Kazuki attempts to seduce the male lead Daisuke, going so far as to unbutton her shirt and threaten to cry rape if he leaves the room. Right then walks in female lead Hinako, a Shrinking Violet who Does Not Like Men and has only managed to open up to Daisuke. Kazuki keeps her word and tells Hinako Daisuke tried to rape her. Hinako's response: "Liar. Suwa-kun would never do that." The final nail in Kazuki's coffin is when a third party, Daisuke's sister, appears and suggests going to the police to prove her claims.
 * Change 123: in chapter 29 (volume 6) this happens.
 * In Darker than Black Hei learns the hard way that, when purchasing clothes and undergarments for a Doll, it's generally a good idea to not go alone, lest you run into the target of your UST and be forced to explain that the wig and bra you're buying aren't for yourself.
 * In Harukanaru Toki no Naka de - Hachiyou Shou, Akane is visited by Dragon God's messenger spirit and tries to follow him as he starts to leave; Yorihisa, who is guarding her outside the door, rushes into the room, and the two of them end up on the floor on top of each other just as a court lady walks in to inform them of the return of the house owner. Cue Yorihisa hastily apologizing to Akane and yelling to the court lady not to leave without a word as she walks away chuckling.
 * In World Embryo Riku's father comes home unexpectedly after a business trip. As he arrives, he notices Shizuru acts weird and seems to try to prevent him from entering part of the house. However, he has an urgent need to go to the toilet. He manages to get past her, opens the restroom door, and finds his son crouching down in front of the toilet, holding down the underpants of a pre-pubescent girl sitting on the toilet who closely ressembles Shizuru's sister Amane when she was a kid. Cue "It's a misunderstanding!" from Riku.
 * Seto no Hanayome has an epic one after Lunar spills water on herself, causing her to revert to her mermaid form. Nagasumi tries to dry her off, only for her to revert to her human form at the worst possible time: her father enters the room as Nagasumi is rubbing Lunar's butt with a towel. He nearly gets killed over it.
 * Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu has a straight romantic misunderstanding version of this, but there's also several times when Haruka's prying sister/father mistake innocuous activities for sex.
 * In Onegai Twins Karen faints and falls face first into Maiku's lap. And then the other two girls walk in the door.
 * During the story about Sakuya's birthday in Hayate the Combat Butler, a little teasing by Sakuya ends in a little scuffle between her and Wataru which ends with him [[media:WataruSakua1.jpg|sprawled on top of her]]. Naturally, Wataru's crush Isumi [[media:WataruSakua3.jpg|walks in]] and [[media:WataruSakua2.jpg|misinterprets the whole thing]]. Then again, she might not be misinterpreting anything regarding Sakuya.
 * Karakuridouji Ultimo does this in chapter 3. Ultimo, has been seriously injured and, for some reason Yamato thinks that a robot boy is comparable to a fairytale princess. So Yamato decides a kiss is the only way to wake Ultimo up (why he felt the need to strip to his boxers and straddle him is beyond us), but doesn't actually have to go through with it, since Ultimo wakes up just in time. Sayama walks in just in time to see a half naked Yamato on top of a very young looking boy who's crying (He was just happy Yamato was trying to help him). She jumped to the obvious conclusion.
 * Subverted in Omamori Himari when water spirit Shizuku shows up in Yuuto's bathtub. He lifts her out of the water before realizing she has the form of a preteen girl. His cry of surprise brings Rinko running in, only to see him holding Shizuku with his hands on her breasts. Shizuku's "drowned girl" appearance, however, causes Rinko to think Yuuto has discovered a corpse rather than that he's doing anything lewd. There's also the fact that he cried out in shock.
 * During the Mariah sequence in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Joseph and Avdol wind up not only getting magnetized by Bast, but stuck to each other's sides. In order to be able to chase her down, they first have to detach from each other. They quickly figure out that their heads are opposite poles, and likewise their feet. That means to detach, all that has to be done is for one of them to get his head down to the other's feet. However, when they're starting this, some children are looking on (note that this is in Egypt, where man-man romance is...not encouraged). They manage to explain it away by saying that they're practicing a dance. Once the kids are gone, it's back to detachment preparation. Unfortunately, by the time Avdol's head is level with Joseph's hips, the kids are back—with friends. Even worse, so is the old woman who crushed on Joseph earlier in the day. That crush inverts fast... which turns out to be a good thing. Not just because Joseph no longer has to worry about her, but because the drubbing she subjects him to detaches him from Avdol by itself.
 * Baby Steps: Straight-laced protagonist Eiichirou vehemently protests his innocence after being labelled a "perverted stalker" when he was caught secretly watching his classmate, Natsu, practice for her tennis club. To be fair, he was watching her out in the open at first, but ducked for cover out of embarrassment when she started to look his way.
 * In Beauty Pop, Narumi thinks he sees Ochiai and Kiri kissing. Ochiai is actually getting a bug out of her hair, and it's only the angle at which Narumi sees them that makes it look like a kiss.
 * Early in Tasogare Otome x Amnesia, a girl walks in on a situation where Yuuko has fallen on top of Teiichi (she'd put on his glasses for a joke, and they really screwed up her vision and balance) and then started getting flirtatious. Teiichi promptly yelps that "It's not what it looks like!" ... forgetting that Yuuko is a ghost, and the new girl can't see her, so it didn't look like anything naughty to her.
 * Late in the second season of Code Geass, Kallen walks in on CC promising Lelouch to take off his clothes and that she will "do her best" in a very uncharacteristically timid voice. This ends up being less hilarious and flaily than it could have been, given the fact that Lelouch is still trying to recover from the shock of what happened in the previous episode. It's also pretty quickly resolved when Lelouch explains to Kallen that And yes, the whole thing is innocent, if rather unorthodox:
 * This happens in Heart no Kuni no Alice when Peter, the devoted crush, walks in to find Alice held down by Ace and Boris, who are simply trying to her the sound of her heart
 * In an early episode of Rosario + Vampire, Yukari Sendo creates a voodoo doll of Tsukune to try and drive Moka away from him, and uses it to make him feel up Kurumu when she comes to visit him in the sick-bay. Moka walks in on them, with Tsukune panicking and Kurumu in ecstacy, then . Kurumu certainly doesn't mind.
 * This happens again in the second volume of the manga. Tsukune's shirt get's messy and Kurumu offers to wash it. By the time the rest of the harem arrive, it looks like she's forcing herself on him.
 * Poor Tsubame has [[media:dtryoa2.jpg|this]] happen to her in an early chapter of Samurai Harem: Asu no Yoichi. To be fair, it's a direct result of holding a loaf of cream bread before having a bout of bad luck.
 * In the manga of Brigadoon Marin and Melan, someone walks in on Marin and Aloma half-dressed and very close together. They had changed their clothes because of a heavy rainfall, and Aloma was trying to interrogate Marin, but that's sure not what it looked like.
 * In A Certain Magical Index, Touma has this happen to him at the end of every arc without fail.
 * This is a common theme in Ai Ore Love Me.
 * In one chapter of D.N.Angel when everyone was on a field trip, Disuke goes to Risa's room to give her some medicine, thinking she's sick. Riku comes in, prompting him and Risa to hide quickly in a closet. Riku leaves, Daisuke and Risa try and get out of the closet and fall...with them both landing on the bed with Daisuke in a compromising position on top of Risa. Guess when Riku comes back in because she forgot something?
 * Happens in Naruto Shippuden episode 185 when Kotetsu and Izumo are Mistaken for Gay by Tsunade.
 * This happened several times in Wandering Son. In an early chapter the protagonists sister walks in when she's undressing with a girl in his room, since he had been caught crossdressing by her. His sister then proceeds to think that she was doing something "dirty" and tells their mom. In a later chapter, set when the protagonist is a high school freshman, the sister catches him with his girlfriend and once again thinks he was doing something naughty. In reality his girlfriend was just massaging him and he got a Raging Stiffie.
 * One scene of Family Compo revolves around this. Sora is arguing with his editor about how There Is Only One Bed at a remonstrant. Their argument sounds like his editor wants to have an affair with him but Sora is protesting her advances.
 * Meer provokes it deliberately in Gundam Seed Destiny. Come on, a fellow soldier knock on Athrun's door at morning, a beautiful girl in underwear opens? What does it means? Actually, said girl sneaked into the room while Athrun was sleeping. because she's posing as Lacus Clyne, and everyone thinks she is Athrun fiancée. And she wouldn't mind having sex with Athrun for real. Athrun later realizes that explaining it's not what it looks like is not only hopeless, it's not even his interest.
 * Variation in a phone call in Axis Powers Hetalia; Italy calls Germany, screaming in pain, claiming that his brother's "in bed" and "it won't come out". Germany assumes Romano is raping Italy and runs to help, only to find that the two are actually stuck together by their entangled Idiot Hair.

Comic Books
"Kid Devil: Hot damn! Robin: This isn't what it looks like. Ravager: Yes it is."
 * Subverted in Y: The Last Man when Yorick walks in on Allison Mann and 355 having sex. 355 blurts out "This isn't what it looks like!" much to the annoyance of her lesbian lover who doesn't see what they have to be embarrassed about. Moments later they encounter Australian spy Rose who's trying to explain why she's just stabbed a woman to death, by using exactly the same line. This situation, as it turns out, is a bit more complicated.
 * In one issue of Teen Titans, Robin (Tim Drake) returns to his room one night and sits on his bed, only to have a naked and extremely drunk Ravager (Rose Wilson) wrap her arms around him and try to seduce him. Robin's completely not interested but, knowing Ravager can be a bit hard to dissuade, pins her down on the bed and starts to handcuff her hands behind her. Then Kid Devil walks in.

"Spider-Man: Hey! Listen -- this isn't what it looks like -- unless it looks like that costumed freak Spider-Man punching your friend in the face so he can break into your boss's security system. Because if that's what it looks like... that's actually right."
 * Subverted in Ultimate Spider-Man when Spidey gets caught by a guard in the security room of the Kingpin's tower:

"Spider-Man: It's not what it looks like. Black Panther: They're not braiding your hair? Spider-Man: I guess it is what it looks like."
 * In Batman Bruce Wayne was talking to social services worker about Jason Todd, when Cassandra Cain showed up in a dressing gown. Given Wayne's reputation and uncooperativeness about Jason and Cassandra being underage, he went away with the apparent impression that Bruce Wayne is a pedophile who probably abused and murdered his ward. At this point, Cass WASN'T his ward, so it looked as though Bruce frequently preyed on children.
 * Hilariously mocked by Seanbaby in his "Aquaman SUCKS!" [[media:Seanbaby Aquaman.jpg|parody comic]], where Aquaman takes off his shirt and starts trying to molest Aqualad... only to be caught in the act by Seagull.
 * One time, Superboy and Supergirl have an arguement and brawl, only for Wonder Girl (Cassandra Sandsmark) to walk in and assume Superboy is cheating on her and that the two are engaging in foreplay. She attacks Supergirl and loses, but the misunderstanding is cleared up. Cassie didn't even stop to consider that Superboy is the son/clone of Superman, Supergirl's cousin.
 * In The Amazing Spider-Man, Black Panther walks in on Peter Parker sitting with two beautiful Wakandan women wearing nothing but a bikini, who have their fingers in his hair.


 * Two examples from the German comic Lula und Yankee: Yankee just rubs some lotion on a guy's back (it's against back pain), but the artist deliberately drew it to look like gay sex (and the other guy is even moaning!) A similar scene happens later: Yankee's standing there and urging Lula to go on because people could see them, and her answer sounding as if she had something in her mouth—actually, it's just the cap of a magic marker, which she uses to draw their names on the Eiffel Tower.
 * In Megalex, Ram wakes up to find a naked Adamâ sleeping on top of him. She wakes up and angrily tells him to turn around so she can get dressed, and not to get any ideas because "it's not what you think."

Fan Works

 * In the Kingdom Hearts fic Sex on the Beach, this is inverted and played straight both—inverted first, when Kairi mistakes Sora and Riku engaging in the eponymous activity for a Nobody attack. The "played straight" comes later when the three of them are congratulating each other on a Crowning Moment of Funny-ridden struggle to escape being discovered by their parents... and Kairi's father walks in the door just in time to observe what appears to be a threesome.
 * Subverted in the Haruhi Suzumiya/Wiki/TVTropes crossover Kyon: Big Damn Hero. Kyon is found in a compromising position just to be photographed and teased a little. He still says the line though.
 * In the End has two if these; one with 's dead body and also when  her.
 * The title of Stars Above's fifth chapter is this. Kagami says it when Tsukasa misinterprets seeing her lying in Homura's lap.

Films -- Animation

 * When Fiona pulls the arrow out of Shrek's butt in the first Shrek film, she ends up on top of him, just in time for Donkey to walk in and take things the wrong way. Cue Shrek jumping up and saying, "Nothing Happened!"

Films -- Live-Action
"Daisy: I fucked up. Charles: Yeah... but you gave it a 100% effort!"
 * In Mystic Pizza, Daisy (a poor Portuguese Catholic girl) sees her love interest Charles (a wealthy WASP guy) talking to a very attractive woman at a party. Consumed with jealousy, she persuades a lobsterman to dump his entire day's catch into Charles's expensive convertible sports car. Daisy then discovers that the woman Charles was talking to was in fact his cousin, leading to a memorable exchange:

"Joe: Wait, you believe that? But it's insane! Ann: So's our electoral system but we still vote."
 * In the first Austin Powers movie, Austin Powers disables a bunch of "fembots" by doing a striptease. Immediately afterwards, his girlfriend walks in and sees him in his underwear with what appear to be scantily dressed beautiful women. He tells her it's Not What It Looks Like and starts babbling; she cuts him off, laughs, and says "I believe you."
 * In Monster-in-Law, the title character sends the ex-girlfriend up to the room where her son is getting dressed in order to try to break up his engagement to a girl she thinks is not good enough for him. So his fiancée walks in on him, half dressed, with his ex-girlfriend practically pasted on him.
 * In the third The Naked Gun movie, Frank secretly does some undercover work for the police, even though he's supposed to be retired. He ends up with scratches on his back from a dominatrix (long story), which his wife finds. She is furious, but only because this clearly means he has been doing police work again. Frank tries to convince her that he's having an affair instead.
 * In Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Jessica (a toon) barges in to Eddie's office/apartment while he's getting dressed. A few minutes later, Eddie's love interest walks in on them, producing one of the more original gotcha lines ever: "Dabbling in watercolors, Eddie?"
 * Averted in Stateand Main. At first Joe goes to some length to keep Ann from finding out that a nude Claire is in his room (against his will), thinking that the trope will play out. Then when she suddenly walks back in and catches Claire, Joe immediately explains what's going on, and Ann believes him.

"Nicole: You are so good! Where did you learn that? Clouseau: You know... I practiced on mannequins..."
 * In Steve Martin's The Pink Panther, this trope occurs twice. The second time is a particularly funny scene where Detective Ponton walks into Clouseau's apartment and it appears that he is having anal sex with his secretary, Nicole. In reality, she was choking on an egg and he rushed to perform the Heimlich. What makes the scene particularly amusing is that the two of them don't think that Ponton took it the wrong way and have the following conversation, which piques Ponton's interest:

"Girlfriend: This isn't what it looks like! Slevin: Oh right, so, he tripped and then you fell?"
 * When Shondra gets caught in a compromising position with kidnapee B-Rad in Malibu's Most Wanted, her boyfriend makes it quite clear that: "I use that line all the time, and you know it's always what it looks like!!!" (Though in fact, it wasn't what it looked like. She was merely trying to extract a bullet from his foot, and her face ended up on his crotch. Easy enough to explain.)
 * In Titanic, Jack saves Rose from falling off the back of the ship and they fall into a position where it looks like Jack was trying to rape Rose, as she's still terrified from almost dying.
 * In Lucky Number Slevin, Slevin walks into his bedroom to find a strange man having sex with his girlfriend doggy style.

"Older Flight Attendant: Excuse me, this isn't a motel. (Beat) Rippner: Sure."
 * In Iron Man, this, along with the following "I can explain," is subverted when Tony Stark is discovered, in his battlesuit, apparently being molested by robots. His response? "Let's face it, this is not the worst thing you've caught me doing." The bullet holes, however, are a bit bad.
 * American Wedding
 * Stifler and Jim are in the room with the cake that was made to celebrate Jim's engagement to Michelle. Jim catches Stifler rearranging the letters to read "Congratulation Jism!", and the two get in an argument that ends with both of them getting cake all over their pants. Jim starts to take off his pants to clean them, while Stifler gets knocked to the floor by a dog, who starts licking the cake off his crotch. Stifler, with his pants around his ankles, gets behind the dog and tries to pull it off of Stifler. Jim and Michelle's families then walk into the room and catch what looks like Jim and Stifler raping a dog. Stifler even blurts out the line "It's not what it looks like!"
 * This happens again with Stifler in the same movie. Jim's grandmother had been locked in the closet by some of his friends so that she wouldn't cause a fuss at the wedding (she objected to the fact that her Jewish grandson Jim was marrying Michelle, a gentile). Meanwhile, Cadence, Michelle's hot sister, had arranged with Stifler for the two to meet in that same closet to have sex. Cut to Stifler getting busted having sex with a granny.
 * Independence Day. Will Smith's character drops the wedding ring he hasn't told anybody about on the ground, and one of his pilot buddies kneels down on one knee to go pick it up. As he raises the ring up to get a look at it another pilot walks by and is shocked to see what looks like a man proposing to another man. Instead of trying to explain, they just stare at him until he leaves saying, "It's cool."
 * In Working Girl, the main character walks in on her boyfriend stark naked and having sex with another woman (also stark naked). "This is not what it looks like! (beat) Okay, this is what it looks like. But I can explain! Well, not exactly explain... Come on, Tess! I'm sorry! I really am! I love you!"
 * In the movie version of Dead or Alive, Bass Armstrong walks in on his daughter Tina sleeping in the same bed with Christie, and mistakenly believes they are lovers. He constantly insists he is supportive of their relationship, despite Tina's protests that there is nothing going on. He later makes a similar assumption upon seeing Tina and Kasumi together.
 * Played with in The Sweetest Thing. Christina Walters (Cameron Diaz) and Courtney Rockcliffe (Christina Applegate), in underwear, on a car. The latter (who's driving) drops her lipstick, the former decides to search for it. A biker sees the thing, thinks it's something else... and Courtney decides to play along and pretend it is what it looked like! Then the biker crashes.
 * Bend It Like Beckham
 * When Jess and her friend Jules were overwhelmed by their laughter, they had holding onto each other to keep from falling. The parents of Jess's sister's boyfriend mistake them for making out. They also mistake Jules for a boy.
 * In another scene, Jules' mother thinks her daughter and Jess was in a lesbian relationship when she hears them arguing in the room (they were actually arguing about their coach Joe, both whom they have a crush on).
 * Made even worse when they kiss during their excitement over being recruited for a college team.
 * In Red Eye, the flight attendants are under the impression that the heroine Lisa and the antagonist Rippner were in the Mile-High Club when they both exit a lavatory together, unaware that Rippner was really choking Lisa for lying to him following one of her attempts to thwart his assassination plot.

"Roy: Chon, you decadent philistine!"
 * In Shanghai Knights, we get one of these when Roy O'Bannon (Owen Wilson) walks in on Chon Wang (Jackie Chan) adjusting a prostitute's back.


 * In Captain America the First Avenger, Peggy Carter walked in on Steve kissing a blond secretary and assumed he had become a womanizer. What she didn't see before was Steve trying to turn down the secretary's aggressive advances and being pulled into the kiss.
 * In Fierce Creatures, its a Running Gag that John Cleese's character is constantly being caught with women (or animals!) in compromising positions with implausible explanations.
 * After Alan brings a wet and drunk "Rebecca" to his room, his date sees them together and then storms off.

Jokes

 * A penguin is out driving in the desert when he hears a pop and his tire goes flat. He manages to pull into a gas station to have the mechanic check it out. As he's waiting, he notices the convenience store is selling some ice cream, and he decides he could do with some good cold ice cream. He goes in and buys his favorite flavor, vanilla, then goes out and sits on the curb to eat it. Being a penguin and lacking opposable thumbs, he has a lot of trouble scooping it out with his flippers, and being in the middle of the desert, the ice cream melts very quickly. Eventually, he's almost completely covered in white, sticky goop. The mechanic comes out at that point, looks at him, and informs him, "Well, looks like you blew a seal." The penguin cries indignantly "It's vanilla ice cream, dammit!"
 * A most sorbid cowboy enters a bar, orders several shots and starts gulping them down. The concerned barmen inquires if something is wrong. The cowboy replies: "there are times, Bill, when words are useless. This morning I went to the barn to milk the cow, but that lousy creature kept kicking and toppling the bucket over. I got some rope and strapped her legs to the poles, but then it swinged its tail and toppled the bucked again, and I was out of rope, so I pulled the belt out of my pants and strapped its tail up. My pants fell down, and right then my wife came into the barn... there are times when words are useless."

Literature

 * Happens in one of the Confessions of Georgia Nicolson books where Georgia's love interest (Robbie) and enemy (Lindsay) come across her while she is kissing another boy at a party. She is so startled that she falls over backwards, causing her skirt to ride up - and is aware from their expressions that they've taken it the wrong way.
 * In Harry Potter, Harry, Ron and Hermione exit the boys' dormitory with Harry wearing the Invisibility Cloak and run into Lavender, who Ron is dating. Lavender, only seeing Ron and Hermione leaving his dormitory together, jumps to conclusions about them being together, putting another nail in the coffin of that doomed relationship. Which is kind of an inversion (or something), since this actually helps put Ron and Hermione's relationship back into "they will" territory, not him and Lavender.
 * The Dresden Files
 * Poor Harry Dresden. In Proven Guilty, he has the misfortune to have a friend's daughter stopping by the hotel room he was using as a workspace for a shower at exactly the time her overprotective mother comes in to find him. As he points out, if she'd come ten seconds early, he wouldn't have gotten clobbered. At least the family priest who was present understood.
 * At the same time, it might not have been as innocent as Harry thought it was, as it's entirely possible that said friend's daughter (who has a crush on Harry) was trying to seduce him.
 * Happened to him again in the short story "Day Off". This one was even worse, involving two werewolves mid-coitus, his topless, unconscious apprentice, his basement on fire, smoke and flashing lights, and... Harry giving mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to said topless apprentice. His thoroughly amused girlfriend responds with, "I cannot for the life of me imagine what it does appear to be." and insists to know how this happened. For those not familiar with the series, Harry's apprentice is the above mentioned friend's daughter.
 * In Drums Of Autumn, Claire has the misfortune to walk in on her husband Jamie and a male friend (previously incredibly surprised to see her) embracing. While said friend has a, ah, less than chaste look on his face. No, it's not what it looks like. (
 * In Gone with the Wind, Ashley is hugging Scarlett to comfort her as she cries, when they are caught by his sister India (who despises Scarlett). Ironically, despite Scarlett's love for Ashley and the numerous times she has thrown herself at him, the one time that they are caught, their embrace is completely innocent.
 * In The Wheel of Time, several scenes before Perrin and Faile get together she is trying to restrain him from going out and overexerting himself after not having sufficiently recovered from his wounds, and ends up having him pinned on the kitchen floor...right when Mistress al'Vere walks in.
 * More "not what it sounds like" in this example: after Catti-Brie loots a Talking Weapon in the Legacy of the Drow Series, the blade takes over her mind and body temporarily to try to convince Drizzt that he should have the sword instead, since this is what the sword wants. This results in a partly hilarious/partly creepy scene where its psychic hold over Catti-Brie causes her to say to Drizzt the words that the sword wants to say to him: "Take me!" (Artist's rendering here.) Since the two of them are only friends at the time, Drizzt is pretty shocked. Fortunately, she follows that up with "Wield me!", making it clear to Drizzt that she isn't talking about sex and is possessed by the sword.
 * Happens to many an Upper Class Twit in the writings of PG Wodehouse.
 * Inverted in Moving Pictures, when Victor hesitates to stay in Ginger's room for fear of sullying her reputation. Ginger dismisses his concern, saying that her landlady would never suspect he's there to watch over her in case she gets possessed by supernatural forces: "She'll just think we're having sex."
 * The Longing of Shiina Ryo: now, just because Shin-tsu kicked you out when the teacher came over during the night doesn't mean that anything improper was happening! Honest!
 * The pranks of Fat Marcus The Moneylender and his frat buddies in The Pale King.
 * In the Young Wizards series by Diane Duane, Nita's mother is understandably concerned when her 13-year-old daughter claims to be doing "adult stuff" with her male best friend Kit. Nita means "adult stuff" like saving the world.

Live-Action TV
"Cory: Underpants!"
 * iCarly has one of these in the episode "iEnrage Gibby," Gibby's girlfriend falls on Freddy, the rest of the episode is spent preparing for the fight.
 * Boy Meets World
 * Playfully subverted. After a talk, while laying intimately in bed beside his best friend's semi-girlfriend Angela, Cory comments on the trope and states how impossible it would be for anyone to find reason within this picture. Suddenly both Topanga and Shawn walk in, causing Cory to instinctively shout out the trope name. However, they nonchalantly shake it off and the episode ends with both jumping right in with Cory and Angela.
 * In a more serious version of this trope, Cory and Topanga are working late on a school project and they happen to fall asleep in the same room. Because of the Double Standard, Cory is praised for his alleged prowess while Topanga is ruined. Finally Cory nerves himself to do the right thing and saves Topanga by stepping forward and admitting that it wasn't what it looks like. He was remarkably Easily Forgiven too.
 * Played straight in another episode, in which Cory walks in on Topanga and Shawn in a compromising position. Cue the next morning, where Shawn had slept on the couch in the student lounge (due to Cory installing a deadbolt).

"Xander: It's not what you think! Willow: You like to look at the semi-nude engravings? Xander: Okay... maybe it is what you think."
 * Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
 * "Hush" has a memorable "Not What it Looks Like" facial expression. While Anya is napping on the couch, a vamped-out Spike, who had just been drinking blood from his favorite mug, kneels down to retrieve something. Cue Xander, who walks in to see Spike, his lips covered in blood, his forehead all bumpy, come up from behind Anya's neck. Xander proceeds to render the be-chipped Spike into fist burger even as Spike flashes wide eyes and a "wait wait!" expression. Once the truth comes out, Anya is flattered (while Spike, who only gets an apologetic shrug from Xander, rolls his eyes at them).
 * "Hush" also has Buffy, in answer to the query of how she would kill "The Gentlemen" move her hand up and down at waist level. Following the horrified looks on her friends faces, she then pulls a stake from her purse and they all nod in understanding.
 * "Witch" has this exchange when Willow discovers that Xander's been checking out books on witchcraft:

"Angelus: (in a sarcastically overwrought voice) Wait, guys, it's not what it looks like!"
 * Later played for drama in "Angel" when Darla feeds off Joyce. Angel, in vamp face, tries to help, but Buffy walks in on him right as Darla leaves him holding Joyce's unconscious body.
 * In the Angel episode "Salvage", this is the villainous Angelus' verbatim reaction to being caught holding Lilah's body right after she'd been . Everyone naturally assumes he's the one who killed her, and Angelus is so amused by this turn of events, and by the fact that the heroes would never believe him anyway, that he doesn't even try to hide his snickers as he delivers the line.

"Angel: "It's not what you think." Buffy: "You actually think that I can form a thought right now? Giles heard that -- that she tried to kill you." Angel: "That's true." Buffy: "So you decided to punish her with a severe cuddling.""
 * In "Sanctuary" Buffy rushes to Los Angeles after hearing rogue Slayer Faith is gunning for her former Love Interest, only to find a recently-showered, shirt-unbuttoned Angel giving Faith a Cooldown Hug. The fact that Faith recently slept with Buffy's current boyfriend does not help matters.

"Mitchell: I was going to make this whole display! Cam: I think you just did."
 * Modern Family: Mitchell and Cameron get into a silly fight about a trophy that each has won. Mitchell eventually decides to make up by displaying all of Cam's other trophies on the mantlepiece. He gets the box of trophies from the garage - but a mouse pops out. Mitchell drops the trophies and starts stamping around to kill the mouse—but to Cam it looks like he's tramping on the trophies.

"Turk: Mmm... Oh baby... Oh yeah... You are the best, baby. I love it when you bring me chicken wings in bed!"
 * Friends
 * An epic one of these with a dramatic twist where, in picking up a ring that had fallen down, it appeared Joey was proposing to Rachel.
 * Then there was that episode where Joey and Ross "took a nap" together after watching Die Hard...
 * And when Monica wrestles Rachel to the ground to force to use her eye drops, Rachel Lampshades this: "You know, if Joey and Chandler walked in right now, we could make a fortune!"
 * In Hogan's Heroes, Col. Hogan is meeting with Soviet agent Marya (the only character in the series who always outwitted Hogan) in an apartment. When they hear a door open, Marya exclaims "He is my brother!" (At that moment, she was straddling him with her lips firmly against his.) Fortunately, the person at the door was LeBeau (who believes everything Marya ever says).
 * Joanne deliberately set up one of these in Seacht to upset Linda; as of this writing, she has not revealed what she and Pete were actually doing in her room.
 * In Wizards of Waverly Place, there is an episode where Alex makes a wish with a genie that everyone would stop comparing her to Justin, but the genie makes everyone forget him. Hilarity and wrong presumptions ensue when Alex's best friend, Harper (who has a crush on Justin), leaves furiously, thinking that Alex and Justin have gotten together, because Justin moved to Alex's place.
 * Scrubs does this a lot, although subverted quite often in that it turns out that it was what it looked like, but the involved characters try to come up with an excuse.
 * In a particularly extreme example, J.D. ends up having sex with a girl at a funeral, with the guests in the other room hearing the girl scream out her orgasm... and then tries to explain to the shocked guests that the screams were screams of pains because he stubbed his toe.
 * Another variation in the same show is a scene implying a couple getting naughty... and then it turns out to be completely unrelated.

"Mal: Unless it looks like we're stealing your priceless Lassiter, because that's exactly what we're doing. Don't ask me about the gun though; that's new. Durran: I appreciate your honesty. Not, you know, a lot..."
 * Same quote, different context in Firefly's "Trash," prompting the hilarious subversion:

"Baldrick: Don't worry, Bob. He used to try 'un kill me too."
 * A particularly horrific subversion of this trope occurred in American Gothic: Sutpen, a convicted killer now released from prison for good behavior, is taken in by Carter as fulfillment of a debt to Buck... after which he begins, quite unsubtly, to put the moves on Carter's daughter. (The popsicle-suckling scene is particularly over-the-top.) After catching Sutpen and his apparently willing daughter practically skinny-dipping together, then giggling and tickling each other under the sheets, Carter forbids them from having any more contact. The very next night, he hears giggling again, grabs his rifle, bursts into his daughter's room, and fires... The fact this is apparently a repeat of history and the reason Sutpen was locked up in the first place,, only puts the icing on the cake.
 * In Roswell, this happens in the early stages of the Max/Liz/Kyle triangle, when a suspicious Kyle has followed Max and Liz (Max is driving). Liz ducks down into the driver's side foot-pit to either retrieve something or hide from the person they came to follow, and Kyle draws the obvious conclusion.
 * House
 * A B-plot in the episode "Who's Your Daddy?" involves House getting a physical therapist to help ease the pain in his leg. Twice in a single scene, characters walk in on him with his pants down groaning in pleasure while she... massages his damaged thigh. Both times he immediately yells, "Not what you think!" without even being prompted. It doesn't help that the angle is such that anyone walking in might interpret the scene as her giving him a blowjob.
 * The writers really like this trope. It happened to Cameron in "Daddy's Boy" when she was examining a potential patient's groin infection/fungus/whatever it was. For the record the man's boss didn't buy it, asking the "doctor" to leave a card behind.
 * Lampshaded and Inverted hard by House himself in another episode. House is with his ex-girlfriend washing dishes when his ex's husband walks in, to which he replies, "It's not what you think. I know it looks like we're washing dishes, but really, we're having sex."
 * Inverted in a 3rd Rock from the Sun episode in which the rest of the family is outraged to discover that Tommy is secretly a gourmet chef after finding oregano and fresh rosemary in his sock drawer. Tommy desperately insists that it's marijuana.
 * Will and Grace plays with it. Karen starts teaching Grace how to get her boyfriend to be more assertive by withholding sex. When Grace starts shooting down the idea, Karen starts talking her through it, which leads to a mailwoman coming in to see her telling Grace "I am not going to have sex with you" repeatedly. The mailwoman's response? "I'll have sex with you."
 * Averted in the UFO episode "Close Up". Paul Foster walks in on his superior Commander Straker having what appears to be an intimate tête-à-tête with a mini-skirted Lieutenant Ellis. The ever-calm Straker advises him to never judge a situation by the end of a conversation.
 * On The Drew Carey Show episode "Drew's Reunion" a girl that Oswald had dated and dumped left him tied up and naked, when Lewis went to un-tie him his own date Bo Derek walked in on him straddling his naked friend and she ran off. Later Lewis tells Kate that if she sees Bo tell her that him and Oswald were not having sex, it just looked like it.
 * The tendency for BritComs to base plots around this kind of misunderstanding is parodied in The Young Ones cutaway sketch "Oh, Crikey!", in which a sitcom husband accidentally gets into a compromising position with his dog just as The Vicar walks in.
 * Gussie Fink-Nottle is victimized by this several times in Jeeves and Wooster, and it always just happens to be his hopeful fiancée Madeline Basset who walks in on him.
 * Inverted in Blackadder II when Baldrick walks in on Blackadder and "Bob" about to kiss on the floor.

"Edith: Rene! What are you doing with that servant girl in your arms! Rene: You stu-pid woman! Can you not see I am [making an utterly implausible excuse!]"
 * Played straight in a rather touching Sister, Sister episode. As it turns out, Ray was paying respects to his dead wife. In addition to all the evidence stacking up against Ray, who wasn't even aware that Lisa (his current love interest) and their daughters were suspicious, Lisa meets the ghost of Ray's old wife, who admits to being "the other woman," without realizing that the woman is a ghost.
 * This is actually one of the key running gags (out of many) in Allo Allo:


 * And a subversion since it is almost always what it looks like Rene making out with the waitresses and his wife always buys his explanation. The trope is played straight when Lt Gruber makes advances, though.

"Abby: This isn't what it looks like. Gibbs: CPR? Abby: Oh, then it's exactly what it looks like."
 * In an episode of The Nanny, Fran gets a too-tight dress stuck over her head and Mr. Sheffield tries to help her remove it. Just as they manage to pull it off, they over balance and fall down onto her bed, just as Niles is walking past. Niles overheard them saying things like "Mister Sheffield, I'm so hot!" and "I can't do this standing up!", and afterwards asks "If you let me tell Miss Babcock about this, I'll work free for a year!"
 * In Frasier, when Niles gets into bed with his couples therapist (believing it to be Maris) and demands to know what is going on, the therapist starts by saying, "It's not what it looks like" before exasperatedly saying, "What am I saying?"
 * In an episode of NCIS, Gibbs walks into the morgue and sees Palmer giving CPR to a dummy, to which he asks, "New girlfriend?" The next scene is him walking into the lab and seeing Abby giving a model of DiNozzo mouth-to-mouth.

"George Sr.: Hi... This is not what it looks like... Lucille: It looks like you're tweaking her nipples through a chain-link fence. George Sr.: Yep ... Yeah, that's it."
 * At one point in Stargate SG-1, the rest of the team is searching for Cameron and Vala, who've gone missing. They break down a motel room door to discover Cameron naked and handcuffed to a bed; he assures them that it's not what it looks like.
 * Arrested Development has this exchange:

"Clark: I have to warn you that my life has gotten a little more... (Kara walks into the room wearing a bikini) complicated. Lana: (gasps and looks at Clark worriedly) That might be an understatement. Clark: This is my cousin, Kara."
 * Lois and Clark: An alien assassin breaks into Clark's apartment and attacks him. Clark defeats him, but he shapeshifts into an attractive woman just as Clark's neighbor walks in, causing her to think Clark has just: cheated on Lois and abused/raped a girl. In the confusion, the assassin escapes.
 * Smallville
 * In the episode "Crossfire", Oliver decides to help Mia and let her train at his home. His ex-girlfriend Lois visits just as Mia walks out of the shower.
 * In the episode "Fierce", Clark offers to let Lana stay in his house and hopefully salvage their relationship.

"Clark: It's not what it looks like. Chloë: Yeah it is, Lana. It's exactly what it looks like.""
 * Smallville loves this one. In "Rush", Clark and Chloë are making out in a booth at the Talon when Lana walks in on them.

"Peggy: Al, why isn't anything happening? Al: It will, you just have to be patient! Peggy: Well, I don't want to be disappointed again! Al: Any minute now, trust me! I know how this works! (lights come up, they're laying next to each other in bed) Peggy: Al, you did it! You did pay the electric bill!"
 * In "Gone", Martha Kent finds Clark and Lois in the bathroom together, Lois wearing Clark's shirt.
 * An episode of My Two Dads had the dads walk in on Nichole and Cory (the geeky one of her two not-boyfriends). Cory shouts out "It's not how it looks!" then adds: "Actually, how does it look?"
 * The original series of Star Trek has an off-camera, real-life example. George Takei was apparently told at the last minute that Sulu would have his shirt off in the episode "The Naked Time". In his autobiography he recounts that he immediately started a hardcore push-up regimen in his trailer, and says he's not sure what people must have thought walking past his trailer with all the rocking and grunting, but it probably wasn't what it sounded like.
 * ALF, of all series, does this once. In one episode ALF put on some weight and can't stand up on his own, so he asks Willy to help him. Willy gets behind him, tries to lift him up and both of them start moaning. Then Kate comes in.
 * Happens multiple time in "The Wedding Party" episode of Fawlty Towers with Basil and Manuel.
 * On Treme Davis says this when Annie walks in on him sitting in a room with a shirtless Sophia passed out in front of him the morning after Mardi Gras.  Annie never doubts him for a moment, (it probably helped that Davis was fully clothed).
 * In Community episode Interpretive Dance, when Troy and Britta announce they have a secret to share with the group, Annie's reaction shows she beleives them to be a couple.
 * In an episode of Big Time Rush Kendall is constantly put into this situation with Jordin Sparks, as everything he tries to do for his girlfriend Jo turns into what looks like a romantic scene with Jordin just as Jo walks into the scene.
 * In The Outer Limits episode "Last Supper", Jade lifts her shirt to show Frank her birthmark. Unfortunately, her boyfriend and his wife walk in on them and take it the wrong way.
 * The Married... with Children episode "The Proposition" starts with Al and Peggy in the bedroom. It's completely dark, so we can only hear their voices:

"Paige: It's not what you think! I was examining him! Piper: I don't care what you call it, just cut it out!"
 * Charmed had that episode where they fought an evil wizard. His minion, a golem, reveals to Paige that he has no belly button. She has to go down on her knees to see. In comes Piper.

"Doctor: "You know, this isn't nearly as bad as it looks.""
 * Doctor Who. "The Impossible Astronaut" opens with an outraged, sword-wielding Cavalier finding a naked Eleventh Doctor hiding under his wife's skirt. One can't blame the chap for having the Doctor thrown into the Tower of London.

""This is exactly what it looks like!""
 * Subverted in The King of Queens: Doug discovers Deacon having a candlelit dinner with a woman other than his wife, and struggles to come up with an innocent reason for it. Finally Deacon tells him "It's what it looks like, okay?"
 * Subverted in an episode of Blossom after being played straight multiple times


 * The Big Bang Theory: Uttered by Penny when everyone catches her and Raj coming out of Leonard's room.
 * In that case though, it really was what it looked like. Sheldon was confused, though.

Myth

 * Invoked by Grainne in The Pursuit of Diarmuid and Grainne. Since Diarmuid refused her on the basis that Finn would almost certainly kill him if he didn't, Grainne placed a geas on him that forced him into leaving the house with her while Finn and the others are sleeping - he didn't have to elope with his lord's fiance, but given that Finn was going to assume that he did regardless, he might as well.

Music
"But It's Not Quite What It Seems (Not Quite What He Seems) Not Quite What I Seem Ah, Hell It's Exactly What It Seems"
 * Mocked in the song "Such Horrible Things" by Creature Feature. The song catalogs a list of horrible things done by the narrator at various ages. The chorus?

Pro Wrestling

 * Used in WWE, when Triple H was teaching Trish Stratus how to escape a hammerlock just as his wife Stephanie walked in... Though if that particular escape technique has ever actually happened in wrestling, it's been a very, very, VERY rare example...
 * John Cena tried this when a grateful Eve Torres kissed him for saving her from Kane and Zack Ryder walked in and was enraged.

Radio
"Hamish: Don't worry, Mrs. Nochtie, it's not what it seems! Mrs. Nochtie: ...You mean it isn't a completely innocent misunderstanding?"
 * Inverted in one episode of The Doings Of Hamish And Dougal, when Hamish and Dougal are in the lavatory together. Mrs. Nochtie knocks on the door.

Theater
""Now that's what I call celebrating!""
 * Older Than Steam: Commonly occurs, usually with the genders reversed, in Shakespeare's plays.
 * Claudio and Hero in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing
 * A darker example: Othello and Desdemona in Othello.
 * Similarly, Posthumus and Imogen in Cymbeline.
 * The Gilbert and Sullivan operetta Iolanthe contains the version of this trope involving the main character's mother (who is a fairy, and therefore looks deceptively young). This is probably a Shout-Out to a similar scene in The Marriage of Figaro, involving Figaro and his mother (who, until she discovered that she was his mother, was trying to get him to marry her in order to pay off a debt).
 * The painter Cavaradossi, fiancé of the title character from the opera Tosca begins the opera by helping hide an escaped political prisoner and old friend. Tosca realises he's hiding something and, after finding a misplaced fan in the church were Cavaradossi is working, assumes he is cheating on her. Much drama, blood and death ensues.
 * In The Producers, Leo wants to turn Max and himself in and hand their doctored record books over to the police. Max is kneeling, clutching the books to his chest and refusing to let go...while Leo stands behind him, arms wrapped around him, trying to wrestle the books away, all the while shouting "GIVE IT TO ME!" Then the Camp Gay director and his common-law assistant walk in...

Video Games
"Fuuka: C-c-coming...! Mitsuru: Oh, um, never mind. C-carry on."
 * A rather dramatic example in Devil May Cry 4. When the older brother of Nero's love interest, Credo, challenges Nero to a fight and reveals himself to be a part of a growing conspiracy, Nero naturally is forced to beat him into submission. Trouble arises when said love interest, Kyrie, stumbles on the scene to see her brother Credo on the ground thoroughly bruised and Nero standing over him seemingly about to finish him off with his demon arm (revealing him to be part demon, which is very bad as they are all part of a religious Order that hunts and kills demons). Nero instantly recognizes what it must look like to her, and before he could try to helplessly explain, yet another character shows up, blatantly lying to make Nero even look more like the villain. And then renders the whole point moot by threatening to kill her if Nero doesn't do what he says, turning into a bug-like demon, and flying away with her. It's unsure she could tell who the bad guy was at that point.
 * Used in Yoshine's route in Brass Restoration.
 * If the Chosen One of Fallout 2 has sex with either Miria or Davin, when they are caught, they can insist that it isn't what it looks like—they are actually a doctor. Which is true. You need 50% (pretty good) doctor skill to pull this off, so you're pretty much a doctor. You're still sleeping with him/her, however.
 * Dragon Age, in the "Mage Origin" story quest: when the PC one of the responses available is This is not what it looks like.
 * Persona 3: Fuuka, nervous about wearing a swimsuit during her upcoming trip to the beach, decides to try a (noisy) ab-toning machine... which tickles horribly and won't come off. Mitsuru naturally knocks on the door to ask a favor, but stops when she hears a loud vibrating noise and Fuuka giggling.


 * A meta-example—One FAQ for Persona 4 laid the games conversation choices out with only the lead in question. The last question for Yukiko's girlfriend social link, the point where they're in an intimate relationship, was given solely as "So... the couch, or the futon?". Play through it, and they're just talking about sitting.

Web Comics
"Hannelore: Explanation, yes. Rational, not so much. Marten: I'd say “it's not what you think!” only I'm not even sure what I think this is."
 * In Red String, Reika walks in on Eiji's brother's fiancée all over him (against his expressed wishes). Her reaction so far is typical for this trope, even though they aren't dating. To be specific, she runs out and slaps Eiji when he tries to stop her. Then she asks angrily and accusingly what they would have been doing further if she hadn't walked in with Eiji's brother.
 * Questionable Content
 * In this strip, when caught in an inadvertently compromising situation, In a humorous subversion, Faye realizes that, considering Marten's track record with women, it obviously couldn't be what it looks like.

"Nale: It's not what it looks like. Nale: (simultaneous) I was going to KILL her. Sabine: (simultaneous) YOU WERE GOING TO KILL HER!"
 * And again, although this time, as Dora says, it sort of is what it looks like.
 * Used almost word-for-word here.
 * Oh lord.
 * May predicts Dale's girlfriend is going to walk in when he tries to fix her hip. She does, but misunderstanding does not ensue.
 * says this to Rasputin in Abe Kroenen when  Ironically, Rasputin's more upset about him hiding the latter than the former.
 * Sexy Losers contains a number of parodies of this. Unfortunately, the comic's less safe for work than a copy of Hustler, so a link might not be prudent.
 * Ctrl+Alt+Del shows us a particularly Genre Savvy example, as Lucas asks if it's what it looks like.
 * The Order of the Stick
 * Played with in strip #269, when Celia recalls finding out her boyfriend "slipping the wood" to a dryad. He says it's not what it looks, but it's unsure what it looks like in the first place....
 * Subverted when Nale seduces Haley in order to betray and kill her, only to be stopped when his enraged girlfriend Sabine arrives. She realizes what's going on immediately, but wanted to kill Haley herself:

"Brooke: I... I think I'm going to die of embarrassment for reals this time! Layla: Somebody, just stake me now!"
 * The Spanish webcomic strip 1 Millón de Monos. One of the characters says that "It&acute;s just what it looks like!" (Only, it's unclear what exactly it looks like.)
 * Misfile
 * This scene. Missi catches Emily hugging a naked Ash in the shower, causing Em to utter this line, followed by the worst excuse in history. The subversion is that it's almost exactly what it looks like (and maybe even what Missi claims it is).
 * And yet another Not What It Looks Like moment... in front of Emily's mother.
 * At one point in Megatokyo Robot Girl Ping answers Piro's door in her underwear. Kimiko was not amused. And it didn't help matters that Ping has the body of a seventeen-year-old girl. Well, a malleable artificial body that can pass for almost anything between late middle-school and senior high school ages. Unfortunately that scene gave Kimiko an impression of the former.
 * This sort of thing happens constantly. Largo and Erika come out of a room half-undressed with Largo raving about how "soft" her body is...nope, they were building computers, and Largo's paranoid about static electricity, so they had to wear minimal clothing. Kimiko spends the night sleeping on top of Piro...but nothing else happens. Kimiko comes home to find an underwear-clad Erika, who yanks Kimiko's clothes off, and then Piro shows up and Erika makes him disrobe, too...so he can help fix her computer. Miho wanders to Piro's apartment and spends the night, then they go to a bathhouse and bathe together...but Piro was in jail all night, and they hardly even look at each other in the bathhouse.
 * No Rest for The Wicked
 * Non-romantic example in : Perrault is standing next to November when the wind blows a leaf into her face. As she's the princess from "The Princess and the Pea", it bruises her. Red, who adopted her as a Morality Pet, sees the bruise and lifts her ax. "I-it isn't what it looks like!"
 * Romantic inversion: Beast is rather the worse for wear after an encounter with Red; Beauty assumes he's dying of heartbreak and agrees to marry him.
 * Another variation from Nerf Now, and by extenstion, Mass Effect.
 * Also inverted in this strip.
 * Hilariously done with Cyberpunk relish in Lizzy here.
 * Femmegasm has it subverted amusingly (complete with reference to Three's Company) here.
 * Irma. It's Norwegian, but who needs translation?
 * In Wapsi Square, Kevin walks in the room, and sees this.
 * This strip of Scandinavia and The World.
 * Twokinds
 * A strip brings us the entire cast (at that point in time, anyway) catching Trace and Flora.
 * Then Keith and Natani being found by Flora in a bath.
 * In Think Before You Think, Brian tries to help Julia after she passes out, and Becky catches them in this position.
 * Subverted in El Goonish Shive, during one of the Fourth Wall Mail Slot Q&A sessions regarding Time Travel, where the two hypothetical copies of Lisa start kissing each other, they freely admit that it is exactly what it looks like.
 * Plays itself out in Greg, as Greg is trying to yank off Ted's jeans. The intimate moment here.
 * In Comic Rantz a splinter removal look like something else, not that those involved notice.
 * Eerie Cuties for a (short) while had this as a Running Gag with Layla and girls - Chloe (also, a succubus seems to involuntarily make everything "look like"), then Brooke. Brooke again...


 * Sandra and Woo #0484, in which Larisa’s Dirty Secret is revealed… or not… er… whatever it is.

Web Original
"oh man I was opening a coke, right Beefpile (~mbeefpile@cloaked.wi.rr.com) has joined #themacmind and it exploded ALMOST all over my keyboard but I got it away just in time Beefpile has quit (sick fuckers) :<"
 * In the Whateley Universe, it's happened at least twice so far. One time, it was Phase, standing with pants down and an erection, while Hot Scientist Bunny Cormick knelt down to get a 3-D model of said privates (for something else Phase is planning). So Bunny's roomie walks in just then. And brings back Phase's girlfriend, among others. It took a while to explain.
 * This bash.org quote:


 * Said word for word in Darwin's Soldiers by a system admin after Montgomery walks in on him trying to delete a bunch of porn popups on his computer. A virus had hit his computer.

Western Animation
"Cleveland: Peter, I can't do this. I'm too nervous. I gotta go. Peter: No, no, Cleveland, I'm not going to let you do this. I'll tie you down if I have to. (ties his hands to the chair) Cleveland: Peter, this is only making it worse. Oh, God, my claustrophobia is setting in! Peter: It's all right, it's all right, it's okay. It's all right. It's the fabric. It's the fabric. It's your clothes. All right, let's get your clothes off. (takes Cleveland's clothes off) Cleveland: Peter! Peter, what's wrong with you? I'm naked! Peter: Oh, God, you're self-conscious. I'm sorry. Here, you know what? Look, look. Cleveland. Look. See? See? Now you're not alone. You're not alone, Cleveland. (takes his clothes off) Cleveland: Let me out of here! I need to get out of here! Peter: Cleveland, no. No, you're staying. This, this for your own good. This is for your own good. (presses against Cleveland to keep him in the chair) Executive: (opening door) Oh, my God! Peter: Hi, we're here for the interview."
 * Subverted in the Mission Hill episode "Porno for Pyro": Kevin is pleasuring himself to pornography in a public bathroom and accidentally commits arson trying to hide it, but no-one ever suspects him of any wrongdoing.
 * Family Guy
 * Subverted in the episode "Sibling Rivalry": after being discovered embracing bags of Lois' liposuctioned fat with his pants down, Peter says "Umm... this is exactly what it looks like."
 * In another episode, "The Tan Aquatic with Steve Zissou", Stevie gains an obsession with tanning, but Brian forgets to let him out and Stewie is so badly burned he can barely get up. Brian retrieves some lotion as Stewie manages to get up to his knees, and he squirts it from the bottle from hip level onto Stewie's chest as Mr. Furley (from Three's Company) enters and hurriedly says he'll come back later, while Brian can do nothing but say this trope (in the uncut version on Adult Swim and the DVD; the FOX version cuts off before Brian can say the line).
 * Go Stewie Go" had Lois trying to screw Meg's boyfriend, giving the "excuse" that Meg's boyfriend was trying to "rape" her when Meg caught them in the act.
 * When Peter takes Cleveland to audition for the Bachelorette...

"Zoidberg: Edna, I couldn't stand it any longer. I-- Gasp! Fry! Fry: Dr. Zoidberg, it's not how it looks! Zoidberg: The caviar is on your neck!"
 * In the third season of Winx Club, this happens in episode 21 after Layla caught Nabu having snuck on the ship. While Flora was filming a message for Helia, Musa was putting shackles on Nabu. The camera angles made it look like Musa was kissing Nabu, and Riven saw the message and got the wrong idea. The misunderstanding was quickly cleared up in the next episode after a brief fight between Riven and Nabu, and seeing that Riven really cared about her, Musa decided not to break up with him.
 * In a Robot Chicken sketch, a man finds his wife in bed with another man. The woman pretends they were playing a role playing game and the husband asks if he can also play. In a later sketch, the man is in bed with another woman. He explains that they were role playing and the wife says she knows.
 * Futurama: Happens in the episode "Why Must I Be a Crustacean in Love" with Fry when Zoidberg walks in on both Fry and Edna who is kissing him on her sofa.

"Rusty: No, noooo, this isn't how it looks! Dean: Yeah it is."
 * In one of the stranger episodes of King of the Hill ("Hank's Dirty Laundry"), Hank Hill needs to watch pornographic videos to prove to a video clerk that the porno video he allegedly rented and didn't return doesn't exist, so he can clear his credit and buy a new washing machine. When Peggy sees him from behind, crouched over (presumably masturbating, but actually taking notes to find clues), she freaks out and tells Bobby to leave the house. The original scene (which can be seen on the complete second season DVD) had Hank shaking his pen after it dried up, making the illusion of masturbation more obvious (naturally, the FOX censors wouldn't allow this).
 * And in "Strangeness On A Train", everyone gets thrown off a train because the conductor spotted them on the floor srambled across the floor and mistook it for an orgy.
 * The Venture Brothers gives an example in the episode "Dr. Quymn, Medicine Woman", when the nature-loving Dr. Quymn stumbles upon Brock & the boys training an Orangutan to box as part of one of Rusty's schemes:

"Ron: Hey, I was the "kissee" here, not the "kisser"! Kim: No kidding! It took ya twelve stinkin' years to kiss me!"
 * Kim Possible episode "Homecoming Upset". Bonnie forces Ron into a kiss just as Kim arrives on the scene. After getting over the shock of the sight, a very pissed off Kim has to be reassured by Ron that Bonnie forced the kiss onto him unwillingly. Turns out, Kim is well aware of this, but she's still angry all the same.

"Destro: S-She had something in her eye, Cobra Commander! Cobra Commander: My eye, she did!"
 * Wolverine and the X-Men: Happens during a training session between Iceman and Shadowcat, with both rolling in each others arms as Angel walks on them.
 * Generator Rex: In "Robo Bobo", Holiday walks into Rex's room to find Rex kneeling on the floor with his face seemingly pressed up against Bobo's butt. Her "i'll come back later" is priceless.
 * Subverted in G.I. Joe when Cobra Commander spots Destro and Baroness making out.


 * In American Dad episode "I Am the Walrus", Stan makes sure that Steve sees him and Francine having sex, then talks to him afterwards...where he completely destroys this trope, listing off several normal excuses (like the Heimlich Maneuver or "giving her a lying-down hug") and then saying "It was none of those things. I was having sex with her. I was plowing her" and so forth.

Real Life

 * There are various viral videos of bull elephant seals doing really inappropriate looking things with motor vehicles. They're actually trying to beat up the vehicles.
 * Surprisingly, a really common example of this is when dogs mount other dogs they know—regardless of the gender of either dog—in a way that humans usually assume is at least an attempt to have sex. Dogs, weirdly enough, don't actually mate in 'doggy-style' -- if the one on top actually penetrates the other, they twist round until they're rear-to-rear. The motivation for climbing on another dog's back without seemingly intending to enter him/her is obscure, but seems to be an expression of superior status.